Kitchen & Bar

On this phone

How to get around

The bar under the name is the map. Swipe it sideways if a destination sits off-screen. On Tonight, the button pinned to the bottom cooks the lead dish.

  1. Tonight — What you can cook first, plus drinks that fit the same shelf.

  2. This week — Five dinners from the shelf, urgent things cooked first.

  3. Shelf — Edit what you actually own.

  4. Written methods — Every dish and drink with a method somebody wrote out.

  5. The pantry — Start from one ingredient: what it does, and everything built on it.

  6. Out of it — What to use instead, judged by the job the missing thing was doing.

  7. Photo review — Review a demo shelf photo and confirm every item before adding it.

  8. Flavor Lab — Pairings with a track record: classic matches and the mixology behind them.

  9. Wild cards — Combinations with no tradition behind them, only shared aroma notes.

  10. Send to Occasion OS — Prepare confirmed shelf availability for Occasion OS.

  11. The field — The gap this layer owns.

Keep it on the home screen

  1. iPhone — tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
  2. Android — open the browser menu, then Install app or Add to Home screen.

After that it opens as Kitchen & Bar, not a browser tab. Inventory stays on this device.

Substitutions · 13 dishes here use it

Out of curry powder

A blend, not a spice, and every tin is a different blend. It is mostly turmeric, coriander and cumin, and it needs oil and heat to open up — stirred into a finished dish it tastes of raw powder.

Everything below is judged against that job. A swap that covers it is a swap; one that only looks similar is not.

1 of the 13 dishes here that mention curry powder list it as optional — 8% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.

What to reach for

Instead · 1

garam masala plus turmeric

three parts garam masala to one of turmeric

What it gets you
Very close to what is in the tin, and generally a better version of it.
What it costs you
Garam masala is a finishing blend, so it is toastier and less earthy. Bloom it in fat longer.

Instead · 2

cumin, coriander, turmeric and a pinch of cayenne

two parts cumin, two coriander, one turmeric, a pinch of cayenne

What it gets you
Curry powder, made. This is essentially the recipe.
What it costs you
Five minutes and four jars.

Instead · 3

a spoon of curry paste

a tablespoon of paste per teaspoon of powder

What it gets you
More depth, more heat, and aromatics that a dry powder cannot carry.
What it costs you
Salt and oil arriving uninvited, and the dish goes Thai rather than Indian.

Where you can just leave it out · 1

These dishes list curry powder as optional. They were written to work without it, so no ratio is needed and nothing has to be bought.

Check what else is in the pan

The company curry powder keeps in this library, counted off required ingredients. A swap that argues with the top two is the wrong swap, whatever a chart says.

What to make with curry powderRank what I can actually cookAll substitutions