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 · 14 dishes here use it

Out of eggplant

A sponge, and that is the whole problem and the whole opportunity. It will absorb every drop of oil you give it, so either commit to the oil or roast it dry first and add the fat afterward.

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

2 of the 14 dishes here that mention eggplant list it as optional — 14% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.

What to reach for

Instead · 1

zucchini

one for one

What it gets you
A soft summer vegetable that fries, roasts and layers the same way.
What it costs you
The sponge. Eggplant drinks oil and goes silky; zucchini releases water and goes limp.
Not here
Anything where the eggplant was meant to be creamy — baba ganoush, a good parmigiana.

Instead · 2

portobello or king oyster mushrooms

one for one by weight

What it gets you
Meaty texture, savory depth and the same behavior under a broiler.
What it costs you
The sweetness, and mushrooms brown where eggplant collapses.

Instead · 3

cubed and roasted squash or sweet potato

one for one by weight

What it gets you
Soft, sweet chunks that hold up in a curry or a tray bake.
What it costs you
The bitterness and the texture, both of which were doing work.

Where you can just leave it out · 2

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

Where the swap will be tasted · 2

These need it and are short enough that nothing hides: 4 required ingredients or fewer, which makes eggplant a quarter of what is in the pan. Make the swap a decision rather than a repair.

Check what else is in the pan

The company eggplant 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 eggplantRank what I can actually cookAll substitutions