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 · 46 dishes here use it

Out of feta

Salt and tang in crumbles, so it seasons while it garnishes. It does not melt — it softens and goes creamy at the edges, which is a different and often better thing.

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

50% of the 46 dishes here that mention feta already list it as optional. Before you look for a replacement, check whether you are in one of them.

What to reach for

Instead · 1

ricotta salata or a dry goat cheese

one for one

What it gets you
The salt, the crumble and the same white against a plate of vegetables.
What it costs you
Feta's specific brininess, which comes from the brine rather than the cheese.

Instead · 2

goat cheese

one for one

What it gets you
The tang and the creamy crumble, and it melts into a warm salad more willingly.
What it costs you
Salt, most of it. Goat cheese is mild and a dish built on feta will taste underseasoned without a correction.

Instead · 3

queso fresco or paneer with salt and lemon

one for one, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon per half cup

What it gets you
The texture exactly — a fresh cheese that crumbles and does not melt.
What it costs you
Nothing, once it is seasoned. Unseasoned it is a blank.

Where you can just leave it out · 23

These dishes list feta 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 · 12

These need it and are short enough that nothing hides: 4 required ingredients or fewer, which makes feta 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 feta 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 fetaRank what I can actually cookAll substitutions