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 · 3 dishes here use it

Out of molasses

Bitter, mineral and dark, and it is what makes brown sugar brown. A spoonful adds depth to anything sweet; two make it taste of iron.

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

What to reach for

Instead · 1

dark brown sugar dissolved in a little water

a heaping tablespoon of sugar in two teaspoons of water per tablespoon

What it gets you
Molasses, roughly, since brown sugar is white sugar with molasses in it.
What it costs you
Intensity. This is a paler, sweeter version and a gingerbread will notice.

Instead · 2

maple syrup or honey plus a pinch of instant coffee

one for one, a pinch per tablespoon

What it gets you
A dark, pourable sweetener with some bitterness behind it.
What it costs you
The mineral, smoky depth, which is what molasses is for.

Instead · 3

pomegranate molasses, in a savory dish

one for one

What it gets you
Dark, thick, sour-sweet syrup for a glaze or a dressing.
What it costs you
The sugar balance. This is much more acidic and much less sweet.

Where the swap will be tasted · 2

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