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 · 23 dishes here use it

Out of sesame seeds

Nothing much until they are toasted, then nutty and fragrant. Toast more than you need and keep them — they go stale fast in the cupboard and instantly in the pan.

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

83% of the 23 dishes here that mention sesame seeds 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

poppy, sunflower or nigella seeds

one for one

What it gets you
The crunch and the visual texture on top of a bowl, a loaf or a piece of fish.
What it costs you
The toasted nuttiness. Nigella in particular brings a savory onion note instead.

Instead · 2

chopped toasted nuts — almond, peanut, cashew

half as much

What it gets you
A toasted crunch with more flavor behind it, and in most bowls it is an upgrade.
What it costs you
The scale. Nuts are visible and read as an ingredient rather than a finish.

Instead · 3

a drizzle of tahini

a teaspoon per tablespoon of seeds

What it gets you
The sesame flavor, more of it, in the same place on the plate.
What it costs you
The texture entirely. This is the flavor answer, not the crunch one.

Where you can just leave it out · 19

These dishes list sesame seeds 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 sesame seeds 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 sesame seeds 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 sesame seedsRank what I can actually cookAll substitutions