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 star anise

Powerful licorice that perfumes an entire pot from one or two pods. It is not a background spice — leave it in too long and nothing else in the dish gets heard.

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 3 dishes here that mention star anise list it as optional — 33% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.

What to reach for

Instead · 1

fennel seed plus a pinch of clove

half a teaspoon of fennel and a pinch of clove per pod

What it gets you
The anise and the warmth together, which covers a braise or a broth.
What it costs you
The intensity. Star anise is much stronger than the sum of these.

Instead · 2

chinese five spice

half a teaspoon per pod

What it gets you
Star anise, because it is the loudest thing in the blend, plus its usual companions.
What it costs you
Control over the cinnamon, pepper and clove arriving with it.

Instead · 3

a splash of pastis or a licorice tea bag

a teaspoon of pastis, or one bag, per pod

What it gets you
The anise aroma in a liquid dish.
What it costs you
Any dry use, and pastis brings alcohol and sugar.

Where you can just leave it out · 1

These dishes list star anise 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 star anise 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 star aniseRank what I can actually cookAll substitutions