The top bar contains the five core kitchen stops. Open How to get around or search for every other tool and reference page.
Substitutions · 90 dishes here use it
Body, not flavor — that is the part people get backwards. A good stock makes a sauce cling and a soup taste finished; it does not make a bland dish interesting, and it will not save one.
Everything below is judged against that job. A swap that covers it is a swap; one that only looks similar is not.
6 of the 90 dishes here that mention stock list it as optional — 7% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.
Functional substitution system
For stock, the page's working definition is: Body, not flavor — that is the part people get backwards. A good stock makes a sauce cling and a soup taste finished; it does not make a bland dish interesting, and it will not save one. The swap cards below are judged against that job rather than visual resemblance.
Job → candidate → side effects → small test → correct.
1 · Job
What is the missing ingredient doing?
2 · Candidate
Choose the shelf item that replaces that function.
3 · Side effects
Check water, fat, salt, acid, sweetness, and texture.
4 · Small test
Change a spoonful or small portion first when possible.
5 · Correct
Taste again and move only the axis that is still wrong.
What the missing thing was doing
Third-party video. Opens in a new tab — nothing is embedded and nothing is fetched from a video platform until you click.
A substitution is easier to judge once you have watched the job being done properly.
Instead · 1
the same volume, half a teaspoon of salt per cup, plus a spoon of miso or soy
Instead · 2
as the package says, then taste before adding any more salt
Instead · 3
one for one
These dishes list stock as optional. They were written to work without it, so no ratio is needed and nothing has to be bought.
These need it and are short enough that nothing hides: 4 required ingredients or fewer. Make the swap a decision rather than a repair.
The company stock keeps in this library, counted off required ingredients. A swap that argues with the top two is the wrong swap, whatever a chart says.