The top bar contains the five core kitchen stops. Open How to get around or search for every other tool and reference page.
Substitutions · 18 dishes here use it
Sesame paste that behaves like a fat and an emulsifier at once. It seizes and goes stiff when water first hits it, then loosens into cream if you keep going — stopping at the seize is the mistake.
Everything below is judged against that job. A swap that covers it is a swap; one that only looks similar is not.
2 of the 18 dishes here that mention tahini list it as optional — 11% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.
Functional substitution system
For tahini, the page's working definition is: Sesame paste that behaves like a fat and an emulsifier at once. It seizes and goes stiff when water first hits it, then loosens into cream if you keep going — stopping at the seize is the mistake. 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.
Instead · 1
one for one, with a little extra water
Instead · 2
half a cup of yogurt and a teaspoon of oil per quarter cup
Instead · 3
one for one
These dishes list tahini 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 tahini keeps in this library, counted off required ingredients. A swap that argues with the top two is the wrong swap, whatever a chart says.