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 vanilla

It reads as sweetness without adding any, which is why it makes desserts taste richer than they are. Extract is alcohol-based and flashes off in a hot pan, so it goes in late.

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

48% of the 23 dishes here that mention vanilla 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

vanilla bean paste or a scraped pod

a teaspoon of paste, or half a pod, per teaspoon of extract

What it gets you
More vanilla than the extract, with the seeds visible, which is the point in a custard or an ice cream.
What it costs you
Money, and a pod needs steeping in something warm to give up what it has.

Instead · 2

almond extract

a quarter as much

What it gets you
The same job — a background aromatic that makes a sweet thing taste finished.
What it costs you
Anonymity. Almond extract announces itself at four times vanilla's volume, so it leads the bake.

Instead · 3

a strip of citrus zest, or a spoon of bourbon

the zest of half a lemon, or a teaspoon of bourbon, per teaspoon

What it gets you
An aromatic lift in a batter or a cream, which is the structural role vanilla plays.
What it costs you
The specific warmth. This is a different perfume in the same seat.

Where you can just leave it out · 11

These dishes list vanilla 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 · 9

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