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 · 71 dishes here use it

Out of yogurt

Acid and creaminess together, which is why it works as a sauce with no cooking at all. It splits over direct heat, so into a hot dish it goes off the flame or stabilized with a little starch.

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

27 of the 71 dishes here that mention yogurt list it as optional — 38% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.

What to reach for

Instead · 1

sour cream

one for one

What it gets you
The same tang, more fat, and it is less likely to split when it hits heat.
What it costs you
Lightness. Sour cream is richer, so a marinade or a raita made with it sits heavier.

Instead · 2

buttermilk

three quarters as much, and reduce other liquid

What it gets you
The acid and the tenderizing, which is the whole job in a marinade or a batter.
What it costs you
Body. Buttermilk is thin, so nothing that needed yogurt to be thick will work.

Instead · 3

coconut yogurt or blended silken tofu with lemon

one for one; a squeeze of lemon per half cup of tofu

What it gets you
A thick, mildly acidic dairy stand-in for a sauce or a dressing.
What it costs you
Coconut brings its own flavor and tofu brings none, so both need seasoning that yogurt would not have.

Where you can just leave it out · 27

These dishes list yogurt 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 · 26

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