Problems With Being A Cook
by Thomas Jorgensen
http://www.cookingflair.com
We've all done it. The meal for the evening is organised in
your head, and, you believe, in the fridge; but then just
as you're well underway with everything, you go to the
cupboard and you find you're missing a vital ingredient.
However close the grocery store might be, it's still too
far; it means leaving the kitchen and other things could
spoil. If this has ever happened to you, you may find the
following tips helpful.
Firstly, if you need one teaspoon of baking powder you
could use one quarter of a teaspoon of baking soda and five
eighths of a teaspoon of cream of tartar, or even one
quarter of a teaspoon of baking soda and half a cup of
buttermilk. If you need a cup of butter you could use seven
eighths of a cup of shortening or one cup of margarine.
Rarely however can you replace butter with oil, especially
in baking.
When it comes to sugar it's easier to just keep white and
molasses in stock rather than having to worry about light
brown and dark brown varieties. If you need a cup of light
brown sugar, you can use one cup of white sugar with a
teaspoon of molasses and for dark brown use one cup of
white sugar and a tablespoon of molasses. If you are out of
white sugar you could use one and three quarters of a cup
of powdered (confectioners') sugar or one cup of packed
brown sugar and if you need a sweet liquid like corn syrup
you can substitute it with one cup of sugar plus a quarter
of a cup of liquid or honey.
If you need chocolate you'll find that one ounce of is the
same as three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa and one
tablespoon of fat. For one tablespoon of cornstarch you
could use two tablespoons of flour; one tablespoon of flour
(for thickening) could be replaced by half a tablespoon of
cornstarch, and instead of one cup sifted flour (for
cooking) you could use one and a half cups of bread crumbs
or one cup of rolled oats and lastly, one cup of shortening
makes the same as one cup and two tablespoons butter or
margarine.
If you want to add flavour to your meals with spices you
can try stocking dried herbs and spices rather than fresh.
For instance, instead of one clove of garlic you could
substitute one eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder or one
teaspoon of chopped garlic. Instead of one teaspoon of dry
mustard you could use one tablespoon of prepared mustard;
one tablespoon of onion powder is the same as either one
medium, or four tablespoons of freshly chopped onion.
Remember that some of the best recipes around have been
'cooked' up by people desperately trying to cover their
tracks; so the advice would be 'be bold, be daring, but use
your initiative!'
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