Recipe Substitution...Something You Do?

[Kate]

I have always loved cooking and trying new recipes. My problem until a couple of years ago was that I was much too strict with following recipes. I'm slow with change, but always glad I did it in the end!

Do you change recipes around to your own liking? I do that now finally. If a recipe calls for peas and we don't like peas, I substitute corn or carrots. Chicken instead of ham... thyme instead of rosemary. Such an easy concept now that I've stop being so married to detail. (OH! Absolutely LOVE these smiley icons!)

What are your favorite items to substitute? Meats? Veggies? Herbs? I've experimented with all and have had some great results with it.

 

[NicheGuy]

I like to follow the rules and instructions but after cooking for so many years I've found that sometimes you're in a pinch, a missing ingredient isn't in the cupboard or fridge - what to do?

Be creative I guess - when in doubt go for the garlic Of course when baking ingredients are very important and some things you just can't skip or you have big problems.. Making bread dough without the yeast? That's not going to rise.

However, we can usually find a substitute vegetable or add one or more not called for in a recipe. How about a little wild rice instead of potato in soups? I like to add diced tomato to vegetable soup for a little tang and increased flavor. It's a lot about imagination, creativity, experience and not always so much about the actual recipe.

 

[Arch]

With savory main meals, I tend not to follow a recipe at all, or only loosely. I do follow recipes for baking, where it's more important to have the right proportions to make things work. But I'll make up curry, chilli, pasta sauces, casseroles etc, with perhaps just an idea from a recipe as inspiration.

My Mum likes to have a recipe for anything except a very few dishes she's very familiar with. When I go to stay, maybe I'll cook dinner, and she'll say "Oh, the recipe I use for curry is in that book".
"It's ok, I'll just make it up as I go."
"Oh! Oh ok, that's fine. But if you want the recipe it's there."
"No, I'm fine, really, I always just do it this way"
"Oh, yes, ok.... But anyway, that's the book with the recipe in...."



The funny thing is, I'll often talk to her on the phone and she'll say "I made a new dish yesterday from that book I bought. Well, the recipe said to use aubergine, but I didn't have any, so I used courgette, and I prefer parsley to coriander, and I'd got chicken instead of pork but...." She's perfectly able to substitute, and make delicious meals, but she needs a recipe to ignore!

 

[Kate]

These are some great ideas, NicheGuy... I'll have to try substituting rice in soups... that's a good idea. One thing I like adding to homemade soups whether or not the recipe actually calls for it, is carrots. If Kate's cooking a pot of soup on the stove, there *will* be carrots in it.

Bread without yeast... hmmm... wouldn't that be... a tortilla? See, it WILL work!

 

[Sandra Piddock]

I do that all the time, but if I'm making a new recipe for the first time, I'll usually follow it pretty faithfully. Until you know what the original tastes like, it's difficult to make substitutions. I will always change around herbs and vegetables, depending on what I have in stock, and personal preferences. I'm not in such a hurry to substitute meats, though, in case it unbalances the flavour in some way.