Sustitutions

Yesterday I made barbecue sauce to add to leftover rice and chicken. I found I was missing brown sugar, and so I made my own by adding a tablespoon of molasses to one cup of sugar. No one knew the difference except the cook.

Easy and good in a pinch, substitutions are the emergency backup plan in every busy kitchen. And thanks to the internet, substitutions are listed everywhere. No more the mad dash to the grocery store for a missing ingredient. (And let's face it, for those of us who live well outside of town, those trips are not in the true Yankee spirit of thrift.)

Many good cookbooks have sections full of substitutions. My Joy of Cooking has a nice section, but this requires pulling out and thumbing through the cookbook with food covered fingers, which as Joey might say, is not cool. Since I am inherently lazy, the small list I bought from Current years ago and taped to my baking cupboard door works well in a pinch, but unfortunately it is not a complete list. Here is a nice site for those who might need to have a more complete list for your cupboard. http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/Food/ingred_subs.html. Some of the dry substitution mixes, such as Italian seasoning and pie spice, I make up in large amounts and store in a tightly covered jar for use. I am a Yankee with my time, too.

Enjoy cooking!