Food Cooking Chemistry - tilted alternatives

This thread is all about alternatives. Do you ever find yourself in a pinch, wanting to cook something delicious but lacking some crucial ingredient for a recipe? Or maybe you have a bumper crop of zuchinis and you've gotten creative about sneaking them into dishes. This thread is all about alternatives. You know, those little tweaks we all use on occasion - like using plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream, silken tofu instead of eggs, or lemon juice + soymilk instead of buttermilk.

What substitutions have you made when cooking?
What works well?
What hasn't worked at all?
Share a story about your recipe alternatives, success and failure!

My sister is always making substitutions. Her children have assorted allergies that often get in the way of easy meals - egg, milk - and some others that are just plain torture - avocado, banana, peanut, pumpkin, cantaloupe. But it's not her crazy delicious recipes that motivated me to write today. Nope, something especially exciting happened today which made me think of starting this thread.

Here's the story:

A friend brought a pie to share with the microscopy group at lunchtime. He said his mother made it, and wouldn't tell us what it was made out of until after we were sufficiently stumped. Two of us ate slices and agreed it was an apple pie. After all, it was the right color and there were slices of what appeared to be apples throughout the pie. It was the right consistency, the right tangy blend of flavors... but he insisted there were no apples in this pie!

After everyone was sufficiently convinced it was an apple pie, he admitted that there's no fruit in it whatsoever. It was a recipe that he got from his grandmother, who got it from a neighbor during an apple shortage during WWII. He listed the ingredients: pie crust, sugar, cinnamon, water, cream of tartar, butter, and - here's the shock - 32 Ritz crackers.

He won himself a quality steak dinner from a friend in culinary school with this recipe. He made a Ritz cracker pie, and an apple pie, then made a bet with the culinary student that no one would be able to figure out which was which. He then set them out for a group of their friends. Everyone thought the Ritz pie was the real apple pie - including the culinary student.

 

Being that I'm vegan now, I'm curious about baking more than anything. I know that the magic of baking is rather chemistry-related, but the planet Vegan has it figured out.

arkana and I recently went to the 4th annual Vegan Bake-off, and I was completely blown away by The Lumberjack: a vegan maple bacon donut.

Whaaaaat?! you ask.

I know, right? But it was fantastic.

That same day we sampled cookies, bars, cakes, tarts, etc. They were all vegan.

How does it work?

Probably the biggest consideration is when eggs are used for binding or leavening specifically. The substitution must fill the same role. For example, if the egg is meant to bind, then:

1) Finely ground flaxseeds whipped with water: 1 egg = 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds mixed with 1/4 cup water
or
2) Cornstarch and pureed soft tofu: 1 egg = 3 tbsp pureed tofu + 2 tsp cornstarch

If the egg is for leavening, then:

1) Soymilk with lemon: 1 egg = 1/4 cup soymilk + 1 tbsp lemon juice
or
2) Vegan sour cream and baking soda: 1 egg = 1/4 cup vegan sour cream + 1/4 tsp baking soda

There are other options, but these are some common ones. I have used the flaxseed trick once, but I can't remember for the life of me what it was for. It was an egg replacement though.

I've been meaning to try some of my own vegan baking. Maybe I will report in here once I've experimented.

 

Oo! Egg substitutes make much more sense now. Thank you!

 

I was really surprised how closely the consistency of the flaxseed concoction resembled egg whites. It's astounding.

 

I made pancakes this weekend and swapped in applesauce for the egg. It worked perfectly. I wanted to try using flaxseeds, but we're running low.

 

I haven't tried this recipe for vegan fish sauce, but I plan on it. I just need to pick up more nori. And genuinegirly, I seem to recall you have an allergy to sea vegetables. From what I've read, you can just substitute Thai soy sauce, such as Healthy Boy.

http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2012/02/thai-fishless-sauce.html

 

Great post on vegan substitutions today on thekitchn. From: Banana For an Egg: Vegan Substitutions for 8 Common Baking Ingredients Expert Interview | The Kitchn

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Mmmmm coconut cream instead of heavy cream! That sounds yummy.

 

Doesn't it? It makes me want to try using it in a recipe I found yesterday for a Wendy's Frosty.

Restaurant Copycat Recipe: Homemade Wendy's Chocolate Frosty Recipes from The Kitchn | The Kitchn