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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Almost But Not Right, March 9, 2000
This review is from: Substituting Ingredients: An A to Z Kitchen Reference (Paperback)
I bought this book hoping that it would come in handy when I realize that I don't have an ingredient on hand and need to make a switch in a pinch. Though it has lots of substitutions, most are simply switches for ingredients in the same family (yellow onions ---> chives, etc...). Maybe I was expecting too much, but I was hoping that it would cover ingredients substitutions that weren't so obvious. I would have given it a 4 star rating even so but my biggest problem is that the layout is really poor. Trying to find substitutions for red or white wine are either not in their or not in an order that makes sense to me anyway. It is handy but not the end all, be all of books. Maybe the 4th edition will be better.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to use, covers all the major bases, April 17, 2003
This book is laid out in alphabetical order, the easiest and fastest way possible to have a list of anything. It skips a lot of background information you probably don't need, and just gives you a simple "equals" format that for most things is sufficient. When more information is necessary, the authors give it to you in the form of short recipes to make equivalents. The one thing this book won't do is perform a miracle for you. If you don't have anything that resembles an onion in flavor, you will not be able to substitute an onion. If you have nothing that can do the leavening job of cream of tartar in your pantry, then you can't switch it out, either. The key is to have a well-stocked pantry. Then, if you run out of "that one thing" you need, you can indeed substitute it from the items you do have on hand. Other great aspects of this book: "Too Much" section: Tells you how to "unruin" items that have too much of some strong-tasting ingredients. Measurement equivalents section: Has dry and liquid equivalents (like 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon) in the English system. It also great for those on the metric system/English system trying to do a recipe from the "other side," because there are ounces/grams and pounds/kilograms charts. Temperature equivalents: Fahrneheit to Celsius for all common cooking temperatures. Baking pan sizes: metric/English numbers compared; number of cups held by many cake pans also. Household formula section: A nice intro to homemade cleaning products using common ingredients.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great reference, November 7, 2001
This review is from: Substituting Ingredients: An A to Z Kitchen Reference (Paperback)
If you love cooking as I do, you'll know that much of cooking is based on experimentation. You'll also note that you may not have every ingredient a recipe calls for. This book is for you. It is a great reference of very worthy substitutes. I have been caught in several pinches and this book has been very helpful to use in a pinch. My dishes come out great and if I don't tell anyone, no one notices that a substitution has been made anyway. I was pleasantly surprised to find at the back of the back, a list of "cleaning" recipes. I have been trying to get away from chemical cleaners for years. This book offers some great "substitutes" for store bought cleaners. Bon Appétit and Happy Cleaning!
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