Ingredient substitutions

You are halfway through and the shops are shut. Pick the ingredient you are missing — every answer names the swap, the ratio, and what it costs you.

Every ingredient

What a substitution actually is

It is a trade. The ratio gets the quantity right, but something always moves — the texture, the tang, the lift, how long it keeps. Every answer here names that openly rather than pretending the swap is free, because knowing what changed is what lets you decide whether it matters for what you are cooking.

Substituting is a different question from measuring. If what you actually need is the weight of a cup of something, that has an exact answer: the kitchen converter →

In the app

Gather asks this question about your own recipes: tap any ingredient and it answers in the context of the dish you are actually cooking, allowing for what you have already told it about your household and how you eat.