In the words of Selina Kyle, these recipes are adaptable
a newsletter plot twist + a few articles
Hey, everyone. Hope you’re hanging in there and that everyone you know and love is too. Given the situation, I’m turning this newsletter into something slightly different: each one will include a recipe and then I’ll list lots of ways that you can adapt it to what you have on hand. It’s like a choose your own adventure recipe, but the adventure is social distancing and the choices are limited to what you already own.
The newsletter will be weekly, every Thursday or Friday. I might miss a week because sometimes I have crippling anxiety and all I can do is stare out the window and practice my best Tina-driving-into-the-only-car-in-the-parking lot panic groan. (I’m getting better at it, but it’s still a little too high-pitched.) If you want more recipes with suggested adaptions, stat, then I highly recommend you check out To Taste, a site where lots of people list all the ways they changed various recipes and the photos are much nicer than mine ever will be.
My hope is that you’ll be motivated to cook something, because if there’s anything I believe in, it’s that cooking is a valuable life skill. I also want to show how flexible you can be when you cook and take away some of those anxieties you might have about substitutions. The big picture goal is for you to cook without recipes at all. But to get there, we’ll start with short-term goals: be inspired to cook by a recipe, learn what types of things you can substitute, and then go forth and do it. Eat and repeat, repeat, repeat.
Cooking intuitively is not hard but it does require knowledge — and knowledge requires time and practice. I am a person who easily gives up when something doesn’t come naturally, so I understand that if you are intimidated by this, it might be hard to start. But if there’s anything you probably have right now, it’s time. Time to stay in, time to read recipes, time to practice, time to mess up and eat it anyway. Learn to see ingredients as resources to be combined in an infinite number of ways — rather than things that can only be combined in one way for one specific dish — and you’ll be an intuitive cook.
Or hey, maybe you already have these skills! Hopefully this can serve as inspiration to cook or do something other than alternating between reading the news and scrolling through Instagram and becoming increasingly sad and hopeless. And if you know someone who needs this type of unsolicited cooking advice, maybe forward it their way?
A few big caveats:
I am not a food scientist. I don’t even really care about food science. This newsletter will not be diving into the “whys” of substitutions, but more the “why the hell nots.” I’m not testing every possible substitution, but I am reasonably certain that they will work.
I’m making this up as I go and the format will probably change; recipes with lots of notes could be visually messy and probably less helpful than they should be, so I might try writing them out in a flow chart and inserting that image or something. Open to suggestions!
My pantry is definitely different from your pantry. I have a lot of random things in stock because that’s how I live my life (pretty sure growing up on a farm and living far away from grocery stores did this to me, thank you family!!). I will have blind spots and/or some of my suggestions will seem laughably ridiculous. Please just laugh at them and if you have questions, please ask. I am so happy to give specific-to-your-needs advice.
The substitutions will also go into equipment substitutions, because even though recipes will say that for best results you simply must use a stand mixer or food processor, that…is a lie. Best results are in the eye of the beholder, my friend, and your eyes are the only ones that matter.
Alright long intro over! Before I get to the recipe, here are two things I wrote recently: One for Heated (the Medium/Mark Bittman site) on a cookbook that I love, Salt & Time by Alissa Timoshkina. (That’s a friend link so you can read it for freeeee.) The other, for DCist, on Neptune Room, a new bar that opened a few weeks ago in our neighborhood (!!!!) but that is currently, like everything else, closed (!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
Ok, the recipe: This week it’s Gluten-Free Chocolate-Tahini Brownies, adapted from Bon Appetit. I stress-baked them last weekend and 10/10 would bake again, stress or no.
Note: possible substitutes are in italics; bold designates the ingredients I used to achieve the pictured final product.
3 tablespoons cornstarch, or almost any type of flour or starch; can also add 1 tablespoon rye or other grainy flour, just because
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
5 to 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons coconut oil, or butter or any other oil that would mesh with chocolate
4 tablespoons tahini, divided
2 large eggs
⅓ cup granulated sugar, or just use all brown sugar, or all turbinado or other raw sugar
¼ packed cup light or dark brown sugar, or just use all granulated
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or 1/2 teaspoon any fine-grain salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, ginger, or cardamom
1 tablespoon light agave syrup, or simple syrup, molasses, maple syrup, or honey
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-by-8-inch baking dish or round pie plate or 9-inch tart pan, etc. (Original recipe has you line it with parchment; I didn’t.)
Whisk cornstarch and cocoa powder (and other flour, if using) in a medium bowl to remove lumps. Put the chocolate, oil (or other fat), and 1 tablespoon tahini in a microwavable bowl, cook for 20 seconds, stir, and repeat until the mixture is smooth and melted; it won’t take long. (Original recipe says to melt in a small saucepan over low, stirring, until smooth.)
Whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar (or whatever sugars you’re using) in a large bowl for several minutes, until smooth. (Original recipe says to use an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light, smooth, and doubled in volume, 3 to 4 minutes.) Whisk in salt and vanilla (or spices), then the chocolate mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the cornstarch mixture and stir with a fork to combine, about 30 seconds. (Original recipe says to do this with a mixer too.)
Stir agave (or other) syrup and remaining 3 tablespoons tahini in a small bowl. Scrape batter into prepared baking dish and smooth the top. Dollop the tahini mixture on top and swirl into the batter with a knife or the other end of your fork.
Bake about 25 to 30 minutes, until the brownies are set in the middle, the edges are a little crisped and coming away from the sides of the pan, and a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool before cutting into 16 squares and removing from pan. (lol we did not let them cool.)
Yield: 16 brownies, or enough for one to six people to eat in one sitting and make them feel slightly less stressed out than they were before.