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No flour? No sweat!

Keep it casual in the kitchen: The fine art of substitution
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NO HOLDING BACK THE SUBSTITUTIONS Hailey Harkins and her dad, Neal, executive chef at Whistler Conference Centre, are no strangers to ad libbing in the kitchen. Photo: Courtesy, Neal Harkins

"You don't want to be held back when the substitution comes..."

Silversun Pickups' "Substitution"

We've all faced it one time or another: the dreaded substitution game.

It might not feel quite as shattering as when your hoped-for gorgeous dinner companion gets switched for the host's grandpa or the reporter subs in new last-minute questions during your first interview. But when you're halfway through whipping up something in the kitchen — be it an exotic dish for tonight's dinner party or something more offhand — and you run out of X, at the very least you don't want to be "held back" like the Pickups suggest as, with great hope, you cross your fingers and substitute. (BTW the very cool Silversun Pickups was the house band for this year's Film Independent Spirit Awards, which recognize indie filmmakers without tons of money.)

Long ago when supplies of all sorts were limited by little things like the Great Depression, a couple of World Wars, or simply living in places so remote — if you can imagine it — anything as handy as an actual store, never mind Fed Ex, didn't configure, substitutions were a way of life. No hunky blondes around? Grab a practical brunette prairie boy. No raisins for the cookies? Ad lib with last year's jam.

Now substitutions in the kitchen, like so many other things that demand ingenuity, confidence and some flair, are pretty much a forgotten art.

All this hit me the other day when I was partway through my favourite muffin recipe (see below) and I ran out of flour. That wasn't too tricky in a recipe loaded with bran and wheat germ (I added more of both), but my first impulse was to run to the store.

Then I thought, wait a minute! That's the kind of thing that blocks people from cooking. We think we have to have a perfectly stocked kitchen loaded with every ingredient for everything we might want to make. Staying organized; huge shopping lists — it all feels so intimidating and I bet it stops tons of people before they start.

My next thought was, I wonder if professional chefs substitute ingredients? Picture it: you're whipping up a "pow" entrée for 100 people and, oops, no milk for the béchamel sauce.

Out of curiosity, I dialed up one of the busiest and most relaxed chefs I know. Neal Harkins, executive chef at the Whistler Conference Centre where they can host up to a mere 1,200 people for a sit-down dinner, cut his catering teeth on a Mothers' Day brunch for 4,000.

Substitutions? "We do that all the time — we do it at work and we do it at home!" Neal says, laughing.

Besides running out of some ingredient, you might want to take out the gluten or dairy, or simply change the flavours. Whatever the reason, we agree substitutions are an interesting science — or art.

"It all depends on what you're making," Neal says. "If it's a baking item and you're trying to make it gluten free, for instance, it's real science. You aren't just eyeballing it — it's all about the absorbing power of what you're putting in." For instance, he used coconut flour to go gluten free; it was so dense it took only one tablespoon to equal a cup of wheat flour.

Whatever you're substituting — oil for butter, say, or honey or molasses for sugar — keep a couple of things in mind.

"Think of what it will take away from the recipe as opposed to what it will give. There has to be a balance of give and take in a recipe," he says.

For dry ingredients in baking, it's all about moisture. If it's too soft, it won't hold its structure, or if you get it too dry it will be hard as a rock. In cases like the oil or sweeteners above, consider how you're adding or reducing liquidity, and how the acidity or flavour might change. Applesauce can sub for sour cream, say, but sweetness and acidity are both affected, so adjust accordingly.

It's all pretty easy peasy — with some exceptions, as I'll get to in a minute. And one of the best sites to guide you is www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09329.html from Colorado State University. It has oodles of substitutions you likely have in your kitchen no matter how cooking-challenged you think you are.

My mom, who's allergic to computers, would love this site. You won't believe it but in the middle of writing this, she phoned out of the blue wondering what she could use instead of cream of tartar to make scones. For something fundamental to chemistry like this acidic powder that's a byproduct of wine fermentation, your substitution depends on what you're making. In mom's case, baking powder was perfect — it equates to about three parts cream of tartar to one part baking soda.

The real fun with substitutions, though, happens when they're a choice, not a necessity.

"Just changing up spices in a recipe is always fun, too," says Neal. He's used watermelon instead of tomatoes to make a nice gazpacho, compensating for the acidity with a touch of vinegar.

The whole thing about feeling comfy with substitutions is that you can get into the middle of making something and you won't panic or run to the store when you don't have the right ingredient.

Then there's the ultimate substitution game: inventing the whole thing. Neal's had his kids — Kodie, 17; Hailey, 15; and Noah, 13 — feeling confident enough in the kitchen to whip up whatever they feel like, no recipe in sight.

"I always say a recipe is more of a guideline, not a bible," Neal says.

"It gives you the base structure, and the rest is whatever you want to do. If you don't have the right ingredient, find something that's relatively close to it. That's what cooking is all about."

While the rules aren't quite as loose for baking, where "everything has a purpose," here's the recipe for those muffins I was making when I ran out of flour. It's from my old pal, Anita Webster, sister of Whistler Blackcomb's Cate and daughter of Ron and Elspeth, some of the earliest owners at Slope Haus in Alpine Meadows.

As you can see, it's a guideline — a perfect entry into the fine art of substitution.

Anita's muffins

1 egg

1/4 c. oil

1/4 c. molasses

Mashed banana, and/or grated citrus rind, etc.

Spices you like

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Nuts, raisins, and/or chopped apple, etc.

1 c. bran

1 c. wheat germ

1 c. whole wheat flour

2/3 c. milk (buttermilk? yogurt/milk combo?)

Mix everything in a bowl. Drop into muffin papers in muffin pans. Bake about 25 minutes at 375 degrees F, or until a toothpick comes out clean

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who likes loose guidelines.