cover image Substituting Ingredients: A Cooking Reference Book

Substituting Ingredients: A Cooking Reference Book

Becky Sue Epstein. East Woods Press, $8.94 (127pp) ISBN 978-0-88742-101-3

This is a ready reference telling what to do, for example, when you are halfway into a shoo-fly pie recipe and find there is no molasses on hand. Instead of going to the store, the book recommends mixing three parts sugar with one part liquid. Although the authors suggest a few substitutions so clever that even veteran cooks may not know of them, they do not explain enough to be useful. The text resembles a list of equations: Lemongrass equals lemon or verbena; lemon equals lime. For the rookie, especially the rookie baker, this does not provide enough context. The reader needs more guidance on how to interpret recipes. Also, the book will likely encourage the bad habit of not reading a recipe through before cooking. Sad to say, this is a good idea that does not pan out. (September)