What cooking substitutes do you use?

trixietoes · 30 August 2009 at 1:08PM

I live in Poland and sometime find it difficult to find ingredients partly through my lack of linguistic skills and others just because it isn't available.

Things such as Creme Fraiche - I know this may sound dim to some, but is this just normal sour cream without the price tag? or is it just a good substitute

I can't find Butter Milk.... any suggestions of what I can use or how to make it (if that is possible)

Caraway seeds too .... I think I may have found them... but what could I use (if anything) instead?

Also fresh corriander is hard to get hold of

Do any of you expert cookers have any hints and tips for other substitutions us lesser experts could use?

:D

Thank you in anticipation

xxx

Raspberry_Swirl · 30 August 2009 at 1:35PM

I use natural yogurt in place of creme fraiche. Tastes the same in a dish and is cheaper too! You may also be able to replace buttermilk with natural yogurt too. I've never tried doing that but they both have a slight sour tang to them and are the same consistency so it might work.

MrsE_2 · 30 August 2009 at 1:38PM

trixietoes wrote: »

I can't find Butter Milk.... any suggestions of what I can use or how to make it (if that is possible)

I think if you add a little lemon juice to normal milk you get buttermilk.

juliapenguin · 30 August 2009 at 1:55PM

I'm sure I read somewhere on here only today about mixing natural yogurt with water to get a buttermilk equivalent.

meanmarie · 30 August 2009 at 2:01PM

Drop of vinegar in fresh milk will give you a buttermilk substitute, if no fresh coriander available can you get ground stuff to give the flavour. Can think of no substitute for caraway seeds, but think that they are used in Eastern European cooking so keep trying.

I think that you could probably buy the dried spices on internet, might be pricy so check first.

Marie

justpeyton4now · 30 August 2009 at 2:18PM

For buttermilk, put one tablespoon of either vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring jug and add milk up to the 8 oz (240 ml) mark on the jug. Stir it up and let sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes.

I looked on this site and they suggest either cumin seeds or fennel seeds for the caraway seeds. Check it out here

HTH

Peyton

trixietoes · 30 August 2009 at 2:25PM

These are all brill, thanks.

I really wanted buttermilk to have a go at making scones as I read somewhere on this site that it makes them really light and scrummy.

I'll have a go this week.... just got to decipher what flour is what now... back to the phrase book I think.

urchin · 30 August 2009 at 3:24PM

i've used fennel seeds instead of caraway seed before and not had any problems

vij · 30 August 2009 at 7:40PM

coriander grew like wildfire in my kitchen by the window

champys · 30 August 2009 at 9:33PM

meanmarie wrote: »

Can think of no substitute for caraway seeds, but think that they are used in Eastern European cooking so keep trying.

Caraway seeds must be all over the place - when I lived in Lithuania it was always in the bread, in the cabbage, in stews....... and that is just next door from Poland. The Russian for caraway is 'tmin' - maybe the Polish is something a bit similar, you never know.
Be consoled, where I live in France I cannot get fresh coriander either, and my attempts at growing it keep failing. In Eastern Europe you can often find it at markets (not supermarkets). The Russian for it (if I remember well) is 'kinza'.

kunekune · 31 August 2009 at 8:22AM

There was a recipe in today's guardian needing buttermilk: the author said to replace with 3/4 plain yoghurt and 1/4 milk.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

What cooking substitutes do you use?

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