Ingredient substitution - In dire need, use this

I'm sure it has happened to everyone - you pick a recipe you like, you go gather all the ingredients and you find out that you are one egg short, there's less cornstarch then you thought or that the honey jar is nowhere to be found. So instead of baking you're looking for Winnie the Pooh or making a shopping list since you're going to the supermarket now and the baking is left postponed.

a TV chef known for substituting fish with sausage

Balls!

Well, fortunately there are tricks how to substitute certain ingredients to achieve a similar result. I went through several pages and picked out some of the most useful and interesting substitutions. Turns out that some of the less-available ingredients can be substituted easily and surprisingly many of the standard ingredients as well. However, as many of the sites note, nothing should be overdone and more than one substitution may yield quite a different product in the end - flavour-wise and quite probably consistency-wise too.

+ means that these ingredients should go together
/ means that you can choose which ingredient to use

Diary products
Ingredient	Amount	Substitution
Half and half cream (12-16% fat)	100ml	90ml milk + 15g butter
Light cream (18-20% fat)	100ml	90ml milk + 20g butter
Heavy cream (36-40% fat)	100ml	75ml milk + 30g butter
Buttermilk	100ml	100ml milk + 1 tablespoon of vingear or lemon juice, let stand for 5 minutes
Evaporated milk	100ml	100ml light cream
Sour cream	100ml	100ml yogurt
Créme fraiche	100ml	100ml heavy cream + 1 tablespoon yogurt, let stand for 6 hours at room temperature
Sweet ingredients
Ingredient	Amount	Substitution
Confectioner's sugar	100g	100g sugar + half a teaspoon of cornstarch, blended together in a food processor.
Molasses	100ml	100ml honey / 100ml maple syrup / 100ml dark corn syrup
Corn syrup	100ml	100g sugar + 60ml liquid used in the recipe
Honey	100ml	120g sugar + 60ml liquid used in the recipe
Flours
Ingredient	Amount	Substitution
Self-rising flour	100g	100g all-purpose flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder + a pinch of salt
Cake flour	100g	80g all-purpose flour + 15g cornflour
Cornstarch / Cornflour (for thickening)	1 tablespoon	2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Cream of tartar	1/2 teaspoon	1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Spices and misc
Ingredient	Amount	Substitution
Allspice	a teaspoon	half a teaspoon of cinnamon + half a teaspoon of ground cloves
Anise seed	a teaspoon	a teaspoon of star anise / a teaspoon of cardamom
Apple Pie spice	a teaspoon	half a teaspoon of cinnamon + quarter a teaspoon of nutmeg + a pinch of ground cardamom
Lemon grass	a teaspoon	a teaspoon of lemon zest + a drop of lemon juice
Lemon juice	20ml	10ml vinegar / 10ml white wine / 10ml lime juice
Lime juice	20ml	20ml vinegar / 20ml white wine / 20ml lemon juice
Pumpkin Pie spice	a teaspoon	half a teaspoon of cinnamon + a quarter a teaspoon of ground ginger + a pinch of nutmeg + a pinch of allspice
Vanilla extract	a teaspoon	1/2 vanilla bean

links to the sources:

• http://food.unl.edu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=d95d46ab-ce42-4a0b-aea7-62f709b3346f&groupId=4089458
• http://food.unl.edu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=50722eac-13de-4229-8887-9dc534a0466d&groupId=4089458
• http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/he198w.htm
• http://food.unl.edu/web/fnh/ingredient-substitutions
• http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/IngredientSubstitution.htm
• http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html
• http://allrecipes.com/howto/common-ingredient-substitutions/

an extremely interesting and helpful page on alcohol substitution:

• http://whatscookingamerica.net/alcoholsub.htm