I was inspired to make ranch dressing today. Recipe in hand I headed to the pantry and fridge. No buttermilk. Texted my neighbour. We have a steady traffic of ingredients between our houses. But no luck. She had none either. BUT she sent me a link for a buttermilk substitute! Awesome. Having made that and left it to brew I gathered the rest of the ingredients. Shock horror! No worcestershire sauce. Not often used, I knew I had a bottle in the pantry cupboard. Not anymore. Ten years of faithful service and it was empty! Having made my own buttermilk substitute, I wondered if there was one for worcestershire sauce. I hit pay dirt. Lots of them.
So having made the ranch dressing, I dug up my cookbook with the handwritten substitute notes. Thought I’d share my learned wisdom with you.
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (or vinegar) to 1 cup of milk (full fat or skim). Whisk it in. Leave for half an hour to curdle. Magic.
1/4 tsp sugar to 8 drops of tabasco sauce. Dissolve and use.
Mix 3/4 cup milk to 1/3 cup just melted butter. Makes 1 cup heavy cream
1 – 1.5 tbsp vegetable oil mixed with 1 – 1.5 tbsp water and 1 tbsp baking powder per egg
There are so many you are best checking out the website if you want more options. Some of them you would not believe – bananas, buttermilk (there it is again)
This is an interesting one –
Egg whites: Aquafaba is the best option. Use 3 tablespoons (45 grams) for each egg white you want to replace.
It is, believe it or not, the cooking liquid from cans of beans. It is amazing stuff.
I learned about it back in 2017 for this very same reason – looking for substitutes. I was so fascinated I wrote a post. And then, as is sometimes the case, promptly forgot about it.
Tonight we feast Indian with substitute ranch dressing dipping sauce for the samosas.
Raili Tanska
Do not give up – be creative
Yum – can I come for tea?
Anytime Opher. I might add, it was yum !!
Having been a housewife in England during the 1940’s when everythibg was rationed my mother was a genius at finding substitutes. I still have a recipe for cake without egg sonewhere – I think it used makt vinegar or sonething. We made yoghurt from sour milk I know. You are very clever and resourceful, Raili!!
I just made a cake called the American Wacky Cake or depression cake. It is eggless and the whole thing is mixed in the cake tin!
Those housewives were geniuses!
Yea for subs …but there are some thing just better with the real thing.
The liquid from canned beans? Weird – I don’t suppose it can be whipped up to make meringues, can it?… and there was me expecting to read about one of your hilarious kitchen disasters… 🙂
Well Jane, I could have told a kitchen disaster story from a few days ago. In fact, I very well may write it up today.But to the point of your question – yes, you can whip it up for meringues. Weirder still, huh. Not tried it myself. Given my recent kitchen failures, I am hesitant to step foot into any new ventures at this stage! If you do, let me know how it goes.
I might be lazy and pass the info on to my vegan brother. He loves paddling in his kitchen.
I Look forward to reading about your kitchen disaster…
Yeah, same here. Interesting, but heck, I don’t want a bean water flooded kitchen !
Death by bean water drowning – what an embarrassing way to go 😉
Yeah – it could be ‘explosive’