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Conversions & Substitutions

This section includes notes on cooking abroad, temperature conversions, quantity and measurement conversions, and both specific ingredients to avoid and to substitute for.

Measurements

This site defaults to US measurements, so both liquids and solids are generally measured by volume, using teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups rather than millilitres. Meat is measured in pounds rather than kilograms.

Temperature

Given that UK ovens with analog dials are only marked in tens of degrees and it is impossible to set them to closer than 5 degrees Celsius within the desired temperature, these conversions are approximate only. If you have an old cookbook, a moderate oven is approximately 300 degrees Fahrenheit, fast is hotter and slow is cooler.

Ingredients

Cornstarch

Cornstarch in the US is sold as cornflour in the UK. Baking soda is bicarbonate of soda, and double-acting baking powder may or may not be labeled as such. If it is unlabeled, it is probably double-acting, but the authors are unsure. Trial and error?

If you are in a country where corn is scarce (e.g. Japan), go with whatever starch in the grocery store feels like cornstarch when you poke it. Sweet potato starch is most common in Japan, and works just fine as a substitute.

Chocolate

Be careful when buying chocolate; unsweetened baking chocolate is effectively unheard of in the UK, primarily available in expensive chunks for the purpose of adding color and a hint of bitter to expensive appetizers by grating it on top. Plain baking chocolate tends to have a substantial butterfat component; do not blindly substitute for US semi-sweet baking chocolate. Instead, go to the eating chocolate section of the store and look for high quality dark (60-75%) without any dairy. I’m still working the kinks out of the white chocolate; "continental" seems to require a certain percentage of butterfat.

Vanilla

When in the UK, the Neiman Massey vanilla is roughly equivalent to McCormick’s vanilla in the US. The standard, cheaper vanillas (including Dr. Oetker) tend to be adulterated with sugar or extremely weak, adding significant liquid to the batter or frosting.

You can make your own vanilla by splitting vanilla beans and leaving them in the alcohol of your choice for 2+ months.

Cocoa Powder

In the UK, Hershey’s Cocoa is difficult (and occasionally impossible) to find. There is a vast selection of drinking chocolate, but most of it is either pre-sweetened or contains chocolate rather than baking cocoa. The Green & Black’s organic cocoa with the black band around the top is only slightly less acidic than Hershey's, and can make a Chocolate Buttermilk Cake that is both dark, dark brown and chocolatey and doesn’t sink in the middle. It also makes excellent Chocolate Pudding.

Cream and Milk

In the US, cream is relatively simple: half-and-half for coffee, heavy whipping cream for baking, and I’m not entirely sure what people buy light whipping cream for. Unless they like heavier cream in their coffee.

In the UK, cream is much more complicated. Single cream is roughly equivalent to light whipping cream, while double cream is only slightly heavier than heavy whipping cream. Extra-thick cream is like gooey sour cream in the US, but is not sour and tastes like normal cream. Never substitute extra-thick cream in a recipe calling for single or double or heavy or light cream! There are a couple of recipes in this book that refer to extra-thick cream as an ingredient. If you have some, go ahead and use it. If not, you can substitute heavy whipping cream on the understanding that the finished product will be thinner and more liquid. Lemon Posset will work with double or heavy cream, as the acid in the lemon juice thickens the cream, but it is better with extra-thick cream. Instant Cheese Sauce will not be nearly as nice with heavy whipping cream instead of extra-thick double cream, and it may need more cheese to thicken it slightly.

Sour cream and sour milk can be made by replacing 1 tablespoon of cream or milk in each cup with vinegar or lemon juice replacing the missing milk or cream. (I prefer vinegar for sour milk to use in chocolate cakes and lemon juice with cream to make sour cream.) Adding the acid to double or heavy whipping cream will produce the desired thick sour cream consistency; just mix and let sit for a couple of minutes.

In baking, the acidic properties of sour cream/yogurt/sour milk/buttermilk are (a) identical to each other and (b) similar to apple sauce. So if you are feeding a vegan/lactose intolerant friend and don't have fake yogurt on hand, you can generally substitute apple sauce. You may need to adjust the amount of flour or other liquids slightly to account for a different consistency -- if you're substituting sour cream for sour milk, add a little less flour; if apple sauce for yogurt add a little more. Apple sauce may change the flavour slightly, but it will keep the particular soured-dairy zing that make these recipes what they are (and will keep the leavening interactions consistent). Fake dairy products rarely get the acid balance right.

Butter

The main difference in butter between the US and the UK is the default quantity in which it is sold. In the US, butter is sold pre-wrapped in sticks of 1/4 pound, which is exactly equal to 1/2 cup. In Canada, butter is often sold in solid 1 pound blocks that need to be cut into 1 or 1/2 cup chunks, while in the UK, butter is sold in 250 g or 500 g blocks. Yes, you do need to shave that 1/4 inch slab off the end of a 250 g block of butter if you want your cookies to come out right.

Butter is often a catch-all term for shortening. Depending on the your preference and what you have in the fridge, you can generally substitute margarine, lard, tallow, bacon fat, or vegetable shortening for butter without any problems.

Salted or unsalted butter is a personal taste, but if the recipe calls for one and you use the other, consider adjusting the amount of salt added to balance it out. If the recipe has no additional salt, and calls for unsalted butter, you probably really do need unsalted butter.

Sugar

Plain sugar is coarser in the UK than it is in the US, but caster sugar, which is finer than plain sugar in the US (and is sometimes sold in the US and Canada as “berry sugar”) can be used if granularity is a problem as it has no added cornstarch. Icing or Confectioner’s sugar is the same in both countries. To substitute plain, table or caster sugar for icing or confectioner’s sugar, use 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon of plain sugar with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to make 1 cup of icing sugar.

Flour

To substitute all-purpose (US) or plain (UK) flour for cake flour, use use 3/4 of a cup of plain flour and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 1 cup of flour.

Outside the US, strong flour refers to flour with high gluten content, and is roughly equivalent to the US bread flour.

Do not use pre-leavened or self-rising flour in any recipe unless specifically directed to do so.

Meat

If cooking for vegetarians, a lot of meat-based stews are also quite good with lentils. Stir fry is delicious with tofu. A touch of smoked paprika can give a nice smoky flavour to a stew you're leaving a flavourful or smoked meat out of.