It happens all the time. I post a recipe that’s super easy to make only to find out that people can’t make it because they don’t have the _____ (insert weird American ingredient there). I forget sometimes that there are people all over the world that visit 30days (how flattering!) and that they don’t have access to weird American ingredients that are common in the United States. I asked for help on my Facebook page for things that are specific to the US and got some good responses.
Josh lived in Brazil for 2 years and was dying for barbecue sauce, peanut butter and jelly amongst other random things found only in the US. His family would send packages to him with all kinds of things that probably seemed weird to Brazilians. Just like when I visited Brazil with him where they treat avocados as sweet instead of savory … so weird to me! Avocado shakes? Say what?
In an effort to help friends around the globe, her are the substitutes for ingredients that are hard to find:
White Cake Mix from Your Cup of Cake:
Boxed cake mix is used instead of making a cake from scratch. It cuts down on time and can also be used in other dessert recipes. It is inexpensive in the US so people us it often.
Bisquick from My Baking Addiction:
Bisquick is used to make bisquits, pancakes, all kinds of breakfast-y recipes.
Make your own graham crackers
Graham crackers are a type of cracker – often eaten as a snack. They are used for crusts in cheesecake and other baking too.
Cornstarch
This one is a little trickier as cornstarch is a thickener. It is used in different ways so it’s important to know what you need it for. My Recipes breaks it down for you.
Cool Whip from Something Swanky
Cool Whip is a version of whipped cream. It is pre-made and easy to spread over desserts, added to all types of recipes.
Homemade Pudding Mix from Brown Eyed Baker
Instant Pudding Mix is used in baking to make it more moist. You can make it on it’s own as a treat too.
Marshmallow Fluff from Bright Eyed Baker
Marshmallow Fluff is a super sweet spreadable. It’s used in fruit dip recipes a lot. And for cupcakes. Anything sweet.
Buttermilk from the Kitchn
Buttermilk is the liquid leftover after butter has been churned. So it’s low-fat and high protein – it ferments to the point of tartness. Did you know that? It’s used in ranch dressing, dips, fried chicken and more.
Half and Half from the Kitchn
Half and half is a blend of equal parts whole milk and light cream. It’s known in the UK as half cream. And it can’t be whipped because it doesn’t have enough fat. I have used it in sauces for dinner recipes, and is great when you want something richer than milk but not quite as heavy as cream. It’s used in coffee a lot. (but I don’t drink coffee so I’m not sure how it tastes ;)
Cheez Whiz and Velveeta Cheese from Nourishing Joy
I don’t normally cook with either of these but some recipes call for it — in soups or dips. It’s processed cheese but I think these homemade versions would be better!
These are also good to know in case you don’t have the ingredients on hand but need to have a substitute in your cooking or baking.
What other ingredients am I missing?
Corn syrup ?
(To make marshmallow fluff)
Xx
Shortening …? We don’t have it Ireland
Shortening in Ireland would be cooken or frytex…
shortening is Trex in England so probably the same in Ireland
Brown sugar (treacle sugar is not the same), corn syrup, condensed milk, chili powder (can substitute ground chilies, but maybe half the amount the recipe calls for or less), liquid smoke, self-rising flour (also a flour guide for all the different flours of Europe – i.e. – griffig flour?!? Shortening/Crisco and canned pumpkin. Baking powder.
We had a great “butter ruler” in one posting where someone had worked out how many grams for a stick of butter, for a tablespoon, etc. That thing was so awesome.
When we visited my American parents stationed in England during Thanksgiving, Mom tried to make a good old fashioned Southern pecan pie. She tried to substitute something she found in the market, for the Karo Syrup needed in the recipe. The pie never firmed up. What could she have used to substitute for Karo Syrup and make a pecan pie thicken up?
As an American living in the UK, I know folks use Golden Syrup. It’s a sugar syrup but has a more distinctive flavor than corn syrup, which just tastes sweet, so it does alter the end product. But works the same texture wise. I use it for 7-minute frosting, etc too.
I would like to know what exactly cream of tartar is. I have often seen this in recipes, but have no idea what it is or where I could find this in Germany.
I live in Ukraine and we don’t have cream of tartar here either. It can be obtained only from some laboratories or drug stores. We have always been using citric acid (lemon acid) for exactly the same purposes in similar quantities. Funny enough, it is not available in US stores widely and I heard that they can also get citric acid only from laboratories. I’ve come across some European recipe which called for citric acid and saw questions from Americans “What the hell is citric acid and where do I get it?” :)
Sorry, would like to correct myself. Citric(lemon) acid is actually more acidic than cream of tartar, so you need much less of it. In American recipes I often see 1/2 tsp cream of tartar while we usually use a teeny tiny pinch of lemon acid and you can quite feel the sourness.
It must be called Zitronensäure in German and you probably have Dr Oetker’s one in your stores. Should be in the section with other baking stuff – baking powder, cake mixes, cinnamon, etc.
You can buy citric acid in the grocery stores in America but it is in the section with canning jars where people buy supplies to make jam etc.
http://simmerandboil.cookinglight.com/2015/05/26/substitute-for-cream-of-tartar/
Not only do you need to find substitutions, but you have to figure out what the substitutions are called in the language of that country if it is not English speaking. The dual language dictionaries I found did not have spices. I had to learn what the spices looked like to find them. Another thing is that baking powder in the US is double acting, in Romania, I could only find single acting baking powder. When using single acting baking powder, you have to let baked goods set to rise before baking. Unfortunately that doesn’t work for treats like pancakes. It is also helpful to know the chemical names for ingredients like baking soda which can be found as sodium bicarbonate. Sometimes you can find ingredients that work even better than their American equivalent. We found that we liked the Romanian Hulala better than Cool Whip, It was fantastic in coffee also.
This is really helpful, thank you!
Now can someone please explain to me the difference between “creamer” and milk?
Creamer is a non-dairy liquid or powder, usually flavored, to add to coffee in place of milk or cream. My husband uses it because he is lactose intolerant. it also has a much longer storage life than regular dairy products.
Milk is from a cow (or goat) What Americans usually call “creamer” is heavy whipping cream, or an artificially flavored non dairy product we put in coffee. Completely artificial and horrible for us…but so delicious! Lol
ahaha! i still can’t make those substitutions because i dont know what is (or can’t find) cream of tartar, shortening, corn syrup (light or not), baking soda, heavy cream, grass fed gelatin, and so on…
These are the american strange ingredients, and that’s why nobody, outside america, can do your recipes…
(I live in Portugal, Europe)
Half and half is called single cream in the UK and corn starch is called cornflour. I am a Brit living in the US for the past 6+ years, it took me a long time to work out the substitutes! Pretty much got it down now, still interesting article though!
Single cream is much heavier than half and half. At least in Canada. It’s 10% milk fat, I think. Single cream in Britain is quite close to whipping cream in Canada. Can’t say for certain about the US; just assumed it would be similar to Canadian dairy.
Thank you for these recipes,sometimes I think I would like to try a recipe but I didn’t know what to subsitute for some of the ingredients. Regards Joan.
Sorry but we don’t have half cream in the UK!! We have single, double or whipping creams! I think the nearest thing to Graham crackers here are Digestive biscuits.
Box cake mixes are far more expensive than making your own cakes from scratch, plus in the UK we do not have much choice!
As an Australian I’m puzzled by your biscuits (pre made store ones). Not sure what they are. Scones? Love to know. Also what our equivalent of your fridge mix used in cinnamon rolls. Looks amazing but I’m not sure how to make it with local ingredients. Keep going…translations are great
They are more of a soft flaky bread- moist and not sweet.
They are very like scones, they are just eaten differently in the US, usually with gravy!
Actually, I prefer butter and jelly or marmalade on my biscuits…they’re a great all-purpose bread product, really, not always with gravy! ;) Unless scones are quite different outside the U.S., proper biscuits are not that similar. Southern biscuits are light and flaky, with layers. The scones I have experience with are much more dense and hard. I’m curious if that’s because they’re done incorrectly around here, though!
Yes, I should have said, they are very like UK scones, (my reply was to the Australian who is used to scones like the UK ones) light and fluffy (if made correctly), the scones they sell over in the US are nothing like UK scones. UK scones are like US biscuits but pretty much always eaten there as a sweet treat.
I agree. All the locals (I’m an American living in the UK) always say how scones and our biscuits are the same thing. Similar I guess, but definitely not the same!