The problem of substitutes in cookery reduces itself to three factors: fat, sugar, and flour.

Fat

The first one is easily disposed of: use butter substitutes, oils, hardened oil, and clarified drippings in place of butter and lard in cooking. In substituting fats, it should be remembered that seven-eighths of a cup of oil or lard is the equivalent of one cup of butter; fourteen and one-half tablespoons of hardened oil is equivalent to sixteen tablespoons of butter. Also it is well to bear in mind that many of our cakes and prepared dishes have been richer in fat than at all necessary, so that it is often possible to cut down more or less the amount called for in pre-war recipes.

Sugar

There are two ways of saving sugar: by making things less sweet, and by using molasses, syrups, or honey in place of all or a part of the required sugar. In nearly all of the dessert and cake recipes that we have been in the habit of using, the amount of sweetening may be reduced with satisfactory results. In substituting molasses and syrups for sugar, leave out as much liquid as there is molasses or syrup added. In using honey, deduct one-fifth cup of liquid for each cup of honey substituted. Dark cakes may be made without any sugar, or with a small amount of brown sugar in addition to the molasses or syrup used. Add one teaspoon of soda for each cup of molasses substituted for sugar.

Flour

At first, the substitution of unfamiliar flours for wheat flour presents serious difficulties, but the acquisition of a few fundamental principles and a little practical experience soon enables one to use substitute flours very satisfactorily.

Corn flour is a new acquaintance to most of us, but corn meal is an old friend, although one whose possibilities we have never realized. In some sections we have been confined to white meal, in others to yellow meal. Now we have increasingly available both white and yellow flour, as well as white and yellow meal. In substituting corn products for wheat flour, use from three-fourths to seven-eighths as much. Corn flour and corn meal give the best results when combined with one-third or one-half wheat flour, as they contain so little gluten; but very satisfactory quick breads and sponge cake may be made wholly of corn.

Barley flour, in particular, has been the bane of the housewife. The first barley flour put on the market was all barley, but now, under government regulation, three or four per cent wheat is added; and the result is a flour which can be used alone or in large part in almost everything but yeast bread. The product is, of course, much darker, and has the characteristic barley taste unless counteracted by other flavors, but in time we shall become accustomed to that and think nothing of it.

For yeast bread, from twenty-five to fifty per cent wheat flour is needed in order to give a satisfactory loaf. In many cases, a mixture of two or more substitutes gives better results than one alone. Brown gravies and sauces, muffins, biscuits, noodles, dark cakes, sponge cakes, and many puddings may be made wholly of barley flour.

A good deal is being said about the acid in barley, and the necessity for using limewater or some other agent to counteract it. When it is remembered that entire wheat flour and corn products contain almost as much acid as barley, the necessity for neutralizing it in the one case, when it is not done in the other, seems still an open question. Yeast bread made with barley flour may have a slightly acid, but not unpleasant, flavor which increases as the bread grows older; but baking powder and soda mixtures have no noticeable acid taste.

With such substitutes as cornstarch, potato flour, and rice flour, it is necessary in many cases to use from twenty-five to fifty per cent wheat, barley, or rye flour, to furnish gluten enough to make them stand up. Sponge and angel cakes may be made wholly of starch flours; "butter" cakes, muffins, and similar doughs requiring a large number of eggs, may be made with at least half of such flours.

In making over old recipes, or for reversing the process when the war is over, the following table gives approximately the amount of substitute flour to use in place of pastry flour, as that is the kind of wheat flour generally used in baking powder mixtures. In substituting for bread flour, use two tablespoons more to a cup than when substituting for pastry flour. For instance, use one cup instead of seven-eighths cup of barley.