The best ground beef substitutes for winter meal prep, ground turkey, bison, a lentil blend, mushrooms, TVP, tempeh, tofu, and mashed beans, only work if you replace the fat and boost the seasoning that beef was quietly handling for you. I meal prep every single Sunday for the week ahead, and ground beef got expensive
The safest produce habits are washing under cold running water without soap, drying thoroughly, keeping produce away from raw meat, refrigerating cut produce promptly, and checking FDA recall alerts, since no amount of washing reliably removes Cyclospora once produce is already contaminated. I’ve been paying closer attention to my own kitchen habits since the Cyclospora
The best Amazon Father’s Day gifts for dad are the ones he will actually use at the grill, and every pick here is something he will actually reach for, not just unwrap and set aside. I have a rule about Father’s Day gifts. If it lives in a drawer for six months and comes out
Farina is a hot wheat cereal made from milled wheat endosperm, and Cream of Wheat is simply the most well-known brand of it. The two terms describe the same food, and the best substitutes are oatmeal or Cream of Rice for breakfast and semolina or cornmeal for baking. I grew up eating Cream of Wheat
The best soybean paste substitute depends entirely on which type you are working with: for Korean doenjang, use red miso at a 1:1 ratio; for spicy Chinese doubanjiang, use a blend of gochujang and miso; for non-spicy Chinese yellow bean paste, use regular miso; and for sweet tianmianjiang, use hoisin sauce. The first time I
The best Neufchâtel cheese substitute is full-fat cream cheese at a 1:1 ratio for the American block version, and Brie or Camembert for the French original. The two versions are completely different cheeses sharing one name, and knowing which one you have determines which substitute actually works. I want to start with something that confused
The best Montasio cheese substitute is Asiago for its closest flavor profile, Fontina for frico caldo and creamy melted dishes, and Gruyère for frico croccante and any recipe where you want a firm, nutty cheese that browns beautifully. Montasio was the cheese that genuinely surprised me. I ordered it from an Italian specialty shop to
The best Red Leicester cheese substitute is mature Cheddar for everyday cooking, Double Gloucester for cheese boards and visual matching, and Mimolette for the closest flavor-and-color twin. All three capture different aspects of Red Leicester’s nutty, buttery, orange character. I have a soft spot for Red Leicester because it is the cheese that made me
The best substitute for Camembert cheese is Brie, which is in the same bloomy-rind family, melts the same way, and works at a 1:1 ratio in every Camembert application from cheese boards to baked dishes. I have been asked the Camembert versus Brie question more times than I can count, and I want to give
The best Catupiry cheese substitute is mascarpone for cooking and pasta, or a blend of softened cream cheese with heavy cream for pizza and coxinha fillings. Both come closest to Catupiry’s silky, mild, pourable creaminess without the tang and density of plain American cream cheese. I first tasted Catupiry at a Brazilian friend’s birthday party
The best Robiola cheese substitute is fresh goat cheese (chèvre) for boards and spreads, and mascarpone for pasta sauces and risotto. Both match either the tangy freshness or the silky, creamy richness that makes Robiola so special in Italian cooking. I need to correct something before this article goes any further. The previous version of
The best scamorza cheese substitute is low-moisture mozzarella for unsmoked scamorza, and smoked mozzarella for scamorza affumicata. Both are in the same pasta filata family and deliver the same stretch, melt, and structure that makes scamorza so valuable in Italian cooking. Scamorza was not a cheese I thought much about until an Italian friend served
The best caciocavallo cheese substitute is provolone, which is in the same pasta filata (stretched-curd) family, has nearly the same flavor profile, and works at a 1:1 ratio in every caciocavallo application from pizza to pasta to cheese boards. I first encountered caciocavallo on a trip through Southern Italy, where it was hanging in pairs
The best Tilsit cheese substitute is Havarti, which shares the same semi-soft, buttery, mild character. No wonder, since Havarti was literally called “Danish Tilsiter” before it got its own name in 1952. Tilsit is one of those cheeses that shows up in European and German recipes and leaves American home cooks doing a double take.
The best Longhorn cheese substitute is plain Colby, which is the exact same cheese pressed into a different shape, giving you identical flavor, texture, and melt with no compromise. I had never actually thought about what Longhorn cheese was until I found myself standing in a grocery store looking for it and realizing I had