Have you ever spent the good part of a day trying to find a specific ingredient for a recipe? Maybe you had to spend an hour or two on research alone because you had no idea what it was or where to find it. And perhaps it was something so singular, you had to special order it online and wait 5 to 7 business days before finally being able to tackle that particular recipe.
For the most part, there are always acceptable substitutes. Sometimes, you can simply omit the ingredient and call it a day. But once in a while, a recipe actually hinges on one or two specific items, or perhaps you’re trying to create a particular dish for someone and you know it just won’t be the same without that ingredient.
I know many of us would go the extra mile if it meant creating something truly special in the kitchen, and I thought it might be fun to share our stories of just how far we’ve gone to do just that—our adventures in the search for that elusive ingredient or even tool to make a recipe work. So tell us:
Do you have any stories about your adventures tracking down an item for a recipe?
A few days ago, I was tasked with finding a specific kind of vermouth for a special cocktail. Now, I’m someone you rarely find standing by the bar or holding a drink, so I had no idea what I was agreeing to. I searched online, made phone calls, and even expanded my search to include two neighboring states, just to find this particular ingredient. I asked if there was an acceptable substitute and was told that it absolutely had to be that item. Five hours later, I finally gave up and decided to do the errands I put on hold while trying to go from here to tarnation trying to track down this bottle of vermouth.
It was 9:30 PM when I walked into our local grocery to pick up some coconut milk and chorizo (that’s a whole other story in itself). I noticed they had a new wine section and I decided to check it out. Lo and behold, there on their vermouth shelf sat four bottles of the vermouth I had just spent 5 hours trying to track down.
Moral of the story: Don’t underestimate your local grocery. Larger moral of the story: Don’t volunteer to procure something you know nothing about.
How about you? Have any stories to tell about searching for hard-to-find ingredients? Or maybe you discovered a substitute that you can share, and spare us all from hours of Googling and driving around. Tell us your story below!
22 Comments
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tara on 10.12.2014
I live in Iran and I can’t find good and qualified mozzarella and the other cheese like that. Factories in Iran produce different kind of cheese but they are not good at all. Also I have not seen vanilla beans in our stores. I don’t know is in Tehran or not.
On the other hand I can always find the best saffron, pistachio, almond, nut and seeds like cardamom that we use them sometimes as a home remedy . Saffron is one of Iran’s exports.
Philly // Together in Italy on 9.29.2014
I have never been able to find real Buffalo milk mozzarella like they have in Italy.
Philly
http://togetherinitaly.com/about-our-family/
http://togetherinitaly.com
Rachel on 9.28.2014
I usually abandon my search for things. I have been trying to find ancho chili powder for years. I finally came across it one day in a random grocery store.
kay43026 on 9.27.2014
It’s really hard to find QUALITY, affordable vanilla beans! I mean, they are readily available in the grocery…all of 1-2 beans in a little glass jar…if you want to sell your first born!
I’ve ordered from Amazon. They are just okay…but you get a LOT.
My favorite is at Costco in a little glass cigar-case-looking container…but they only have them at holiday (Thanksgiving/Christmas) time. The last several years I’ve purchased several containers (probably 10-12 in a container), and ‘ration’ then out throughout the year. Depending on the recipe, I’ll use either the ‘Amazon ones’ or pull out the big guns and use the good stuff.
That said…it’s 2014…why can’t ingredients be easy to find??!!
Terri @ that's some good cookin' on 9.25.2014
As a matter of fact, I’ve been having an ingredient frustration for the past couple of weeks. Maple extract. I want real, honest to goodness, maple extract. I thought it would be a matter of zipping over to my favorite “has everything” grocery store and picking up a bottle of the extract. Nope. So far, I haven’t found any stores in my area that sell anything except mapleine or imitation maple extract. An internet search has revealed that it is not a very common product and there are only a few places that sell it. Who knew?
neilu on 9.25.2014
Living in California with such a diversity in culture and cousin makes it easy to find everything and I mean Everything. Recently in the huge Korean market ( I’m not Korean) close to my house I saw Alligator Feet. I do not know what that thing is for or even it is edible at all. We have it all, Indian, Asian, Armenian, Russian, Jewish kosher, Middle Eastern and Persian…..you name it. I guess for us Hard to Find means Hard to Find well Taste. We can find any type of Vegetables and Fruits at anytime of year but when it is out of season it does not taste as it should and this is “Hard to Find” for us.
CQ on 9.25.2014
I always thought I could find anything in Manhattan, but I have never once found an escargot that wasn’t canned or frozen and smothered in herb butter. Restaurants must get them fresh or frozen from somewhere, why can’t I! I also have a major gripe about having to go all the way to Brooklyn to get food-grade lye.
SVF on 9.25.2014
There are over half a million people living in my county, in the western US. We claim to value such things as home cooking. I was surprised that I had to go to three different grocery stores to find whole vanilla beans. That seems like such a common ingredient.
Autumn on 9.25.2014
I am an American living in Austria. The things I have tried and failed to find over here include vanilla extract, mint extract, chocolate chips, cornstarch, baking soda, molasses, corn syrup, ground nutmeg, rosemary, cranberries, cooking spray, measuring spoons, and bacon. I rely on a combination of substituting (e.g. honey for molasses), importing (required an extra suitcase during my last visit home!), and sucking it up. God, I miss bacon.
Verlene on 9.24.2014
Just TRY to find sorghum in Colorado. Thank goodness for the internet.
Leslee on 9.24.2014
I lived in the ‘high country’ (mountains) of Colorado for 15 years and ordered from Penzey’s all the time. They do a terrific job and their catalog is a wealth of information. We left the mountains and now I work for a family-owned spice shop located in Fort Collins, CO. We have a website: http://www.oldtownspiceshop.com and sell cocoa nibs, smoked salt, and lots of other hard-to-find ingredients and extracts. I also always make sure to cruise the aisles of any ethnic market I come across–you never know what you’ll find!
JoyK on 9.24.2014
Living in South America until just two weeks ago, we struggled to find the simplest ingredients such as baking soda, maple flavoring, vanilla beans, and pickles. When we traveled from the U.S. we loaded our suitcases with cooking ingredients.
Patricia @ ButterYum on 9.24.2014
I used to have to order hard to find spices from Penzey’s (great place, btw), but we now have an international grocery store in our town that sells hard to find spices at really great prices. Don’t be afraid to check out your local Hispaic, Asian, Indian, etc markets.
Elleagee on 9.24.2014
For those looking for both the traditional and less common spices/herbs/seasonings (and plan your menus ahead of time), get a Penzeys Spices catalog – there are very few that they don’t carry and they are very reasonably priced. The quality is also much higher than those that have been sitting somewhere on a shelf. You may also be lucky enough to be close to one of their stores. Here is a link to their site: http://www.penzeys.com/
Elaine Pool on 9.24.2014
Two things: saffron & fenugreek! Saffron is essential to paella, & very hard to find (or afford). Cost Plus World Market does stock it, hooray! The fenugreek is used to make my own curry powder, & I had given up after looking everywhere. Lo and behold, a little “world foods” market opened up around the corner from my office, & I got a BIG bag of fenugreek! Oh, the humanity….
But I would love to find a source of cacao nibs to use in cooking – any ideas?
C. L. ( Cheryl ) "Cheffie Cooks" Wiser on 9.24.2014
I am pretty lucky here in Florida with an influx of people from all over the world who come on extended holidays, 6 weeks to 6 months. I have a Seafood Market, Meat/Butcher Market, Greek Market, Mexican-Latino Market, Huge Fresh Produce Market all within a few miles of my home. The large grocery chain stores carry things I never even heard of before, so no shortage on finding items for any recipe I am creating, tweaking or making!!! Yes, I know I am blessed! Happy Cooking and all that stuff. Cheryl.
carol on 9.24.2014
we used to live in a small but congested town, they had a gourmet store where i could find spices and such you cant find in grocery stores. and it was a few blocks from home. well, we moved 10 years ago to the country and you cant find anything here. thank god for amazon!
Shawna C on 9.24.2014
Not exactly an ingredient, but my team at work has a communal Keurig machine, but the fridge for storing milk is shared with about a hundred people, and milk left there will either get stolen of thrown out by people who are certain the bad smell they smell HAS to be your milk, no matter how fresh it actually is. So I discovered International Delight non-dairy creamers in individual creamer size that don’t need refrigeration so I can keep them at my desk for my tea and coffee. The problem is, there is nothing like that in individual creamer size where I live (the capital city of Canada – not exactly a remote place), not even a similar product by a different company. So my father in-law bootlegs them to me from his cross-border shopping trips to the States. Even then, he can’t get his hands on my favourite flavour (amaretto). Next time I make my yearly pilgrimage to Wisconsin – where I first saw them, and the amaretto was everywhere – I’m bringing back a freakin’ case of those things.
KimP on 9.24.2014
I’m from a small town and everything is hard to find. I have to order online andouille sausage, good chorizo, pink salt, etc.
Spring on 9.24.2014
In the same grain as the biscuit cutter – Not even kidding, I spent 2 years looking for my vegetable steamer – the metal kind that expands to fit whichever pan you put it in. Target, walmart, specialty cooking stores … and then I moved back west. I found one and danced all the way home with it, and now I see them everywhere!!!
Helena Mouta on 9.24.2014
Maybe it’s not such a hard to find ingredient in the US, but in Portugal it’s practically impossible to find cocoa nibs of cocoa beans. So, when my husband went to S. Tomé e Príncipe (an archipelago off the coast of Africa, right on the equator, with some of the best chocolate in the world), the only thing I told him not to come home without was cocoa beans!
Susan on 9.24.2014
It’s amazing what can be hard to find when you start searching for something specific. I had a Tupperware biscuit cutter for years, and then one day it was just missing. My husband and I searched high and low and it was nowhere to be found. I decided I would just have to purchase a new one. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, the grocery store and none of them had what I wanted. No biscuit cutters. After a couple of weeks of fruitless searching, I finally found a cookie cutter that I thought would fill the bill. It works wonderfully. Since then I have seen “biscuit cutters” all over the place. Maybe there was a run on biscuit cutters and all the stores had to restock?