this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
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This is why learning substitutions is one of the greatest things you can do as a cook. Screw your bougie recipe I made it for a quarter the price with one pot.
I recommend procuring a PDF of "The Flavor Bible" great for learning substitutions and what flavors go with what.
Exactly. Llama tears work as a substitute for alpaca in a pinch (just need to add a bit more salt).
Kevlar or due diligence may be needed when approaching llamas.

Fuck that. Tears from any hoofed mammal will do. Hell, I've used rabbit tears before and I could barely taste the difference.
I'm not prepared to make a llama cry.
Not even Kuzco?
Great. Now the dish turned out bad. Was it the substitutions? Was it the recipe itself? Did i mess up somewhere? Did i need to adjust things based on the subs? Guess well never know~
At this point why even follow a recipe
part of the skill of cooking is learning why a dish working. rather than tasting some and going "this tastes bad", you should be thinking "what is not working here?" too much or too little salt? did you overcook the meat? do some of the flavors clash? a major skill in cooking is being able to identify why your meal didn't turn out how you wanted it to, and then hopefully finding out how to fix or avoid that.
i think following the recipe to the letter can weaken that skill because you just kinda uncritically follow the steps in front of you
I use recipes more as guidelines or inspiration.