Some of our members who live overseas are having a difficult time figuring out what the “equivalent ingredient” is in their country in various recipes.
Also, some of the older recipes use a different name for an ingredient. So I thought we could compile a list of Ingredients that This for That- aka Common Equivalents for American Ingredients
Please note, some of these equivalents are for various countries such as the United Kingdom, Egypt, Australia, South Africa etc.
This For That: Common European Equivalents for American Ingredients
- Oleo in a Recipe = Butter or Margarine
- Andouille sausage = smoked sausage
- Aubergine= eggplant
- Baker’s ammonia (Hartshorn) = Baking powder
- Baking Trays = Cookie Sheets
- Baking Powder- use levure chimique but add a touch more in baked goods as American Baking Powder is Double-acting
- Bicarbonate of soda = baking soda
- Broad beans = fava beans = broad beans
- Butter lettuce = butterhead lettuce = cabbage lettuce
- Capsicum = sweet pepper or bell pepper = green or red pepper
- Castor sugar = superfine sugar = caster sugar
- Chick peas = garbanzo beans = chickpeas
- Chillies = hot peppers = chillies
- Chips = french fries
- Chocolate Chips – cooking chocolate chopped into manageable chunks
- Chokos = chayote = chayota
- (to) chop = mince = (to) chop
- Coriander = Chinese parsley = coriander
- Corned beef = salt beef = corned beef
- Cornflour = cornstarch = cornflour
- Cos lettuce = Romaine lettuce = Cos or Romaine lettuce
- Cilantro = fresh coriander
- Cream = light cream = single cream
- Corn syrup = glucose syrup- which is often only found in the larger chain stores overseas. You may have seen incorrect posts mentioning Golden Syrup as an equivalent- but these are not the same and in many recipes using golden syrup in its place will cause the recipe to fail. Don’t worry, here’s a recipe to make your own “Corn Syrup“.
- Confectioners’ sugar = icing sugar
- Cornmeal = polenta (uncooked) = farine de mais
- Cube sugar = loaf sugar = cube or lump sugar
- Dark brown sugar= Vergeoise Brune = Treacle Sugar (in France this would be sucre cassonade- ambree)
- Essence = extract
- Eggplant = eggplant or aubergine (pronounced obergine) = aubergine
- EVVO = Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Fillet (of meat) = tenderloin = fillet
- Firmly beaten egg whites = dry egg whites = firmly beaten egg whites
- Fried = pan-broiled or pan fried = fried
- Frosting = icing
- Frozen whipped topping = Cool Whip = long-life whipped UHT cream
- Frying pan = skillet
- Garbanzo beans = chickpeas
- Gelatine powder- plain powdered gelatin, such as knox
- Glace fruit = candied fruit
- Graham cracker = digestive biscuit
- Gravy beef = stew beef = gravy beef
- Great Northern beans = cannellini beans
- Grill, griller = broil, broiler = gril, griller
- Ground rice, rice flour = rice flour
- Half & half- a single cream
- Hard-boiled egg = hard cooked egg
- Heavy cream = whipping cream
- Ham steaks = gammon steaks
- Icing sugar = confectioners’ sugar = icing sugar, powdered sugar
- Jam = conserve = jam, conserve
- King prawns = jumbo shrimps = shrimps
- Lasagna noodles = lasagne sheets
- Light brown sugar = Vergeoise blonde = (in France this would be sucre cassonade- cuivree)
- Mince / minced meat = ground (meat) = mince / minced (meat)
- Molasses = treacle
- Morello or sour cherries = sour cherries = morello cherries
- Mortadella = baloney = mortadella
- Navy beans- haricot beans will work as a nice substitute
- Non-fat milk- a skimmed milk
- Oatmeal = porridge
- Offal = variety meat = organ meats aka pluck or viscera such as Scottish haggis, Jewish chopped liver, US Chitterlings, Mexican medudo, etc
- Okra = ladies fingers or gumbo
- Papaw, pawpaw = papaya = pawpaw
- Pimientos = pimientos = pimentos
- Pizza crust = pizza base
- Potato chips = potato crisps
- Pork tenderloin = pork fillet
- Plain flour = all purpose flour = AP flour (please note, Flour is processed a bit differently in England, so if you’re overseas and you’re trying to use an American recipe calling for AP flour, you’ll need to add just a touch more, about 1 tbs per cup.
- Potato flour = potato starch = potato flour
- Prawns = shrimps
- Reduced-fat milk= semi-skimmed milk
- (to) rub butter or fat into dry ingredients = cut in shortening = (to) rub butter or fat into dry ingredients
- Spring onions shallots green onions scallions
- Semisweet chocolate- plain chocolate
- Semolina = farina
- Sesame seeds = benne seeds
- Shallots, spring onion = scallions, green onions = spring onions
- Shortcrust pastry = basic pastry or shortcrust pastry = shortcrust
- Snow peas = sugar snap peas = mangetout
- Sour cream = dairy sour cream = soured cream (in France this would be Fromage Blanc)
- Stock cubes = bouillon cubes
- Saltanas = seedless white raisins or golden raisins = white raisins or saltanas
- Shortening (e.g., Crisco®) = butter or margarine, or vegetable fat spread (e.g., Stork®)
- Sweets thermometer = jellmeter = jam or candy thermometer
- Swiss roll pan = jelly-roll pan
- Tin of broth= canned beef or chicken broth
- Tomato paste = tomato puree
- Tomato sauce- Tomato Passata
- Thickened cream = heavy cream = double cream
- Unsalted butter = sweet butter = unsalted butter
- Whole wheat flour = wholemeal flour
- Worcestershire Sauce= although not the same, if you’re using this is a recipe you can use Tamarind sauce in its place with good results.
- Zucchini = courgette
- 00 Flour = Bread Flour
See Also: Foreign food items and their U.S. equivalents
Substituting Ingredients
Sometimes it’s necessary to substitute an ingredient, maybe you’ve run out, maybe you can’t find it in your country or location, etc. Here is an extensive list of substitutes for various ingredients to save you a trip to the store!
Canstock photo tvirbickis
