Can I ask about how to use a specific ingredient? (AKA: Culinary Uses Guidelines)

Question

I have an ingredient that I'm not sure what to do with, can I ask how to use it? Can I ask for recipes including it?

Answer 1

A question asking how to use a specific ingredient is obviously about cooking, but it may not always be appropriate for a question and answer site.

In particular, when the ingredient in question is something commonly found and there are many possible uses involving it, then it will probably solicit a lot of answers, and questions which have lots of answers are not very useful (see this answer for why that is).

There are also an unlimited number of 'Uses of X' questions about common ingredients. We have to consider what would happen if we started to allow 'What are some uses for onions?' and 'What are some uses for chicken?'. Where would it end? These questions are recipe swap questions in disguise. And those are not allowed.

When the ingredient in question is rare or unusual then it will probably get fewer answers, which is generally preferable, and which will probably be more informative to people.

This implies that we will have to make a decision about which 'Uses for X' questions should be allowed and which should be considered Off Topic.

There are some guidelines both for asking and answering these sorts of questions.

When asking a question of this sort we should try and restrict the ingredients to:

• Things which normally would be considered waste. Questions about stale bread and apple peel are existing examples of this.

• Things which are not usually associated with cooking but are edible. Questions about hops and lavender are existing examples of this.

• Things which are extremely rare in most regions and thus not easy to find recipes for. This is obviously the most subjective, but we could consider things which are not available in a supermarket as the yardstick. This is not perfect, and any other suggestions are welcome. A question about sumac is an existing example of this. Please do your own homework and try the recipe search engines first.

When answering questions of this form we should consider:

• Classes of uses are best. eg:

  • Used for flavouring cakes is preferable to a cake recipe

  • Flavour pairings in preference to a specific recipe

• Your favourite recipe containing the ingredient is not generally going to be useful

So if you have a question of this form, go through this check list before asking it or it is likely to be closed.

Answer 2

Additional advice for people who have had a question closed and been referred to these guidelines:

If you are looking for information on how to use a common ingredient, please see the following question:

• How does one find recipes given an ingredient rather than the recipe name?