Hey Veeky Forums, my mom recently tried a lemon square on her trip to america and thought they were great, which is why I'd like to surprise her with a batch of my own. Trouble is, lemons aren't easily obtained in my country, is it okay to substitute lime juice for lemon?
Also, general /baking/ thread, I guess.
no
it makes mustard gas
No. You surely could make something tasty using lime, but it wouldn't be lemon squares.
What god forsaken country does not have access to lemons?
What do I substitute for worstershire sauce?
Just make Lime squares
Which Worcestershire sauce? Western can be substituted with a roughly even mix of malt or white vinegar, molasses, and Viet fish sauce, while Japanese is basically A1 or HP.
I'm sure lime would work. Key lime pie is a desert made with limes. Definitely worth a try. But since limes and lemons grow in the same climate, what happened to your lemons?
key lime pie is made with key limes, not limes
>my mom recently tried a lemon square on her trip to america and thought they were great, which is why I'd like to surprise her with a batch of my own. Trouble is, lemons aren't easily obtained in my country, is it okay to substitute lime juice for lemon?
They're called "Lemon Bars" as well as "squares" OP, to help your googling recipes, and you can make them with lime juice, key lime juice, tangerine juice, as long as it is FRESH, not bottled/pasteurized juice which has a funky flavor. Lemons have their own unique floral aroma and flavor, so they will be nearly the same, but not worse, just like the fruit you used. They will be equally tart and sweet, chewy soft and absolutely worth making. The base is a shortbread cookie recipe, so must be real butter, k? You can add nuts to the base. Feel free to grate a little zest into the recipe even if it doesn't state to do that.
I would trust these two people:
foodnetwork.com
marthastewart.com
And, here's one that might have the lime juice (considered more tart) to sugar ratio right.
myrecipes.com
P.S. They are even more delicious cold.
>What do I substitute for worstershire sauce?
anchovies, thai fish sauce, mushrooms, pinch of allspice, half the amount of A1
Worchestershire is kind of unique but you'll pick up the base of it from A1 sauce, which is like worchestershire combined with tomatoes and tamarind.
Which recipe did you need worchestershire for?
It's in a lot of recipes. And it might be pointless because I don't like using fish product. So fish sauce and anchovies don't work for me. I have soy sauce though and could easily get some a1.
Yeah it would work, limes are better than lemons anyway desu
>key lime not regular lime
Well fucking lah-di-dah! And just how are they different? Oh, one is grown in the Florida Keys! Next you'll tell me I can't squeeze my own orange juice unless they're grown in Broward County. Yeah, fuck off.
I don't understand...
Are you someone who has never cooked with it or owned it, only read about it? There are recipes I wouldn't even bother making if I didn't have some worchestershire, like welsh rarebit or beer cheese, because they are such distinctive flavors that you don't get without it. There are other recipes that call for it, but which, even if I had the worchestershire in my friend, I wouldn't use it anyway. People can really overuse it (Ramsey) in far too many things, in a big way.
Worchestershire is famously old. It's really the Western world's equivalent of fermented fish or bean sauces in Asia. A1, HP are entirely not unique either, with every country having their own version of it, in the Caribbean, such as pickapeppa, or Lizano in Costa Rica, but has a base that is pretty similar in method to making worchestershire, and comes from colonialism days. Of all of them, I think Pickapeppa from Jamaica retains some of the more expensive ingredients in the original recipes, more mango, more raisin, more tamarind, probably some banana in there (heralds the banana ketchup idea or chili sauce). Lizano introduces that cumin into the mix and less vinegar and sweetness both. You do NOT taste the anchovies, but they are needed. All top secret recipes, too. Umami, savory, fermented. Ever had marmite?
So, what did you want to make? I could make a better substitution maybe?
As long as you can get every other ingredient, you can substitute basically any other fresh fruit juice for lemons and a pinch of citric acid or tamarind if it's not tart enough
Most countries have local citrus, maybe try that as a close substitute? Calamansi or pomelo? Amanatsu?
I appreciate the offer, but it's not something I'm currently planning. It was for the future when I look up recipes for stuff. I always vary ingredients to my taste and make variations anyways. But when I see a recipe uses Worsrerschir sauce I'll often skip it and find one that doesn't, because like you said it gives it that distinct flavor.
>Well fucking lah-di-dah! And just how are they different? Oh, one is grown in the Florida Keys!
No who you're replying to, but persian limes, the market's green lime of popularity, and key limes are pretty different cultivars.
Key Limes are mostly now grown from Michoacan region of Mexico now, no groves in the Florida Keys of course, and the spanish word "limon" in all the mexican recipes is because the key lime is in fact the actual lemon of mexico. Feel free to only buy key limes when making mexican food for authenticity.
Key limes are far tarter than what you and I call the "persian lime." In fact the Persian lime is thought to be a hybrid cross between lemons and key limes, key limes are by way of Persia to the caribbean and central mexico and Florida from Asia, where they were a cultivar hybrid too, from citrons and something else. But we don't call them Persian limes.
Anyway, the key lime has a distinctive flavor and you better believe it they are not interchangeable or the same. You might not care, but they're as different as the sour orange needed to make your mojo criollo naranjada.
>tfw living in nolemonistan
>And just how are they different?
They are different species user... "Lime" is most commonly Persian lime (but there are other species as well), a hybrid of key lime and lemon. Are you going to tell me lemon and lime are the same thing as well?
buy lemon juice at the store and use limes for zest. your stores should have lemon juice if not that's straight depravity
thanks dude! I was worried that limes would be more sour and ruin the recipe
Serious question, where do you live that lemons are hard to come by?
>Are you going to tell me lemon and lime are the same thing as well?
Well, yeah, they basically are.
You can literally turn any fruit juice into curd, I've made lemon-lime-tangelo bars before.
I rest my case
That post wasn't me who you originally responded to. I would never say lemons are the same as limes, but I honestly can't taste much difference between a key lime and regular lime. Especially when you add the volume of sugar required to make a Key Lime Pie. The sugar obliterates everything except a background lime flavor which you get from both kinds of lime.
how were they?
Great. Blood orange bars were better.
Mushroom ketchup.
>Great. Blood orange bars were better.
I regularly do the key lime pie-graham crust recipe with calamondins from my tree, and I think it is superior to key lime. Same tartness, amazing zest.