I was trying to share a recipe with an American friend the other day, and I was trying to sound a bit more sophisticated. So instead of saying “just use chicken instead of turkey”, I wanted to say “just substitute chicken for turkey”. But somehow, it didn’t seem right. So I tried “just substitute turkey for chicken” but that didn’t make sense either. So I ended up sounding as unsophisticated as I really am and said “screw it, you can use chicken, you can use turkey, what do I care”, showing my true colors.
I’ve been pondering this ever since, and my dictionaries just don’t make me any smarter. So, please, help. What is it?
Well first you would write the recipe with whichever you usually make the recipe with which sounds like turkey. Then at the bottom of the recipe say, You may substitute chicken for turkey. You had it right.
FWIW, Soda, this question would have been fine in GQ. By posting it here instead, you missed out on the 2 pages of posts it would surely have generated arguing about whether grammar should be prescriptive or descriptive.
I have found it makes more sense if you use an article in front of the original ingredient. That is, if it was a turkey recipe, say “Or substitute chicken for the turkey.” Since turkey has already been mentioned, it makes it clear what is being substituted for what–chicken, a “new” thing, can be substituted for turkey, a specific item which has already been listed.
Another way to say it would be “Substitute the turkey with chicken.” Probably not entirely correct, but your reader knows what you mean because you said “THE turkey.”
