Kishke

Swap beef suet for a precise dose of vegetable oil

You can't make this thing work with no fat at all, but switching from 350g suet to 75g oil gives you just enough richness so the thing's not a dry brick.

What it costs you. Lose the suet and what you lose is depth. The whole kitchen won't smell quite so deli-like. The soft, fatty melt is gone, replaced by something a bit lighter on the palate - less gluey, less memorable, more polite.

Replace most of the plain flour with chickpea flour and oat flour

A split of chickpea flour and oat flour gives you far more protein per bite and keeps some of the texture. The chickpea flour tries to mimic the fluffiness of suet, and oats give it ballast.

What it costs you. It does make the kishke more crumbly than the classic white loaf of the original. If you want it stodgy, this won't deliver.

Add potato starch for binding

Without all that suet, you need a proper binder or the filling will fall apart in the pot. Potato starch does the job, holding it together when you slice.

What it costs you. Potato starch is the third-best binder after animal fat and double the flour. Still, it means you can actually serve it without handing out spoons.

Switch the beef intestine for a synthetic casing

Finding beef intestine is more of a sourcing quest than most readers fancy, and it's wasted here anyway. Synthetic sausage casings do the trick and save some trouble.

What it costs you. You lose the natural snap and that faint whiff of childhood lunches. It's a fair trade for not having to clean a metre of cow's plumbing.

Dial up the veg and add a bit of egg white

More carrot and celery means more structure, more flavour and a hint of sweetness, plus the egg white boosts the protein and helps the lot stick together.

What it costs you. It's more colourful and tidy, but you won't fool anyone into thinking this is the original. It isn't kishke, it's kishke with a LinkedIn profile.