01
Swiss Chard
10.01 cup : 1 cup
Tender stems and soft greens
10.0
bok choy substitute
for marinade.
Marinades treat bok choy stems as a slaw component, soaking diced ribs in soy-vinegar-sesame for 20-90 minutes so the cellulose softens and the surface absorbs salt. Penetration stops at roughly 4mm because the stems are dense; longer than 2 hours and the texture turns floppy. Rank substitutes by pore openness, acid tolerance below pH 4, and whether they stay crisp after 60 minutes in a 1:3 vinegar-to-oil bath.
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adjustment for marinade
Chard stems take a soy-vinegar marinade in 30-60 minutes — pore openness is similar to bok choy ribs, with acid penetrating about 3mm in an hour at room temperature. Use 1:1 cup, cut to 1cm dice. Past 90 minutes the cellulose softens and the dice lose their structural snap.
02
Celery
5.01 cup : 1 cup
Mimic crunchy stalks, add greens separately
5.0
adjustment for marinade
Celery's denser xylem channels slow acid penetration to roughly 2mm per hour, so extend marinade time to 90-120 minutes for equivalent flavor depth. Use 1:1 cup at 5mm dice. Tolerates pH down to 3.5 without going limp, half a point lower than bok choy stems.
03
Spinach
5.01 cup : 1 cup
For the leafy part, cooks fast
5.0
adjustment for marinade
Spinach is a poor marinade target — leaves saturate within 5 minutes and turn to slick green sheets after 15. Use a third of the cup volume and dunk for 60 seconds at most, treating it more as a flash-brine than a soak. Acid above 5% wilts it instantly.
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04
Watercress
5.01 cup : 1 cup
Peppery, add at end for fresh crunch
5.0
adjustment for this dish
Watercress sprigs hold up to a 30-minute marinade in oil-heavy mixtures (say 1:3 vinegar to oil) but collapse in straight acid past 10 minutes. Use 1:1 cup. The peppery compounds amplify under salt brining, so cut soy or salt by roughly 25% from a bok choy recipe.