Semi-Homemade Cooking

[Mabelline]

Okay...I've waited until some "other" idiot ex-student said it, but here goes-- the best use for cans of whipped cream were to get stupid(ER)!

[Moopheus]

Speaking of whipped cream, this is in the description of the Lemon Chiffon Pie in a current episode:

"In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat 1/2 cup of the milk and dry whipped topping mix in a large bowl for 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy"

Dry whipped topping mix? What the hell is dry whipped topping mix? Why is this preferable to putting cream into the mixer and making whipped cream? Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix!

I have to watch tomorrow to see this.

[Mabelline]

Moopheus, sweetheart, sit down, take this brown paper bag and start takin' deep breaths, in and out, that's right, now you just don't worry your head about folks like her; they're crazy and they'll go away.......

[Raynickben]

Moopheus, sweetheart, sit down, take this brown paper bag and start takin' deep breaths, in and out, that's right, now you just don't worry your head about folks like her; they're crazy and they'll go away.......

Unfortunately she's not going away. The article in Gourmet/Sept. 2003 (which I would post a link to if I knew how!) states that she is all set to introduce kitchen products, home decorating produts, etc. a la Martha very soon. Apparently she made over $20M on QVC with lord knows what.

She is going to be around for a while.

[Comfort Me]

Moopheus, sweetheart, sit down, take this brown paper bag and start takin' deep breaths, in and out, that's right, now you just don't worry your head about folks like her; they're crazy and they'll go away.......

Unfortunately she's not going away. The article in Gourmet/Sept. 2003 (which I would post a link to if I knew how!) states that she is all set to introduce kitchen products, home decorating produts, etc. a la Martha very soon. Apparently she made over $20M on QVC with lord knows what.

She is going to be around for a while.

A classic example of "When Good Things Happen to Bad People".

I don't think Mooph is the only one among us who could benefit from a little grief counselling.

And just to get my 2 cents in. I don't care if Martha Stewart is a difficult person. I don't care if she makes Leona Helmsley look like a creampuff. I don't have to kiss her goodnight and I don't have to work for her. Over the years, though, I have learned a great deal from her magazines and her televison show. I have had occasion to meet her socially, and she was nothing but charming and gracious and witty and enjoyable company to me. (And she insisted that a good bottle of Calvados is money well spent.) So this I feel comfortable in saying...

Sandra Lee is no Martha Stewart.

Edited January 13, 2004 by Comfort Me (log)

[laurenmilan]

Moopheus turned "righteous culinary indignation" into an art form with:

Dry whipped topping mix? What the hell is dry whipped topping mix? Why is this preferable to putting cream into the mixer and making whipped cream? Dry whipped topping mix!  Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix! Dry whipped topping mix!

Okay that does it, I'm changing my sig...

Edited January 13, 2004 by laurenmilan (log)

[laurenmilan]

Maybe not shit but not real whipped cream either. It's over-sweetened with corn syrup. Extra ingredients include: non-fat milk, vegetable mono and diglycerides, natural and artificial flavor. Also, as laurenmilan mentioned, the texture is all wrong. It's OK for what it is. It does cost less than Cool-Whip, but a pint of heavy whipping cream is still the least expensive and best tasting.

PJ

Have you ever had someone "push aside" a dollop of real freshly whipped cream and say "this is gross, I like Cool Whip better."

If that was a kid, maybe it wouldn't be so shocking. It was a woman in her 50s.

Also had another person on another occasion go "I only eat cool whip, it's much better for you" and had yet another accuse me of "nouveau cuisine yuppie crap" and why couldn't I just use Reddi Whip like a normal person (whipped cream on strawberries - real nouvelle cuisine there.)

LOL, I'm thinking America has about as much idea what whipped cream is, as they do maple syrup.

[fresco]

Maple syrup--that's the stuff that tastes kind of like pancake syrup, but not as good, right?

[laurenmilan]

Maple syrup--that's the stuff that tastes kind of like pancake syrup, but not as good, right?

[fresco]

Just kidding. We know maple syrup in these parts, eh.

[laurenmilan]

Just kidding. We know maple syrup in these parts, eh.

Don't make me go Amanda Hesser on ya....

[fresco]

That would be your Hesser-fit, would it?

[Andrew Fenton]

Maybe not shit but not real whipped cream either. It's over-sweetened with corn syrup. Extra ingredients include: non-fat milk, vegetable mono and diglycerides, natural and artificial flavor. Also, as laurenmilan mentioned, the texture is all wrong. It's OK for what it is. It does cost less than Cool-Whip, but a pint of heavy whipping cream is still the least expensive and best tasting.

I still don't get why this is so terrible, rather than just different. I wouldn't use canned whipped cream for cooking or berries. But if I order a banana split at an ice cream parlor, I wouldn't sneer at the canned stuff (and in fact, I don't recall ever seeing anything other than canned whipped cream in that context.) The texture is hardly "wrong"; in my opinion, its foaminess is a nice counterpoint to good, dense ice cream.

Anyway, we've wandered pretty far off-topic; back to bashing Sandra Lee, I guess...

[laurenmilan]

That would be your Hesser-fit, would it?

We need an emoticon for "hesser-fit"!

Edited January 13, 2004 by laurenmilan (log)

[Raynickben]

Oh, I'm going to be good and ready for some bashing. Her show is on in 45 minutes! Stay tuned.

[Moopheus]

Saw the 'dinner party' episode... pretty scary. Did not know you could buy premade, prepackaged mashed potatoes. Am not surprised, though. The chiffon pie was particulalrly appetizing with the addition of huge quantities of Cool Whip. My wife reminded me of th existence of a product called Dream Whip, which I'd forgotten about and thought was just sort of a cool-whip-like product, but is in fact dry whipped topping mix.

The old cookbooks thread also reminded me of some old cookbooks I have here, that I picked up at a flea market. It is worth remembering that Sandra Lee is not completely unprecendented. For as long as there have been convenience foods, the makers have issued cookbooks telling you what to do with them. I have here a particularly nasty Campbell's book from 1951 and a brilliant Jell-O book from 1974. I'd say the photos tell all, but the recipes do seem to assume the use of lots of frozen, canned, and dry mix ingredients. I've also got "Quick Dishes for the woman in a hurry (322 recipes in 30 minutes or less)" that indicates that some concerns are not really new.

So that we may bring our Sandra Lee-bashing to a proper intellectual level, it may be worth considering her 'historical context'. Is Sandra Lee merely the logical end-product of the convenience food tradition, or has some line been crossed somewhere? For decades, millions of people have made those Campbell's and Jell-O recipes, and many others like them, even after the Gospel of St. Julia and St. Jacques was made freely available to all. Convenience food companies sold their convenience, and wanted people to use their products, that was no surprise. But 'real' cookbooks, and TV cooking shows, remained relatively free of this; there was something of a divide. Are we offended now merely because she is so blatantly in our face, instead of in the back of the supermarket somewhere where she could be safely ignored? Also, Sandra Lee is unusual in not being oriented toward a particular brand or product or company, she's built a whole 'cuisine' around convenience foods. This, I think, is taking it to a new level, and perhaps accounts for her following.

On the other hand, this suggests that since on some level she's "always been with us", that she always will be. Or someone like her.

Also, it is worth considering the difference between a dry or preserved ingredient, which probably many of us use regularly, and a 'convenience food', which by its nature is designed to save time and steps--containing multiple ingredients mixed together, often but not always involving some amount of precooking.

[Raynickben]

Interesting post Moopheus.

For me I am most annoyed by her tone and manner of speaking to the audience. I am annoyed by her failure to use ANYTHING that is not prepackaged. And I am annoyed by her presentation of the final product. If my neighbor served me a pie like Sandra made I wouldn't care but the fact that this woman is on television and has made millions with her books, etc. and gets away with such substandard results is infuriating. There are more people worthy of that TV time slot than she will ever be.

[Mottmott]

The old cookbooks thread also reminded me of some old cookbooks I have here, that I picked up at a flea market. It is worth remembering that Sandra Lee is not completely unprecendented. For as long as there have been convenience foods, the makers have issued cookbooks telling you what to do with them. I have here a particularly nasty Campbell's book from 1951 and a brilliant Jell-O book from 1974. I'd say the photos tell all, but the recipes do seem to assume the use of lots of frozen, canned, and dry mix ingredients. I've also got "Quick Dishes for the woman in a hurry (322 recipes in 30 minutes or less)" that indicates that some concerns are not really new.

So that we may bring our Sandra Lee-bashing to a proper intellectual level, it may be worth considering her 'historical context'. Is Sandra Lee merely the logical end-product of the convenience food tradition, or has some line been crossed somewhere? For decades, millions of people have made those Campbell's and Jell-O recipes, and many others like them, even after the Gospel of St. Julia and St. Jacques was made freely available to all. Convenience food companies sold their convenience, and wanted people to use their products, that was no surprise. But 'real' cookbooks, and TV cooking shows, remained relatively free of this; there was something of a divide. Are we offended now merely because she is so blatantly in our face, instead of in the back of the supermarket somewhere where she could be safely ignored? Also, Sandra Lee is unusual in not being oriented toward a particular brand or product or company, she's built a whole 'cuisine' around convenience foods. This, I think, is taking it to a new level, and perhaps accounts for her following.

On the other hand, this suggests that since on some level she's "always been with us", that she always will be. Or someone like her.

Also, it is worth considering the difference between a dry or preserved ingredient, which probably many of us use regularly, and a 'convenience food', which by its nature is designed to save time and steps--containing multiple ingredients mixed together, often but not always involving some amount of precooking.

You raise some good points. Generations of home cooks have been using prepared foods and convenience foods as elements in preparation from canned tomatoes and anchovies to jello and canned soups. Sandra Lee wants to take that to a whole other level, to make expensive, chemical filled factory foods the basis of our entire cooking. Many of us have our suspicions that she is also taking "product placement" to a whole new level and that her shows are a complexes of infomercials. Ron Popil, watch out.

Few among us who consider ourselves scratch cooks do not use some commercially prepared foods. I use canned tomatoes in winter, I don't make my own olive oil or salt my own anchovies. I do sometimes bake bread or make pasta but more often buy them. Some people grind their own flour and roast their own coffee beans. We fall at different spots on the continuum.

The question is at what level does commercialization not merely tarnish the author/cook but obliterate that person's credibility. We move from "food expert" to "entertainer" to "hawker."

The question is also what we consider good food. Recently more people have begun to pay more attention to the quality of their food both from the point of health and taste. To suggest factory food should be the level to which we should aspire is to move in the wrong direction. It's food disinformation.

[Rachel Perlow]

OK, I finally watched a couple episodes of this show. The dinner party and the international buffet ones. I agree with most of the assessments posted here. This is a very sad day for Food TV. And, while I agree that real whipped cream is preferable to canned, canned whipped cream is preferable to Cool Whip. The only thing I could see repeating myself is the Boboli pizza. Heck, I have made almost that same pizza (but she used too much prepacked (ack) sauce).

The most disgusting thing was the final plate of the pinwheel steak stuffed with bread stuffing with a side of potatoes. It would have been so hard to add frozen veggies to round out the meal o'starches?

[Comfort Me]

The most disgusting thing was the final plate of the pinwheel steak stuffed with bread stuffing with a side of potatoes. It would have been so hard to add frozen veggies to round out the meal o'starches?

Maybe frozen veggies aren't on the menu because Bird's Eye hasn't signed on to her payola scheme yet?

[Monica Bhide]

Okay explain this to me -- in yesterday's show -- which I did watch to see if I had somehow misjudged her.. she dippes lemon slices in raw egg white and then in sugar and says " now leave this out here for 30 minutes or so" -- I am sorry is that not WRONG? Salmonnela (sp?) or does that only affect people who dont cook from cans!

I can see her saying -- (with selected recipes only PLEASE) make this once in a while but cannot support her saying make this and LIVE LIKE this all the time.

[ferdlisky]

OK, anyone game for the Semi Homemade Challenge? I'm actually going to... gulp... cook her recipes for a few days. Please, please, don't let me go there alone.

[Raynickben]

OK, anyone game for the Semi Homemade Challenge? I'm actually going to... gulp... cook her recipes for a few days. Please, please, don't let me go there alone.

That's so funny you just posted that because I was just grocery shopping and the thought crossed my mind when I saw the packaged mashed potatoes, should I dare try it?

I can't! I just can't!

But I do want to hear how you do with the "recipes". Please make the Kwanzaa cake. Please!

[Moopheus]

Okay explain this to me -- in yesterday's show -- which I did watch to see if I had somehow misjudged her.. she dippes lemon slices in raw egg white and then in sugar and says " now leave this out here for 30 minutes or so" -- I am sorry is that not WRONG? Salmonnela (sp?) or does that only affect people who dont cook from cans!

She did the same thing in the infamous holiday cake episode--which is one I think even SL would have a hard time beating. You may have even caught her sticking her finger into the Cool Whip after she put it on the pie. I suppose it's possible she buys her eggs from a small organic farm that tests for salmonella, but it seems unlikely.

Mottmott said:

Few among us who consider ourselves scratch cooks do not use some commercially prepared foods. I use canned tomatoes in winter, I don't make my own olive oil or salt my own anchovies. I do sometimes bake bread or make pasta but more often buy them. Some people grind their own flour and roast their own coffee beans. We fall at different spots on the continuum.

This is why I brought up the distinction between an ingredient and a 'convenience food'--something designed to be used like an ingredient, but with less work. And arguably basic staples like flour and coffee are processed to some degree. Chocolate is a manufactured product--it's almost impossible to make in a home kitchen. I use, for example, dry buttermillk, because I use it only occasionally and I hate wasting the leftover in the carton. Even though I know the consistency does not come out the same. We do have to make choices based on our abilities and circumstances. On the other hand, that dry buttermilk consists of buttermilk, and nothing else. So can we say there's a dividing line, or just a sliding scale?

[gus_tatory]

...and then sprinkled the top with pumpkin seeds and called it her Kwanzaa Cake.

ok wait--that thing about her Kwanzaa cake is just *so* offensive, on *soooo* many levels...