Back-of-the-Package Cooking

Suzanne F · May 1, 2003

This morning I made a cake to bring to my final cookbook editing class tonight. I have made this cake numerous times; it is always delicious and beautiful, and never fails to impress people. The thing is, though, the recipe is on the label of a can of Solo Almond Filling! :shock: :blush:

Do you have any never-fail dishes that started with a recipe on a package? Do you still make them as presented on the box/can/bag, or have you adapted them somehow?

Edit-ion: the recipe is in the eGRA HERE as "Almond Cake" Boy, is it easy to enter a recipe! Thanks, Darren and all! :biggrin:

Edited May 1, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

Kim WB · May 1, 2003

Oh, true confessions! On a bag of Kraft Caramels, I got a recipe for an Oatmeal /Choc/ Caramel pie...the kind of thing where you lightly bake the oatmeal crust to set it, then pour in the melted caramels, chocolate chips..a bar cookie kind of thing in a pie crust. Anyway, I make it all the time for school events..its easy to make, easy to store, and holds up well in tupperware or foil.

Remember the Friend episode when Monica is trying to create Phoebe's grandmohter's chocolate chip cookies, from Madame "Touluse"?

Jinmyo · May 1, 2003

I always follow the directions on the bag of rice. Except I usually use a bit less water.

fimbul · May 1, 2003

I still faithfully follow the tollhouse cookie recipe (excepting of course, the times I don't). That originally came from the back of a package, I believe.

fimbul · May 1, 2003

I always follow the directions on the bag of rice. Except I usually use a bit less water.

And I do exactly as the shampoo bottle tells me, but I don't repeat.

:biggrin:

Sandra Levine · May 1, 2003

Oatmeal Cookies from Quaker Oats (under the lid)

Baked Macaroni and Cheese from the Mueller's box many years ago is still my template, although I always vary it. It's not the same as the recipe on the box now, which I think calls for margarine! instead of butter and specifies other brand name products owned by the same parent company. I substitute better pasta, high-quality cheese, etc.

Hub-UK2 · May 1, 2003

I was only looking at the recipe the other day on some packaging and thought it might be rather good fun to start collecting them. I have been musing with the idea of running a section on Hub-UK dedicated to such recipes. Anyone got any thoughts on that?

It would also be fun to try and collect the older recipes a bit like people used to collect things like cigarette cards, etc.

fimbul · May 1, 2003

Every time someone mentions recipes obtained from boxes etc., I remember this one gawdawful recipe I found on the side of a bottle of malt vinegar. Without going into details (which I don't really recall), the recipe was for a concoction made of malt vinegar, (canned?) peaches, and chicken breasts. :blink: :wacko:

It made me wonder what sort of people they have testing and concoting these recipes.

Suzanne F · May 1, 2003

David -- I believe there are some websites specifically for that sort of recipe. Sorry, though, I couldn't find any just now.

Edit-ion: Scroll down a bit. Sandra Levine provides a link. Thanks, Sandy. :biggrin:

Edited May 1, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

scrumdiddlyumptious · May 1, 2003

Oatmeal Butterscotchies from the back of the bag of butterscotch chips.

scrumdiddlyumptious · May 1, 2003

Oh! And brownies from the back of the can of Ghirardelli hot cocoa. Seriously the best brownies I've made.

Sandra Levine · May 1, 2003

Back of the box recipes

Life in the kitchen · May 1, 2003

Matzo balls.

The back of the box recipe always works perfect for me.

I only add some chopped flat leaf parsley.

Fritz Brenner · May 1, 2003

I like to try out back of the box recipes, maybe changing a few ingredients to fit my tastes.... my favorite cake ever is from a recipe my mom got off of a cocoa powder box many years ago, it's called Black Magic cake (I imagine it's from the Hershey's cocoa powder box, but it isn't on there anymore). I always use the Quaker recipe for oatmeal cookies and the Tollhouse recipe for choc. chip cookies.

However, sometimes the back o' box recipes are awful-- the other day I was making risotto and I looked at the recipe on the box of arborio I was using. Stovetop temperatures, cooking times, a whole ton of stuff was not even included, and the order they told you to do things in was really odd (in my opinion). If someone had never tried risotto before and used this box recipe, I have a feeling it wouldn't have been a success....

**Fritz :smile:

johnjohn · May 1, 2003

Pumpkin Pie from the back of Libby's canned pumpkin - my sister asks for it every year on her Birthday.

johnjohn

torakris · May 1, 2003

Oatmeal Cookies from Quaker Oats (under the lid)

I make these too! They are really good.

My recipe for stuffed cabbage, I am pretty sure that my mother got off a can of Campbells soup way abck when,, It is the only stuffed cabbage I like. :wink:

eatingmike · May 1, 2003

Oven fried chicken on the box of plain Melba Toasts

Disclaimer - I was first directed to this recipe from an article in Cooks Illustrated.

It's darn good and easy.

Blondie · May 1, 2003

Arroz con Gandules from the Goya Gandules Verdes (Pigeon Peas) can.

Andrew Fenton · May 1, 2003

Rice Krispy Treats.

Andrew Fenton · May 1, 2003

Every time someone mentions recipes obtained from boxes etc., I remember this one gawdawful recipe I found on the side of a bottle of malt vinegar. Without going into details (which I don't really recall), the recipe was for a concoction made of malt vinegar, (canned?) peaches, and chicken breasts.
It made me wonder what sort of people they have testing and concoting these recipes.

I've seen that one! It was on a Heinz malt vinegar bottle, I think. You're absolutely right, it looked amazingly nasty. So nasty that I was almost tempted to try it: it had to be better than my expectations, no? But I think you're right: their testers must be drunk. Or something.

Priscilla · May 1, 2003

Once I made the lasagna on the Polly-O carton.

claire797 · May 2, 2003

The cranberry bread recipe on the back of the cranberries.

Tollhouse cookies (until I started my quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie -- no time for Tollhouse anymore)

The sausage lasagna recipe on the back of the Barilla pasta box.

Many more which I can't think of now.

http://www.backofthebox.com

TrishCT · May 2, 2003

The chicken with wild rice casserole on the back of the Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild Rice Box is about the only "casserole" I ever make...

fifi · May 2, 2003

Texas Caviar from Pace Piquante Sauce. OK... It was a bottle, not a box. It was eventually put in the Pace cookbook that I don't think you can get anymore.

Basically, it is drained canned black-eyed peas, canned hominy, chopped onion, garlic, cilantro, peppers maybe, etc. all immersed in Pace Picante Sauce. Since then I vary it quite a bit using other beans (especially garbanzos) adding the Mexican oregano, a dash of cider vinegar really helped it, whatever I am in the mood for. It has become a favorite and I am often threatened to have an invitation revoked if I don't bring a batch.

Ye-Ye Girl · May 2, 2003

Chewy-O's - a layered bar cookie using yellow or white cake mix and melted butter as the base, followed by chocolate chips, marshmallows, Cheerios, and sweetened condensed milk, then baked. Easy for kids to make and probably one of the first things I helped my mom with in the kitchen.

Campbelled Eggs - essentially scrambled eggs slow cooked with cream of chicken soup. Comfort food extraordinaire, for me anyway.

Both are traditions in my family - my mom made both, and my sibs and I still make them. Dunno if the recipes actually came off the box (or can), but from the names, I assume they were created and published by the specific brands referred to.

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