We don't know if the cooking survey in our last post is all that accurate, but we do know a few truths that are disturbing.
Over at Kraft Foods, recipes never include words such as "dredge" and "sauté."
Betty Crocker recipes avoid the words "braise" and "truss."
Land O' Lakes doesn't use"fold" and "cream" in its cooking instructions.
Pillsbury doesn't use "simmer" and "sear."
Why do food companies avoid using cooking and baking terms? It's because the terms in these recipes for many Americans are simply not understood.
As a result the recipes are dumbed down, re-written for culinary illiterates.
These basic cooking terms have been around for centuries but are now incomprehensible to many Americans.
Food Network cooking shows are watched for the most part as entertainment value, it's a spectator sport.
As someone brilliantly explained:
"In the '80s, that was changed to 'beat two eggs until lightly mixed.' By the '90s, you had to write, 'In a small bowl, using a fork, beat two eggs,' " she said. "We joke that the next step will be, 'Using your right hand, pick up a fork and ... ."
Even the writers and editors of the "Joy of Cooking," working on a 75th anniversary edition were concerned about using terms such as "blanch," "fold" and "sauté."
At a conference a few years ago, Stephen Sanger, chairman and chief executive of General Mills, noted the sad state of culinary affairs as evident by the e-mail and calls the company gets asking for cooking advice.
There was the person who didn't have any eggs for baking and asked if a peach would do instead.
Another man was furious about the fire when he followed instructions to grease the bottom of the pan — and smeared the pan's outside.
We don't know if the cooking survey in our last post is all that accurate, but we do know a few truths that are disturbing.
Over at Kraft Foods, recipes never include words such as "dredge" and "sauté."
Betty Crocker recipes avoid the words "braise" and "truss."
Land O' Lakes doesn't use"fold" and "cream" in its cooking instructions.
Pillsbury doesn't use "simmer" and "sear."
Why do food companies avoid using cooking and baking terms? It's because the terms in these recipes for many Americans are simply not understood.
As a result the recipes are dumbed down, re-written for a culinary illiterates.
These basic cooking terms have been around for centuries but are now incomprehensible to many Americans.
Food Network cooking shows are watched for the most part as entertainment value, it's a spectator sport.
To compensate, food companies are dumbing down recipes, and cookbooks are published with simple instructions and lots of step-by-step illustrations.
"Thirty years ago, a recipe would say, 'Add two eggs,' " said Bonnie Slotnick, a longtime cookbook editor and owner of a rare-cookbook shop in New York's Greenwich Village.
"In the '80s, that was changed to 'beat two eggs until lightly mixed.' By the '90s, you had to write, 'In a small bowl, using a fork, beat two eggs,' " she said. "We joke that the next step will be, 'Using your right hand, pick up a fork and ... ."
Even the writers and editors of the "Joy of Cooking," working on a 75th anniversary edition to be published by Charles Scribner's Sons in November, have argued "endlessly" over whether to include terms such as "blanch," "fold" and "sauté," said Beth Wareham, Scribner's director of lifestyle publications.
"I tell them, 'Why should we dumb it down?' When you learn to drive, you learn terms like 'brake' and 'parallel park.' Why is it OK to be stupid when you cook?"
So far, the "Joy of Cooking" editors have compromised by including a detailed glossary explaining cooking terms.
At a conference in December, Stephen Sanger, chairman and chief executive of General Mills, noted the sad state of culinary affairs and described e-mail and calls the company gets asking for cooking advice.
There was the person who didn't have any eggs for baking and asked if a peach would do instead. One man railed about the fire that resulted when he followed instructions to grease the bottom of the pan — and slathered the pan's outside.
Back in 1935, the Land O'Lakes butterscotch-cookie recipe instructed cooks to "cream together thoroughly the butter and sugar." Land O'Lakes now says, "we don't use the word 'cream' anymore. People don't understand what that means. Instead, we say 'Using your mixer, beat the butter and sugar.' "
A survey by Betty Crocker Kitchens in 2004 showed adults don't realize how cooking-challenged they've become.
Even though, in yet another survey, 98 percent knew the abbreviation for teaspoon, only 44 percent knew that 3 teaspoons were in a tablespoon.
Even fewer, 34 percent, knew how much uncooked rice is needed to yield one cup of cooked rice.
Worse yet, only 34 percent knew how much uncooked rice is needed to yield one cup of cooked rice.
( one third cup of uncooked rice yields 1 cup of cooked rice.)
We were looking around at Trader Joe's and saw already cooked, frozen spaghetti noodles...need we say more?
As popular as cooking and food shows are you would think everyone would want to be in the kitchen preparing food.
But here’s what we don’t get: How is it that we are so eager to watch other people cook on TV, but uninterested to cook for ourselves?
