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Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

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Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#411

Post by grey-area »

teddyh wrote: post #333
nvader wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading this, I have to comment with this link to https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-review-my-fathers-inst... This story describes the dangers of NOT standardizing on a single, proper version.

The third footnote in that article, in its entirety: > Claude, by the way, estimates that 30-40% of all mashed potatoes eaten in the US are the instant kind. ChatGPT says 25-35%. Is this what passes for a reference now?

Really depressing to think that people trust statistics from these models and soon the models will be ingesting statistics they themselves made up as training data.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#412

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

teekert wrote: post #391
asciimov wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For Judith it’s about the nostalgia of being a girl and having her mother make these cookies with this method. Judith’s mom was likely over-worked and buying a box was a timesaver. Who cares if it’s not “properly” made?

Ok yeah I get that. It's certainly a shame for Judith. But companies come and go. They change recipes all the time. They do research to make everything as cheap as possible, you may never know it but I knew someone working at Unilever and the Mars bar for example constantly evolves, and let me tell you it's not because they want to give you the best Mars bar, it's just "we found a cheaper supplier for X" or "If we re…

Hey man, maybe practice some empathy. Unexpected change is hard. Unexpected change from a childhood standard really sucks. How could Judith possibly “know better” and ahead of time detach from core memories of her time with her mom like a psychopath?

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#413

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #264
joshstrange wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve also digitized some recipes and had to deal with “1 can” or “1 bar” without size included. Some things aren’t sold like that anymore or their size has fluctuated. In the example about it was for a candy bar pound cake and “1 can of Hershey’s syrup” isn’t a thing anymore that I can tell and even if it was, I had no clue the size. Same with “1 Hershey’s bar”, uhh, no clue what 1 standard bar was then. Thankfully m…

> Same with “1 Hershey’s bar”, uhh, no clue what 1 standard bar was then. Thankfully my mom was able to fill in the gaps but let this be a lesson, if you have family recipes you love, get it written down with actual units, you’ll thank yourself later. This will break in other ways; the makeup of a candy bar changes over time as ingredients rise and fall in price.

Also, Hershey's "chocolate" tastes of vomit due to butyric acid from lipolysis

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#414

Post by inferiorhuman »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #388
inferiorhuman wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need for scare quotes, US customary units are a thing. A US customary cup is, at least, quite standard at 8 fluid ounces. This is more standardized than the unit of measure used in British recipes and whatnot. The issues surrounding volumetric measurements for dry goods is an entirely separate matter. 240 mL of apricots is just as useless as 1 cup of apricots.

> No need for scare quotes, US customary units are a thing. I understand that other countries (probably North American ones) use the same system too, so thought I was clarifying, not scaring. > A US customary cup is, at least, quite standard at 8 fluid ounces. This is more standardized than the unit of measure used in British recipes and whatnot I disagree as British (or non-U.S.) recipes will use a combination of me…

  I disagree as British (or non-U.S.) recipes will use a combination of
  metric and/or imperial sizes depending on their age.
Right, but a cup is not an imperial unit of measure and metric cups didn't really catch on in the UK. So if you're looking at an older British recipe that references cups, good luck.

  any sane recipe will use something like "5 apricots".
This is also a bad idea as common sizes for certain things change over time (e.g. some of the comments here talking about eggs). I don't eat too many apricots, but apples here can vary in size wildly even of the same variety.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#415

Post by teekert »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #412
teekert wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok yeah I get that. It's certainly a shame for Judith. But companies come and go. They change recipes all the time. They do research to make everything as cheap as possible, you may never know it but I knew someone working at Unilever and the Mars bar for example constantly evolves, and let me tell you it's not because they want to give you the best Mars bar, it's just "we found a cheaper supplier for X" or "If we re…

Hey man, maybe practice some empathy. Unexpected change is hard. Unexpected change from a childhood standard really sucks. How could Judith possibly “know better” and ahead of time detach from core memories of her time with her mom like a psychopath?

Like I said, it's not nice for Judith.

Idk, maybe it's a cultural thing. I just can't imagine putting any value in a boxed mix. It's just seen as the low value stuff here, the fake food, unthinkable to pass down a generation. Sorry. It's like Christopher Walken having a cheap "won at the fancy fair" watch up his *.

Btw, I used to get chocolate sigarettes for Sinterklaas (dutch Santa Claus). It's a core memory, yeah, they're gone, but it's very different from my mother's Chinese tomato soup. I can still make that "from scratch".

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#416

Post by lostlogin »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #402
qlm wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in the UK too and you can buy measuring cups here easily. It doesn’t mean “a mug from your cupboard”. It _is_ a volume measurement. I do agree it doesn’t make sense for things that aren’t fluid-like.

"Cups" are also usually labelled on measuring jugs too. I'd refuse on principle to buy a specific measuring cup.

I use the scales for everything and convert recipes to weight once I have them working.

It’s a game changer and works so much better.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#417

Post by cocoto »

formerly_proven wrote: post #344
lifeformed wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't be so snobby about cake ingredients. There's nothing wrong with using processed food in a recipe. I garuntee a box mix will make a much better cake than "from scratch" unless you are very experienced. Cooking is not always about making the ultimate gourmet meal, it's about connection and tradition. Processed food is a normal part of every day people's lives and makes it's way into traditions. Grandma's secret r…

Box cakes aren't much of a thing in other places, I would be very surprised if any grandma's recipe would include "box cake" here. (I have, in fact, never seen any cake recipe here include box cake)

Box cakes are widely available in most of Europe. They taste more than ok but sure nobody here would claim it’s a family recipe.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#418

Post by lmm »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #409
closewith wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is more standardised than the unit of measure used in British recipes and whatnot. How so?

There's no such thing as an imperial cup ergo the cup is not a standardized measurement. Within US customary units the cup is defined.

> There's no such thing as an imperial cup ergo the cup is not a standardized measurement.

Which is probably part of why British recipes never say cup.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#419

Post by joncrocks »

MrWB wrote: post #389
unwind wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's like people who spend time around campfires and have watched American media are all going "let's make s'mores" [1], and then they realize that "graham crackers" [2] are a mystery ingredient that nobody knows anything about. Digestives [3] are the typical substitution in my experience, but again nobody knows how close they're getting. They look thicker, to me ... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%27more…

If you’re in the UK/Europe, the best alternative I’ve found are Bahlsen’s Milk Dark Chocolate Leibniz. Still has the issue of what is this branded product really though.

I think another option is chocolate 'malted milk' (in the UK) - depending on your preference for ratio of biscuit to chocolate to marshmallow. Leibniz will have more/thicker chocolate, but malted milk will break a bit easier in the mouth (softer/crumblier biscuit).

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#420

Post by teekert »

nanolith wrote: post #45

Much to the chagrin of my mother, I made it a point about a decade ago to standardize old family recipes on "from scratch" versions. As part of the process, I also did some research on old recipes and fixed some of the corruption of these recipes that occurred during the copying and recitation, bolstering them with culinary techniques that were in use at the time. I also captured things that drift over time, such as…

Hero.

I wonder to what degree "the recipes are different" are because over time almost any "basic-not-so-basic" ingredient got more sugar and salt added, for commercial/get-them-addicted reasons. You are in a nice position to comment on this I think.

Btw, I think the point of a family recipe is to let it evolve, put something of yourself in it. You can "change it back", but you can also become that grandfather that really spiced up a recipe.

Het in the Netherlands our grandparent boiled veggies to death, making everything bland, hen add meat for flavor. Really bad once you've head a taste of Italian of even Japanese cuisine. But one can spice up kale (boerenkool) with some vinegar and mustard for example.

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