Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

cubbyathome.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

571–580 of 721 posts

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#571

Post by pests »

sdoering wrote: post #429
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…

> Grandma's secret recipe that uses a box mix will taste 10000x better than anything you think you can come up with from scratch. Made my day. I would bet you my monthly salary, if I wouldn't have to suspect - based on the quoted sentence - that your taste buds are already fully dorked up based on the crap you put into your cake hole from years of industrialized and processed food-simulacrum. > Baking is actually qui…

Nah not just a snob.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#572

Post by markhahn »

al_borland wrote: post #133
inferiorhuman wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, cake flour?

From what I remember it’s more about the industrial emulsifiers. They give a more sponge-like cake they people tend to enjoy.

it's not. cake flour is simply lower-gluten flour. ther's not a big difference between that and "AP" flour, but a big difference between it and bread or "strong" (high-gluten) flour.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#573

Post by stronglikedan »

charles_f wrote: post #119

What I hate most about shrinkflation is how shady it is. That recessed middle section in cookie boxes so that they give me one less cookie makes me feel like I'm being played for a fool, and I do not like that. With that said, if the grandma's secret receipe is industrial cake mix, I don't know how much of a secret receipe it is. Especially since these are usually mostly flour, some sort of yeast or another, and choc…

> That recessed middle section in cookie boxes so that they give me one less cookie

They aren't trying to fool you, even if it feels that way. They're trying to not retool their entire manufacturing and logistics workflows, which they would have to do to be able to change the outer dimensions of the package.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#574

Post by Ajedi32 »

joshstrange wrote: post #148
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…

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…

What's even easier than measuring with a kitchen scale is just throwing the entire can in and calling it good. That's often why these recipes used "boxes", "cans", etc as units of measurement in the first place. By converting to standard units you're increasing the amount of effort needed to actually make the dish. It might be more in keeping with the spirit of the recipe to just substitute similarly-sized cans or boxes, even if it's not quite the same taste. It depends on your priorities I suppose. (Though either way it's probably good to include units for the sake of clarity and reproducibility: e.g. "one 16 oz can" rather than "1 can".)

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#575

Post by oliwarner »

> “It’s just so upsetting,” says Judith, whose cookie recipe was passed down by her mother.

Passing down a box mixture as a "recipe" seems really alien to me in the UK. Measuring flour, sugar and spice isn't rocket surgery.

What other branded products do you guys depend on for basic cooking? Campbell's soup had a moment here postwar.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#576

Post by guappa »

imajoredinecon wrote: post #469
guappa wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Normal, everyday families around the world use processed foods in their cooking Do you have a source? I really haven't met anyone using cake mixes to make cakes. But if you mean they use butter instead of milking a cow directly and producing the butter then yes, they use processed food.

It’s a class/geographical thing. In my early childhood in a fancy suburb of a big city, my parents and people in their social circle used mixes 0% of the time, but when we moved to a smaller town it was way more common.

You're talking about USA, I'm not.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#577

Post by joshstrange »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #574
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…

What's even easier than measuring with a kitchen scale is just throwing the entire can in and calling it good. That's often why these recipes used "boxes", "cans", etc as units of measurement in the first place. By converting to standard units you're increasing the amount of effort needed to actually make the dish. It might be more in keeping with the spirit of the recipe to just substitute similarly-sized cans or bo…

Agreed, I wouldn't say XXXX grams of Hershey's chocolate syrup, but I do want to know what size "a can" means.

On the other hand, for things that you would always measure (or need to do to sizes changing) like flour or sugar, I want that in grams for easy measuring. Even chocolate bars, might be easier to just say how much you need since getting exactly what you are looking for might be difficult/impossible.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#578

Post by pests »

internet_points wrote: post #393
phil21 wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cake mixes almost always come ahead in blind taste tests. Very few bakers short of folks with a lot of volume are doing stuff from scratch. It may or may not be healthier, but the subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point. Frosting is a different topic - totally agree there, but I haven't seen any blind taste tests on that one. The professional bakers around me who do a doze…

Don't neglect the cultural component when considering taste tests. I've heard there are many americans who actually prefer american chocolate. To me it tastes like sugary beeswax with a hint of sock.

The milk in American chocolate is spoiled.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#579

Post by brnt »

phil21 wrote: post #299
yAak wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Box cake mix almost never tastes better than scratch. Next you’ll tell me store-bought frosting tastes better?

Cake mixes almost always come ahead in blind taste tests. Very few bakers short of folks with a lot of volume are doing stuff from scratch. It may or may not be healthier, but the subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point. Frosting is a different topic - totally agree there, but I haven't seen any blind taste tests on that one. The professional bakers around me who do a doze…

> subjective taste preferences of the masses is pretty much settled fact at this point.

You will be surprised to learn that brands have very differently tasting products developed for different markets. Often even under the same name.

Re: Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

#580

Post by iamwil »

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…

Gosh, you need to write a book. Totally serious. Someone needs to document it.
Post reply on HN