Sandra Lee doesn't think of herself as a great cook, just one that managed to get food on the table every day for all her siblings (mom died young).

She's not dead, though your confusion is understandable - Sandy changes her story about this as often as I change panty hose, depending on the circumstance and the audience. I can't decide if she's just a shameless huckster or a skilled pathological liar.

Mike G wrote:The housewife (of either sex) once had a portfolio of basic regional/ethnic dishes which were invariably executed well through long practice, and loved by her family.

Okay -- this time I'm not commenting on Sandra Lee. As I've said, I don't have cable, so I have only on rare occasions seen her or what she does. So I definitely do not possess the expertise some of you regular watchers have. But the above statement made me smile -- especially the "invariably executed well." I can't tell you how many friends I've had, both as a youngster and over the ensuing decades, who lived on pop tarts because their moms were such terrible cooks. These friends would do almost anything to avoid a meal cooked by their mothers -- and when I visited, I had to concur. (And then there were the friends who thought their mothers could cook, but I knew better. But these have been vastly outnumbered by friends who hated their mothers' cooking.)

And one can hardly find a foodie group site that is not filled with stories about how people came to dining late in life, having grown up on awful food -- overcooked nastiness or things from boxes or cans. People ate tuna casserole, jello molds, and all that stuff everyone now laughs at in the Gallery of Regrettable Food.

My mom was a great cook, and her mom was a great cook. But my grandmother graduated from the University of Toronto in 1912 with degrees in food science and home economics, so she was not the norm. Outside the urban ethnic enclaves, there were vast regions of cooks who didn't have a clue, even 50 and 60 years ago -- even before everyone had a TV. (And once people started getting TVs, we got TV dinners -- Swanson sold 10 million the first year they were on the market.)

So regardless of what atrocities are being committed on Food TV, it is not true that everyone used to be a good cook -- and given the ads I saw last year for that KFC horror that put fried chicken in a bowl and piled on layers of corn, potatoes, and gravy, it's my guess there's still a thriving market for ghastly food.

Cynthia wrote:So regardless of what atrocities are being committed on Food TV, it is not true that everyone used to be a good cook -- and given the ads I saw last year for that KFC horror that put fried chicken in a bowl and piled on layers of corn, potatoes, and gravy, it's my guess there's still a thriving market for ghastly food.

The fact that her show is still running and that she's published 17 cookbooks is, I would say, absolute(ly depressing) proof of this claim.

For me, a kid of the '70s, the Moms that Could Cook and the Moms that Could Not Cook were pretty much divided along the lines of who took their domestic duties more seriously. I had friends of single moms who could make a mean meal, and friends of desperate housewives who would stop at the drive-thru at McDonald's on the way home for "side dishes," i.e., french fries, that would later be served on a fancy serving platter.

But most Moms (I'm focusing on them because they still were the primary cooks in the families at this time) had attempted to hone one or two "signature" dishes. No, those dishes weren't the fanciest, and yes, they were semi-ho'ed, but at the end of the day, it was still a dish that was good, relatively healthy and balanced. I recall genuinely looking forward to Susie's chili or someone else's broccoli casserole, as humble and un-gourmet or unauthentic as they were.

Sandra Lee, on the other hand, is in the business of creating junk that seems gourmet, which is the exact opposite of what I described above. She's like a kid making mud pies in the sandbox. It's less about creating a composed meal albeit with shortcuts and more about some lame, unhealthy and godawful concoction that the marketing folks think will get people to watch her on TV. After all, isn't that what this baked potato is about:

Honestly, you read a recipe like that and it's impossible to draw the line between it and, say, Mary McGoon's Ginger Ale Salad on Bob & Ray's radio show in the 50s:

Hello, everyone. This is Mary McGoon. It's so good to talk to you all again. It's time that we all talk of food and so forth. I thought I should like to talk briefly about a favorite salad of mine. I know that salads are playing an ever-increasing role in the serving of foods in fine restaurants. That's why I have, today, a favorite recipe of mine that I'd like to give you all now. It's called Frozen Ginger Ale Salad, and this is how I make it.

First, you take a huge crock and fill it with the contents of a quart bottle of ginger ale. (Either pale or golden, it makes no difference.) You just pour it in. Then I take a head of lettuce, Boston or Romaine or Iceberg, and shred that and put that into the crock containing the ginger ale. Then I swish it all around until it's thoroughly swished. I get to giggling on that. It's so much fun. You can wear a rubber glove, if you choose.

After it's thoroughly swished, I take a marshmallow and cube it. And that will keep you busy. After that's been cubed, friends, you put that in, too. Then I take a chocolate bar with almonds, and I remove the almonds and break the chocolate into little bits and put that in, too.

Then I swish it all together. When it's completely swished and settles down a little in the crock, I pour it off into a mold made in the likeness of a dear friend of mine. Then I take it up and put it into the freezing compartment of my refrigerator. After it's hard, and you can tell when it's hard because it will be hard when you touch it, you take it out and chip into individual servings. Serve it with Argyle Sox sauce and garnish with pimento.

Well, that's about it. You serve that to your family and I know they will really appreciate it. It's a dish fit for a king.

Frozen Ginger Ale Salad
Equipment:

1 huge crock
1 refrigerator with freezing compartment
Ingredients:
1 quart ginger ale, pale or golden
1 head lettuce
1 marshmallow, cubed
1 chocolate almond bar, almonds removed
1 recipe Argyle Sox sauce
1 pimento

As disgusting as Frozen Ginger Ale Salad is, at least Mary McGoon expected home cooks to process the lettuce, instead of telling them that it's just "too hard" to do so. In any case, I'm guessing that "Argyle Sox Sauce" was the sponsor of the program?

As for me, I've never cubed a marshmallow, and don't think I'll start ...

Edited to add one final thought on S.Lee: I see a distinction between the women who were products of the post-war era who innocently viewed the new processed food products on the market as modern, acceptable alternatives or "helpers" to traditional cooking. Add in "Women's Lib," and you had a captive audience for corporate marketing shortcuts. Fast forward to 2008, and knowing what we know now about food from big agribusiness, I feel like Sandra Lee and her ilk should "know better," like the housewives of the '60s, '70s and even '80s didn't know that feeding their family some type of "baked potato" or powdered-from-a-box marketing concoction was most definitely not the equivalent of the real thing, despite what the commercial jingle said. In today's cynical media-driven world, we all should be a lot more savvy to the fact that Kraft's latest concoction bears little resemblance to the thing it claims to be.

No, it was all a joke. Another of her recipes was freezer treats-- consisting of a toothpick stuck into water poured into an ice cube tray.

Sadly, I think there are even fewer people today who recognize that a hyperprocessed version of something isn't as good as the real thing than there were in the 50s. For one thing, they've had far more restaurant meals made, like Semi-Ho's food, out of a box or a pouch, even in supposed fine dining.

Actually, that recipe kind of reminds me of some of the things you'd see on shows sponsored by Kraft Foods maybe 30 years ago. I think every recipe included marshmallows, Miracle Whip, and maraschino cherries. Anyone else remember that glop?

In praise of glop, I submit a recipe from the Deerfield Homemakers Cook Book published in April, 1971 with the dedication, "Our cookbook is affectionately dedicated to our husbands, and to our children, and to all people who share the challenges, joys and blessings of family life."

Strawberry Salad, submitted by Mil Higgins

1 small can crush pineapple, drained
2 small packages frozen strawberries, drained
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 package miniature marshmallows
1 cup mayonnaise
1 large package cream cheese
1 cup whipping cream, whipped.

Mix together cream cheese and mayonnaise. Mix in remaining of ingredients, except whipped cream. Fold in whipped cream. Chill 4-5 hours.

We rarely make this salad. When we do, there is nothing left. We really serve it as part of the main course, because it is called salad. It could just as easily be dessert.

Regards,

Mike G wrote:Sadly, I think there are even fewer people today who recognize that a hyperprocessed version of something isn't as good as the real thing than there were in the 50s. For one thing, they've had far more restaurant meals made, like Semi-Ho's food, out of a box or a pouch, even in supposed fine dining.

A friend recently hosted a party with a "salad contest" theme. Each guest was to bring a salad, then we would all vote anonymously on what was best. I brought fresh fruit salad with mint sugar and ginger syrup, using all best-of-season August produce. My salad got one vote (I suspect from my wife). The winner was something that had boxed raspberry jello with crushed pretzels and cool whip.

On a recent trip to Mexico, I was intrigued by a local bake sale that was held in the municipal square on a Saturday Night. One of the ladies there was selling a chocolate cake topped with a flan. It was delicious and I was determined to find out how to make this intricate delicacy. Much to my surprise, when I googled the concoction, I discovered that it was called "Pastel Imposible" and had been featured on a Rick Bayless television show. The recipe called for a jar of prepared caramel sauce, a boxed cake mix, and a homemade flan all cooked in the same pan.

It affirmed to me that, despite the semi-ho's bastardization of semi-homemade cooking ala "grape jelly and cream cheese tarts" that there is still a viable method for cooking well using prepared products.

http://www.thatsmyhome.com/texmex/desse ... n-cake.htm

Will,

I have made this Chocolate Flan Cake to the instructions provided by WLS-TV's Ron Magers. Rather than using boxed cake mix, I made my own. The Cajeta goes to the bottom of the flan making a wonderful caramel sauce.

It may not be Rick Bayless recipe, though it probably is darn close and quite good.

Regards,

The recipe called for a jar of prepared caramel sauce, a boxed cake mix, and a homemade flan all cooked in the same pan.

It affirmed to me that, despite the semi-ho's bastardization of semi-homemade cooking ala "grape jelly and cream cheese tarts" that there is still a viable method for cooking well using prepared products.

Sandra Lee would make this using a storebought cake, a package of caramels melted in the microwave, and a jar of Fluff.

Don't be silly, Mike! She's a working woman - she doesn't have time to unwrap caramels, let alone scoop fluff out of a jar! She'd make it using a frozen Sarah Lee Poundcake, a jar of Betty Crocker caramel-flavored frosting, and a tub of Jell-O tapioca pudding mixed with Cool Whip!

We could probably have a thread of awful salads that we have seen in the past. The epitome of the bastardization of salad for me was the Snickers "salad" -- diced apples, cut-up candy bars, bound with Cool Whip.

How is that a salad by any definition?

tcdup wrote:We could probably have a thread of awful salads that we have seen in the past. The epitome of the bastardization of salad for me was the Snickers "salad" -- diced apples, cut-up candy bars, bound with Cool Whip.

How is that a salad by any definition?

you know, if somebody brought that to an office pot-luck, i'd eat it.

Cynthia wrote:People ate tuna casserole, jello molds, and all that stuff everyone now laughs at in the Gallery of Regrettable Food.

Plenty of people still enjoy tuna casserole and Jell-O molds. I wouldn't automatically relegate either to the category of ghastly food.

tcdup wrote:We could probably have a thread of awful salads that we have seen in the past. The epitome of the bastardization of salad for me was the Snickers "salad" -- diced apples, cut-up candy bars, bound with Cool Whip.

How is that a salad by any definition?

The same way Waldorf salad is. In the 19th and 20th centuries, "salads" were as often as not composed salads, and frequently contained sweet ingredients. In the 1930s, Golden Glow salad was a popular dish: lemon Jell-O mixed with grated carrot and canned pineapple, served with dollops of mayonnaise.

Here's one of Escoffier's composed salads:

American Salad

Tomatoes, pineapple, orange, banana, cos lettuce, mayonnaise.

Peel, seed, and slice the tomatoes, cut the pineapple in small slices, peel and divide the orange into sections and slice the banana thinly.

Cut the lettuce in half and arrange the fruits alternately on it.

Serve with a thin mayonnaise sauce or cream to which orange and lemon juice, salt and a pinch of sugar have been added.

LAZ wrote:Here's one of Escoffier's composed salads:

American Salad

Tomatoes, pineapple, orange, banana, cos lettuce, mayonnaise.

Peel, seed, and slice the tomatoes, cut the pineapple in small slices, peel and divide the orange into sections and slice the banana thinly.

Cut the lettuce in half and arrange the fruits alternately on it.

Serve with a thin mayonnaise sauce or cream to which orange and lemon juice, salt and a pinch of sugar have been added.

Escoffier was a bizarre man. I think he must have been mocking his readers with this recipe, and in another that uses the exact same ingredients, sans banana. He calls that one "Japanese Salad". Come on, Auguste.

Of course, Bayless' recipe calls for a scratch cake, but otherwise, it is quite similar to the others published here:

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=57

Isn't Sandra Lee all about kitsch? And aren't we all enjoying the fascination of the abomination? I view her show as the Food Network's version of a bottom-feeder reality show from VH-I, Fox, and others. Not that I have ever actually seen an entire half-hour of her program. That might make me feel unwell. Still, I confess that (to my daughter's horror) I sat through an entire season of "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance."

Semi-Ho was on the WGN radio earlier today.

Her selected recipe from her new budget-cooking book: shepherd's pie. Here is her recipe as described over the airwaves, paraphrased only slightly, and I am not making any of this up.

At the supermarket, buy:

- pre-chopped onions from the salad bar ("no time for chopping!")
- the least expensive beef stew meat you can find
- a bag of Ore-Ida chopped potatoes
- a "jar of beef gravy" (wtf)
- an additional packet of "black pepper gravy seasoning mix"
- a bag of frozen vegetables ("one seventh the price of fresh!")

At home, fry three strips of bacon, and in the grease, fry the onions and sear the stew meat. Toss in the bag of frozen vegetables, the jar of beef gravy, and the packet of gravy mix. Simmer. Meanwhile, nuke the potatoes, and then mash them in the bag with "your own" sour cream, mayo, butter, and "lots of Worcestershire sauce."

Transfer meat-gravy mixture to casserole dish. Make "little biscuit tops" of mashed potato, arrange artfully on meat, finish in oven until potatoes are golden-brown.

...

By my count, this is infinitely more expensive, time-consuming, sodium-overloaded (bacon, gravy, gravy mix, Worcestershire), fat-rich, dish-and-pan-dirtying, and downright sucky than searing two steaks and some spinach, asparagus, or string beans in the deglazed drippings. Perhaps you could even [gasp] slice a lemon and sprinkle the "juice" over the top. Or [ack!] sliver a shallot into the pan for some, how can I put this, "flavor."

Santander wrote:By my count, this is infinitely more expensive, time-consuming, sodium-overloaded (bacon, gravy, gravy mix, Worcestershire), fat-rich, dish-and-pan-dirtying, and downright sucky than searing two steaks and some spinach, asparagus, or string beans in the deglazed drippings. Perhaps you could even [gasp] slice a lemon and sprinkle the "juice" over the top. Or [ack!] sliver a shallot into the pan for some, how can I put this, "flavor."

This is really the height of her insanity. She really lies like a seasoned politician when she calls her recipes inexpensive and healthy.

And in this one, when the potatoes are browned in the oven, those nuggets of cheap stew meat are going to be as chewy as shoe leather (unless that "simmer" step took about an hour, which I doubt).

Santander wrote:At home, fry three strips of bacon,

Wait a minute. I thought this was supposed to be easy.

tcdup wrote:How is that a salad by any definition?

Actually, salad may not be what you think it is. In the Middle East, Hummus is considered a salad. In North Africa, chopped dates and honey can be a salad. The first definition offered by Webster's dictionary is "any of various, usually cold dishes." The third definition is "a usually incongruous mixture." So Webster's says it's a salad. (Websters does include greens in between the first and third definitions, as well as "small pieces of food mixed with dressing."

As for the world's love for stuff that makes us cringe, I don't think we should be surprised that a disparity exists between "them" and "us." After all, if absolutely everyone around us was incredibly knowledgeable about food and was always eating great stuff and talking intelligently about it, why would we all be here on LTHForum?

Cynthia wrote:After all, if absolutely everyone around us was incredibly knowledgeable about food and was always eating great stuff and talking intelligently about it, why would we all be here on LTHForum?

Not satisfied with merely great stuff, we'd still be here, endlessly obsessing over the hunt for unbelievable amazing transcendent stuff

I realized that Sandra Lee was a genius of sorts when I saw her make pumpkin cheesecake petit fours by scooping out and mashing together the innards of a pre-made grocery store cheesecake and a pre-made grocery store pumpkin pie. Her food is a horror show but she might be a camp hero

OK, this is bizarre. Just for fun, I googled "Sandra Lee Flan" and came up with this. For comparison, here's the Epicurious version(quince compote notwithstanding)

How is this possible? Of all the things she could make from scratch, she does flan? Is that really any easier than pumpkin cheesecake?

Santander wrote:Semi-Ho was on the WGN radio earlier today.

Her selected recipe from her new budget-cooking book: shepherd's pie. Here is her recipe as described over the airwaves, paraphrased only slightly, and I am not making any of this up.

At the supermarket, buy:

- pre-chopped onions from the salad bar ("no time for chopping!")
- the least expensive beef stew meat you can find
- a bag of Ore-Ida chopped potatoes
- a "jar of beef gravy" (wtf)
- an additional packet of "black pepper gravy seasoning mix"
- a bag of frozen vegetables ("one seventh the price of fresh!")

At home, fry three strips of bacon, and in the grease, fry the onions and sear the stew meat. Toss in the bag of frozen vegetables, the jar of beef gravy, and the packet of gravy mix. Simmer. Meanwhile, nuke the potatoes, and then mash them in the bag with "your own" sour cream, mayo, butter, and "lots of Worcestershire sauce."

Transfer meat-gravy mixture to casserole dish. Make "little biscuit tops" of mashed potato, arrange artfully on meat, finish in oven until potatoes are golden-brown.

...

By my count, this is infinitely more expensive, time-consuming, sodium-overloaded (bacon, gravy, gravy mix, Worcestershire), fat-rich, dish-and-pan-dirtying, and downright sucky than searing two steaks and some spinach, asparagus, or string beans in the deglazed drippings. Perhaps you could even [gasp] slice a lemon and sprinkle the "juice" over the top. Or [ack!] sliver a shallot into the pan for some, how can I put this, "flavor."

Egad! This is a recipe for a greasy, watery, salty mess. First, she has you cook the bacon then "sear" the beef in the bacon fat. I find that you have to pat the beef dry and crank up the heat in order to make sure it gets a good sear, which she doesn't tell you to do, but after adding frozen vegetables which are watery, and that jarred gravy, which doesn't even resemble an appropriate braising liquid, this is going to be one hell of a mess. Not to mention how salty that gravy will be after it reduces, leaving a slick of that bacon grease on top. And do you need two types of gravy (powdered and jarred)? Just say no.

Escoffier was a bizarre man. I think he must have been mocking his readers with this recipe, and in another that uses the exact same ingredients, sans banana. He calls that one "Japanese Salad". Come on, Auguste.

You'd be surprised what can taste good despite the apparent oddity of the recipe. I refer you to Elizabeth David's essays, one in particular on tomato jam & also one for "sauce for lobster" where she examines seemingly odd French recipes & discovers they often have remarkable refinement (the essays are in "An Omelet & A Glass of Wine"). I've tried the tomato jam & its quite delicious (& is surprisingly similar to an Indian chutney my mother makes with the additional flavoring of slivered almonds & black cardamom). Tomato, pineapple & orange salad is also found in Indian cookery, though not with a mayo dressing, with a citrus juice based one instead. Yes, sometimes they are disasters, but there is often a rationale behind the dish.

Athena wrote:

Escoffier was a bizarre man. I think he must have been mocking his readers with this recipe, and in another that uses the exact same ingredients, sans banana. He calls that one "Japanese Salad". Come on, Auguste.

Yes, sometimes they are disasters, but there is often a rationale behind the dish.

What's the rationale behind calling it a Japanese salad though?