FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - Sandra's Money Saving Meals: Retro Easy Kitchen Classics

Colby Bradshaw

wrote:
>
>
>This week's show was new.
>
> Sandra Lee goes back to basics and shows you how
> to whip up some all-time favorites without going
> broke including Chicken & Dumplings, Salisbury
> Steak, German Chocolate Cake Trifle and she'll
> show you the secret to making a fantastic Tom
> Collins. None of those extras goes to waste as
> Sandra shows you her 'Round 2 Recipe' for Savory
> Chicken Crepes and an easy R2R recipe for Beef
> Arepas available only at foodnetwork.com/round2recipes.

I think this is only the second episode of this show I've seen since I
started giggling over Sandra Lee. Let me see if I've got it straight:

1. Ground beef – "80% ground beef is x% cheaper than 93% ground beef,
and the shrinkage isn't enough to make up for that savings."
(grammatical disagreement added for authenticity).
Sandra, people don't buy lower-fat ground beef because it shrinks less.
They buy it because, you know, it has less fat. Less saturated fat. Less
cholesterol. It's healthier! Now, Emeril, Alton Brown, and Tyler
Florence – you know, people who actually finished cooking school - will
tell you to buy 80% to make hamburgers because they taste better
(because that's why people tend to like high-fat foods – it tastes
better). But don't go trying to fool us by saying you invented using it
because it's cheaper. I call SHENANIGANS!
p.s. Think carefully about using the word "shrinkage." Seinfeld pretty
much put his stamp on that one, and I'm not sure that's the image you
want running through your viewer's minds. But I could be wrong.

2. The dreaded Crowded Pan.
Sandra, you don't put five beef patties in a four-patty pan if you want
them to brown. If they're touching, they steam. Yes, even if you burn
the bottoms, the sides are steamed. Use a bigger pan, or do it in 2
batches. It tastes different, honest!

3. Dumping raw flour into liquid.
Ok, I'll give you a semi-pass on this, because you poured the flour on
the veggies and then added the liquid, so one could argue
(unsuccessfully, IMHO, but it's within the realm of possibility) that
some cooking took place before you dumped in the broth. But please note
– you understand the concept of cooking the flour in fat (called "roux"
to anyone who's ever watched Emeril, and from what I've seen, they
aren't exactly rocket scientists over there either) because you used it
on your salisbury steak gravy. It's the same thing. If you don't cook
the fat before you throw water on it, it will not cook, no matter how
long you boil it. Ask Alton Brown why, he explains it really well, with
diagrams about fat surrounding the molecules and keeping the water,
which swells the starch, out….

4. "It's cheaper to make your own baking mix than to buy it premade."
Dear Sandra, there are people who use flour, baking soda, salt, and
shortening without thinking of it as Bisquick. I know you grew up on
Bisquick. I love Bisquick. I use it to make pancakes, dumplings,
biscuits, coffee cake, all kinds of things. But you can just use the
ingredients individually, because you may someday need plain flour
without all the other stuff, y'know?
And, while I'm at it – hey, why don't you show us on TV how to cut
shortening into flour? I'd like to see that. Go ahead, let's see you do
it. For those of us who need things "dumbed down."

5. "Use cake mix because it's cheaper than from scratch."
You think we're gonna buy that one? And why don't you show us, the poor
dumbed-down viewer, how that's done exactly?

6. "I'm making these crepes from a simple crepe recipe you can find on
the website."
Sandy, honey, Alton Brown spent a half hour explaining how to make
crepes. You think we're buying that you just dashed off this batter?
I've become educated over the past few weeks. I know what MV means.

7. "Take these onions that I've already chopped…"
Yeah, I'll just bet you chopped them. Say Thank You to the Food Network
staff, now.

The whole "save x percent" schtick got really old really fast. Please
stop it.

I was pretty brutal on Melissa D'Arabian and her new show, but seeing
her potato torte recipe after a month of learning about Sandra Lee, I
was impressed. She peeled and sliced her potatoes! Grated her cheese!
Rubbed a sliced garlic clove on the salad bowl! (I didn't know people
did that any more, I haven't seen it in a long time, thought it went out
of style). She even – gasp – made a pie crust. Ok, she used a food
processor, but I actually believe she's capable of making a pie crust by
hand. (I, I will admit, am not.)

So I think I've been watching too much Sandra Lee. I'm getting out of
touch with what the average cook is really able to do.