Do I avoid the "do you use a mix" question?? - Page 4

YOU ROCK...i've thought the very same thing myself...

where does it stop?...should we have to grow are own wheat and grind it?....have a bunch of chickens in the yard...so we know our eggs are fresh?

Alton Brown said Duncan Hines was a very fussy food critic who traveled the country, visiting restuarants and writing articles in the paper about his findings.....

i was caught in walmart a few months back with my cart heaped up with duncan hines.....a woman i didn't recognise said..."SO THAT'S YOUR SECRET HUH?"

i just looked at her and said..."yeah. but don't try this at home.." you don't know the missing elements...

and my lil extra "slice of love"

Hey txkat, do you use SMBC?

i was thinking of trying it...but how is it for you making it in large batches?

i go thru 60 quarts easy on a saturday, i know ya'll go thru tons more than that.

I use all mixes, and freely admit. I may add to some of them, I may not. But I personally do not like very many scratch cakes. I have rarely been asked whether I bake from scratch or a mix, but when asked, I say I use mixes. Nobody's ever complained, but if they have a problem, that's fine, they can go elsewhere. I only ever get compliments on my "light, fluffy" cakes.

Here are some more answers to "the question",
You are welcome to love or hate them as you will.

You don't have to lie but you don't have to tell either.

Like,

"Oh you know better than to ask that!"

"Well, what do you think?'

"What a controversial subject, which one does your wife/Mom bake?"

"Which do you prefer?"

"Hey, y'know, just like Mom's"

"Can't you tell?" (which one)

"It's an old family secret."

of course there's always

"I could tell yah but then I'd have to shoot yah." When really they qualify for execution just by ASKING!!!

It's tantamount to asking, 'boxers or briefs'--it just should not be asked. If you encounter a cad who asks, and they are just making conversation, blow them off--pick a line from above and smile, laugh, talk about it without answering, blow them off, change the subject.

If it's a client, say, Oh you've had my cake before at such & such an event. Or, here's a sample, see for yourself...stuff like that.

There's no good answer to that question especially when it comes to business. It's a Hatfield or McCoy type issue.

"It's tantamount to asking, 'boxers or briefs'--it just should not be asked"

That line cracked me up! Love it!

Your kitchen is so cute!!

i also use box mix. dont feel bad or like otehrs will look down on it. repeat business is all that matters.

one question- what is a wasc recipe?

Shannon

All of my clients don't care about how I bake the cake they want my fillings and icing and will let me know if somethings not right or different. We are not taking any more orders for July and Aug so my cakes must be good and they are not scratch I use bulk mixes that I have tested before I found the right one's

Shannon, WASC is white almond sour cream cake - in recipes . i just made my first one a few weeks ago. it's a doctored white cake.

I do think that box cakes & bag cookie mixes are premeasured ingredients, but i would not respond to people with that answer.

for me, it's a matter of convenience & the people I bake for like the taste.

When I used the word hard. I didn't mean as in rocket science. If your using cups & tbls yeah it's difficult to get a consistant cake all the time. If you don't understand which ingredients are tenderizers, and which ones are strengtheners yes, you will have a difficult time tweaking a bad recipe to a good one. I'm not saying one way is better than the other. Just don't try to pass either one by a customer as the other.

Mike

Potential client: âDo you bake from scratch?â
Debi: âYou couldnât afford me if I baked from scratch.â

Iâve told them âI use the same premeasured mixes used by most bakeries and food establishments in town.â

I just can NOT understand why people feel guilty about using mixes. Ever shop in GFS? See those big 5-lb boxes of cake mix? You think theyâre selling those to housewives? Heck no! They are selling them to bakeries and restaurants and any other business who wants to make a cake!

Ever eat at Applebeeâs, Olive Garden, or any other restaurant? You think they make all of that from scratch? Heck no!!! Have you noticed all the new âsmaller portionâ meals that are being offered now? You think everyone came up with the same ânewâ idea at the same time? Heck no!! GFS revealed those products at their food show a few months ago! So all of those places are ordering those frozen-not-made-from-scratch items for sale in their restaurant.

Most of the natâl hamburger chains donât even fry their hamburgers on site anymore ⦠they arrive at the restaurant already cooked. And youâre feeling âguiltyâ about using a mix?????



Because back in the pioneer days, a woman was MEASURED on her culinary skills. A woman who couldnât make a pie crust just wouldnât be able to âketch a MAN!â A woman who was GOOD at this stuff was considered the Queen of the Ball, uh, kitchen. As the ânew and improvedâ models came in, it somewhat threatened the âstatusâ of the local women who were the champion pie crust makers â¦. Because now EVERYONE could make a good pie crust and they were no longer Queen of the Ball. How did they fight this threat to their self-perceived status? By making snotty little comments such as, âOh, she baked that from a MIX!â



I particularly liked one Food Channel show where they were in some mom-n-pop diner, and the owners were bragging on how they made everything from scratch! â¦.. as they stood in front of a shelving unit with a couple boxes of Aunt Jemima pancake mix sitting on it!!



When I get a bride who asks âDo you use fresh or frozen?â (regarding catering), I respond with âI donât grow my own corn or kill my own chicken, so what are you looking for?â

See, I was using a doctored recipe, so I was measuring out flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream anyway to add to the box mix, so going scratch wasn't much of a change for me.

I also found that the scratch recipe that I love for butter yellow cake is just as dense and yummy as the doctored recipe I was using. It's not a different texture either. I have enough bags of flour and sugar in the cupboard, not having boxes of mix saves me tons of space.

Definitely personal preference and what you want to do.

Oh my gosh, indydebi! Thanks for a great laugh before bedtime. I love your no BS answers (especially the one regarding 'fresh or frozen'). You should have your own talk show!!!

Indy, you are a riot! Shoot, now-a-days people can't afford much whether it's scratch OR box. They better just take it if it's good and call it a day! LOL
But jessieb578...don't do unnecessary worrying about what people MIGHT think. Once you're comfortable and CONFIDENT, I'm quite sure nobody will ask. If you keep thinking about it and wondering who might ask and what to say, then the situation will present itself.
Just keep baking the way you're doing in that pretty little kitchen of yours!

Here's a ghetto-fied analogy of "authentic" value...
Your hairstyle is a weave...
Q: Is that your real hair?
A: NO, but it's mine! And if you had to ask, then that means you wouldn't know the difference anyway.

You bake from a mix...
Q: Is this scratch?
A: NO, but it's just as good or even better, and if you had to ask then there's the proof!

LOL...I know, I'm silly! Hey, what do you expect...it's late on a Friday night!