Food Science Magic

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In my opinion, cake mixes are one of the greatest advances in food sciences in the last century. I have heard people talk about “nasty cake mixes” and I know they haven’t made a cake from a mix in years. 

I think cakes are better from mixes. I said what I said. 

Some of that has to do with the reliability of cake mixes. You get a consistently good outcome and this isn’t always the way when cooking from scratch. Also, this doesn’t hold true for store bought icings. They still taste a little like sweetened shortening. (especially when Chocolate Ganache is so simple to make and tastes amazing‼)

The other things that are processed magic are Velveeta and Instant Pudding. 

Recently I found Velveeta in a usual type box, but instead of one big loaf of Velveeta It was 5 individually packaged portions inside the box. Brilliant‼

Velveeta is creamy magic for savory cheese based sauces. Just a little bit added to other stronger cheeses and you can insure your sauce is uniformly creamy and not worry about cheese clumps that just won’t mix in. It sometimes works magic on sweet applications, too. Try this Velveeta Fudge!!

Instant pudding is similar for sweet applications. A couple of teaspoons into heavy cream, will stabilize whipped cream so it will stay where you put it and  be beautiful all day. 

People avoid processed foods, and I understand why. I like simple cooking and fresh ingredients as much as the next person. But magic is magic and using a bit of it follows our favorite Food Scientist’s favorite axiom, “moderation in everything, including moderation.”

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