Cookbook Dumb Down

Mom would blanch over cookbooks' dumb down

By Candy Sagon
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — At Kraft Foods, recipes never include words such as "dredge" and "sauté." Betty Crocker recipes avoid "braise" and "truss." Land O' Lakes has all but banned "fold" and "cream" from its cooking instructions. Pillsbury carefully sidesteps "simmer" and "sear."

When the country's top food companies want to create recipes that millions of Americans can understand, there seems to be one guiding principle: They need to be written for a nation of culinary illiterates.

Basic cooking terms that have been part of kitchen vocabulary for centuries are now considered incomprehensible to the majority of Americans.

Despite the popularity of Food Network cooking shows on cable TV and the burgeoning number of food magazines and gourmet restaurants, today's cooks have fewer kitchen skills than did their parents or grandparents.

To compensate, food companies are dumbing down recipes, and cookbooks are published with simple instructions and lots of step-by-step illustrations.

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