Bake-Off Surprises : Trends in Ingredients, Utensils Noted

Mixing bowls were hauled out, ranges heated up and at 8 a.m. on Feb. 24, 98 contestants began preparing the recipes that had won them a chance to compete for $117,000 in prize money in the finals of this year’s America’s Bake-Off at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. There should have been 100 contestants but two unfortunate finalists became ill and couldn’t compete at the last moment.

While contestants measured ingredients and tried to master using a strange oven, one of 100 lined up neatly in three double rows in the Grand Republic Ballroom of the Contemporary Hotel, the noise level began to climb as pans clattered and reporters covering this long-lived cooking contest interviewed nervous cooks.

In the judging chamber things were quiet. Guestimates as to when the first dish to be sampled, dissected and evaluated would arrive were part of the desultory conversations taking place among the eight judges responsible for deciding which recipes were winners once the last contestant sent in his or her entry. Six newspaper food editors, a magazine food editor and the director of consumer affairs for an East Coast food market chain made up this year’s panel of judges.

Contest rules provided four categories in which contestants could enter: Refrigerated Pie Crust and Biscuit; Refrigerated Dinner Roll; Cake Mix, and Flour. Each of the categories was in turn divided into four recipe groups: Quick and Easy, Ethnic, Rewards and Treats and Microwave. Two judges were assigned to work as a team in selecting one $15,000 winner and four $2,000 winners in each category.

Best of Four

After the initial selection of winners was made, the full panel of eight judges then chose the best of the four $15,000 winners for an additional $25,000 prize. The grand prize, category and group winners also received General Electric appliances. The number of recipes in each category ranged from 23 in the dinner roll group to 26 in pie crusts and biscuits.

Judging criteria were based on the taste and appearance of the recipe, its general appeal and creativity, the ease of preparation, the appropriateness for category and group and the general availability of ingredients.

Judges for the Refrigerated Pie Crust and Biscuit category were Christine Arpe Gang of The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal and Dotty Griffith of the Dallas Morning News. Assigned to the Refrigerated Dinner Roll category were Mary Ellen Burris of Wegmans Food Markets Inc., headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., and Linda Guica of The Hartford Courant. The Cake Mix category judges were Sara Pearce of The Cincinnati Enquirer and Mildred Ying of Good Housekeeping magazine, and judges for the Flour category were Marilyn McDevitt Rubin of The Pittsburgh Press and this writer.

Judging food contests is not easy. There are so many variables. In this case, the skill of the contestant played a major role since the finalists had to prepare their recipes themselves for the final judging. Surprisingly, there are finalists who make it to cook-offs like the Bake-Off who not only can’t cook, but may not even have tried the recipe they entered before they sent it.

Since three of the categories in this year’s contest were based on the use of convenience foods that lend themselves to quick preparation, judges were surprised that it was an hour and 17 minutes before the first entry arrived. After that the entries began to arrive with great regularity.

It was interesting to see the trends develop. Ten-inch tart pans were used frequently, not only for desserts but for a number of quiche-like savories. Italian foods dominated the ethnic group, but Mexican chiles and flavorings showed up in other groups. Apples were the most frequently used fruit, with lemons and raspberries often being used as flavorings. Spinach, a wide variety of cheeses and nuts and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate also showed up often enough to be noted.

Unforgettable Memory

The last time I judged the bake-off was in 1972 when I was assigned to the cake mix category. Since this is essentially a dessert division, it is hardly surprising that my most unforgettable memory of that session was the way my teeth would tingle at the very thought of eating sweets for weeks afterward. I suspect the judges of this year’s cake mix category are now suffering from the same reaction. There was a marked tendency on the part of those who entered this category this year to genuine sugar overkill.

Cake mixes, as convenience foods, are meant to be more or less self-contained desserts--with little embellishment needed. Some entries in this category were gussied up almost to the point of being bizarre with frostings and fillings that added so much additional sweetening the results were positively cloying.

Sweet Always In

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that sugary desserts and snacks are out. They always will be around. And if the collection of Bake-Off finalists is any indication, Americans still think of treats as being something sweet. The major winner in the Cake Mix category proves that point well. It calls for a chocolate cake mix, whipped topping, instant vanilla pudding and pie mix, peanuts, peanut butter and cream cheese. It sounds awful, tasted great, and will leave you with a guilty conscience for weeks after one bite.

The two dessert tarts that won the top prize money, one in the Refrigerated Pie Crust and Biscuit category and one in the Refrigerated Dinner Roll category, while sweet, were much more in line with what we like to think of as desserts today. Both had sharp lemony tangs to them, but the very simplicity of the apple tart that went on to become the big winner swayed the judges in its favor.

The Flour category winner turned out to be a surprise for all. Normally when judging recipes that are based on flour, one expects to find a bread or cake or cookie that is outstanding. There were several cookies that were excellent, one of which won $2,000, and some breads and rolls that also were extremely well done, but the chicken casserole that took top prize was so good in both appearance and taste, that it was an easy choice for first place.

The contestant used self-rising flour in her version of this recipe, but I have since tested it with regular flour and baking powder and find it works equally well. Instead of making a simple spinach and chicken pie with a pie crust topping, she separated the eggs used in the top crust and, beating the whites separately, came up with a spoonbread type of topping that was light and very complementary to the rest of the dish.

You never know what’s going to happen in contests like the Bake-Off. Sometimes the entries that come in are mediocre to bad, and that’s when it’s hard to make a decision. Fortunately this year the entries were, by and large, not only well done but also very interesting. It made the judges’ jobs much easier.

The last entries came in just under the 2 o’clock deadline, and by 3:15 p.m., the judges had unanimously agreed upon the apple tart as being worthy of the super prize. As of this writing, a full week later, I, for one, am still content with the choice. It’s a good recipe, as are the others that were selected as money winners.