The winding down of holiday parties has me mulling over a few hard-to-swallow facts about how most people cook and entertain: If it's easy — say, five steps or less — consider the recipe a winner. And if the recipe uses some form of junk food — Oreos, Fritos, mushroom soup mix — it will be a huge hit with family and friends, whether they realize what's in it or not.
I need to face facts: All the time I spend making 12-step recipes of brie en brioche from scratch never wins the raves of some Velveeta melted in the microwave with a can of chili, stirred for good measure and thrown on the table with a bag of corn chips for dipping. My family seems bemused at all my talk of slow food and eating sustainably and would really rather dig into a chicken casserole made with preshredded cheese and Fritos.
These type of recipes are nearly everywhere, and it seems to me that every family has at least one hidden in their kitchen closet. They require the use of items like soup mix or pudding packets; possibly pretzels or Cheese Whiz will be involved. Recipes of this sort exist all over the South. They are another of many links in a long chain of trash cooking.
When I was in high school in the '70s I can remember a rather sophisticated recipe (for this genre anyway) made with chocolate and vanilla pudding mix, Cool Whip and some sort of cracker making the rounds. It was layered in a 9-by-13-inch pan and called "The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford." My mother and her friends saw (and tasted) it for exactly what it really was: genius. It was easy and cheap to make, and everyone loved it. I remember trying to elevate it to gourmet status by making the crust from scratch (out of short dough) and using chocolate and vanilla pastry cream, as well as chantilly cream for the layers. It just wasn't the same.
Aside from Jell-O salad, I can think of no other category of cooking so quintessentially middle-class American. Where else can you take a pretzel, melt a Rolo on top of it for a few minutes, then place a pecan on the center of the whole thing and call it a turtle? Yet in spite of their humble beginnings, the reason these recipes live long and prosper is because they make things that taste good. They don't intimidate. Anyone can relate to a bunch of Oreos mushed up with pudding and Cool Whip.
One of my best friends when we were still in school was noted for always bringing the "best" dip to our parties — a pint of sour cream mixed with a packet of onion soup mix.
Add a few ruffled Lay's, and a classic is born.
My friend and colleague Shane Harrison, who is an excellent cook, shared this junk food recipe with me. He found it on allrecipes.com.
Funky Frito Fruckies
24 servings
Hands on: 15 minutes Total time: (includes cooling): 2 hours
10 1/2 ounces corn chips
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup creamy peanut butter
11 (1.55-ounce) bars milk chocolate
Grease a 10-by-15-inch pan.
Spread the corn chips over the bottom of the pan.
In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the sugar and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Pour this mixture over the chips and smooth to level out.
Place the chocolate bars in a single layer over the hot mixture and wait a few minutes until the heat melts them. Smooth the chocolate out to form a thin layer. Allow to cool and then break into pieces.
Per serving: 301 calories (percent of calories from fat, 44), 5 grams protein, 39 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 16 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 4 milligrams cholesterol, 158 milligrams sodium.
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