Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@peekpoke: the series is called "Mixed Review:" because...why?
*ding* *ding* *ding* *ding* *ding*
It reviews MIXES! You get a "T" for being a troll! ;-)

@pooch: "instant" mixes will forever contain "chemicals", i.e., artificial flavorings, colors, etc. if you detest eating chemicals so much then by all means please stop reading Mixed Review. :-)

Not a fan of chocolate+mint combination so I guess I'll stick with the vanilla or, as suggested by other posters, the cookies and cream versions. :-)

Also, I'll probably get slaughtered for this, but I LOVE instant pudding and...... *cough cough* hate from scratch pudding. I have a problem with the texture, in the opposite way that most people do, I suppose.

what's the difference between the instant and cook and serve pudding mixes?

I didn't eat much pudding as a kid (not deprived; no interest), but I clicked over because I recently was in Trader Joe's and noticed under the "New Product!" banner boxes of vanilla & chocolate instant pudding. Not being familiar with pudding, I didn't really know the difference between instant and not... I'm curious what you think about those two products (I just made the vanilla; it's sitting in the fridge right now chiling, waiting for me to eat it with granola).

The mint chocolate pudding sounds pretty fantastic, even though I'd never have thought of that as a pudding flavor :)

@drolefille -- the chemicals you speak of are naturally occuring compounds in food.... the chemicals i speak of are artificial flavoring .... and whatever else is in the package that is not real food... my use of the world chemicals encompasses preservatives as well...

hey feel free to whip up a batch of jello pudding, chemicals, preservatives or whatever you want to call it. it's amazing that people eat this crap.

Is this the stuff they used at coldstone for the no-melt ice cream?

Count me in the "love the skin" group.

i agree with chiff and heart -- i say #6 - what to do with an entemann's pound cake: throw it in the garbage..... (i'm just being a box cake buzz killer, sorry)

There are a couple of big mistakes made by non-crust makers when they embark on a pie crust mission.

Overworking. Mix until it holds together. THEN STOP. It is NOT supposed to be homogenous. It should still have bits of butter visible (which will ultimately cause flakiness). If pie crust is overworked, it shrinks in the oven and becomes very tough.

Not allowing the freshly-mixed dough to rest. Gently form the dough into a disk, wrap, and fridge it for at least 30 minutes to allow developed gluten to rest. Then, allow to come close to room temp but the dough should still feel cold to the touch.

The way to overcome fear of doing a specific thing in the kitchen is to do it repeatedly. Make a pie a week for the family or work associates and I'll bet at the end of a month the fear will be gone.

mmmmm..... artificially flavored wax nubs.....

What's wrong with reassuring novice bakers that something they think might be difficult is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it? And then offering an easy, well tested recipe...

We are talking about the combining of a few ingredients not rocket science.

@cybercita: I did read the post. I know what you are referring to. However, it seemed to me more of writing as someone who would go out and buy a store mix rather than fully accurately autobiographical. I believe the part about avoiding making it. But it seems like someone who buys pie crust would probably have tried Jiffy mix before already and know it doesn't work. The evaluation of the mix and making it seemed to be from someone that knows how to make it.

Whatever, I might be wrong. Maybe she doesn't know how to make it. Still, I think the point is to try out the mix, not make a mix and have people offer recipes and to teach her to make it. There are people who are definitely never going to make it from scratch. And there are people who will use mixes in a pinch. It's nice to know if one saves time or tastes decent. If you're absolutely never going to make something from a mix, then reading this column would seem kind of like a waste of time. Which might be the point (like if you're bored at work or something).