The Dumbing of America

[Chuck S]

So I opened my newspaper this morning, and in one of the "magazine" additions (USA Weekend) there it was...a recipe for...wait for it...Whipped Cream.

That's right, whipped cream...you know cream, whipped until peaks form, and add some sugar. Along with the suggestion to save on dishes by whipping it, and serving it, in the same bowl.

 

[legalsea]

So I opened my newspaper this morning, and in one of the "magazine" additions (USA Weekend) there it was...a recipe for...wait for it...Whipped Cream.

That's right, whipped cream...you know cream, whipped until peaks form, and add some sugar. Along with the suggestion to save on daishes by whipping it, and serving it, in the same bowl.

Paul Harvey (the late radio commentator) used to wax poetic at times about baked apples. One broadcast he ruefully noted that someone had written to him, asking for the recipe for baked apples. He simply sighed....

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

So I opened my newspaper this morning, and in one of the "magazine" additions (USA Weekend) there it was...a recipe for...wait for it...Whipped Cream.

That's right, whipped cream...you know cream, whipped until peaks form, and add some sugar. Along with the suggestion to save on dishes by whipping it, and serving it, in the same bowl.

Well, you and I have a different recipe! I use powdered sugar to stabilize the cream better, (very little) and I also add a little vanilla. Some beginners have to be told not to overwhip, or they will have sweet butter instead of whipped cream.

 

[ckay87]

Guilty.

Reminds me of the time when I was in college (20 years ago) that I called home to ask how to hard boil an egg. When my mom laughed at me, I simply noted that SHE was the one who failed me.

Nevertheless, I'll still NEVER live that one down. She still calls around Easter to ask if I need any advice.

 

[TinklednPants]

I had a relative sincerely ask me how to make baked potatoes. I did my best to make it sound like there was some skill involved but

 

[Chuck S]

Well, you and I have a different recipe! I use powdered sugar to stabilize the cream better, (very little) and I also add a little vanilla. Some beginners have to be told not to overwhip, or they will have sweet butter instead of whipped cream.

I use powdered sugar, and vanilla (or a little almond) flavor depending upon what I'm serving.

This "recipe" in the paper calls for granulated sugar, which works OK, if you use it right away, but it won't "hold" for any length of time. And no vanilla or other flavorings, just cream and granulated sugar.

 

[jx3smom]

Really people just learning may not know what to add or how long it takes, et c.

 

[legalsea]

Once a co-worker told me about a babysitter she had. Co-worker asked the babysitter once to boil some hotdogs for the children when it was time for dinner.

When co-worker got home the babysitter said that the children did not eat the hotdogs. Eldest child explained that babysitter had put the hot dogs in boiling water and let them boil for two hours. The children found the hot dogs unappetizing.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

I always cooked with my children when they were little and they really enjoyed it. I had them read the recipe when they were old enough. They cracked eggs, measured milk & sugar, buttered pans......

When my oldest was in 6th grade he loved cooking class. They learned about kitchen safety, how to read & follow a recipe & best of all, to clean up when you are done! They made all kinds of stuff and he looked forward to that class every week. One day he came home & said the teacher told them the class wouldn't be offered for the next year. She was sorry to see it cut, but just wanted them to know she really enjoyed teaching them about cooking & hoped they would still cook at home. I called the teacher & she said it was not put in the budget for the next school year. I went on & called the principal who said she would love to keep the cooking class but the school committee cut the funding for it, so I called them too & they said there just isn't enough money for it anymore.
That son still cooks & bakes all the time (9th grade now).

My 7th grader never had cooking class in school but we always cooked stuff together at home. One day he told some friends he couldn't wait to get home because he was cooking steak tips w/peppers & onions, baked potatoes & salad for dinner & his older brother was making a cake w/whipped cream frosting. His friends couldn't believe they knew how to do that. He asked what they could make & they said cereal. My son told them you don't make cereal, you pour it!

Maybe people don't have the time to cook anymore. There is a lot of take-out & prepared meals available.

 

[MrsPete]

I don't think this is an example of "dumbing down". Being intelligent and being able to cook aren't necessarily the same thing. If you could go back in time 50 years, I'd bet the average man wouldn't have known how to make whipped cream, and yet he wouldn't have been considered dumb.

Rather, I'd say that the "need" for such a simple recipe is evidence that Americans have changed their cooking habits: Restaurants meals and boxed/frozen meals are the rule now, and most people don't cook "from scratch" on a regular basis.

 

[Laura]

Better to tell people how to make the stuff than have people mindlessly going out and buying Cool Whip.

 

[allison443]

I don't think this is an example of "dumbing down". Being intelligent and being able to cook aren't necessarily the same thing. If you could go back in time 50 years, I'd bet the average man wouldn't have known how to make whipped cream, and yet he wouldn't have been considered dumb.

Rather, I'd say that the "need" for such a simple recipe is evidence that Americans have changed their cooking habits: Restaurants meals and boxed/frozen meals are the rule now, and most people don't cook "from scratch" on a regular basis.

I agree...like others have said, there are details like adding sugar (what kind), vanilla, how long to beat it for, etc. Also my mom had a trick where she would put the empty bowl and the metal beaters in the freezer to chill before making the whipped cream, not sure why.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I use powdered sugar, and vanilla (or a little almond) flavor depending upon what I'm serving.

This "recipe" in the paper calls for granulated sugar, which works OK, if you use it right away, but it won't "hold" for any length of time. And no vanilla or other flavorings, just cream and granulated sugar.

(I cheat. I have a whipped cream maker so I don't even have to whip it!-But I can whip it in a pinch if I need to! And yes, I have made sweet butter in my past.)

 

[alexandria674]

I don't know how to make whip cream....so long Harvard.

 

[allison443]

So I opened my newspaper this morning, and in one of the "magazine" additions (USA Weekend) there it was...a recipe for...wait for it...Whipped Cream.

That's right, whipped cream...you know cream, whipped until peaks form, and add some sugar. Along with the suggestion to save on dishes by whipping it, and serving it, in the same bowl.

Did you mean "editions" instead of "additions"? Sorry, couldn't resist!

 

[Chuck S]

Did you mean "editions" instead of "additions"? Sorry, couldn't resist!

Actually, I meant "additions", it is a supplement that is "added" to our Friday "Edition" of the newspaper.

 

[alexandria674]

Hey, Chuck YOU may be able to make whip cream...but I can write with my feet so, you know...who won that contest

 

[allison443]

Actually, I meant "additions", it is a supplement that is "added" to our Friday "Edition" of the newspaper.

Okay, I've never heard anyone call it that..maybe I am dumb!

 

[NotUrsula]

Also my mom had a trick where she would put the empty bowl and the metal beaters in the freezer to chill before making the whipped cream, not sure why.

Because if you've tried it both ways, with chilled equipment and without, you know that chilled equipment works MUCH faster and gets you a much more even consistency on the cream.

Whipped cream is actually fairly difficult for many people. There is a definite skill in knowing how to add the ingredients (in a trickle, NOT all at once), and in knowing when to stop beating it.

Then there is my DH, who on the day before our wedding went out with a list that called for 3 PINTS of whipping cream, and who came back with 3 QUARTS of it. He has three advanced degrees, but sadly, none of them are in chemistry or engineering: "I never buy dairy products in pints, how was I supposed to know what a pint carton looked like? I saw these on the shelf, they said whipping cream, so I bought 3 of them."

 

[merryweather20]

Dumbing down? There is indeed a technique and various recipes for whipped cream

If I pull my great-grandmas cook-book down it has a page on whipped cream, not only a recipe, but a suggested range of milk-fat content and trouble shooting. My grandma added a magazine page that suggested icing sugar instead, and provided a different recipe. I guess they were a bunch of dunces back in 1913 too...

I'd also have no problem giving my baked apple recipe to anyone, how much butter, which spices and how long I cook different types of apples
When people ask it doesn't seem strange to me at all.

Ditto mash potatoes, I have several recipes for this as well. I myself do it half my Mom's way, half my Grandma's way and occasionally I add onions, like at a party we went to once.

Its kind of nice to know how different people do things, at least to dunces like me