WERTHEIMER: Is there an editing process that-into the sorting? I mean, are there recipes that the assistants will look at it and say, `Not happening.' And I literally go into the bankers' boxes and start reading these recipes sent in by people. SCHMELLY: The readers' recipes are all sorted by our test kitchen assistants and then they're put into bankers' boxes. Pat Schmelly says she reads the recipes and cooks them in her head before she actually tests them. WERTHEIMER: You also heard from food editor Janaan Cunningham standing up for Jell-O molds. They enjoy good food and good-tasting food. JANAAN CUNNINGHAM (Food Editor, Taste of Home): Our readership, I think, enjoys the gelatin salads. WERTHEIMER: So it's-I'm wrong, is basically. So while we may all think it's dying, there are a lot of people that like Jell-O. It was one of the highest entries we have had in a long time. SCHMELLY: We just had a Jell-O contest in Country Woman, which is another one of our magazines. Gelatin salads have kind of gone out of style. WERTHEIMER: I can think of one gelatin salad appearing in a Martha Stewart magazine, like, in the last maybe couple years. It will have the sweet-and-sour red cabbage and the green peas. So this meal will have a beautiful red gelatin salad. SCHMELLY: We always look at color and texture because these do have to be photographed and we want them to be as beautiful as they can be. WERTHEIMER: This Mom's Meal is not epicurean cooking, it's good scratch cooking with familiar ingredients. SCHMELLY: So it is exactly how you would do it at home. Everything has to be done at the same time. For us, when we prepare a meal it's like Thanksgiving every day when we do our testing. WERTHEIMER: So now in order to do this, you prepare it as a family cook might? I mean, like, all of it at once? These are then rolled up, tied with kitchen string and roasted. SCHMELLY: Mom starts out by deboning a turkey and cutting it into pieces and filling it with a homemade corn bread giblet stuffing. In the parlance of the magazine, that little back story is called `the romance.' But Mom's recipes are ruthlessly tested in the magazine's kitchens, prepared and tasted at least three times by senior home economist Pat Schmelly and her crew. There's an account of what the meal means to the family and when it's served. WERTHEIMER: A Mom's Meal is a regular feature. PAT SCHMELLY(ph) (Senior Home Economist, Taste of Home): Today we're tasting a Mom's Meal(ph) that was sent in from a daughter writing about her mother, who lives in Oregon. (Soundbite of beeping oven door being opened) The magazine is published in Greendale, Wisconsin, and that's where they try out the readers' recipes. There are celebrations with theme menus and cakes in the shape of footballs or snowmen. There are contests for the best ham recipe or muffins, with the winners printed on clip cards in the magazine. All the recipes are sent in by home cooks from places like Ruidoso, New Mexico, and Plainfield, Indiana. And the magazine is all about the readers, aimed at the 50-ish baby boomer with kids and grandkids, someone who loves to cook big dinners for the family and bring a dish to pass to potluck suppers. WERTHEIMER: In the spirit of full disclosure, I am one of those readers. That allows us to really focus completely on the reader. NEWTON: We do fly under the radar screen in publishing a lot because the magazines that tend to get the most media play are the ones that are really attractive to advertising, and we take no advertising in any of our subscription magazines. WERTHEIMER: Taste of Home's millions of subscribers are in small towns and suburbs, Barb Newton says, but it's not well-known in America's largest cities. NEWTON: We have six and a half million subscribers to Taste of Home, and its offshoot brands, which are Light & Tasty, Quick Cooking and Cooking for 2. If you rank magazines by paid subscriptions, Taste of Home is right behind Time and People, and it's bigger than Sports Illustrated or Newsweek. WERTHEIMER: Barbara Newton is the president of Taste of Home. BARBARA NEWTON (President, Taste of Home): As far as circulation, we are the largest-by far the largest cooking magazine in the world. And for millions of people, there's only one real food magazine, and it's big. So it's a time to spread the cookbooks and magazines on the kitchen table and improvise. There's no traditional food for the big night, unless you count champagne. I'm Linda Wertheimer.įor home cooks, New Year's Eve is not quite the same as other holidays.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |