Valerie Weingart is a senior English and vocal performance major and writes 'Wein and Dine' for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Valerie at vjweingart@bsu.edu.
We’ve all seen them as we scroll through our news feeds: the effortless mixing, the relaxingly peppy music, the miraculous recipes that come to life in less than ninety seconds. Tasty and Buzzfeed Food videos have become familiar friends on Facebook — little windows of culinary magic nestled between political arguments, engagement announcements and photos of your great-aunt’s cat. As a lover of all things edible, these videos have become the main reason why I log onto Facebook these days. But, I often find myself wondering if these recipes are as practical (and delicious) as they appear. For the next few installments of Wein and Dine, I’m going to be trying out some of these recipes to find out if they really are good enough to eat.
This week’s recipe: Tasty’s Jalapeño Popper Bread Bowl
Ingredients:
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
- 1 cup shredded parmesan
- 4 oz. green chilies
- 4 oz. jalapeños (fresh or canned)
- Butter
- Minced garlic
Total cost: approximately $17
Prep Time:
10-15 minutes
Bake Time:
30 minutes at 350 degrees — I ended up baking it about 1 hour
The Good: Novice chefs, this is the recipe for you! The cooking process is fairly simple — measure the ingredients, dump them in a large mixing bowl (I’d recommend as large as you have), combine with a spatula or spoon and pour into the hollowed-out sourdough (like a bread bowl). Unless you encounter a bizarre challenge using a can opener to open the cans of chiles or jalapeños, the cooking process should be relatively stress free.
The Bad: The mayonnaise. To my taste, the mayonnaise-to-cream-cheese ratio was slightly off, favoring the mayo too heavily. I don’t have a problem with mayo, but I felt that it overpowered the cheese flavor, so that I often felt as if I were eating hot, spicy mayo on bread. Also, at least in my experience, the 30-minute baking time isn’t nearly long enough. After 30 minutes, the center of the dip was still cold, and the cheeses hadn’t melted into the gooey mass of spicy goodness that the Tasty video conveyed. Even after I doubled the baking time, the center of the dip was still only lukewarm, and most of the shredded cheeses hadn’t melted.
The Verdict: I was expecting the Tasty video to be more misleading about the actual process of cooking, rather than the finished product. As it turned out, the recipe was just as simple and easy as the video depicted (just be prepared for lots of bread crumbs and an extended baking time). The actual dish, on the other hand, failed to live up to the expectations that I had generated while watching the video. Though this dish was by no means inedible, it was not the appetizer to end all appetizers. Also, the recipe yields a large amount of dip, so this definitely isn’t something that you’re going to make just for yourself.
Can something really be simple and delicious? Check back next week!
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