Back-of-the-Box Classics

In 1916, the Campbell Soup Co. published “Help for the Hostess,” a booklet of cooking-with-soup recipes. This was one of the earliest (if not the first) examples of what has become a major branch of modern American cookery, not to mention product promotion.

Today more than 80% of the 325 million cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup produced annually by Campbell’s are used for sauces, which pretty much defines back-of-the-box success.

Test kitchens such as those at Kellogg’s and General Foods still produce hundreds of recipes a year (always hoping for another enduring classic), and millions of us still reach for the recipe printed on the box even before we reach for knife, bowl or pan.

Why, after nearly 30 years, are we still stirring up Lipton’s Famous California Dip? What is it, after 50 years, that still leads us to crave Rice Krispies Treats? Why, even though the recipe is 60 years old, is it possible to find Toll House Cookie crumbs among the keys of my word processor?

These are tough questions. Scientists have disproved the secret addictive substance theory, stating categorically that there is nothing slipped into these simple, tasty recipes that causes us to begin hungering for another batch at precisly the same moment the next semitrailer load of the main ingredient arrives at our neighborhood supermarket.

So, if not narcotic, how about nostalgic?

There is something uniquely American about the belief that time saved in the kitchen is time that can be used to otherwise improve the quality of life. While it would be risky to credit something like canned soup with the beginnings of Women’s Liberation, it’s true that when Mom took off her apron and went to work outside the home, more and more meals came from the back of the box.

For many members of a generation (or two) such speedy cuisine now constitutes “home cooking,” and, when times are tough, it’s easy for us to wax nostalgic about bar cookies made from little more than melted marshmallows and crisp rice cereal. (For most of the rest of America, it should be noted, back-of-the-box cooking isn’t nostalgic at all--it’s reality, there being even less time to spend in the kitchen nowadays than there was when the Rice Krispies Treat was young.)

For both the nostalgic and the merely hungry, certain back-of-the-box classics have emerged throughout the years. Green Bean Bake, Toll House Cookies and Lipton California Dip are still with us because they are so good, so easy and so right.

You might say the sour cream rises to the top.

Who has not at one time succumbed to the hypnotic pleasure of a bowl of dip with chips? It may seem as if America has been whipping up this dip for centuries but, in fact, it’s a relatively new back-of-the-box formula that first appeared on Lipton’s Onion Recipe Soup Mix, circa 1963.

When my pajama-clad brothers and I were small, huddled at the top of the stairs listening to mysterious adult partying below, onion dip seemed the height of grown-up sophistication. Later, when the three of us were allowed to hold our own ersatz parties while our parents were away at the real thing, the dip (plus smoked oysters, olives and cubes of Cheddar cheese on wood picks, washed down with 7-Up) was always on the menu.

LIPTON CALIFORNIA DIP RECIPE

1 envelope Lipton Onion Recipe Soup Mix

1 pint sour cream

Blend soup mix with sour cream in bowl. For creamier dip, add more sour cream. Cover and chill. Makes about 2 cups dip.

Note: Let dip chill couple of hours and stir occasionally for smoother, better-tasting dip. To cut down on time, stir in 1 or 2 tablespoons milk or cream.

Catsup in and catsup on keeps meat loaf moist and flavorful. This classic from Heinz also includes an odd but tasty touch of pineapple, which is especially nice if you include a bit of ground pork in place of some of the beef.

RED MAGIC MEAT LOAF

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

1 cup soft bread crumbs

1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup Heinz Tomato Ketchup

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup drained crushed pineapple

Combine beef, bread crumbs, 1/3 cup catsup, onion, egg, salt and pepper in large bowl. Mix well. Form mixture into 8x4x1 1/2-inch loaf and place in greased shallow baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees 40 minutes. Remove from oven.

Combine remaining 1/4 cup catsup with pineapple and spoon over top of loaf. Bake additional 30 minutes. Let meat loaf stand 5 minutes before slicing. Makes 6 servings.

Note: Meat loaf could use additional pepper for zest. Also replace 1/3 of beef with ground pork (not too lean, not too fat) for moister, better-tasting result.

This is one of the seven most popular Campbell Kitchens product recipes ever, chosen from a field of more than 16,000 and perhaps the quintessential back-of-the-box formula. For a generation or two of potluck suppers, church socials and other communal gatherings, this uncomplicated casserole was easily the most familiar dish on the table. Of the 325 million cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup that Campbell’s sells every year, over 80% are used for sauces, most of them, I’ll wager, in this classic vegetable side dish.

GREEN BEAN BAKE

1 (10 3/4-ounce) can Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Dash pepper

4 cups cooked green beans

1 (2.8-ounce) can French-fried onions

Combine undiluted soup, milk, soy sauce and pepper in 1 1/2-quart casserole. Stir in green beans and 1/2 can onions. Bake at 350 degrees 25 minutes or until hot. Stir. Top with remaining onions and bake 5 minutes more. Makes 8 servings.

Note: Buy 2 (9-ounce) packages frozen cut green beans (thawed and cooked) or 2 (16-ounce) cans cut green beans (drained) or about 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, cooked, for this recipe.

For crunchier texture, substitute French-cut green beans, thawed and drained but uncooked. Shoestring potato sticks, sliced almonds, packaged croutons or cubes of fresh white bread can be used on top of, but not stirred into, beans. Add them about halfway through cooking process and bake until lightly browned.

Unlike most of the best-known back-of-the-box recipes, this all-American cookie classic began long ago and far away from any corporate test kitchen. In 1930, at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass., Ruth Wakefield chopped a milk chocolate bar into chunks and stirred them into a batch of dough of her Butter Drop-Dos. She assumed that during the baking the chocolate would melt and mix throughout the dough. She wanted chocolate cookies. What she got were chocolate chunk cookies.

With typical New England frugality, she served them anyway, and the cookies were a hit. She renamed them Chocolate Crispies, and when the recipe appeared in a Boston newspaper, regional sales of chocolate bars boomed. The chocolate maker (Nestle) first responded by producing a small tool designed to cut chocolate bars into chunks and then turned out a chocolate bar already scored to break apart into small bits.

Such moments of food destiny can only be appreciated in retrospect. Who can imagine a world without chocolate chip cookies? Without David Liederman, Mrs. Fields and Famous Wally Amos? What, no Keebler elves?

Fortunately, Nestle bowed to the inevitable with commendable mercenary grace, and in 1939 bought the Toll House name and began manufacturing the semisweet chocolate morsels we bake today.

After 40 years (and uncounted tons of warm cookies washed down with untold gallons of ice-cold milk), Nestle’s original agreement with the Toll House Inn expired. They were now allowed to alter the original recipe and did so slightly, eliminating the direction to sift the flour, omitting the tiny amount of water called for, shortening the baking time by two minutes and omitting the need to grease the baking sheets.

These minute changes were in response to modern ingredients and modern impatience to cut to the chase--in this case, a molten chipper snarfed straight from the cookie sheet. Tampering with a successful back-of-the-box formula is a tricky business, akin to omitting one altogether, but for the most part Nestle’s changes have been well received. A few crotchety duffers insist the original original makes the better cookie, I among them. Here it is.

ORIGINAL ORIGINAL TOLL HOUSE COOKIES

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened, or shortening

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon water

1 egg

1 package (1 cup) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in bowl and set aside.

Combine in separate bowl butter, granulated and brown sugars, vanilla and water. Beat until creamy. Beat in egg. Add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate morsels and walnuts.

Drop by well-rounded half teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 50 cookies.

There can be no denying the easy appeal of a cookie or bar that requires no baking. This back-of-the-box favorite, developed in the 1940s, has long been a staple in houses where ravenous kids, sudden company or midnight hungries disrupt otherwise well-laid plans. As with many of the most enduring and effective back-of-the-box formulas, it almost seems as if these treats have usurped the original purpose of the product in question. I know there must be people who eat Rice Krispies for breakfast, but who and where are they? Three ingredients (good keepers all), two pans and about five minutes of work are all it takes to create this sweet, spontaneous snack.

RICE KRISPIES TREATS

1/4 cup margarine or butter

1 (10-ounce) package (about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows (use fresh marshmallows for best results)

6 cups Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal

Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add cereal, stirring until well coated.

Using buttered spatula or wax paper, press mixture evenly into buttered 13x9x2-inch pan. Cut into 2-inch squares. Makes 24 squares.

Note: Stir 1 cup raisins or 1 cup peanuts or combination into mixture along with cereal. Stir 1/4 cup peanut butter into marshmallow mixture just before adding cereal.