Friday, January 4, 2013

Taste Testing Standards

Who determines if these recipes are actually good?

A lot of people who make "healthy desserts" like to use the phrase "your friends won't ever know the difference."  Okay, let's be honest.  My friends know the difference between real cookie dough and cookie dough that has puréed garbanzo beans as the base.  There came a point where my friends would ask if something had sugar and gluten in it before they would try it.  I then began to realize that they probably though I was trying to poison them.  I had had them taste so many weird baking attempts, that they were scared to eat at my house.  I began to only serve things that I considered to taste good, but their behavior towards any food at my house did not change.  I am able to tolerate some pretty questionable tasting food.   I realized that I was not a reliable taste tester, as it was obvious that my taste bud have become corrupted due to sugar and gluten deprivation.  Nate became the new taste tester, and I would only serve things that he deemed to be acceptable.  It worked great...until we realized that because he had tasted so many of my failed attempts, that now his idea of "good" was still not even in the "edible" category for most people. To save ourselves future embarrassment, we developed a new method.  The goal is for food to be "David approved."  David is a hard sell on food.  He likes things sweet, and he likes things that are unhealthy.  A good portion of his food pyramid consists of Skittles and Gummy Bears.  It's hard to get David to try something, let alone admit that the taste is tolerable.  I usually end up spending an unreasonable amount of time trying to convince him that something is good, as he tries not to gag on what I just fed him.  So here is our official taste testing scale:

"It's edible" - this means that I will eat it, probably just because it has some sort of amazing health benefits.  Nate will only touch things in this category if it is extremely necessary.  David won't even touch anything in this category

 "It's not bad" - If I'm starving, I'll eat it, even if it isn't a superfood loaded with health benefits.  Nate will occasionally eat things in this category, but only if there really isn't anything else in the house that is easily accessible.

"It's good" - I like it, and I'll eat it if it's there.  Nate will usually eat things in this category, but won't necessarily crave it, or request me to make it.  David will sniff it, maybe taste it, but he won't like it.

"Delicious!" - I will make it on a regular basis, because it's the closest thing to sweet and delicious as I will ever get.  Nathan will admit that it's good, and eat it if it's there.  David will taste it, and if he's starving, he will eat it if nothing else is around.

"David Approved" - this is as high as we have ever made it on the scale, while maintaining some level of nutriton.  This means it's healthy, and David will willingly eat it.  This usually means that Nate and I consider it a special treat. 

"Off Limits Delicious" - I occasionally bake things for Nate and David form my Macrina Bakery cookbooks that my mom got me for Christmas.  Everything in these books is loaded with sugar and gluten.  Everything in these books is literally off limits to me.  Everything in these books is also so delicious, that sometimes I try to justify eating it, even though I know it will make me sick.

There you have it.  Each recipe will be judged on this scale, in order for you to make the most informed decision as to whether or not you are brave enough to try it. 

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