We Like It, We Really Like It

It’s not that we have anything less than complete confidence in the members of The Spokesman-Review’s reader food panel, but we’ve sometimes wondered whether their taste buds were representative of the general public.

Fortunately, we had an opportunity to find out last Wednesday at the Taste of Home Cooking Show in the Opera House and Ag Trade Center.

At the newspaper booth at the afternoon trade show, we set out color-coded but otherwise unmarked samples of the three different popcorns that our reader panel had rated in that morning’s paper: Orville Redenbacher’s Movie Theater Butter, Pop Secret Jumbo Pop Movie Theater Butter, and Jolly Time Blast O’ Butter Light. We asked passersby to sample all three, and vote for their favorite.

The results were exactly the same as we saw with the food panel. Orville’s was the clear winner, with Pop Secret a solid second and Jolly Time sadly bringing up the rear (although several people who were accustomed to low-fat products thought it tasted pretty good.)

Our food panel? We guess we’ll keep them.

Sorry, wrong number

Trade show attendees also had an opportunity to meet Heidi Acuff of Heidi’s Cottage Classics, maker of the pancake mixes featured in last week’s Food Finds.

Hopefully, not too many of you tried to call her at the phone number listed in the paper; that was her fax number, not her voice number. Her actual number, should you need it, is (208) 676-9550.

A real dog

And speaking of our food panel, we received a follow-up e-mail from a reader about Bar S hot dogs, which finished last in the panel’s recent tube steak taste-test.

“I buy cheap hot dogs to hide an aspirin in to give to my old dog,” the message read. “So when I give him one, I give our other dog a dog as well, just to be fair.

“This dog will spit out a Bar S frank, which is funny, because she will eat …”

Well, let’s just say it’s something that comes out of a coyote.

Going Dutch

Ever wondered what outdoor Dutch oven cooking was all about?

Members of the Northwest Dutch Oven Society will gather at Potholes State Park near Moses Lake this weekend for their annual spring campout. It’s open to “anybody interested in finding out about Dutch oven cooking from a crazy bunch of people who cook up some pretty decent stuff,” says founding member Jim Byers.

For more information, call him at 235-5268.