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The first stop for Pillsbury BAKE-OFF Cooking and baking contest entries is an independent contest agency. One by one, the tens of thousands of entries that arrive before the deadline in mid-October are
reviewed by agency employees to make certain they comply with all contest rules. Agency home economists then read each entry to identify the ones that best meet the judging criteria. In addition, all of
the entries written in Spanish are reviewed by Spanish-speaking home economists. At this point, each entry is assigned a special code number, and the contestant’s name and address are removed.
Looking for winners
Coded recipes that win the approval of the agency’s home economists are delivered to the Pillsbury Test Kitchens. There home economists read through the recipes again, eliminating the ones that appear to be
inaccurate or too involved, call for unusual equipment or ingredients, or lack originality.
Months of testing and tasting
From all of the recipes that are received in the Test Kitchens, Pillsbury home economists choose about 1,000 of the most appealing to prepare and evaluate in taste-testing panels. The recipes that pass are then
scheduled for “tolerance testing,” a rigorous procedure that helps ensure a recipe will give consistently good results when made by consumers in their own kitchens. Next the recipes are written in consistent
style, and other home economists prepare them to be sure the directions are clear and concise. The recipes for baked goods also are tested at high altitude.
The search is on
While kitchen testing is under way, another team of home economists searches through the Pillsbury library of nearly 5,000 cookbooks and food reference books, as well as magazines and a computer data base. The
mission is to verify that the recipes have not been previously published in national cookbooks or magazines or by food companies and have not been winners in national contests.
And the winners are. . .
After weeks of preparing and testing recipes, Pillsbury home economists select the top 100 contenders for the BAKE-OFF finals. At this point, the independent contest agency reveals to Pillsbury the name and
address of the contestant who entered each recipe.
The best of the best
In December, 100 BAKE-OFF entrants are notified by Pillsbury the their recipes have been selected for the contest finals in February. For the BAKE-OFF contestants, this means an exciting, expense-paid trip to
the contest site, the opportunity to compete for cash prizes and national recognition for their outstanding cooking skills.
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