I have strange holes of knowledge

[oyceter]

Dude! I just discovered people make Chex mix! Like, with ovens! And not just dumping stuff in a bowl like I thought! Like, with melted butter and Worcestershire sauce! Like, it doesn't just come out of a bag at a grocery store!

Suddenly all the conversations about Chex mix I heard back in college make so much more sense! I am so boggled by this!

this is one of those things everyone else in the world knew, isn't it?

Comments

[ericcoleman]

this is one of those things everyone else in the world knew, isn't it?

Yeah ... pretty much

[chi-zu.livejournal.com]

this is one of those things everyone else in the world knew, isn't it?

I've always assumed so. But I find your chex-mix naivete charming!

[oyceter]

Maybe it's just an American thing! Maybe all the UK people don't know this as well!

I am so amazed that I am actually pinging my sister to see if she knew this too.

I just... WEIRD!!

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

I don't know if they sell Chex cereal in the UK nowadays, but they didn't used to back in the late 80s/early 90s when I lived there. I would not be surprised if it is just a USA-an thing.

Mmm, Chex mix.

[oyceter]

I feel better! I am not alone in my un-knowing!

[chi-zu.livejournal.com]

For the longest time I only knew it as homemade. I was sort of astounded when it turned up in the stores. I was like, "Brilliant!"

[genarti]

Likewise! Not that we ever made it, but I am a compulsive reader of cereal boxes (okay, of anything that's in front of me), and my dad loves Wheat Chex. Which means I read the recipe for it many times.

When it came out in stores, I was torn between "Awesome!" and "But... isn't that cheating?"

[chi-zu.livejournal.com]

True! And the stuff in the bag never tasted quite the same either. Until I acclimated I didn't really like it too much.

[onthehill]

I can confirm I've never heard of this stuff - I just went to look at Wikipedia/General Mills to see what all the fuss was about. Now let me get this straight. People used to coat their cereal in.... various stuff and then bake it in the oven? Huh? Weeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiird

[genarti]

Yeah. What you get is a mix of various crispy snack-things all covered in the same kind of savory/crunchy coating. (Or sweet, sometimes. It depends on the version.)

Surprisingly tasty. The result stands on its own a lot better than you'd think the "breakfast cereal baked with random stuff" concept would.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I personally have just learned something new.

[oyceter]

Yay! Chex mix ignorance solidarity!

I now really want to try this. Also, Worcestershire sauce is in it, which makes it ten times better! (I don't actually know if I like Worcestershire sauce or not, but I crack up every single time I hear it pronounced.)

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

In Ohio the city (and college) is just called "Wooster", skipping over all of the extra Britishism letters :)

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

British people pronounce it "Wooster" too. Or is that your point?

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

(I don't actually know if I like Worcestershire sauce or not, but I crack up every single time I hear it pronounced.)

Americans pronounce the sauce 'Wooster', after the British city [what I perceived Oyceter to be noting here]. The town (and college) in Ohio, also named after the British city, goes right for the more-easily-pronouncible-by-American-English-speakers 'Wooster'.

So yes, that was my point.

[genarti]

Yeah. There's Worcester, Massachusetts, which preserves the British spelling and pronunciation. And then there's Wooster, where they threw all that right out the window for simplicity's sake.

I am fond of both, really. *grin*

[jinian.livejournal.com]

The difference here is simplified spelling.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Worcestershire sauce is vinegary and a bit sharp. It's very good on lamb or beef, and in mashed potatoes.

I knew about home-made Chex mix, but I've never seen it made, because that seems like an awful lot of work for something that's not that great in the first place and that you can buy at the store. That would be like making my own toothpaste, or something.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

It's been around a lot longer than it's been available in the store, though.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Also the homemade version is much, much tastier than the ready-made storebought kind, and really not particularly difficult or labor-intensive to make; you simply assemble a bunch of crunchy ingredients, melt butter, add seasonings, drizzle it over the dry stuff and then leave it in the oven at a low temperature. It's a very forgiving sort of recipe, even if you don't follow the guidelines of ingredient measurements or cooking times or temperatures exactly it's still likely to turn out perfectly edible.

The basic recipe dates back to at least the 1950s (http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq.html#chexmix); it seems to be one of those things like the infamous Green Bean Casserole where a recipe developed to promote a companies products actually caught on with the public. Ready-made packaged Chex Mix didn't show up until relatively recently -- the Wikipedia page claims it was introduced in 1996, but I remember seeing it for the first time (boxed, rather than in the current bags) in the late 1980s.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It is at it's absolute best 5 minutes after your mother pulls it out of the oven and is staring there glaring at your greedy hands. I'm especially fond of the pretzels while they're still hot.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Heh, now this is me feeling OLD -- I still remember very, very vividly how exciting it was when ready-made Chex Mix first appeared on store shelves. (It wasn't even in bags at first, it came bagged-in-a-box, like cereal, and only in the "original" flavor.) ZOMG, Chex Mix ready-to-eat, anytime I wanted it! Since I was in a dorm with no cooking facilities beyond a couple of hot plates at that point, it was downright thrilling, even if it wasn't quite as good as the homemade stuff. ;)

(Oh, and you can also make the homemade kind in a microwave, but that gets to be kind of a pain in the butt if you want to make a really big batch, unless I suppose you have a really big industrial sort of microwave...)

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I knew about it, but I could very easily (by not knowing certain people in childhood) have been just as naïve about it as you were. *g*

[the_rck]

I knew because my husband's family has a long tradition of making it, but this year was the first time I did it myself. We'd bought a disposable roasting pan because we planned to bake a turkey, and I used that to make the chex mix. It was just the right size and could still be used for the turkey afterwards. (I don't think I could have washed it out and re-used it for more chex mix, but I didn't try, so I might be wrong.)

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

I remember the "How to Make Chex Mix" commercials from when I was a kid. Since my mom never bought Chex (dang it) I had to go wanting until it came out in stores.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, Peanuts holiday commercials! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2IVlk7GfxQ)

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I don't remember commercials, but I remember seeing it on the back of the cereal box and always wishing my mom would make it, but she never did. ;_;

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I think I heard about it in a commercial, but I don't think I've ever had it, seen anyone make it, or remember anyone talking about making it. I remember being confused over why the commercials stressed how easy it was, because wasn't chex mix like a fancier snack version of potato chips and pretzels?

[shati.livejournal.com]

this is one of those things everyone else in the world knew, isn't it?

No! I had no idea! Huh. I'll have to readjust my brainparts now, I'm so used to thinking of Chex mix as . . . gross dry cereal you get in a packet. *g*

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I think it might be a function of age; I did have exposure in the 70's and early 80's, though (despite my Midwestern experiences) it's not the kind of thing my mother would have made.

I was a little surprised when it first came out in bags, actually, I didn't know it was THAT popular.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I knew about it, but I'm pretty sure I only learned in the last five years or so.

(I think we all have a moment like this. I had a good friend in college who once went, "Whoa, people actually make mashed potatoes from scratch?")

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

Up until around 2003, I thought ramen==instant noodles with gross MSG flavor packet that you buy at the supermarket for $0.10/pack because you're a starving grad student and can't afford anything better. Then I went to a ramen restaurant in West L.A. and was, like, "OOOOOOOH!"

[genarti]

Ditto.

Actual fresh ramen was a revelation. (Mind you, I still like the cheap stuff. But it is an entirely different creature from the restaurant kind.)

[cicer.livejournal.com]

Same here. It was not until various anime fandoms explained the concept of fresh ramen to me that I understood that the term 'ramen' did not refer solely and originally to the little packets you buy in the supermarket.

[estara.livejournal.com]

No, don't worry. I don't even know what Chex mix is. I don't think other Germans know either.

[snarp]

Not everyone. My research suggests that knowledge of Chex mix is a virus whose original disease vector was TV commercials, and which is now carried by people's moms. At least 25% of the population of the US is immune, and other English-speaking countries possibly never got exposed to the original carrier.

(My Mom makes it every year for Christmukkah, but I have known it to confuse other Kentuckians, and encountered Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers afflicted with the condition. I have no West Coast or non-American data points.)

[jinian.livejournal.com]

The virus is also readily transmissible to compulsive cereal-box readers. I didn't eat it, but I sure knew about it.

[cicer.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed that anyone could not know about homemade Chex Mix, though I'm sure this is just one of those random cultural things. (I was recently talking with someone who was astonished to discover that Christmas crackers were not something merely made up for the Harry Potter books, but something that actually exist. This promptly led to a lengthy discussion of 'how can you not know about Christmas crackers!' and so on.)

I've never actually had homemade Chex Mix myself, but when I was growing up, Chex ran a series of commercials involving some lady reminiscing about how in the 70s her mom would made homemade Chex Mix. So that's the only reason I really know about it. XD

[oracne.livejournal.com]

You can buy Chex mix at the store?

[boggles]

[chomiji]

There are lots of things like that ... I have a recipe for making chocolate pudding from scratch. It's nice because that way you can decrease the sugar slightly and add more cocoa powder, and end up with dark chocolate pudding ... mmmm! (You can put a bit of rum into it, too!)

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I don't really like bagged Chex mix. I like it best warm, and with a little more Worchester and less salt, and not so many pretzels. Mmmmm, chex mix. When it's hot, the little chex guys are all crispy and tasty almost like fried food, except not.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

... There's cooking involved? With heat? And chemical reactions?

I thought you just ... mixed stuff together in a bowl.

[jessibot.livejournal.com]

Okay, I don't even know what Chez mix is. Is it those strange biscuity things in a box? Very salty? I should just stop being lazy and google it... Ah right, it is what I thought it was. But I had no idea you were supposed to bake them or whatever. Very odd.