Zatarain's Bake & Crisp Coating Mix. Pork, Seafood and Chicken. $1.29 to $1.49 per 8-ounce box.
Bonnie: I wasn't looking forward to testing these new Bake & Crisp products — essentially a New Orleans version of Shake 'n Bake. Both contain dry ingredients to coat and bake meat, chicken or fish. Shake 'n Bake starts with flour; Zatarain's starts with upscale panko bread crumbs, whose coarse texture produces a light, very crunchy coating. Both are high in sodium, with Bake & Crisp containing more additives and sodium than Shake 'n Bake.
Bake & Crisp does taste better. If you think it's too much trouble to simply add seasonings to your own panko crumbs — now widely available in supermarkets — then you might give these a try.
Carolyn: What would you expect from a coating mix from a New Orleans brand such as Zatarain's? I expected spicy heat. But it's only in one of the three varieties of this new Bake & Crisp, the pork — which is, not coincidentally, my favorite, although it's probably way too mild for Big Easy residents.
In keeping with Zatarain's Southern heritage, all three coatings contain corn, which makes its base milder than competitor Shake 'n Bake. Zatarain's also requires an egg, instead of water, to moisten the meat and has no bag to shake. Bake & Crisp users are instead told to coat by "pressing firmly into the mixture." Boring.
And though all the Zatarain's coatings cooked up good and crispy outside, the chicken was the only one that emerged from the oven cooked yet still moist inside. Blindly following questionable box instructions that tell you to cook the seafood 10 minutes longer than the pork (30 minutes instead of 20, both at 425 degrees), my tilapia was dry and my pork still slightly pink.
I'd suggest cooking the fish for 20 minutes and the pork for 25. Or just buy Shake 'n Bake, which tastes just as good (if not better), and after 35 years, has its cooking instructions nailed down tighter than the siding on a newly rebuilt home in the Ninth Ward.
Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough. Mini Brownie Bites, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and Family Size Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Tub. $3.29 per 16-ounce or 16.5-ounce package of mini brownie and oatmeal raisin dough and $4.99 per 40-ounce family-size tub.
Bonnie: The best thing about these three new refrigerated dough offerings from Nestle is the best thing about refrigerated dough in general: You can bake only the amount you want to serve and put the rest back in the fridge, so you don't have a whole plate of warm cookies to tempt you.
The brownies are rich and mini, and only two will satisfy you, with its 105 calories and 5 grams of fat. The oatmeal raisin cookies aren't quite as good, with two cookies providing 160 calories, 6 grams of fat and not enough oatmeal or raisins to add much nutrition.
The most interesting variety is the tub of Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough containing enough batter to make three dozen regular-size cookies or one huge cookie (which is made by spreading the entire contents evenly on a 12-inch pizza pan and baking about 20 minutes). That large cookie reminds me of the super-large chocolate chip cookie that served as Carolyn's "wedding cake" 10 years ago.
Carolyn: Oatmeal Raisin is the second most popular cookie after chocolate chip. I can't explain why refrigerated dough versions only began to show up about five years ago (and then only as part of Pillsbury's Big Deluxe Classics premium line). I can tell you that there's as much fat and sugar as oatmeal in Nestle's version (more, says the ingredient list). Between the sugar and the raisins, these cookies are very sweet. They bake up flat with a texture that's both crispy and chewy. While not as filling as a more oatmealy cookie, they have a nice brown-sugar flavor.
At less than half the cost per ounce of Nestle's standard-size refrigerated dough packages, Nestle's new Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie tub is a great value for families or other cohabitating sweet tooths. The tub is also resealable (the way all refrigerated dough products should be and are not) and freezable (though with this tub format, you can't just chop off a few frozen dough cubes and throw the rest back in the freezer as with other Nestle cookies).
The Mini Brownie Bites are Nestle's attempt to replicate the popular bakery treat. Though they taste great, the taste, texture and shape is of mini chocolate cookies — not rich, thick brownies. Buy these only if you wouldn't find that disappointing.
Oregon Chai Singles. Black Tea With Lemon, Black Tea With Peach and Red Tea With Berry. $3.49 per box of 10 packets.
Bonnie: Oregon Chai Singles are the first product that we've reviewed that contains stevia, a natural sweetener from the South American plant stevia rebaudiana, which is about 300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia has not yet been approved by the FDA for use in food and beverages (although Coca-Cola is funding research to gain its GRAS — generally recognized as safe — status). But stevia is approved as a dietary supplement, which is why Oregon Chai calls each of these teas a "calorie-free herbal supplement."
I don't like Oregon Chai Singles, though it's not because of the stevia. Stevia is actually more natural than other sweeteners, as it comes directly from a botanical substance. And it's not chemically altered like Sucralose.
What I don't like is the slight aftertaste of licorice from the stevia in these drinks. Also these Singles crystals never fully dissolved.
If you'd like to try this sweetener without the chai spices, OnlySweet is a blend of stevia and maltodextrin that you can put in your own drinks.
Carolyn: Drink mix singles have put an end to the frustrating search through the convenience store cooler for your favorite drink — that is, assuming that store carries bottled water and you haven't forgotten to tote along a little tube of powder.
Drink concentrate producer Oregon Chai has just expanded the flavorful range of tube powders for the new agey-weird with its new iced tea Singles with chai spices. The Black Tea With Peach tastes more like regular ice tea due to the weak fruit and spice flavor. The Red Tea With Berry should be called Crystal Lighter, since it's similar to that fruit-flavored soft drink but not as sweet or flavorful.
But the spices add an interesting "Christmas in July" twist to the Black Tea With Lemon, by far my favorite. It should appeal to chai and iced tea lovers alike.
Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods That Changed the Way We Eat" (Quirk). Each week they critique three new food items. For previous columns, visit www.supermarketsampler.com, and for more food info and chances to win free products, visit www.biteofthebest.com. © Universal Press Syndicate