HOME COOKS EVALUATE '96 BAKE-OFF ENTRIES.

Byline: Natalie Haughton Daily News Food Editor

The customer is always right, the saying goes, and Pillsbury took it to heart, using consumer research to help select the winning recipes in this year's Bake-Off.

As in previous contests, a panel of 12 food experts judged each recipe for taste, appearance and creativity, said Marlene Johnson, director of product communications for Pillsbury. But rather than having the judges' ratings be the deciding factor, their decision this year accounted for only half of the score given to each recipe.

The other 50 percent was based on ease of preparation and general appeal - as rated by home cooks - as well as appropriate use of eligible products, as judged by Pillsbury home economists.

"We wanted to make sure the $1 million prize recipe is immediately appealing to people," Johnson said. "It's important to get feedback from home cooks who are going to try the recipes after the contest."

In the consumer research, women in 28 locations nationwide looked at color photographs of several finished dishes and copies of the recipes and nutrition information - just as they would be printed in a cookbook, newspaper or magazine, Johnson said.

The consumers were asked to rate the dish's appeal, how easy it looked to prepare and the likelihood that they would try the recipe.

"The mix of recipes varied for each person to ensure fairness of evaluation," Johnson said. "We feel the research replicates how consumers would decide if they are going to make a recipe."

Consumer research has been used before in judging the contest. At the 1978 Bake-Off in New Orleans, consumer research accounted for 75 percent of the recipe score, while the judges' opinions accounted for only 25 percent. Food experts and writers complained that too little emphasis was placed on the taste of the recipe. As a result, Pillsbury again relied on only the judges' scores in the 1980 Bake-Off in Miami.