Litton's Microwave Cooking: Everyday Dinners in Half an Hour (1980) seems a little more realistic than some of my other microwave cookbooks. It doesn't ask anyone to spend a few hours cooking dried beans in the microwave or try to microwave a whole goddamn crown roast.
I'd say the decision to keep recipes to half an hour or less served them well in that regard.
I also appreciate that the cookbook tries to change things up a little from what people might expect, such as recipes for "international"-style meatloaves rather than just plain old ketchup-topped meatloaf. The Oriental Meatloaves incorporate a big can of Chinese vegetables-- maybe to distract diners from the weird texture of microwaved meat-- and a full half cup of soy sauce-- perhaps to cover up the lack of color and flavor since the meat wasn't browned.
And they come out looking, well...
... like slabs of mystery meat with indeterminate chunks in them. So, I guess not too far from conventional meatloaf?
There's also a recipe for Individual Mexican Meatloaves, with onion, green pepper, taco seasoning, tomato, "crumbled Nacho cheese chips" (I like how they keep it generic-- not Doritos!-- and capitalize the "N"), and kidney beans to help in the texture and flavor departments.
Plus, the individual meatloaves come in adorable little tortilla boats!
That's probably enough to distract diners from the fact of microwave-cooked meat!
The book offers a spin on beanie-weenies that surprised me a little: Polynesian Bean & Wiener Bake.
I thought for sure the ingredient list would lead with pineapple, but it's regular old apple-- a flavor I don't really associate with Polynesian cooking. Don't worry-- the pineapple does eventually make an appearance! And the wieners aren't too likely to suffer from being cooked in the microwave. They're pre-cooked, and I think microwaving hot dogs is a pretty standard prep method by now. (Some people in my college dorm would have starved without microwaved hot dogs!)
The concoction does suffer from being brown as a 1970s Sears family photo, though.
The final recipe for this post is a bit brighter, with enough red and green to almost look Christmassy.
It's Spinach Lasagna! Litton conceded to the reality that it's tough to get everything assembled in half an hour if you've got to cook lasagna noodles too, though, so...
The Spinach Lasagna ingredients suggest this would be a pile of mush. And if you're wondering where the instructions are, this recipe is complicated enough each step got a separate listing of instructions with photos.
Nothing sounds bad, exactly-- beefy spaghetti sauce, cheesy spinach-- but there wouldn't be much to chew, really. Not even a bit of crispy breadcrumbs on top for some contrast. Just glop on glop on glop. (Although-- maybe now I have an idea of what to make for the next time my jaw is killing me! This would be easy enough to make with veggie ground "beef.")
In short, this is one of the more-realistic, less-delusional-about-the-abilities-of-microwaves microwave cookbooks in my collection. Not that it's a high bar to cross, but still, it's something.
I like how the instructions for the first one say to cook the rice in the conventional way. I assume that means stove (or rice cooker). Since there are some decent microwave rice cookers these days, reverse the recipe. Make conventional meatloaf and microwave the rice.
ReplyDeleteYes-- this book generally recommends cooking carbs like rice or noodles conventionally and then adding them to the microwaved portion. A lot of other books want cooks to microwave everything-- even when boiling pasta in the microwave doesn't really take any less time, and it is likely to involve the water boiling over and leaving a nasty, carb-heavy puddle to clean up. (Of course, this may be more of a concession to the half-hour time limit than the microwave cooking. They won't have to count the conventional cook time.)
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