Okay, partly I'm just a sucker for the overhead view of the spines of nearly a dozen other vintage cookbooks! Guilty as charged. My true reason for wanting this, though, is hinted at in the title: Recipe Conversion for Microwave (Barbara Methven, 1979). The book promises to help home cooks convert their own conventional recipes to microwave recipes, so they can make just about anything in the microwave!
Alongside general instructions, the book also offers traditional versions of recipes with the converted versions, so readers can see how to put the general recommendations into practice.
Think you can't make a homemade microwave lasagna? (And no, the Stouffer's version does not count as homemade!) Here's what the conventional version might involve, along with notes to show what has to change to make this happen in the microwave.
Those are a lot of changes! What would they look like in practice?
You've got to love all the steps that have to be done sequentially. You can't boil noodles and brown cook the ground beef and alliums at the same time. Nope! Those are separate steps because there is only one microwave. And it's soooo speedy to microwave the sauce for 30-40 minutes while the microwaved noodles hang out on the counter, feeling bored. The big payoff is cutting the final cooking time from 40-50 minutes to 20-30 minutes. Of course, the cheese on top won't get brown.
And the procedure for microwaving the noodles is a wee bit tricky...
But it's fully microwaved homemade lasagna! And totally worth all the extra labor that the Stouffer's version would have saved!
Okay, you can make a casserole, but what about something that usually takes quite a long time, like dried beans? I'm glad you asked.
If you look carefully, you might notice that it tells which microwave levels to use for the various steps of simmering the beans, but there's nothing about changing the time.
And that's because it takes about as long to microwave the beans as it would have to cook them the conventional way anyway. I'm not sure what the advantage is to the microwaved version, except that maybe there's a chance they'll boil over when you're not paying attention and that will give you an incentive to finally clean all the dried, crusty bits out of the microwave's interior. (Just joking! You might mop the bean goo off the bottom of the microwave if you're feeling really ambitious, but that's a pretty big if if you're anything like me.)
At least there's no topping for the beans in tomato sauce that would traditionally be browned, so they're not missing out on a nice crust anyway.
You know what accompaniment to beans could use a nice crust? How about some homemade whole wheat bread?
Yep! Microwave that whole wheat bread too-- from scalding the milk, to proofing, to baking.
I'll have to admit that I am a little intrigued by the idea of microwaving with a cup of water at 10% power for quicker proofing, even if people say longer proofing creates more flavor. (My sense of time passing is much more sophisticated than my palate, so I don't really care about the nuances of flavor in yeasted bread. Just give me a nice warm slice to devour!) Baking in the microwave, though? Sorry, but a little wheat germ coating is not likely to cover up for the lack of a crisp, brown crust. Why go to all the trouble of making homemade bread just to ruin it in the end?
The picture almost looks more like a wan turkey-based loaf than actual bread, but that's what you get for trying to cook it in the microwave!
Even if the conversions aren't always successful at convincing me there's a reason they should exist, at least they're fun to think about. (And there is a slightly-higher-than-zero chance I might try the proofing idea at some point, so I will grudgingly admit that parts of this are more instructive than they might initially seem. Still wouldn't say I'm a convert, though.)
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