Gone fishin' with Litton

While my earlier post about Litton's Microwave Cooking: Everyday Dinners in Half an Hour (1980) acknowledged that the book seems more realistic about what microwaves can (and should) do than other 40+-year-old microwave cookbooks, I have to highlight that it still had more seafood recipes than any microwave cookbook probably should. I mean, we all know what microwaved seafood smells like, right?

Stuffing zucchinis with something is not a unique idea, but there are plenty of options. Cooks might stuff it with corn, or rice and pine nuts, or a meaty tomato sauce. Litton, though, thinks crab should be microwaved in a zucchini canoe. 

And it will come out looking like oddly stringy rice in a bland, watery vegetable coffin.

I'll admit I don't eat seafood, but I know from cooking shows that people (or at least cooking show judges) love a good sear on a scallop. Get that nice browning on the outside and a just-cooked middle, and scallops are supposed to be transcendent. I have a feeling the same could not be said for microwaved Scallops & Green Beans. 

At least the recipe developers had the good sense to coat the scallops in seasoned breadcrumbs before microwaving them, so diners would be less likely to notice the lack of a good sear.

The recipe that scares me the most, though, is the Tuna-Cheese Open-Face Sandwich. I know, it looks pretty innocent.

But...

Do you and the family really want to spend the rest of the day smelling microwaved tuna, mayo, and hard-cooked eggs? Even if you like tuna-and-egg salad, you can eat it cold, right? I thought that was kind of the point of salads like that. The only thing this recipe will accomplish is making the whole house stink. 

Well, maybe I underestimated this recipe. It will probably also make the English muffin soggy and/ or rubbery. So, there's that.

And with that, I'm clearing out. Can't take the (imagined) smell of microwaved fish any more!