Microwave

By Jane Nickerson, The Ledger, Lakeland FL, January 23, 1986

Lakelander Marie T, Smith quoted Julia Child as saying on a recent TV show, "Microwave cooking is another area, very different from what I've been demonstrating."

Child had answered a woman in her audience who had complained that she had not time after her work day to duplicate the dishes that that exponent of fine cuisine was showing off.

"What about the microwave?" the onlooker had asked.

"Most of the country's top exhibition cooks," Smith said, "would have put her down with, "You can't produce anything worth eating in that device." Julia is the first of that group, that I've heard, to point out simply and factually, "It's different."

On those differences Smith has made a career for herself.

It blossomed earlier this month in Microwave Cooking for One. The 300 recipes that fill this admirable volume result from ten years' meticulous testing and tasting by a talented woman in her early middle years.

Some recommendations in her book:

Know the wattage of your oven. It can vary from 350 to 1,000, and often may not appear on the appliance. One of 700-watts is the most useful. For it, many companies write the cooking instructions on labels of their products. And for it, Smith worked out her recipes.
A dish that cooks in two minutes in a 700-watt oven will take four in one of 350 watts, 2:48 in one of 500 watts, 2:09 in one of 650 and 1:24 in one of 1,000. Precise monitoring of seconds and minutes is essential in microwaving, making it very different indeed from most standard cookery. As Smith puts it, "A few seconds can mean the difference between total disaster and delicious success."
Follow recipes exactly when they specify the plate or pot to use. Shape and size of utensil, Smith says, determine how a recipe turns out.
Most of the recipes in her book, she says, may be prepared in one of three CorningWare pieces — the 1½ pint Menu-ette (covered saucepan), one-quart Cook 'n' Pour Pan and the 6-inch browning skillet. And helpful are tongs to handle hot food — turning them over during cooking, taking them out when cooked.
Measure many foods by weight rather than volume because the former is more precise than the latter. Smith suggests investing in a small inexpensive diet scale.
Keep a pencil handy when you are microwaving food if you're sincere about developing skills with the appliance. No two ovens are identical, Smith writes, so you must record the time each step takes when trying out a new recipe. Following the recommended times in the recipes in her book are blank spaces for the reader to note any differences his/her oven may deliver.

Smith observes that reducing a recipe from say, four to two servings may be harder than the opposite — that is, doubling it. That's one reason she worked out her recipes for a single serving. Another, of course, is the proliferation of one-person households among both young and old. Certainly Smith's appearance — she looks as slim as if she nibbled nothing but melba toast with unsweetened lemonade — would not indicate an obsession with table art. Caroselli, her maiden name, gives a better clue. She grew up in a family close to its Italian roots. Her mother cooked for 12 daily — "with fresh ingredients," her daughter stresses — without becoming bored.

"Her insatiable curiosity about new dishes and her love of variety," Smith writes in her book, "are the creative joys she passed on to her children." Add to Smith's family heritage her three years' residence in France, where she savored fine cuisine at its source, and you have some of the background in her cookbook.

The rest lies in an experience familiar to many women:

Her two daughters in high school and her engineer husband were keeping a variety of engagements that made it hard to prepare and serve dinner at a designated hour.

"So I bought a microwave 10 years ago as an expedient," Smith says "and began experimenting with it." In a short time, she had stopped using her standard range.

For a number of years she has microwaved everything she has served family and guests — from French toast at breakfast to stuffed shrimp and frosted cake at dinner. She uses fresh ingredients and seldom, if ever, packaged short cuts.

A sample of recipes from Microwave Cooking for One follows (removed because sample recipes are available at this site in Contents section). Be sure to observe the standing time called for. During it, the food continues to cook on residual heat and flavors blend, ensuring superior flavor.