Microwave Gourmet

by Barbara Kafka

Featuring a dictionary of ingredients detailing cooking times and preparation, this comprehensive cookbook-encyclopedia comprises more than three hundred recipes

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food

575 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the only microwave cooking book I have ever really needed, and (since buying it) have ever routinely used.

Written at a time (1989) when the power output of microwave ovens varied between 400 and 700 watts, the timings stated in this book are for a 650 – 700 watt oven. However, because the author explains her reasoning (the whys and wherefores) so extremely well, it is surprisingly easy to arrive at suitable cooking times for modern higher wattage ovens. Just err on the side of caution, and either write in the book or keep notes in a separate notebook!

To read and use this book is to absorb and apply an almost holistic ethos for a very quick & economical method of cooking. With energy costs in the UK rising, and energy consumers complaining; self-help is the answer. It’s really embarrassing to hear that the majority of microwave oven owners only use the device for defrosting foodstuffs! This book really shows up (in the nicest possible way) how desperately limiting such lazy attitudes are; yet it really doesn’t need much effort to set aside time to read and learn how to use this book, and to gradually incorporate the techniques into everyday cookery; particularly in Summer, when nobody wants a hot kitchen, but equally no-one wants to subsist wholly on salads.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked the 1987 publication up at an estate sale, and it's been one of the best dollars I've ever spent. It was written when microwaves became accessible to the middle class and provides some fantastic words of wisdom:
- "One of the saddest parts of cooking in the microwave oven is that your copper pots will go unused... This copper taboo extends to all metal pots"
- "The cooking timers can also function as general timers for your kitchen. Reconsile yourself to the irritating electronic beep the oven makes when it has accomplished its task."
- "You don't need to preheat ovens on purpose."

A real gem. I'd highly recommend reading it should you be lucky enough to stumble on a copy.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent recipes. The risotto recipes are a revelation, and a good path to a delicious dish that is too troublesome to make conventionally. The book is dated (1980’s), calibrated to lower-voltage machines and with overuse of plastic wrap, so mental adjusting is called for.

[Amy]

1987 version of this book, given to me by my mother. I remember it as being a good resource. We, however, haven't used a microwave in over 5 years (though we had one in the house for guests, and for my mom while she was alive.) Just too much about using them that makes us nervous.

I'll be wild releasing this soon. It's a little tattered and stained, but someone might want it.

[Grammaticus Kidco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freebie book, dated by instructing that plastic wrap go over almost everything before cooking. But adaptable. Can stock some basics at work and make .. Cabbage risotto. Just needed the reminder that a microwave has forgotten possibilities

[Hip E.]

I picked this up because the spine says "KAFKA Microwave Gourmet" and I was going to put it by my other Kafka books.