02/25: Doin the wave

When I was little I thought the Easy Bake Oven was the most magical piece of cooking equipment EVER.  Bake a cake with a lightbulb–Brilliant!  Of course I never got one because my mom didn’t see the point of it.   It’s kind of ironic coming from a woman who seemingly bought every soon-to-be-relegated-to-the-back-cupboard kitchen gadget on the market at the time (back in the the 70’s that is).   For whatever reason, she’s still hanging on to the sandwich maker (not to be confused with a George Foreman grill), despite not having used it in over thirty years.

Now, one of my favorite kitchen appliances, aside from my Kitchen Aid mixer, is the microwave.  I consider it essential.  Yeah, I know most people use it primarily for reheating, defrosting, and popcorn.  Such was my scope of usage in the beginning, when mom brought home that first behemoth nuke box with it’s jumbo manual dials.  I foolishly attempted to “bake” in it–zucchini bread.  UGH!  My poor dad practically lost his dentures trying to chew into that anemic rubbery loaf.  Needless to say I suspended further culinary experimentation–that is until I became a chef.

While I did learn how to do everything the “classic” way cooking school–melting chocolate over a bain marie– in the my real world the microwave rules.  Unless I have to melt 10 lbs. of chocolate in one shot, I prefer to just do in the microwave on low setting.  Ditto for gelatin, especially when I’m making marshmallows.  Instead of standing over a stove stirring a pot of lemon curd for 10 minutes, I zap it.  No, it’s not a travesty.  Done properly, it works just well as the old school method.

I had to duke it out with one of my chefs at one point over the necessity of ever having a microwave in the kitchen.  He was a purest who was totally dead set against it.  I think he had visions of the cooks nuking steaks to oblivion–not exactly outside the realm of possibility.  But given my lack of stove space and need to multitask I finally convinced him to let me buy a cheap Costco microwave, which I’m proud say is still working fine after four years of constant use.  Hey, I figured if famed pastry chef Jacques Torres can use one so can I–and apparently so can my mom.

My mom the gadget queen makes sweet mochi (Japanese sweet glutinous rice cakes) in the microwave.  At first I was skeptical, but I have to admit it’s pretty genius.  Take some sweet glutinous rice flour, whisk in sugar and warm water, zap in the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes, and voila you’ve go the makings for mochi.  Pan roast some sweet rice flour until just golden, dust your hands with it and you’re ready to fill the mochi “dough” with whatever your heart’s desire.  I’m thinking I’d like to try some sweet black sesame paste.

Ahh, (almost) instant gratification.

Posted February 25th, 2010

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