80
MICR
WO N D E R
Friday, February 22, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Microwave ovens are changing the way
Detroiters cook and classes help change
the way many use their new appliances.
BY TEDD SCHNEIDER
Staff Writer
t
hat state-of-the-art mic-
rowave oven you got for
Chanukah is ready for action
again. Tonight, you will use it
to: __
A — Make popcorn before settling
down for another "exciting" Tonight
Show rerun.
B — Reheat the pizza left over
from your 11-year-old's birthday party
so it shouldn't go to waste.
C — Cook a gourmet meal for your
family following a hectic day on the job
and two or three quick errands after
work.
I you chose "A" or "B" then it's
safe to say that a wonderful, conven-
ient piece of high-tech cooking equip-
ment is going to waste on your kitchen
counter, taking up space that would
better serve an electric can opener or a
second set of pot holders. Don't, how-
ever, go running to your desk for the
return-receipt just yet. Help is on the
way.
A number of classes are currently
available in the Detroit area for those
who have, for whatever reason, come
to the erroneous conclusion that the
sole purpose of the microwave is to
prepare convenience foods and frozen
dinners faster, if not actually tastier,
than ever before. Many of the courses
are available through adult or con-
tinuing education departments in
school districts throughout the met-
ropolitan area and most have reason-
able registration
fees.
.
Microwave cooking classes aren't
just for new owners either, according
to Vincent McCallum, who has been
teaching courses in southeastern
Michigan since the late 1960s. "We get
a lot of people that have had mic-
rowaves in their kitchen for five or six
years and have barely used them,"
McCallum said. "The goal of the
classes, of course, is to get people to do
more than just re-heat leftovers, or
Norma Schonwetter unravels the mystery of the microwave oven for her class.
make coffee and hot dogs in their mic-
rowaves."
The invasion of modern technol-
ogy into an area as time-tested and
traditional as cooking, although wel-
comed by many, has left others un-
easy. Norma Schonwetter, an Oak
Park resident who taught conven-
tional cooking in public schools for 20
years before making the switch to mic-
rowave education, said that most
people, even excellent conventional
cooks, have reservations about using
their new "toys."
"The best cooks are the ones who
are the most adventuresome," Schon-
wetter said. "But even the adventure-
some are wary of cooking in a mic-
rowave. For some reason, they won't
apply the same creativity they use for
conventional cooking."
Both McCallum and Schoriwetter
agree that while appliance store
classes for new owners give people a
chance to familiarize themselves with
the oven and are a good -way to remove
any uneasiness, few people can master
the cooking techniques necessary to
get full use from their units without a
supplementary class.
"Most of the appliance stores ad-
vertise a class," according to McCal-
lum. "But it really is little more than a
two-hour demonstration They rent a
hall and fill it with 200 people. That
doesn't really make for the best of
learning environments."
McCallum, who is scheduled to
begin a class for West Bloomfield
schools this month, limits enrollment
to 25 persons. The format of his Basic
Microwave course calls for four, two-
hour sessions. It meets one evening
each week. "This gives students a
chance to try something that we went
over in class and if it doesn't work,
they can come back for advice and take
another shot at it."
If you use your microwave prop-
erly, McCallum believes that you
should be able to do about 80 percent of
your daily cooking in it. And since a
microwave cooks in about one-quarter
of the time using approximately one-
tenth the energy of a gas or electric
range, the more it is used, the lower
one's utility bills are bound to be.
A number of foods prepare better
in the microwave than they do in con- •
ventional ovens, Schonwetter said.
She cited fish, poultry and fresh veget-
ables as examples.
In addition to superior taste, veg-
etables, when prepared in a mic-
rowave, are better from a nutritional
standpoint. The microwave doesn't
leach out water-soluble nutrients, like
Vitamin C.
"Of course, you can't cook every-
thing in the microwave," McCallum
said. "You can't bake bread in one be-
cause you need dry, radiant heat to
form a crust, something the mic-
rowave just can't give you."
But it is possible to take a loaf of
homemade, conventionally-cooked
bread and cause it to "proof' (double in
bulk) by placing it in a microwave for
about ten minutes. And, as an aside to
all those people who use their high-
tech toys to reheat pizza and make
popcorn, McCallum advises that a
toaster oven and a hot-air popper will
do a better job on those culinary de-
lights.
Schonwetter, who is currently
teaching a pair of four-week mic-
rowave cooking classes at the Oak
Park Community Center, covers dis-
hes from the four basic food groups in
her course for beginners. "We talk
about roasts, fish, recipes that use
cheese and desserts."
Schonwetter teaches students
how to use the microwave probe, a
thermometer-like device that allows
microwave users to cook by tempera-
ture, rather than the standard time-
cooking method. The probe, according
to Schonwetter, allows red meats to be
cooked to order — rare, medium or
well-done.
She also instructs her class on the
inexact science of converting conven-
tional recipes for microwave use. "Less
liquid is required for microwave cook-
ing because none of it evaporates.
Also, if you cut the ingredients in half
for less people, something many people
don't realize is that you have to cut
down the cooking time as well."
Microwave ovens have been
around for 40, years, but like other
electronic or computerized inventions,
it took the development of the transis-
tor and the microchip to make them
practical for consumer use. McCallum,
who was introduced to microwave
technology as a radar technician-
instructor for the United States mili-
tary during World War II, said that
early units were hardly portable:
measuring more than eight feet in
height and tipping the scales at
roughly the same weight as one of to-
day's subcompact cars. The $4,000 cost
of a circa-1945 microwave didn't send
Americans running to their appliance
dealers and department stores to grab
the available ovens.
The big boost came in the early
-1970s, when miniaturization com-
bined with a new wave of working
mothers who had less time to spend in
the kitchen helped microwave ovens
take off. Sales of 20,000 units per year
in the '60s skyrocketed to 20,000 units
per week ten years later.
And the microwave, unlike other
fads, shows no signs of declining popu-
larity or market saturation. Met-
ropolitan area sales were up 55 per-
cent in 1984 over 1983 figures, accord-
ing to Elmer Kochans, vice president
of sales and merchandising for Fretter
Appliance. The Detroit figures match
the national statistics, which show
eight million units sold in 1984.
Meanwhile, the downsizing that
made the microwave a household item
a decade ago is still making its mark
on the industry. The newest ovens are
lightweight, smaller-sized versions of
their predecessors. They can be in-
stalled under kitchen cabinets or in
apartment-sized kitchens where
counter space is almost non-existent.
"People find that they can fit
nearly as much in the small ones as
they can in the larger ones," McCal-
lum said. "And in many cases, they
really weren't putting all that much in
the larger ones anyway." He said the
compact units will easily cook a six-
pound roast.
Unfortunately, McCallum and
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