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FeaturesJanuary 20, 2010

What do award-winning cookbook author Rick Bayless, Food Network Iron Chef Bobby Flay, nationally acclaimed pastry chef Gale Gand and Chloe, my 5-year-old granddaughter, have in common? They all began their culinary education by slaving over a hot light bulb...

For more than four decades, legions of little chefs like Chloe Gaither have been introduced to the joy of cooking by the Easy-Bake oven. (TOM HARTE)
For more than four decades, legions of little chefs like Chloe Gaither have been introduced to the joy of cooking by the Easy-Bake oven. (TOM HARTE)

What do award-winning cookbook author Rick Bayless, Food Network Iron Chef Bobby Flay, nationally acclaimed pastry chef Gale Gand and Chloe, my 5-year-old granddaughter, have in common? They all began their culinary education by slaving over a hot light bulb.

This holiday season Chloe, just like those three celebrity chefs when they were youngsters, was the recipient of an Easy-Bake oven, which can produce cakes, cookies, pies and other goodies using only the heat generated by an ordinary 100-watt incandescent bulb.

Over the last four decades, tens of millions of children have been turned on to cooking by an Easy-Bake oven. Its manufacturer says it is the best-selling girl's toy since dolls, though, judging by the number of male chefs who once owned one, the Easy-Bake also appeals to boys. Flay, for example, had to petition his mother to get his first Easy-Bake model when he was 5 years old, against the objections of his father, who thought a G.I. Joe action figure more appropriate. Though his son now owns six fashionable restaurants offering sophisticated dishes, no doubt Papa Flay finds plenty of crow on the menu when he dines at them.

It all started in 1963 when Norman Shapiro, the New York sales manager for Kenner Products (now a division of Hasbro), intrigued by the city's pretzel vendors, suggested the company create a miniature pretzel maker for children. Ultimately the idea morphed into a full-fledged minioven designed to look just like the real thing. Of course, there had been toy ovens before, but what made Kenner's model unique was the fact that it actually worked. Children no longer had to pretend. They could really bake with the thing.

The secret to the Easy-Bake oven's operation is the light bulb. Like any light bulb, after being on for about 10 minutes, it will reach a temperature in excess of 350 degrees -- plenty hot enough to cook a variety of baked goods. In fact, 350 degrees is more or less the average baking temperature for most dishes cooked in a full-sized oven. It's the default setting on my home unit.

Interestingly enough, 350 degrees is also a temperature quite hot enough to burn little hands. (Skin burns at only 130 degrees.) But because the Easy-Bake oven uses a common everyday item to generate heat, it creates the impression that it is completely safe and, thus, has induced millions of parents, who might otherwise have thought better of it, to give their children a working -- albeit toy -- oven.

As a consequence, legions of budding homemakers, chefs and serious cooks have learned at an early age the joy of baking and the allure of raw cookie dough.

Deep Dish Truffle Lobster Pie

You don't have to rely on packaged mixes that come with an Easy-Bake oven. In fact, as with most dishes, Easy-Bake treats taste better when made from scratch, as in this recipe adapted from celebrated master chef Erik Blauberg. It shows that it's actually possible to cook epicurean fare with a light bulb.

2 slices dense white bread

1 teaspoon softened butter

1 ounce tomato puree

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1 teaspoon diced red onion

1 teaspoon diced tomato

1 teaspoon chopped mushroom

1 ounce cooked lobster meat, diced

1 tablespoon grated mozzarella

1 teaspoon olive oil

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon sliced black truffle

1 teaspoon chopped basil

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

Spray Easy-Bake pan with cooking spray and line bottom and sides with parchment paper. Spray parchment with cooking spray. Trim crusts from bread and roll flat with a rolling pin. Cut bread to fit pan and line bottom and sides with bread. Brush with butter and bake in preheated Easy-Bake oven for 30 minutes. Spoon tomato puree into baked crust. Top evenly with onion, tomato and mushroom. Top with a layer of lobster and a layer of mozzarella. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and bake 30 minutes until bubbly. Garnish with truffle, basil and Parmesan.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at news@semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699.

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