THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. Recently, my friend Rachel found a pile of 1980s cookbooks on a curb and gave them to me as a housewarming present. The one that caught my eye was The JCPenney Microwave Cookbook, with its colorful cover showing a rack of lamb, roast beef, and a ham, all presumably cooked in a microwave. The whole book is a peek into the past, to a time when microwaves were the…
