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Microwave Tips


liuzhou

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6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

That said, I'm not sure that 7 or 8 or 9 aren't random settings settled upon by the intern kid. I repeat, there is no standard.

 

Same with regular ovens.  There's a huge degree of variation from one to another.  No matter what type of equipment you're using, it pays to pay attention and adjust to how yours performs.

 

But back to microwaves....

 

  • Boil a small amount of water.
  •  
  • Heat some cream (perhaps with some garlic to pour onto your potatoes au gratin).
  •  
  • Melt some chocolate (if you're gentle enough, you might not even take it out of temper).
  •  
  • Melt some butter.
  •  
  • Steam a hot dog bun (you'll want to wrap in in a paper towel first)
  •  
  • Heat a hot dog (this goes well with the previous tip)
  •  
  • Bring back some stale bread (again with the paper towel).
  •  
  • Cook a potato.
  •  
  • Cook some instant rice.
  •  
  • Nuke a soup.

 

There's a whole lot more, but most of it would take too much 'splaining.  Suffice it to say that I think microwaves too often get a bad rap for being ham handed cooking devices when the ham handedness actually comes from the element in the equation that actually has hands - and the requisite fingers to start and stop the damn things.

 

.

 

Edited by IndyRob (log)
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16 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Not horrified. Mystified! Although, I've seen it done. I'll be sticking with my rice cooker though.

 

That said, one friend back in London made wonderful microwave risotto. A Barbara Kafka (?) recipe from Microwave Gourmet, she tells me.

 

I have the appropriate cookware.

Do you have a copy of the Kafka book? I understand it's excellent - I often see copies in the thrift stores. 

 

The microwave cookbook I learned most from on what a microwave can do is "Let's Cook Microwave" by Barbara Harris. An oldie but goodie. 

 

I use the microwave to cook rice in one of these - also picked up for a couple of bucks in a thrift store. 

 

I use it to speed up the rise of bread dough - learned from this book

 

I use it to soften but not melt butter (well I do use it to melt butter too when I need it melted).

 

Melting chocolate.

 

Cooking the custard for trifle, all kinds of sauces that require cooking to thicken, hollandaise, curds.

 

Rapid aging of booze.

 

 

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14 hours ago, dcarch said:

Two tips:

 

1. Be careful making hot water in the MW. Google "superheated water". 

 

 

2. quick sanitizing kitchen towel. Wet towel and MW.

 

dcarch

 

 

Not an idle warning. This really happens

 

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43 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Do you have a copy of the Kafka book? I understand it's excellent - I often see copies in the thrift stores. 

 

I don't but leafed through my friend's copy many years ago. I remember being impressed, but didn't possess a microwave, so nothing came of it. I'm surprised that I even remember the name of the author. For some reason, it stuck in my head..  

 

I'd now say it is worth having.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Two more related tips :

 

#6 Why? No one has mentioned bacon? Microwave is great for making bacon.

 

#7 If you make bacon in a MW, or other oily food (MW French Fries), it is a good idea to put a paper towel over the food to prevent oil from splatter. There is a thin square piece of mica shield that covers the wave guide. Oil can get on it and accumulate. Overtime that thin layer of oil can get very hot, carbonize and become electrically conductive and a fire can start and burn out the shield.

 

dcarch

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I have to post twice, it's a digital handicap at the moment.i-bjTBRzS-D.jpgDamn the torpedoes, let's cook. 

 

I'm deer hunting this week, out of sync with the better half. The MW has a lot of benefits in this situation.

 

Cream of tomato soup MW, the Italian slices were toasted but that marvelous sharp white cheddar was gooyed in the MW. 

 

 

Never mind that that cheese can separate. 

 

 

 

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Who cares if we boil the miso?

 

i-jJk3p22-D.jpg

 

 

I had MW bacon and eggs this morning too. The eggs, they are magnificent. The bacon, I consider so so, Maillard has to be rolling in his grave. But, it was O dark thirty, I didn't take time to take a pic, and I had to move quick. 

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 I often think I could dispense with my microwave if it were not for the newborn kittens that I foster who require a heating pad which is warmed by microwaves.  But then tonight it was microwave to the rescue to reheat some basmati rice. I just put it in a bowl with a wet, double folded paper towel over top and it came out very satisfactory.  I actually rely on the M/W much more than I'm willing to admit.   Now if only they could make a folding one so I could recover some counter space when it's not in use.

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I second Kerry for softening butter.  Doing it the old fashioned way requires far too much time and effort.

 

If you have an old, tired and dry vanilla bean, you can zap it for a couple of seconds and it plumps back up, making it easier to split and scrape.

 

My better half uses it to roast sunflower seeds in the shell.

 

But mostly I use mine to reheat tea and coffee.

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59 minutes ago, jmacnaughtan said:

I second Kerry for softening butter.  Doing it the old fashioned way requires far too much time and effort.

 

If you have an old, tired and dry vanilla bean, you can zap it for a couple of seconds and it plumps back up, making it easier to split and scrape.

 

My better half uses it to roast sunflower seeds in the shell.

 

But mostly I use mine to reheat tea and coffee.

 

I softened some butter not an hour ago.

 

I do have an old, tired and dry vanilla bean, so that is a very useful tip, thank you!

The first use I put it to was roasting some pumpkin seeds and the second was reheating some coffee. :S

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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  • 3 weeks later...

defrosting bread before slicing and toasting it (bagel, bun, muffins)

defrosting pizza before reheating in a pan to crisp it

heating dried shitake mushrooms submerged in water for an emergency soak and soften

hot lemon towels

warming honey to pour it out of a jar (don't do this with plastic jars)

hot maple syrup for my pancakes!

melt butter at 50% power so it doesn't splatter (yes, your power levels will vary. 50% @1500 watts works for me)

chocolate goes in my mouth before it'll hit the microwave

the chamber makes a great bread box when you're not using it

the chamber makes a great proofing box - power on for a few seconds to warm up the dough if it needs a boost

defrosting is the killer app for me. 

 

 

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Perfect short term storage of food to keep it out of the reach of four-legged house mates!  

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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here is a junkfood tip: a turn or two around in the microwave will enhance a plateful of tortilla chips. i think the same will apply to potato chips/crisps, too. in mine it only takes less than 15 seconds.

 

not too long to make them greasy but just enough to freshen or revive them and you would almost think they are freshly fried. so much better than straight out of the bag.

Edited by natasha1270 (log)
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"The main thing to remember about Italian food is that when you put your groceries in the car, the quality of your dinner has already been decided." – Mario Batali
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4 minutes ago, natasha1270 said:

here is a junkfood tip: a turn or two around in the microwave will enhance a plateful of tortilla chips. i think the same will apply to potato chips/crisps, too. in mine it only takes less than 15 seconds.

 

not too long to make them greasy but just enough to freshen or revive them and you would almost think they are freshly fried. so much better than straight out of the bag.

 

Along the same line - I make nachos in the nuke. Layers of chips, cheese, veg - nuke until cheese is bubbly.

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Tip #8 - Broken MW is worthless. However, you can remove the transformer, it can be sold on eBay for $40 to $60. Hobbyists like to use it for many projects, such as a spot welder.

 

Tip #9 - If you are throwing away your MW, save the glass platter. Most of the time it's interchangeable with other MWs, in case you break the new one.

 

dcarch

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37 minutes ago, natasha1270 said:

here is a junkfood tip: a turn or two around in the microwave will enhance a plateful of tortilla chips. i think the same will apply to potato chips/crisps, too. in mine it only takes less than 15 seconds.

 

not too long to make them greasy but just enough to freshen or revive them and you would almost think they are freshly fried. so much better than straight out of the bag.

 

 

CSO will probably work better.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

CSO will probably work better.

 

The CSO mafia is relentless :-)

 

Since I got the notion to microwave chips from an ideas in food post years ago about using a toaster oven to do the same, I assume the CSO could do just as well but this thread was asking about microwave tips. I have neither toaster oven or cso to compare.

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"The main thing to remember about Italian food is that when you put your groceries in the car, the quality of your dinner has already been decided." – Mario Batali
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On 20/12/2016 at 3:56 AM, jmacnaughtan said:

But mostly I use mine to reheat tea and coffee.

 

In my house, the microwave is jokingly referred to as the "tea storage unit" because I'm prone to forgetting my mug in there. 

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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20 hours ago, chromedome said:

 

In my house, the microwave is jokingly referred to as the "tea storage unit" because I'm prone to forgetting my mug in there. 

 

I'm the same.  And there's always the beautiful moment when you shove a bowl in the microwave without first checking...

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In my case, the beautiful moment is watching the penny drop after I've been searching for my mug for five minutes or longer...

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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I didn't appreciate mine or realize how dependent I was on it until the magnetron died in it and it had to be repaired.  Lordy, I'd forgotten how I used to boil water (which I do twice a day for to rehydrate dog food).  What a pain to have to boil water in a saucepan!

It was out of order for a couple of weeks while the part was ordered and then the wait for an available repairman.  I use mine a whole lot more than I'd ever been aware of.

 

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