Microwave Cooking Tips For All Kinds Of Foods

September 6, 2008 Kitchen No Comments

You might hear a lot of contradictory advice about how to cook in your microwave oven. If you’re confused about microwave cooking, don’t worry. It can be hard to learn solid information about this quick, convenient way of cooking. Here are a few microwave oven tips to help you, and if you need an affordable new or used one, you can shop here for a microwave.

Use the Correct Plastics

First, make sure you cook in the right plastics. Plastics work well in the microwave, and do a lot in the kitchen. But there are different plastics, and not all are heat proof. Some will melt and deform in the microwave. Others contain harmful substances that can leach into food that’s in contact with them if you heat them up. Because of this, it’s extremely important to make sure you use only plastics intended to be put in the microwave. Don’t be tempted to microwave butter tubs and similar packages, and only heat pre packaged foods that have microwaved instructions. If a food doesn’t have these instructions, take it out of the packaging before heating.

Cut Foods into Smaller Pieces

Food cooks best in the microwave oven if you use small pieces. Cut larger items into uniformly sized and shaped pieces, and spread them evenly in the dish you’re cooking in. While you’re cooking, you may need to turn them or rotate them. Foods that are unevenly sized should be placed with the thick parts towards the outside of the container, since outer areas cook faster than inner ones in a microwave.

Some Foods Require Piercing

You should pierce foods that have any kind of skin or shell before you cook them. Failure to pierce foods means that steam can build up inside, causing an explosion. Also, always cook in a slightly larger dish than you’d use for a conventional oven. A round or oval shaped container is better for microwave cooking than a rectangle or square. That’s because corners can cause heat build up.

Cooking Times

If using recipes, cook for the lower part of the state time range. It’s easy to cook food for a little bit longer, but you can’t un-cook anything! Microwaves without a turntable must be stopped periodically so that you can rotate the food. Remember that dishes inside the microwave will be very hot, so use an oven mitt.

Covers and Lids

If you cover a food in a conventional oven, use a lid in the microwave so that moisture will be retained and cooking will occur evenly. Lids should be left slightly ajar to make certain that there’s no pressure buildup inside the container. Lift lids carefully. Turn the opening away from you when you do this to prevent yourself from being burned. If you need to salt food, such as steamed vegetables or meat, do it after microwaving. This prevents it from drying out.

A Few More Microwave Cooking Ideas

When baking, you can use the microwave to help you with minor tasks. For instance, sticks of butter can be softened by heating on half power for thirty seconds. If heating sour cream or heavy cream, use lower power settings to prevent curdling. If your brown sugar has gotten hard, slice an apple or put a piece of bread into a loosely covered container with the sugar. Bread crumbs are made by microwaving cubed bread until stale, then crushing it inside a plastic bag.

What About Meats?

Frozen meat can be separated by defrosting for thirty seconds to a minute. If you want to cook it more in the microwave, arrange the meat evenly in a dish after separation. To drain fat from hamburger, microwave it in a plastic colander set on top of a bowl. The fat will run out of the meat and into the dish for easy disposal.

So, there you have it. All you need is an affordable countertop microwave oven to create your culinary magic.