Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Microwave Cooking Tips

By Ferdinand Mekinsy

Before buying a small microwave for your soon-to-be college student, if you can pay a visit to the campus to get the layout of the room where your child will pass that first year at school, that can help you plan for what kind of appliances to buy for him or her. The best combination of appliances is to send with your child a small refrigerator and a microwave to accommodate the limited food possibilities that can be done in a college dorm room. This way if that freshman is out having pizza with friends, she can bring home some leftovers and heat them up the next day after storing them in the mini refrigerator.

Most cooks have a small collection of bowls and other cookware that they use for almost every cooking task they do. Kitchen storage is usually limited and we don't want to have to sift through drawer after drawer of cookware to find a piece that you can start out warming up in the microwave and then switch to the conventional oven to finish the cooking process or to put it on warm. Similarly, if you are cooking a dish in the conventional oven and the time for the dinner arrives and the food is not totally done, it is a tremendous convenience to be able to just take that dish out, put it in the microwave and give it several minutes on high to finish cooking the dish.

Most cooks have a small collection of bowls and other cookware that they use for almost every cooking task they do. Kitchen storage is usually limited and we don't want to have to sift through drawer after drawer of cookware to find a piece that you can start out warming up in the microwave and then switch to the conventional oven to finish the cooking process or to put it on warm. Similarly, if you are cooking a dish in the conventional oven and the time for the dinner arrives and the food is not totally done, it is a tremendous convenience to be able to just take that dish out, put it in the microwave and give it several minutes on high to finish cooking the dish.

To say that it is a rule of thumb for just about every household that the kitchen will have a microwave in it would not be a stretch. In this modern era, it is hard for most of us to imagine living without a microwave. But when you are trying to lay out your kitchen either after you move in or when you are remodeling that limited space, sometimes the microwave can take up valuable kitchen countertop space.

Now just serve the meal with all the trimmings. When you take the lid off of that microwave steamer and the aroma of that fish fills the room, the exclamations of surprise and delight will be gratifying to you. But be prepared as those exclamations continue throughout the meal. If your guests give you the title of "great Cajun chef", be humble. But you can accept the title on behalf of your spice rack, your fish market, your good Cajun recipe book and, of course, your old reliable microwave oven that made it all possible.

Most cooks have a small collection of bowls and other cookware that they use for almost every cooking task they do. Kitchen storage is usually limited and we don't want to have to sift through drawer after drawer of cookware to find a piece that you can start out warming up in the microwave and then switch to the conventional oven to finish the cooking process or to put it on warm. Similarly, if you are cooking a dish in the conventional oven and the time for the dinner arrives and the food is not totally done, it is a tremendous convenience to be able to just take that dish out, put it in the microwave and give it several minutes on high to finish cooking the dish.

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