Sunday, March 8, 2009

Cooking Tips for Using Microwave Ovens

By Robert Cooksey

You'll hear a lot of different, contradictory advice about the best way to cook in a microwave oven. It's no surprise that many people are confused by everything that's out there. It can be hard to learn solid information about this quick, convenient way of cooking. Here are a few tips to help you.

Use the right plastics. Plastics serve many purposes in our kitchens, but not all of them take heat well. Some will melt and deform in the microwave. Others will leach harmful toxins into your food. That means it's important to heat in plastics that are meant to be used 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 the food doesn't come with instructions, get rid of the packaging before you heat it.

Cook small pieces. Food should be cut into pieces of uniform size and evenly spread in the dish you're cooking with. 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.

Foods like vegetables that have a skin, shell, or other exterior coating should be pierced before cooking. Otherwise, steam may build up inside and cause an explosive reaction. Also, always cook in a slightly larger dish than you'd use for a conventional oven. Round or oval containers cook more evenly in a microwave, while square or rectangular containers tend to heat up too much in the corners.

When cooking from a microwave recipe, start by cooking for the time at the shorter end of the range given. You can always cook food longer, but overcooked food is ruined. 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.

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. Leave all lids slightly open so that pressure won't build up inside the container, and lift lids carefully when you remove food. Turn the opening away from you when you do this to prevent yourself from being burned. If food needs to be salted, do this after cooking it. That's because salt can cause microwaved foods to dry out.

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. When warming heavy cream or sour cream, use a low setting to prevent curdling. Hardened brown sugar can be made soft again by microwaving it in a loosely covered container with a slice of apple or piece of bread. Bread crumbs are made by microwaving cubed bread until stale, then crushing it inside a plastic bag.

When using frozen meat, separate individual pieces by defrosting for half a minute 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.

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