Microwaves: How Often Do You Use Them?

[Morning Glory]

Aside from the reheating, I do a lot of vegetables - broccoli, cauliflower, french beans, peas. 3 mins - they're ready to stick on the plate.

Absolutely - I do the same and the added bonus is it keeps green vegetables super green. There is also evidence that microwaving vegetables retains more nutrients which can get lost in water or steam.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

That's funny. I actually do cook bacon in the microwave as well and it works extremely well. If I'm really lazy (or hungover) I will whack 5 or 6 rashers in a bowl, zap them for about 3 minutes, then crack an egg on top of it, a bit of grated cheese, cover with a paper towel and zap for another 90 seconds. Take it out and slide that lot between two slices of white bread. Pure class.

Oh boy. Now I know what's on the menu at 3 a.m. tomorrow!

 

[Master Cutler]

When doing steak I fry them in very hot oil. Trouble is I like mine extremely rare but my wife likes hers well done, so what I do is two rare steaks and then pop hers into the microwave for a couple of minutes while mine rests. Result, two steals with a nice brown exterior but one rare, one well done. Works a treat.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I just put steak leftover from being in the fridge, in the microwave long enough to take the chill off. I don't heat it through because I'm too afraid that it would heat all the way through & get tough. Same with chicken & pork.

 

[MaximumSam]

Really only use it for baked potatoes and popcorn and occasionally heating up non crispy leftovers like pasta.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

When doing steak I fry them in very hot oil. Trouble is I like mine extremely rare but my wife likes hers well done, so what I do is two rare steaks and then pop hers into the microwave for a couple of minutes while mine rests. Result, two steals with a nice brown exterior but one rare, one well done. Works a treat.

Thankfully, the steak eaters in my house like it medium rare. But, my wife's sister and mom both like it well-done. When we'd go out to eat with them, I'd make the mistake of ordering steak, and then my wife's sister tells the server to "just burn it", regarding her steak. Our medium rare steaks always come out medium well, or medium if we're lucky. The steakhouse is supposed to finish the well done steaks in the oven, which I'm guessing they do, but then they put the medium rare steaks on a warmer to keep it warm, and it continues to cook.

But, a microwave is so much easier. Too bad most steakhouses are too proud to have one.

 

[JAS_OH1]

I just put steak leftover from being in the fridge, in the microwave long enough to take the chill off. I don't heat it through because I'm too afraid that it would heat all the way through & get tough. Same with chicken & pork.

That's what I love about my toaster oven. If I put it on broil, it heats the exterior and resears it and the interior just comes to more of a room temperature, because I like my steak medium-rare so I wouldn't want it to be cooked through (a microwave would likely cook the interior).

If I remember correctly, you like your steaks medium well?

 

[GadgetGuy]

That's what I love about my toaster oven. If I put it on broil, it heats the exterior and resears it and the interior just comes to more of a room temperature, because I like my steak medium-rare so I wouldn't want it to be cooked through (a microwave would likely cook the interior).

If I remember correctly, you like your steaks medium well?

Yes I do, my friend.

 

[Frizz1974]

I don’t think we had a microwave until I was in highschool and it was just for re-heating food but us kids used to experiment with it and it didn’t take long to figure out scrambled eggs and to add cheese to everything.

I love it for frozen veg & I also have a designed for the microwave (plastic) steamer that I can fit about 1.5kg if potatoes in & I cook them through before smashing onto a baking tray for very craggy crispy potato.


There’s going to be another big push on microwaves from what I’m hearing on food podcasts.

1 - there’s a bunch of modern glass & ceramic microwave cookware since more & more we are seeing legit reasons not to use plastic and especially not to cook with it.

2 - chefs are utilizing them in Instagram videos. I saw one cooking salmon fillet recently and another cooking the savoury steamed Asian egg dish.

 

[Morning Glory]

I love it for frozen veg

Its really good for fresh veg too in my experience. In particular, green vegetables for the vibrant green. This is asparagus, microwave cooked:

 

[TastyReuben]

Years ago, before the frozen veg kingpins made all their bags steamable, I used to buy special Ziploc steamer bags, which could be filled with fresh veg and steamed in the microwave. I did that a lot.

Then I realized I own a perfectly good stovetop steamer, and started using that. Paid for it once, and it doesn’t create any waste, and aesthetically (not even sure this makes sense), it’s much more pleasing to use. Nice shiny and heavy hunk of metal verses a flimsy plastic bag with holes in it.

 

[Morning Glory]

Years ago, before the frozen veg kingpins made all their bags steamable, I used to buy special Ziploc steamer bags, which could be filled with fresh veg and steamed in the microwave. I did that a lot.

I use plastic re-usable containers and cover with a plastic 'cloche' which lives in the microwave. Steaming does yield a similar result with green vegetables but uses more energy (and more washing up maybe). And then there is the issue of whether nutrients are leached out in the steam.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Another good usage for the microwave that I do about once a week is to help peel garlic cloves. I just moisten the bulb and put it on a small plate or bowl and zap for 30 seconds. The papery peel comes right off!

I have one of these to cover plates when reheating food: