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MICROWAVE COOKING TIPS
Amount of food
• Ifyou increase or decrease theamount offood
you prepare,the time ittakesto cook that food will
also change. For example, ifyou double a recipe,
add a little morethan half theoriginal cooking time.
Check fordoneness and, ifnecessary,add more
time insmall increments.
Starting temperature of food
•The lowerthe temperature ofthefood beingput
intothe microwave oven, the longer ittakes to cook.
Food at roomtemperature will be re-heated more
quicklythan food at refrigeratortemperature.
Composition of food
•Food with a lot of fat and sugarwill be heated
faster than food containing a lotof water. Fat and
sugarwill also reach a higher temperature than
water in the cooking process.
•The more dense the food, the longer ittakesto
heat. %'erydense"food likemeat takes longer to
heatthan lighter, more porous food likesponge
cakes.
Size and shape
•Smaller pieces of food willcookfaster thanlarger
pieces.Also, same-shaped pieces cook more
evenly than different-shaped pieces.
•With foodsthat have differentthicknesses, the
thinner partswill cook faster than thethicker parts.
Placethe thinner parts of chickenwings and legsin
the center ofthe dish.
Stirring, turning foods
•Stirring and turning foods spreads heat quicklyto
the center ofthe dish and avoids overcooking atthe
outeredges of the food.
Covering food
Coverfood to:
•Reduce splattering
•Shorten cooking times
•Keep food moist
You can use any covering that lets microwaves pass
through. See "Gettingto Mow Your Microwave
Oven" for materials thatmicrowaveswill pass
through. If you are using the Sensorfunction, be sure
to vent.
Releasingpressure infoods
• Several foods (forexample:baked potatoes,
sausages, egg yolks, andsome fruits) are tightly
covered by a skin or membrane. Steam can build up
under the membrane during cooking,causing the
foodto burst. To relievethe pressure and to prevent
bursting,pierce these foods beforecooking with a
fork,cocktail pick, or toothpick.
Using standingtime
• Always allow food to stand aftercooking.
Standingtime after defrostingand cooking allows
thetemperature to evenly spread throughout the
food, improvingthe cooking results.
• The length of the standing time depends on how
much food you are cooking andhow dense it is.
Sometimes itcan be as short as the time ittakes
youto remove thefood from theoven and take itto
theserving table. However, with larger, denserfood,
thestanding time may beas long as 10 minutes.
Arranging food
Forbest results, placefood evenly on the plate.You
can do this in several ways:
• If you are cooking several items of the same
food, such as baked potatoes, place them ina ring
pattern for uniform cooking.
• When cooking foods of uneven shapes or
thickness, such as chicken breasts, place the
smaller or thinner areaofthefood towards the
center of thedish where itwillbe heated last.
• Layer thin slices of meat on top of eachother.
• When you cook or reheat whole fish, score the
skin- this preventscracking.
• Do not letfood or a container touch the top or sides
ofthe oven. This will prevent possiblearcing.
Using aluminumfoil
Metal containersshould not be used in a microwave
oven. There are, however,some exceptions, Ifyou
have purchasedfood which isprepackaged in an
aluminum foilcontainer, referto the instructionson
the package. When using aluminum foil containers,
cooking times may be longer because microwaves
will only penetrate thetop of the food. Ifyou use
aluminum containerswithout package instructions,
follow these guidelines:
30
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