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MICROWAVE COOKING TIPS
Amount of food
• Ifyou increase or decrease the amount of food
you prepare, thetime ittakes to cook that food will
also change. Forexample, ifyou double a recipe,
add a little more than halfthe original cooking time.
Check for doneness and, if necessary,add more
time insmall increments.
Starting temperature of food
•The lower the temperature ofthe food being put
into the microwave oven, the longer it takes tocook.
Foodat room temperaturewill be re-heatedmore
quickly thanfood at refrigerator temperature.
Composition of food
• Food with a lot of fat and sugar will be heated
fasterthan food containing a lotof water. Fat and
sugarwill also reach a highertemperature than
water in thecooking process.
•The more dense the food, the longerittakes to
heat. "Very dense"food likemeat takes longerto
heat than lighter, more porousfood like sponge
cakes.
Size and shape
•Smaller pieces of food will cook faster than larger
pieces.Also, same shaped pieces cook more
evenly than different-shaped pieces.
•With foods that have different thicknesses, the
thinner partswill cook fasterthan the thicker parts.
Place the thinner partsof chicken wings and legs in
the center of thedish.
Stirring,turning foods
•Stirring and turning foods spreadsheatquicklyto
the center of thedish and avoids overcooking atthe
outer edges of thefood.
Covering food
Cover food to:
• Reducesplattering
•Shorten cooking times
• Keepfood moist
You can use any covering that lets microwaves pass
through. See "Gettingto KnowYour Microwave
Oven"for materialsthat microwaves will pass
through.
Releasingpressure infoods
•Several foods (forexample:baked potatoes,
sausages, egg yolks,and some fruits)aretightly
covered bya skin or membrane. Steam can buildup
under the membrane duringcooking, causing the
food to burst.To relieve the pressureand to prevent
bursting, pierce these foods beforecooking with a
fork,cocktail pick,or toothpick.
Using standing time
•Always allow food to stand eitherin or out ofoven
after cooking power stops.Standing time after
defrosting and cooking allows the temperature to
evenly spreadthroughout the food, improving the
cooking results. Forinside oven standing time,you
can program"0" power sencond stage of the
cooking cycle. See Two-Stage Cooking.
•The length of the standing time depends on how
much food you are cookingand howdense it is.
Sometimes itcan be as short asthe time ittakes
you to remove thefood from the oven and take itto
the serving table. However,with large,denser food
item, the standing time may beas long as 10 minutes.
Arranging food
For best 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 in a ring
pattern for uniform cooking.
•When cooking foods of uneven shapes or
thickness, such as chicken breasts, place the
smaller or thinner area of the food towardsthe
center of the dishwhere itwill be heated last.
• Layer thin slices of meat on top of each other.
•When you cook or reheat whole fish, score the
skin - this preventscracking.
•Do not letfood or acontainer touch the top or sides
of the oven. This will prevent possible arcing.
Arcing isa spark that can cause damage to the
oven interior.
Using aluminumfoil
Metal containers should notbe used in a microwave
oven. There are, however,some exceptions. If you
have purchased foodwhich is prepackaged in an
aluminum foil container,refer tothe instructionson
the package.When usingaluminum foil containers,
cooking times may be longerbecause microwaves
will only penetrate the top ofthe food. If you use
aluminum containers without package instructions,
follow these guidelines:
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