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- 10 -
Amount of Food
• If you increase or decrease
the amount of food you
prepare, the time it takes to cook that food will also
change. For example, if you double a recipe, add a
little more than half the original cooking time. Check
for doneness and, if necessary, add more time in small
increments.
Starting Temperature of Food
• The lower the temperature
of the food being put into
the microwave oven, the longer it takes to cook. Food
at room temperature reheats more quickly than food
at refrigerator temperature.
Composition of Food
• Food with a lot of fat and sugar
heats faster than
food containing a lot of water. Fat and sugar also
reach a higher temperature than water during the
cooking process.
• The more dense the food,
the longer it takes to
heat. Very dense food like meat takes longer to heat
than lighter, more porous food like sponge cakes.
Size and Shape
• Smaller pieces of food
cook faster than larger
pieces. Also, same-shaped pieces cook more evenly
than different-shaped pieces.
• With foods that have different thicknesses,
the
thinner parts cook faster than the thicker parts Place
the thinner parts of chicken wings and legs in the
center of the dish.
Stirring and Turning Foods
• Stirring and turning foods
spreads heat quickly to
the center of the dish and avoids overcooking at the
outer edges of the food.
Covering Food
Cover food to:
• reduce
splattering
• shorten
cooking times
• keep
food moist
Releasing Pressure in Foods
• Several foods
(for example: baked potatoes,
sausages, egg yolks, and some fruits) are tightly
covered by a skin or membrane. Steam can build up
under the membrane during cooking, causing the
food to burst. To relieve the pressure and to prevent
bursting, pierce these foods before cooking with a
fork, cocktail pick, or toothpick.
Using Standing Time
• Always allow food to stand
either in or out of
the oven after cooking power stops. Standing time
after defrosting and cooking allows the temperature
to evenly spread throughout the food, improving
the cooking results. For inside oven standing time,
program a 0 power second stage of the cooking cycle.
See Cooking with More than One Cook Cycle.
• The length of the standing time
depends on how
much food you are cooking and how dense it is.
Sometimes it can be as short as the time it takes you
to remove the food from the oven and take it to the
serving table. However, with larger, denser food items,
the standing time may be as long as 10 minutes.
Arranging Food
For best results, place food 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 towards the center
of the dish where it will be heated last.
• Layer thin slices of meat
on top of each other.
• When you cook or reheat whole sh, score
the
skin to prevent cracking.
• Do not
let food or a container touch the top or sides
of the oven. This will prevent possible arcing.
MICROWAVE COOKING TIPS
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