Microwave Cooking – Some Handy Tips

No doubt, cooking in a microwave is fun and its number one advantage is that it makes the cooking fast. Isn't it great when you can cook your favorite dish by investing less energy and less time? For many of the people, the answer would be yes; however there are some who find the microwave to be a curious and not-so-easy-to-use machine. They may find the instructions for it to be too cryptic for them to understand or too many for them to remember. But it is probably the best and most hassle-free way to cook. Practicing these tips while using a microwave will help you in cooking your most favorite dish with ease and élan.

But before beginning the discussion on how to use it, let's first see how the microwave works. Basically, it is a device which uses the microwave energy of water molecules in the food to cook food. The water molecules of the food get agitated and begin to vibrate, thus heat is produced. This heat is used for the cooking.

The Golden Rules of Microwave Cooking:

Clean your microwaves from inside after cooking each meal. Unclean microwaves can be a cause of diseases as well as lead to spoiling of the food that is being cooked.

A conventional recipe mentions the water to be added keeping in consideration that the cooking needs to be done on a stove. Since microwave cooking evaporates less water so keep the water as a 3/4th cup of each glass. As an example, if water needed is 4 cups, you need to add only 3 in the microwave.

It takes less time to cook in a microwave, especially for foods that contain liquid, fat or sugar. Hence you should reduce the cooking time by 1/4th of the time (or until cooked to desired degree) that the recipe takes when cooked conventionally.

Put lesser amount (approximately half) of herbs and spices. Microwave cooking enhances their flavor.

Set the timer at 1 minute in order to reheat it.

Putting metallic vessel or even aluminum foil covered food inside the microwave as this may generate sparks.

Keep the low fat cheese and other such topping for the near end of the cooking to prevent it from getting hard.

Cover the dish being cooked with a lid or plastic wrapping, but also make provision for some steam to escape. Also, equal distribution of heat to the food can be ensured by using a dish with a cone in the center.

Most food weighing around one pound will cook in 1 minute. Seafood will take even lesser time. Though this is a general rule, the specific cooking time will be determined by the type of food being cooked.

These are just a few of the basic tips of using a microwave but these will get you started. A microwave can become your best friend in the kitchen and it helps to get acquainted to its handling and usage rules.


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