REAL Cooking by Microwave

[roadfix]

Our Thermador micro from the late 70’s was a combo micro and conventional oven with all metal parts and 3 racks. It was standard oven size with down-swinging door. I also wondered about the all metal internals.
It had a switch for micro mode or oven mode, it couldn’t do both at the same time.

 

[roadfix]

As far as food cooling faster I always reheat leftovers at reduced power and give it more time, rarely use full power.
For instance, I’ll give a bowl of chili 10 minutes @ 20% power in the micro.

 

[Andy M.]

As far as food cooling faster I always reheat leftovers at reduced power and give it more time, rarely use full power.
For instance, I’ll give a bowl of chili 10 minutes @ 20% power in the micro.

Kinda defeats the purpose of the microwave. You could heat a bowl of chili on the stovetop in 10 minutes or less.

 

[roadfix]

Kinda defeats the purpose of the microwave. You could heat a bowl of chili on the stovetop in 10 minutes or less.

Very true.
Usually, items taken out of the fridge in Tupperware go straight to the micro and get the reduced power.

Also, at work we only have a micro so most foods I heat get the reduced power treatment.

 

[jennyema]

I have a vintage Radar Range cookbook and it is truly bizarre …

No microwave cookery for me, save baked potatoes.

 

[imp]

That's great. Glad you liked it. How does it compare to a traditionally prepared roast beef?

Well, I won't say it's better in any way, not interested in "pushing" microwaving, but rather pursuing new ways, quicker, certain foods less dried-out, other than those facts, I have to admit my Mother's old fashioned beef and pork roasts, when looking back, seemed superior somehow. That holds, though, for conventional roasting today. I think combining, age, weakening memory, and loss of taste bud acuity all apply in my case.

Look at my next post......

 

[imp]

Microwaves + Eggs = Disaster (?)

After my lifetime of gluttony, I figured little was new under the sun. Then, I witnessed this process, shown to me by my wife for the first time, not very long ago. She was holdin' back on me!

I took an egg this afternoon, broke it into a small Corelle bowl, sprinkled on a bit of no-salt and pepper, thus"



No, my Mother's old beater is not used to crack eggs! Next, I beat the egg like one would for an omelette, doesn't take too much, just a bit "airy":



Then I stuck that baby in our small G.E. which came with our house. Note, it has NO turntable, just a rectangular glass plate on the bottom.



I zapped it on High Power for 25 SECONDS, after which the egg looked like this: about half-cooked, asking to be stirred a bit.



No real Science to it, I've used more time, with no problems, but anyhoo I hit it with 20 SECONDS more time, took it out, and there it was, a nice little flap-jack-like omelette-like egg!



Took and lifted it out, checked bottom side, looked flat, cooked just fine, put it on a flat plate and cut it into bite-sized pieces.



Think about in comparison how making a stove-top omelette works, not only requiring (maybe optionally) some oily-stuff on the fry pan, a bowl to beat the egg(s) in, time to get the pan hot, then cook it, then serve it. I just made up a comparably-tasting and looking cooked egg in 45 SECONDS! Two eggs require somewhat less than twice the time to do only one. And so on for 3, 4, etc.

Try it!

 

[imp]

Our Thermador micro from the late 70’s was a combo micro and conventional oven with all metal parts and 3 racks. It was standard oven size with down-swinging door. I also wondered about the all metal internals.
It had a switch for micro mode or oven mode, it couldn’t do both at the same time.

The oven brand was Thermador? Just asked my wife, who sold micros in the mid-'80s. She described Thermadors as top of the line, high quality, but does not remember stocking any. The name might by then have been gone.

Down-swinging door: suggests perhaps Sharp copied the idea. May even have bought out Thermador, just conjecturing.

Regarding doing both micro and convect at the same time, our Sharp has two "mix" settings, Low and High. However, having both a magnetron and heating coils running at the same time would have required more power than a typical 120 volt outlet can provide. So, it runs microwave for a set time, then switches off the microwaves and turns on the heat. then, vice-versa. There is no user-choice of how much micro or heat. On LOW MIX, it runs micro LOW POWER and 250 degrees convect. On HIGH MIX, MED POWER and 300 degrees heat.

 

[tenspeed]

The oven brand was Thermador? Just asked my wife, who sold micros in the mid-'80s. She described Thermadors as top of the line, high quality, but does not remember stocking any. The name might by then have been gone.

They're still making microwaves. Go to https://www.thermador.com/us/products/ovens/microwave-ovens


We have a Thermador dual wall oven.

 

[caseydog]

Thermidor is a pretty pricy brand of kitchen appliances. Their cheapest microwave oven is 800-bucks. They max out at $1,799.

CD

 

[imp]

I have a vintage Radar Range cookbook and it is truly bizarre …

No microwave cookery for me, save baked potatoes.

Why? What can bizarre about a kitchen appliance? Doesn't work properly? If it bakes potatoes OK, try my eggs method here......

 

[imp]

WOW!

Thermidor is a pretty pricy brand of kitchen appliances. Their cheapest microwave oven is 800-bucks. They max out at $1,799.

CD

That might put them in the realm of commercial usage. I do not think any of our usual retailers (Wally-Market.....?) handles the brand. Our old G.E., a big one from 1978, continued working faithfully and trouble-free until we sold out of the Missouri Ozarks via an auction, and let it go. Can't begin to remember how many Thanksgiving turkeys that machine did! I got it in 1981, from a new co-worker who had moved his family to Phoenix from Wisconsin. He asked me if I would trade a decent handgun for his G.E. He wanted $300 equivalent, I happened to have a Ruger .357 revolver, the trade went down, and we were both happy!

 

[caseydog]

Why? What can bizarre about a kitchen appliance? Doesn't work properly? If it bakes potatoes OK, try my eggs method here......

I think she was referring to the recipes in that cookbook.

CD

 

[tenspeed]

You won't find any of the high end appliances (Thermador, Sub Zero, Wolf, Viking, etc.) at your typical appliance dealer. Certainly not Wally World!

 

[CraigC]

I prefer my meat to have flavor from browning and the resultant fond from the process. That means, I would have to add that step prior to using a microwave or crock pot. I understand that crock pots these days have an insert that can be used on a stove top for this purpose. How would you do this in a microwave with out having to do stove top browning? If I have to use a separate pot to do the browning, I might as well finish the dish on the stove top or oven using the same pot.

 

[tenspeed]

I prefer my meat to have flavor from browning and the resultant fond from the process. That means, I would have to add that step prior to using a microwave or crock pot. I understand that crock pots these days have an insert that can be used on a stove top for this purpose. How would you do this in a microwave with out having to do stove top browning? If I have to use a separate pot to do the browning, I might as well finish the dish on the stove top or oven using the same pot.

You can do the same with a pressure cooker. The Instant Pot doesn't brown as well as a stovetop pressure cooker or a pan, but still does a decent job. The Instant Pot is very fast and very convenient, which is why sales have exploded. Microwaves are convenient for some things, but pressure cookers are much better suited for many other things. Did I say they are also very fast?

Oh, and you can use the saute function on the Instant Pot before going into slow cook mode if you want to brown the ingredients first.

 

[CraigC]

You can do the same with a pressure cooker. The Instant Pot doesn't brown as well as a stovetop pressure cooker or a pan, but still does a decent job. The Instant Pot is very fast and very convenient, which is why sales have exploded. Microwaves are convenient for some things, but pressure cookers are much better suited for many other things. Did I say they are also very fast?

Oh, and you can use the saute function on the Instant Pot before going into slow cook mode if you want to brown the ingredients first.

We have a pressure cooker that we use for things like red beans. I much prefer our enameled CI for braises, gumbos and stews. Not interested in "fast", I like the results of longer cooking.

 

[roadfix]

The oven brand was Thermador? Just asked my wife, who sold micros in the mid-'80s. She described Thermadors as top of the line, high quality, but does not remember stocking any. The name might by then have been gone.

Down-swinging door: suggests perhaps Sharp copied the idea. May even have bought out Thermador, just conjecturing.

I found a photo on the web. This is exactly what we used to have. Top and bottom were both conventional ovens with microwave mode on the top oven.
Rear vent vented outdoors and the unit was 220v, hardwired.
We've since replaced this unit with a Jenn Air, micro top, conventional oven bottom unit. 220v, but no outside venting....

 

[jennyema]

Why? What can bizarre about a kitchen appliance? Doesn't work properly? If it bakes potatoes OK, try my eggs method here......

I doesn't bake anything. It cooks it.

I hate the way microwaves cook food. Stoves, grills, slow cookers, pressure cookers all produce a superior product.


Besides reheating things and cooking potatoes (even then I finish them in an oven or toaster oven) I will cook eggs once in very long while in a microwave so Ill look at your recipe.

 

[imp]

I doesn't bake anything. It cooks it.

I hate the way microwaves cook food. Stoves, grills, slow cookers, pressure cookers all produce a superior product.


Besides reheating things and cooking potatoes (even then I finish them in an oven or toaster oven) I will cook eggs once in very long while in a microwave so Ill look at your recipe.

My recipe is really more of a method to show how eggs may be micro-cooked. We bought a little device some time ago which holds up to 4 eggs, still within the shells(!), which soft or hard-boils them by steaming them in the shell. I like a hard-boiled egg as a snack often. I'll try to find a picture of the thing. It contains the eggs within a metal insert which prevents the microwaves from actually contacting the eggs, otherwise, they would burst!

The two white plastic parts fit together while containing 1 through 4 whole eggs in the depressions within the two metal halves. A flat on the bottom stands it upright; it is made to look like a big white egg! An inch of water is placed in the bottom half of the "egg". Alas, I have not found an assembled image!