Watts cooking
I own a microwave oven. A small one. It is used for the lowest forms of cookery, by which I mean “warming up leftover pizza.”
(Certainly not so low as microwavable popcorn, which 98 times out of a hundred produces something so horrid and toxic you need hazmat assistance to dispose of the bag and gale-force winds rushing through the house to dispel the stench.)
It would never occur to me to do anything serious in the little metal box, and there’s a perfectly good reason for that:
My problem with the microwave, and my position against buying one lo these many years, is that they are essentially useless technology. By that, I mean that a microwave can’t do anything that another device can’t do better. Except the few things that it can do which are really not particularly needed.
Want to make a great meal fast? The pressure cooker can make a from-scratch meal just as fast and make it three times better. Microwaves seem to alter the texture of foods. And not for the better. By contrast, the pressure cooker infuses everything it cooks with concentrated flavor. My verdict: the ecological niche of “fast cooking” is more than adequately filled. No need for a microwave.
Even some of the crummier processed-to-death-and-then-some items I’ve been known to try out contain the following warning: “[Brand name] does not recommend microwave preparation.” When even vendors of extruded foodlike substances argue against it, you have to figure that something is dreadfully wrong somewhere.
Disclosure: Yes, when I was a newlywed, we had a genuine Amana Radarange, which weighed as much as a Delco battery and had damn near as much chrome as the Chevrolet that battery might have come out of. Someone actually stole the silly thing; I hope the hernia was worth it.
fillyjonk »
10 February 2010 · 7:20 am
I admit I mainly use mine to soften butter when I bake.
ms7168 »
10 February 2010 · 8:23 am
It works great for melting butter, chocolate or anything else. It’s also great for heating water, coffee or whatever quickly. I use it for popcorn. If you watch it and do it carefully it makes it really well. They are also outstanding for frozen entrees and for defrosting about anything. Lasagne is 10 minutes in the microwave or an hour in the oven and to me it’s the same either way.
Lisa Paul »
10 February 2010 · 8:37 am
I could quote some very frightening studies done by German and Russian scientists on possible cancer links and the certain negative effects on vitamins and amino acids in food as a result of microwave cooking.
But I think “the tasty food argument” is more persuasive. Microwaved warmed up coffee? Ick. Just ick. That alone would support the now debunked urban myth that the Nazis invented the microwave. The Devil’s Appliance, I tell you.
Lisa Paul »
10 February 2010 · 8:41 am
By the way Chaz, you’ve always been good, but lately you are really on a roll with your double entendre post headings. Keep it up.
Lynn »
10 February 2010 · 9:23 pm
Luddites. I like my microwave. I suppose I could live without one but I don’t want to. (I was going to say I couldn’t live without it but I know someone would probably have to point out that people did live without them for millennia.) I use it to make cream of wheat and occasionally other hot cereals. And I can cook it and eat from the same dish. Somehow using fewer dishes seems environmentally responsible to me. It is absolutely indispensable for thawing frozen food. And microwave popcorn is great stuff. My husband reheats cold coffee in it and hasn’t complained about it. And it’s better for reheating leftovers because it does NOT change the consistency of the food.
CGHill »
10 February 2010 · 9:34 pm
Well, my leftovers don’t have any consistency, so there’s no potential loss there.
I suppose, if I can express fondness for the McRib fercrissake, it must be possible for someone to really like microwave popcorn.
Lisa Paul »
11 February 2010 · 12:15 am
Hmmm. I’m giving Lynn points for playing the Eco-card. But she still doesn’t convince me on the consistency. The microwave seems to do the weirdest stuff to food. Or to food-like product specifically formulated for the microwave.
fillyjonk »
11 February 2010 · 7:19 am
I’ve been mildly suspicious of microwave cooking ever since 1980 or so, when my family first got one. My dad wanted to cook an egg in it. Both my mother and I, having looked at the book of directions that came with the thing, told him to break the yolk first. “No,” he responded. “I don’t want my fried egg with the yolk all everywhere.” So he put the egg in on a plate, turned the oven on. A few moments later there was a loud “PAFF!” (I still remember that sound) and the microwave stopped.
It had exploded the egg yolk. First thing cooked in the microwave, and it was sprayed all over the insides of it. My mother and were standing there trying mightily not to laugh, and my father just looked at us, said, “Don’t say ANYTHING” and went to get the paper towels and cleaner.
I’ve tried making oatmeal in the microwave but the consistency seems off to me compared to the stovetop method.