Time To Stop Reheating Foods In Microwave

[rp2813]

Way back in the mid '70s when microwave ovens for home use weren't yet ubiquitous, my dad brought home a re-badged Tappan from -- wait for it -- Montgomery Ward, and one of the first things we used it for was reheating leftovers.  We all agreed that the microwave method was infinitely superior to using a stove top or conventional oven.  The dinner of leftovers tasted like it had been freshly made.  So like John, I call BS on most of this article.

 

One thing I do agree with is that pizza needs to steer clear of any microwave.  I put slices on a flat nonstick griddle, cover it loosely, and heat on low for about ten minutes.  It's ready when you can smell it, or if you're close enough to hear the toppings sizzling.  The crust is crisp as opposed to soggy.  I won't reheat pizza any other way.

 

A lot of today's microwaves offer a reheat option.  These tend to work well, but results can vary depending on what you're reheating.  Panasonic's "Sensor Reheat" option was my go-to when we had that microwave for ten years.  Punch two buttons and walk away.  My GE OTR microwave requires going through a nearly unreadable menu to reheat and it's not as reliable as the Panasonic was.  It was here when we moved in.  It just went dead last week and I'm looking into options that include repair, but if I can find another make that will fit, I'll happily dump the GE.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying a Panasonic similar to the one we used to have.  I found it on the Nextdoor classifieds for $10 and it's a joy to use compared to the GE, but at the cost of valuable counter space.

 

That article is more like an opinion piece.  I can't imagine life without a microwave, and there is no way an air fryer is anywhere near as versatile or convenient.

 

[ea56]

Re: Replies #14 and 19

Ralph,
One last thing about using the MW to soften butter. If you need two sticks of butter softened for a recipe calling for 1 cup of soft butter, but both sticks end to end on the floor of the MW and set it at 10% power for 1 min.

Then at the end of 1 min turn each stick over to the opposite side and opposite ends together and set for an additional 30 secs at 10% power. Repeat if butter isn’t soft enough. The most important step to this is ALWAYS use 10% power for softening butter and use smaller increments of time after the first 1 min until you get the butter to the degree of softness you require.

This always works like a charm.

Eddie

 

[whitewhiskers]

When I bought my first Sharp microwave in 1990, the big name on public TV was Donovan Jon Fandre, the "Microwave Master." The microwave is the most used appliance in my kitchen. Gave up on actually cooking food, but it's great to reheat everything.

 

[robbinsandmyers]

Microwave EMF's

Here's a great read on the facts from the EPA.

https://www.epa.gov/radtown/non-ionizing-radiation-used-microwave-ovens

 

[sudsmaster]

One reason to use a microwave to reheat foods is that it's probably more energy efficient than methods other than using a gas oven or burner. Nearly all the energy goes into the food being re-heated, rather than into the air as with an electric oven. A gas oven uses the same heated air method as an electric oven, but electricity used to heat an electric oven is probably in most cases more expensive than gas used to heat a gas oven. Whether a gas oven is cheaper for reheating foods than a microwave probably depends on your gas and electric rates. And, of course, in the winter, whatever energy is used to reheat food in an oven, can go back into the house.

 

In the summer, it's probably more of an expense if the AC has to kick in to cool the interior air. Here in the SF Bay Area, where in the summer there's often a cooling evening sea breeze, I just open the windows and use a fan as needed.  At present I don't have a gas oven hooked up (other than the BBQ outdoors). I do have an old Modern Maid gas range that I'm planning to use to replace the electric Frigidaire range in the patio kitchen.

 

Some day.

 

 

 

[bradfordwhite]

My 1st bf had just remodeled his kitchen when we met in 98 and beside his KA Superba that was incredibly quiet, he also had a black above the range GE microwave.
I was sold on both and went out and bought a new TOL GE bisque micro with a favorite program button. Of course it had a turn table and a plug in probe.

To melt butter I remember just setting the dish with cold butter in there and pushing the 7 button (if I remember right) and it instantly started and gave perfectly softened, but not melted, butter.

I used the program button for heating a cup of water for oatmeal. I think it was 1:35.... not sure.

---

But no more micros for me.

I would choose to have a gas stove again before I would allow a micro in the house, and you know how I, and many others, feel about gas appliances.
But I wouldn't unfriend a person or not date a person if they had a micro where as there are so many things that would get a person disqualified from those two activities.

 

[DADoES]

 
Microwaves penetrate food to a depth of generally 1 to 1.5 inches.  The rest of the food mass heats via conduction.  Thus the full mass of a slice of bacon or pizza gets heated ... but a roast or casserole involves some surface-to-interior conduction.  Microwave energy hits the food surfaces from all directions, including both sides and top at corners of a square or rectangular dish.  It's sometimes advised to shield the corners of a dish with pieces of aluminum foil to avoid overcooking those areas (brownies, cake, etc.).

Microwaves aren't sufficiently energetic to break chemical bonds, ionize molecules, or damage DNA.  Heat is generated by inducing vibration/motion of dipolar molecules (aligning with the oscillating magnetic field), primarily water but also some mild effect on fats and sugar.  Bodily injury can be caused by the heating, not by ionization or damage to DNA.  The lens and cornea of the eye are particularly vulnerable to injury from heat damage that can cause a cataract effect.  I've read advisories to always pause a running microwave oven before opening it to avoid even momentary exposure to the microwave energy, although it travels at literally the speed of light so seems any residual energy after the door interlocks trigger would be absorbed by the food before the door is open enough for any of it to escape.

Microwaves are a frequency range of 300 Mhz to 300 Ghz on the electromagnetic spectrum, between radio waves and infrared.  Microwave ovens operate on a frequency of 2.45 Ghz.  Infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma rays are higher on the spectrum.

Microwaves are sometimes considered a type of radio wave and can be focused into a beam for use in point-to-point communications.  Satellite TV systems, WiFi, Bluetooth, and cell phones all operate within the microwave range of frequencies.

 

[turquoisedude]

RE: Reply #20

Likewise, my folks got a Tappan Microwave in the late 1960s and were most impressed with the way it reheated foods.  I've always had a microwave in my own kitchen, and when Chris and I moved to our former apartment in Montreal, we bought a brand-new stainless steel front model to match the other appliances.  I stopped using it pretty quickly, finding that it didn't seem to reheat things as nicely as a honking big early 1980s Admiral we had at our weekend home.   I'm back to using an RR4D at the house in St-Liboire and a 1976 Bélanger (made by Tappan) in Ogden - I still use it for reheating successfully and do occasionally cook vegetables, sauces, pie fillings, and soups in it, also successfully. 

I'm wondering if the higher power levels of the newer models may have something to do with the reheating performance.   I recall the modern microwave we had claimed an output power of 1000 watts, while I'm pretty sure the Tappan, for example, is only cooking at 650 or maybe 700 watts. 

 

[mattl]

Unlike most here I actually cook in my microwave.  Chicken leg quarters, wings and such - when I want a quick meal.  Nothing serious, but a bit of BBQ sauce on wings or legs and 8 or 9 minutes later I have dinner.  When I have a bit more time I use convection roast which adds 30% microwave to heat and makes a very moist tender chicken.

 

Most of the time I do my veg's in the microwave and reheat.  I'm anxious to try some chicken or fries in the AF as some of the stuff might time out close to the MW but with better results. I prefer to cook fresh daily but don't want to spend an hour doing it.

 

 

 

[appnut]

@whitewhiskers

I remember Mr. Fandre. In fact, I watched every one of his episodes that was televised in the mid-late 1980s???? In fact, one of the products he used was a stacked Rubbermade cookware set. Last week I used two piecs of the set-the collander and the 3 qt. pan to cook some ground beef that was going into some soup I was going to make. I just did not feel like standing over the stove browining the gronnd meat and then draining the rendered fat from said meat. All I had to do was crumble the ground beef into the collander, cook it in the microwave for about 6 minutes, and put it in the soup pot with all the other ingredients. Tem pour the grease into a container to be thrown out with the trash. Made life so much easier.

 

[petek]

The myth that microwaves cook from the inside out comes from early era where people would put a jelly filled donut (or something else with a wet interior/dry exterior) into a microwave for 20 or 30 seconds, take it out with their bare hands as it wasn't hot, then bite into it and burn their mouth and lips. The reason an egg or sometimes a potato will explode is because both have a dry skin enveloping a moist interior, the interior heats up, steam under pressure is created and boom. Hence why you prick the skin of the potato to let the steam out, can't do it to an egg though.
Also, what works well in one particular make/model of microwave does not necessarily mean it will work well in a different one,, ie hot spots.

I got my first microwave oven in 1975,a Litton. A friend of mine, with no experience whatsoever, went on and on about radiation, they don't brown, you can't cook this or that etc.. Well one day I cooked a beef roast in it and all the vegetables and had him and some othe friends over for dinner. Everything turned out great. It was after he'd finished I told him that the whole meal was cooked in the microwave and he couldn't believe it. Well he did but that pretty much shut him up. They eventually got one a few years later. But yeah, most people are clueless on how to cook in one successfully because they never try.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I took your general advice and reheated some pork chops I made a couple days ago at 400-degrees for about 14-minutes, nothing spectacular, just had with some rice and glad I made them warm at the right temperature as microwaving would have made them a bit hot with some cold areas…

So here’s to my first try at non-microwaved leftovers for dinner…

— Dave

 

[bradfordwhite]

I don't think anyone seriously tries to cook in a mv anymore. Back when the manufacturers were really trying to push them though, the chef's of the year were all hawking their special recipes.

Can you imagine getting like the Time/Life book series or something. A new book each month on how to microwave.

In 1981 I bought a microwave popcorn popper for an aunt who had a 1972 microwave they paid a lot $$$$$$ for back then. That thing was not friendly. If there was any bit of metal in there it would blow the whole circuit and there would be major sparks. It was odd too because the front was the size of what a small micro is today but it was D-E-E-P. It was like 22" deep and they had it built in above their wall oven.

Anyway that plastic corn popper melted the first time she used it. They didn't have turn tables back then either so....

 

[bradfordwhite]

And why? Do we remember the stories....?

Even back in the 70s there were stories. My Aunt was talking about some farmer near by who washed their cat and then put it in the micro to dry it...
What's frightening is if you do a google search you'll find stuff like this is still "a thing"

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-mtblog-2008-04-toddler_burns_kitten_in_microw-story.html

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>And why? ... What's frightening is if you do a google search you'll find stuff like this is still "a thing"</blockquote> Because there are bunches of stupid or ignorant people out in the wild and the incidence of them probably is increasing.

Is it appreciably different from attempting to dry a wet cat in a gas or electric oven or a clothes dryer?

(BTW, your linked story dates 14 years ago, and the perpetrator was a toddler-child which is typically referenced as 2 to 3 years of age.)

 

[bradfordwhite]

It's both sad that a 3 y.o. would think to do this and
kind of funny that the cat was named Stouffers. lol

Always have to look for the funny and thank goodness the kitty survived.

Here's one from just a few years ago if that's more to your taste.

I just don't want to believe that this kind of stuff happens, but it does, as unsettling as it is to me anyway.

----

Kitty Kevorkian- Sabrina Matthews.



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...age-online-sparking-death-threats-France.html

 

[foraloysius]

I remember from my youth my grandmother told that a child had put a cat into a spin dryer because she was wet. 2800rpm was too much for a cat too.

 

[henene4]

Microwave nutrient debate

The big advantage of a microwave is the low amount of water used means there will be less dissolution of the compounds in the food - most stuff your body wants is either fat or water soluble. So cooking in fat and water and then discarding it is literally like rinsing out laundry.

Second is the generally lower temperature and time. There is no hot medium transferring the heat to the food.
The hottest thing is the food itself - and especially veg you rarely want to really "cook", more heat and soften.
And cooking times in the microwave are often much shorter.
Both heat and time are the biggest threat to vitamins.

For that reason, a steamer is often the most "healthy" choice of cooking with the most even, yet relatively quick and low water cooking method.

Microwaves do kind of cook from the inside.

The penetration depth of the typical 2.4GHz microwave in food is 2-3cm IIRC. So everything an inch or thinner is cooked "all at once".
The more water the lower the penetration depth.
Thus stuff like lasagnas or that type of stuff is hard to cook that way since they are thick and high moisture.

Miele took that to the extreme with their "Dialog" oven.
It's basically a microwave combination oven, just that it runs at 945MHz, a typical cell frequency.
Lower frequency means higher penetration. That's why that can cook entire thick cuts of meat at microwave speeds.

 

[joeekaitis]

Wait, wait, I lost track again.

Is coffee a deadly poison or elixir of health this week?

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

(Because I'm contemplating becoming a LDS...)

Coffee: Right now for me forbidden to drink...

 

 

 

-- Dave