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Archive for the ‘Microwaves’ Category

I know this will give away my age group, but I can remember life without a microwave. My teenage daughter thinks that means we started fire by rubbing sticks together!

The microwave oven has certainly made life easier, especially for households like mine where both parents work outside the home. We want our meal times to be fast and easy, while remaining healthy and affordable. Our microwave oven is one of the appliances that help us spend less time in the kitchen.

We use ours all year long, but it really helps in the heat of summer to not use the oven as often and heat up the kitchen at the same time.

It sounds simple, but needs repeating – read and follow your microwave oven manufacturer’s instructions. Here’s some other safety tips:

Many people hesitate to cook meat in the microwave. However, if done correctly it works fine. It is nice in the summer so you don’t have to turn on your hot oven. I recommend using a silicone loaf form to make the meatloaf in the microwave. You can purchase a silicone loaf pan in specialty cooking stores. You may also find one at a Department Store such as Mervyns. Silicone is a nice way to go because they are very easy to clean. All you have to do is turn them inside-out to get all the leftovers that store themselves in the corners of your loaf pan. Another thing I like about silicone pans is you can fold them up for easy storage. Hence, they work great if you have limited cabinet space. If you are unable to locate a silicone loaf pan, or simply don’t want to purchase one, you can try a glass loaf pan. My only complaint with glass loaf pans is that they tend to dry the meatloaf a little.

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

1/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 egg

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine ground beef, 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce, onion, bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir until well blended. Press mixture into microwaveable loaf pan. Spread remaining barbeque sauce over mixture.

Microwave on high 5 minutes; rotate 1/4 turn. Microwave an additional 5 minutes; rotate another 1/4 turn. If necessary, repeat until center is done.

A microwave potato bag might be something you’ve never heard of – many people haven’t.

Having a countertop microwave is a part of modern lives these days. When everyone seems to prefer to instance indulgence, microwave is the best solution to help you making tasty, healthy cooked meal within a few minutes only. Many manufacturers have been racing to promote their latest models in the home appliance market. With this wide range of options available, choosing which one is the best for us can be challenging. Therefore, please keep on reading to get the guidance to buy best countertop microwave.

How much is your provided budget on a countertop microwave?

It is necessary for you to know first how much money you must spare in order to purchase a countertop microwave. A general guidance can refer to a price as much as $500 and more for a single microwave. The price are varies depending on the features offered. So, do you have the budget already? If you do, you can start heading off to the electronic store or going online to authorized online stores.

What is your main purpose of using microwave?

Main intentions of people in using microwave can be varies, depending on the personal need. Some might use it to merely defrost stuff, heating up prepared meals, or do real cooking. When you do know what your intention with the microwave is, then you will also know what are the most important features that you need from the microwave.

How much power do you expect the microwave to have?

You need to understand that the power offered by different microwave models can be varies, ranging from 600 up to 1300 watts. When you have a more power, it means that you can cook more quickly with your microwave. For standard recipes, 800 watt models will be sufficient.

What size are you looking for?

One thing that might help you to answer the question is your microwave safe cookware. You need to make sure that your microwave cookware can go inside the microwave later. Otherwise, it will be a waste and you need to buy other microwave cookware that meet the microwave size.

How important is convection to a countertop microwave?

It is indeed really important. Convection means the hot air circulation inside the microwave that can make the food evenly tanned. Therefore, with convection feature, cooking in microwave will actually undergo 2 processes, which are microwave itself and the hot air circulation. The food will taste excellent and the process is instant when you cook with a countertop convection microwave oven.

After all, you might think what else that you should acknowledge before do the purchasing? Well, here are some more tips:
Do not waste money on the features that you believe will not be useful for you. A stainless steel microwave is preferred since it is easier to clean up. Before purchasing, check and make sure that the countertop convection microwave provides a turntable for evenly cooking result. When you have kids within reach, your microwave must have an auto off feature for a safety reason.

Here are some guidance that you can refer to when you want to purchase any countertop convection microwave. You can now start looking for the one to best suit your need.

Happy shopping!

Microwave cooking is a convenience way to cook, however knowing the right technique makes you a better microwave chef.

Successful cooking with Microwave oven need to understand the followings points:

Moist, not fat – Choose recipes that are cooked by moisture – steaming, boiling, braising, blanching. Foods that require fat and oil for a change of flavor are not as successful, deep-frying is impossible at all.

Browning food – Foods do not brown readily in the microwave oven. You may find the following tips on browning useful.

1. Fat absorbs heat and if you remove foil covering fatty portions of a meat, these will crisp and brown lightly.
2. Baste with oil to give a better crisp to roast. Oil increase the temperature of the meat surface.
3. A browning dish, preheated, will brown food beautifully if you press food down, turning so that all surfaces make contact with the base of the dish.
4. Soy sauce, the ubiquitous flavourer of Chinese recipes, is an excellent browning agent.

Wok aroma – In traditionally stir-fried dishes, sauces are sprinkled round the side of the hot wok. In the microwave oven, we put in the sauce first, giving time for heat to be absorbed and hence release the aroma.

Small – The microwave oven is best therefore for family meals and when entertaining small groups.

Arrange foods – Whether cooking, defrosting or freezing, food should be arranged to take advantage of the principles of microwave cooking. Remember the followings:

1. Microwave activity is greater at the edges, less at the centre. Pieces of food should be placed at the edge of any container. If they are equal size, thicker portions should be placed at the edge or at corners of square containers where they will cook more quickly than the thinner portions in the centre. Cook large quantities of food evenly by stopping the cooking cycle halfway, and stirring so that food at edges exchange places with food in the centre.
2. Food cooks quicker in hot spots, so place the container or larger portions of meat in this place.
3. Single layer of food cook evenly. A large lump cooks at the edge first. So freeze in single layers and do not overlap food if you can help it.
4. Raise large portions of roast on a rack for more even distribution of heat. When meat I heated, fat melts to the bottom, and this area will absorb more heat.

Cover – Covering the food will prevent drying of some dishes. The most common cover is cling or plastic wrap. As pressure is build up within a completely enclosed container, however, it is necessary to cover loosely, or leave a gap through which steam my escape.

Shielding food – These part must be shielded with foil to prevent overcooking and drying out. Ensure that foil does not touch the sides of the oven.

Food skin – Food that has a skin or membrane such as liver, tomato and fish, if they are to be left whole, should be pierce or slit, to leave a steam vent.

While deciding to invest in a microwave, microwave oven comparison among the various brands needs to be done. The market is full of different manufacturers, each of them showcasing the merits of their products. The consumers are inundated with different brands and offers and marketing hype of several microwave ovens. Making a decision in such circumstances is difficult, to say the least. You need to compare the features of different ovens, the cost, various rebates offered etc. before buying an oven.

Major Aspects To Be Looked Into For Microwave Oven Comparison

o Size: The size of the oven is of prime importance while deciding to buy a microwave. While doing comparison, you can see that various brands may offer ovens of different sizes. Even within the same brand, you will find microwaves of various sizes. The cost of the oven naturally increases as the size increases.

o Wattage: Wattage is also an important factor that has to be considered. The speed of cooking increases as wattage increases. Increase in wattage also means an increase in size of the oven. The various brands that are available in the market may offer ovens with different wattage. You also need to consider the purpose for which the microwave will be used the most. If it is primarily for reheating, wattage is not a big issue. If your microwave is used for a variety of applications such as defrosting, cooking, baking etc, more wattage is required. In your oven comparison, pay careful attention to the wattage of different brands and make an intelligent decision based on your needs.

o Additional features: Different manufacturers offer different features. Some may have microwave ovens with the convection feature while some others could be with the grill feature. Some may have a turntable plate inside for more even heating. Some ovens may even have sensors which can automatically sense when the food is heated, defrosted or cooked enough and immediately stop the oven. Check for all these features in your microwave oven comparison and make your choice depending on your requirements.

o Cost: The cost of the microwave will vary across different brands. Carry out a detailed research on the various brands available in the market. In some cases, the price may vary across brands even for ovens which have almost the same features. Check the prices and features offered by various manufacturers before taking a decision.

There are a number of ways in which you can compare the different brands. You can visit different dealers to get the information that you require. The Internet is another main source of information. Reviews on various brands are easily available on the internet. User reviews and expert reviews on the brands are posted on the internet. Microwave oven comparison of various brands can thus easily be carried out right from within the comfort of your home.