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Tips
SOME IMPORTANT TIPS FOR
MICROWAVING COOKING
To help equalize energy in the food so that it
cooks evenly follow these helpful tips.
1. Arrange foods with varying size ends, such
as chicken drumsticks and broccoli with
the thicker or tougher part positioned to the
outside of the dish. This ensures the parts
that require more cooking will receive more
energy, so the food will cook evenly.
2. Covering the dish during cooking holds in
the heat and steam to speed up the cooking
time. Use a microwave-safe lid or plastic
wrap that has been vented by turning back
one edge at the side of the dish to form a
narrow vent to release excess steam.
3. Choose cooking dishes that are shallow
and preferably have straight sides. Shallow
dishes enable the food to cook faster and
straight edges prevent the edges from
being overcooked.
4. Use round shaped microwave dishes. Round
shapes cook more evenly than square or
rectangular dishes which absorb most of
the energy in the corners causing food to
overcook and toughen.
5. Stir foods from the outside to centre of
the dish once or twice during cooking to
equalize heat and speed microwaving.
6. Turn medium to large food items over once
during microwaving. This enables even
exposure to microwaves.
7. Elevating some types of food such as cakes,
roast vegetables and dough products can
be advantageous. It allows more energy to
penetrate the food from all sides, base and
top. Use a microwave-safe plastic or ceramic
rack.
8. Do not elevate any special browning dishes,
jugs of sauce or custard, small quantities of
food or mugs of beverages.
9. Internal temperatures of foods continue
to rise so that they continue cooking even
after they have been removed from the
microwave oven. It is better to undercook
food as it will continue to cook once
removed from the microwave.
MICROWAVE UTENSILS
•
Containers, plates, dishes, etc. used in the
microwave oven should always be microwave-
safe. Check if they are microwave-safe on
the underside of the utensil or contact the
manufacturer.
•
To test if a container, plate or dish is
microwave-safe, place it into the microwave
oven with 1 cup of cold water (in a microwave-
safe cup) and heat on High (100%) Power
for 1 minute. If the container is hot and the
water is cold, the container is not suitable for
microwave oven use. If the container is cold
and the water is hot, then the container is
suitable for microwave oven use.
•
Metal containers and utensils should not be
used in the microwave oven.
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