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Installation Cooking Guidelines
Unpacking Equipment
• Inspect equipment for damage such as dents in door or
dents inside oven cavity.
• Report any dents or breakage to source of purchase
immediately. Do not attempt to use oven if damaged.
• Remove all materials from oven interior.
• If oven has been stored in extremely cold area, wait a
few hours before connecting power.
Radio Interference
Microwave operation may cause interference to radio,
television, or similar equipment. Reduce or eliminate
interference by doing the following:
• Clean door and sealing surfaces of oven according to
instructions in “Care and Cleaning” section.
• Place radio, television, etc. as far as possible from oven.
• Use a properly installed antenna on radio, television,
etc. to obtain stronger signal reception.
Equipment Placement
• Do not install equipment next to or above source of
heat, such as a deep fat fryer. This could cause
microwave oven to operate improperly and could
shorten life of electrical parts.
• Do not block or obstruct oven filter. Allow access for
cleaning.
• Install oven on level countertop surface.
• Place the oven in the level location of your choice with
more than 85 cm height but make sure there is at least
30 cm of space on the top and 10 cm at the rear for
proper ventilation.
The Amana Microwave Oven can make your job easier.
You’ll cook ahead and pre-portion more. You’ll also spend
less time preparing special-order dishes.
To be sure of consistently good results, remember a few
simple guidelines.
How Microwave Ovens Heat Food
All food and liquid molecules have positive and negative
particles which are in constant, but slow, motion. (Positive
and negatives attract and repel each other like magnets.)
In microwave cooking this molecular action is then
accelerated. The instant microwaves bombard food they
agitate the molecules. Agitation causes friction as
molecules rub and bump into each other at a increased
rate. Friction results in heat that cooks food and boils
water.
Once the microwaves stop, this friction action continues by
itself, eventually tapering off and returning to normal
molecular action.
Microwaves penetrate food to a short depth .
As cooking begins, heat is spread by conduction to the
interior portion of the food just as in conventional cooking
methods.
Food Variables
Microwave cooking can be directly affected by different
food variables.
The shape of foods can greatly affect the amount of
cooking time. Foods that are flat and thin heat faster than
foods which are chunky. For example, a casserole will
cook faster in a flat dish, rather than if heaped in a small
dish. Foods cut into small pieces will cook faster than
large-shaped foods. Pieces should be of a uniform size
and shape for more uniform cooking, or the smaller pieces
will cook faster. The greatest amount of heating takes
place near the food’s surface. The interior of large food
items, or dense foods, is heated by the heat
conducted from the outer food layer. The most uniform
heating occurs in flat, doughnut-shaped foods. For best
results, cook foods together which have similar sizes and
shapes.