Microwaves

[Uncle Bob]

I love to cook hot dogs in them until they explode!! Then a quick 'baked' potatoe is ok at times. Mostly a quick tool to re-heat. It does seem to 'toughen' some items however, as in shrimp in a sauce etc.



Fun!!

 

[GotGarlic]

I love to cook hot dogs in them until they explode!! Then a quick 'baked' potatoe is ok at times. Mostly a quick tool to re-heat. It does seem to 'toughen' some items however, as in shrimp in a sauce etc.

Yes, some things aren't suited for mw cooking - bread, for instance, gets tough and chewy, so I use the toaster oven for warming bread, pizza, etc.. But they have lots of uses beyond heating things up.

 

[Claire]

I think I need to reiterate what I said about pre-cooking in the microwave. I don't completely bake potatoes in it. I agree that potatoes cooked in the microwave oven are not baked, rather more like steamed (which isn't a bad thing, just not baked). I put them in the microwave until hot and partially cooked (the hard thing about microwave ovens is that the power really varies from oven to oven). Then I put them in a very, very, very hot oven to finish them. When you are through no one, but no one, can tell you haven't baked them for the hour or two it takes to bake potatoes. People love my fried potatoes as well done that way. Again, I microwave them until almost cooked, then I halve and slice them, throw them in hot fat. (I don't deep fry, this is just enough fat to cover the bottom of the skillet). Again, it makes it so that you do not have to stand over a hot stove for more than a few minutes.

These short cuts are great if you, and I've noticed some of you, like me, don't have an air-conditioned kitchen.

 

[TexanFrench]

Well, our 22 year old stove died this summer and I had lots of fun (?) with the microwave. Not good for meats that you want browned--OK for most veggies. Hard to get multiple dishes cooked simultaneously. I found myself using more canned and frozen ingredients, rather than fresh, for some reason.

Thank goodness we managed to get a new stove installed last week! (Gas--with a convection oven. Not that I've used the oven; it's pretty hot in Texas right now.)

 

[babetoo]

micro

always cook veg. fresh or frozen in it. doesn't take much liquid for veg. keep the color and texture intact.

i melt anything that the recipe calls for. butter, choco, etc.

hardly ever defrost anything with it.

do the finish cooking thing on meats that are not done.

i don;t bake in it either. still playing with the convection oven part. make large cass. in it all the time.

doesn't brown meats well enough, so only do meatloaf in it.

saute onions, celery etc.make rice but not pasta.

cook bacon or sausage but no eggs. they explode

i don't know what i would do without it,. it is like my right hand man.lol

babe

 

[TanyaK]

I mainly reheat and defrost in mine but also find it very handy to make a white sauce (I don't have the patience to stand and stir the whole time) or to quickly make scrambled eggs.

 

[alexa]

What I cook most of the time in our microwave are potatoes. I really love "microwaved potatoes". They have this certain taste only microwaves could give. It's fast, too.

 

[Bilby]

Cook all my veges in it, incl baked potatoes in jackets.
Bacon
Defrost raw meat and cooked meals incl pizza but excl bread
Reheat
The occasional scrambled or poached egg
Poach fish
Cook smoked cod
Cook nachos
cook gratin dishes
cook casserole-type dishes
"mock" pizzas (using tortillas or pitta bread)
rice
porridge

I've tried cakes from time to time but don't see the point. The effort of a cake is in the making not the cooking and I have never needed a cake that quickly!!