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From: nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe)
Newsgroups: net.cooks
Subject: Re: Microwave Features - Help!
Message-ID: <3112@rochester.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Nov-84 09:10:33 EST
Article-I.D.: rocheste.3112
Posted: Mon Nov  5 09:10:33 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Nov-84 00:56:12 EST
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Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept.
Lines: 86

My wife and I got a combo convection/microwave oven about two years ago.  Here
are a few comments you may find helpfull.
> using the oven for occasional fast defrosting, and regular use in casserole
Great for heating leftovers and defrosting frozen foods prior to regular 
cooking.  Casseroles do well, as do several kinds of veggies (esp. potatoes).
Look out for veggies (and meat) drying out - dehydration is a real danger.
> or pot roast type meals. I am an avid popcorn freak, and I also think it
Forget roasts.  The meat may be cooked, but it is closer to boiled than
roasted in appearance.
> would be nice to boil water in 10 seconds. I doubt I would ever do a turkey,
How much water?  The time is almost directly proportional to the total heat
capacity of the food in the box.  Boiling a pint of water takes approx. 1 1/2
to 2 minutes in our (fairly powerfull) micro.
> so cubic-footage is relatively unimportant, and I also would probably not
> use any "programmable" features. Here are my questions:
Programmable features are nice and I use them often, mostly for low cooking
for a few minutes to bring the food to luke warm, then higher to heat it the
rest of the way.  Also, with the convection oven, a preheat phase followed by
micro and/or convec cycles is often used.  
> 
>     1) What advantages are there to a "carousel" other than for large chunks
>        of meat? Do any models let you remove it and turn it off when it's
>        not needed? Won't the microwaves destroy any lubricant in the motor
>        and make it non-functional after a short time?
	Even distribution of energy is important for most dishes.  If you can
	stir the food, then that will suffice if you do it a couple of times
	while heating, but that is a problem we have had with ours (which does
	not rotate its food.  See Consumer's reports issue on micros of summer
	1982, I think)
> 
>     2) How important is a heat probe for the uses I have in mind? My
>        impression is that this feature is also primarily for use in cooking
>        turkey and ham type items, but is it useful in other applications?
	I have found it useful for many applications, particularly when you
	don't know how long it will take to do the job.  It is annoying to 
	have to repeatedly test and set (sorry, parallel hackers) the micro
	just to boil water.  It is very useful when heating casseroles.
> 
>     3) How important is an energy-level control? Some models I've seen have
>        no control, others have two positions (defrost and cook), and some
>        have an infinite range.
	Consumer reports sez that ten levels are necessary and sufficient.  We
	have 100 levels (you know -- this digital stuff) but rarely cook at 
	say, 72 % power.  I would agree with their assessment.
> 
>     4) What other features or accessories are desirable? Do those "browning
>        dishes" work?
> 
>     5) Is there any such thing as an energy-efficient model? How much juice
>        do these things use?
	I don't know about the relative efficiency of the magnetron, but the
	efficiency of the microwave oven is that practically all the energy
	goes to heating the food.  Its economy over conventional means is best
	for relativly small amounts of food (eg: roughly a pound or less if 
	watery, a few pounds if oily).  Wrt wattage, ours runs about 1600 W.,
	which means that when we use it, we have to be sure that no other
	appliances are being used on the same 15 amp circuit.
> 
>     6) Is it true that some foods taste different in the microwave? And that
>        some are impossible? Is it possible to boil eggs, for example?
	NEVER NEVER NEVER try to cook eggs in their shell in a microwave.  
	Heed this advice and save yourself the painful task of trying to get
	microscopic pieces of fluffy egg out from impossible places.  Even in
	a cup of water it doesn't work (<-- voice of sad experience).  In 
	general, be sure to prick the surface of anything which might contain
	the steam which will be generated inside the food while it cooks.  In
	particular, oils (like the yolk of an egg) will heat up fast and will 
	generate steam if in a moist food.  Microwave cooking does seem to 
	have an effect on texture (it may make cheese sort of grainy) and it
	certainly won't brown things up, which gives many roasted foods that
	"browned" caramelized flavor.

> 
>     7) Will I learn anything about microwave cooking in my first month or so
>        that will make me strike my head in anguish over not having purchased
>        some feature or other? (Or worse, anguish over spending the money in
>        the first place?)
	In retrospect, we wouldn't have gotten the convection oven with the
	micro as a package.  Convection ovens are great, but with the cavity
	dimensions and using the overhead fan (which also disperses the micro-
	waves), we have a hard time getting heat to the bottom of a dish.  The
	probe and programmable features have been very handy, but you can get
	a bottom-of-the line model with ten levels for ~$300, so they may not
	be worth the extra dough.

Nemo