Wot I do with My Microwave.

[clarion]

Trick with jacket potatoes is to microwave them for the time it takes for the oven to heat up to gas mark 11 (spinal tap scale), then bung them in there for a few minutes to finish them off.

That's roughly what I do, though (for time's sake) I tend to do a bit more time in the four a micro-ondes.

[L CC]

I use the microwave to store oven gloves on.

Other people in the house heat soup.

Scrambled eggs- from the microwave the dish (pyrex jug) is easier to wash than a pan, ditto porridge.

Plate warming is a throwback from when food got cold between the kitchen and the dining room. I don't live in a stately home & have central heating...

[tiermat]

Not necessarily, fboab.  In our house we have one stupidly fast eater (me), one average to slow speed eater and one that eats at a speed that you think the food will be off before they finish it.

Warming plates helps prevent the "I'm not eating that, it's cold" problem/argument.

Also useful when bringing a take away home...

[L CC]

Warming plates helps prevent the "I'm not eating that, it's cold" problem/argument.

If you're not hungry enough to eat it, why are you being asked/forced to?

[tiermat]

Warming plates helps prevent the "I'm not eating that, it's cold" problem/argument.

If you're not hungry enough to eat it, why are you being asked/forced to?

That's not me, BTW, it's TLD.  Fussy is completely the wrong word for her, when it comes to eating, but she doesn't like her food that is supposed to be hot/warm being cold.

It's not a case of her not being hungry (as witnessed by her then, usually, saying "I'm still hungry"), but her not liking cold food.

[L CC]

I think she just has parents that are sympathetic. My poor starving offspring either eat it, or have to wait till the next meal. Anyone trying 'I don't like this, it's cold' would have got pretty short shrift.

/bitch mother from hell.

[tiermat]

Could be.

[rafletcher]

I've only once had "scrambled eggs" from a microwave oven.  "It" resembled nothing more than a rubbery a frisbee 

As helly has said, fish does very well in a microwave (not just salmon).  Apart from batch making apple sauce, baked potatoes (with an oven finish) and in winter doing my porridge that's about the extent of cooking I do in it. Otherwise it's occasional defrosting (I try and get stuff out well in advance so it defrosts naturally - just to save a bit of energy) and the reheating of food (not leftovers necessarily).  My wife reheats her coffee.  Oh, and if you forget to get the tomatoes out of the fridge for the salad a quick blast of microwaves warms them nicely.

I have done sponge puddings once or twice, but the texture never seemed right compared to a steamed one.

I can't imagine cooking meat in one at all.  But then I like my steaks to bleed a bit.

I had a USAian boss once upon a time (a Texan), and he (well his wife) cooked a LOT in the microvave - pork chop in gravy for instance.

[fred the great]

Rubbery scrambled eggs are a result of poor cooking. I've done them many times in the microwave and failed only once

And this thread has explained why

[Vince]

I've only once had "scrambled eggs" from a microwave oven.  "It" resembled nothing more than a rubbery a frisbee 

Try a lower power setting. Less washing up as you can stick the jug you beat the eggs in straight into the microwave.

[rafletcher]

Oh I didn't cook them - it was at a B&B.   And whilst I can see good sense in eating out of the bowl the food is prepared in, in our case the microwave is at eye-level (in the botton half of a wall mounted unit) so lifting hot dishes in and out for regular stirring isn't that convenient.  I'm prepared to accept that one could make acceptable scrambled egg in a microwave though.

[Gattopardo]

Trick with jacket potatoes is to microwave them for the time it takes for the oven to heat up to gas mark 11 (spinal tap scale), then bung them in there for a few minutes to finish them off.

I forgot this one, yes, if there is only the 3 of us at home, I do spuds like this.  Quicker than just in the oven, and taste better than just in the microwave.  If we are having a BBQ/party we just do them all in the oven (one time I counted 52 spuds baking in the oven!)

Foil wrapped in the fire?

[TimO]

My quick Google today suggested that plates warm up if they're not especially microwave safe. If they are microwave safe they don't heat up much and you just knacker the machine with all those unabsorbed waves pinging back and forth.

Essentially true.  When there's something in the microwave that absorbs the energy, it's a load on the transmitter.  When there's nothing (or a particularly poor absorber of the energy) then you risk reflecting it back into the transmitter and causing damage.  In effect a poor VSWR in RF engineering terms, because there's an impedance mismatch to the antenna/dummy load.

I have used the microwave to slightly warm up cat food, mostly to make it smell more amenable to the cats when they first came to Chez Tim's house of cat delights, and clearly neither was that familiar with tinned wet cat food.  You have to be careful doing this however, since you just want it to hit about blood warm, so it's a bit like freshly killed prey.

[jsabine]

1) Salmon (was totally OT for washing machine subject started elsewhere).
Cover salmon with lemon juice, dill and/or parsley. Cover with cling film. make multiple holes in this. Zap on full for four minutes.

Memo to self. If, inspired by this comment and by Pancho's enthusiastic endorsement, you wish to try out this recipe, please be checking in the original thread where you will find that it is for *two* salmon fillets.

If on the contrary you wish to cook only one, *one* minute will be sufficient. Three minutes will render the fillet less salmon-like than would be optimal. DAMHIKT etc ...

[Tigerrr]

Re eggs - and the heated debate about microwave vs hob.  It is possible to create a rubber frisbee or blob with both wave and hob. however a bit of basic technique and either way can make lovely buttery goodness.
So - when boiling eggs - is is better to cut the top off to eat it or must one bash the egg and peel the shell? This I think is the essential question at the heart of the kitchen rift.
And - are people who hold their knife and fork like pens to be avoided as it is a sure sign they read the daily mail?

[fred the great]

As some people are aware I enjoy using a Microwave Oven. Today  was poached egg day. Previously, I have varied from using a medium size pan  to a frying pan of hot water, the latter being more successful when incorporating a few tips from the Internet. When I searched I discovered quite a few recipes which were similar and settled for the food.com recipe. I purposely reduced the cooking time to 45 seconds plus two additional 15 seconds because I had no idea if my el-cheapo locally made 800 Watt job was giving me 800 Watts. And the result.................
a very tasty poached egg with a pinch of salt and pepper - lovely.
So that's another Microwave recipe I have successfully added to my skills

Anybody else use this method and if so recipe please?

[hellymedic]

Never tried poached eggs.
This week I have been making fruit compôte in the microwave.

Tuesday was gooseberry: cut up 200g gooseberries, added 50g sugar, zapped and stirred.
Yesterday was blackberry: 600g ripe blackberries from the garden + 50g sugar zapped and stirred. Very nice with vanilla ice cream...