apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I always soften potatoes in the microwave before I use them in casseroles, quiche, curry, etc. I just cube them, put them in a microwave safe container, with a little water and microwave for 5 minutes. It's a lot faster than steaming or boiling potatoes.

Mine has a defrost setting that I use quite a lot, give that a try.

The microwave is great for melting chocolate without a double boiler.

Hee. We don't have one either, and people look at me funny when I mention that. Nice to know we're not alone.
I'd donate it to the elderly or bring it to work to reheat leftovers.

Artichokes. 5 minutes on high with about 1/4 inch of water, leave them in for 5 minutes after the microwave is done, then 5 more minutes of cooking. That's for 2 large artichokes, 5-10 minutes all at once seems to work just fine for 1 large artichoke, too.

There was also a great microwaved pudding recipe in the NYTimes a while back (I liked it cold best, since then it had the texture of flourless chocolate cake in significantly less time). I think it was one of Bittman's columns. He suggested thinking of the microwave as a steaming machine, since that's what it does.

It's ok for melting chocolate but I get a strange amount of pleasure in using a double-boiler so I don't. Supposedly microwaving citrus before juicing will yield more juice. Microwaves work great for defrosting or re-heating leftovers, too.

And remember, never EVER microwave something metalic, even if it's a jar with a little bit of silver edging on the label or something. Sparks will fly and you can occasionally get a fire.

I'm so glad there are more microwave-inept people out there! We also never had one growing up and when I went to college and had no idea how to work it or what to put in it and for how long, I got no end of strange, incredulous looks.

In any case, while nothing can beat it done right in the oven, I've found that if you don't have a spare 40 minutes, less than 10 in the microwave gets you a pretty tasty baked potato.

Ditto on the chocolate melting and potatoes (sweet potatoes too!). It's also great for re-heating frozen rice, if you have a stash, or quickly steaming veggies.

I don't use my microwave all that often anymore, and if it did not do such a wonderful job of re-heating leftover rice, I might just ditch it altogether.

I cook my morning oatmeal in the microwave as well. Just make sure to use a large bowl for this, especially if you have milk in there, because of can foam up spectacularly.

Oh, one more thing - I use it to reheat cups of tea or coffee.

Maybe I'll keep it after all!

Some candy recipes work really well in the microwave. This candied nut recipe is from my MIL--it's easy and delicious.

Crystallized Orange Nuts

1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar
2 cups pecan halves

Combine orange juice and sugar in a 2 quart (12x7") glass baking dish; mix well. Stir in pecans.

Microwave for 6 minutes on 70 or 80% power. Stir and continue cooking for 8 to 10 minutes on same power or until syrup crystallizes.

Spread, separate and cool glazed nuts on buttered cookie sheet.

Makes about 3 cups of nuts.

Here's a recipe for Coffeshop Fudge which is nicely flavored with coffee and cinnamon.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Coffee-Shop-Fudge

It's great for making fruit curds and apple- or plum sauce. Also, it definitely makes re-heating leftovers easier.

I don't have a microwave anymore either.
We unplugged it one day when we were cleaning the floor and forgot to plug it back in. Two weeks later when I went to melt some butter I realized this. The only time I notice that I don't have one is when I need to melt or soften butter.

Try steaming vegtables.

You don't need to buy special microwave popcorn. You just need to use a lunchbag-sized brown paper bag. Start with a 1/4 cup kernels in the bag and fold the top over a couple of times, and on our microwave we have a popcorn button.

Another way we use our microwave oven is to pop that lemon or lime you are going to juice in to zap for about 30 seconds first. This helps to break down the fruit a little and then you get more juice.

Cook bacon.
Make a baked potato or a baked sweet potato.
Buy some zip 'n' steam bags and get chicken from frozen to cooked through in 8 minutes (I thought these were the stupidest thing I ever heard of when introduced, but my goodnes, I've drunk the koolaid).
Warm butter.

Just make sure you're not using anything made of melamine in the microwave - bad news bears. (It'll usually say not to microwave on the bottom)

I don't have a microwave--though my last apartment had one built in, and I'd use if every once in a while for things like melting butter. I also used it as a proofing box for yeasted doughs (I'd fill a pyrex measuring cup with water, microwave for a minute or so until it gets nice and steamy, then put the dough in and shut the door in that nice warm draft-free environment).

Also, Melissa Clark did an article with tips a few years back.

It's almost embarrassing to say this, but my mother and father used to microwave everything- at least 2 aspects of dinner! In my childhood memory bank, veggies always equaled limp mushy piles of green giant freezer bag contents... Now I've learned better, but still stand behind steaming (fresh!) veggies or making baked potatoes in them if I'm in a hurry. Ditto on the rice

The key to baked potatoes in the microwave is to finish them in the oven for at least 10 minutes, otherwise they don't taste right.

I make large portions of rice on weekends and freeze them in serving size containers. Microwave for 3 minutes for perfect rice.

Barbara Kafka has great microwave recipes. Her book "Vegetables" highlights most veggies we normally see. And if they are good in the microwave, she will tell you how to do it. But she isn't crazy to think they are all good in the microwave, because some just aren't.

If you want to test something, you could melt down ice or warm up water to a specific temperature and see how long it takes. It seems it would be a more scientific method of measuring how quickly it warms up cold items.

Also, test any special, food-specific functions, like "Baked Potato" or "Popcorn," and see if the foods taste cooked enough to merit their use. Or measure defrost by putting in something that's precisely a certain weight, defrost it with the microwave, then use a meat thermometer to test its warmth (or lack thereof).

I'm kind of surprised no one's going the Consumer Reports method with testing this microwave. Even if you're microwave-illiterate, it seems like the best way to go about measuring this microwave's efficacy.

I use my microwave ALL the time to cook hot cereal at breakfast, heat coffee and tea, make applesauce, partially thaw fruit from the freezer before topping with yogurt, cooking potatoes and white, sweet potatoes, and reheating dinner if distracted by another chore. The microwave is great for steaming buns, reheating rice, thawing sandwich bread, taking the chill off fruits, and making gelatin. I'd be lost with out a good microwave. It saves electricity, doesn't put alot of heat into the room and gets the job done in significantly less time.

haha, maybe they should have sent it to someone with previous microwave experience. ;)

I would go with what Lorena suggests to test it for the website.

If you're going to keep it, I use mine to heat water, reheat leftovers, melt butter, steam vegetables, etc.

You can cook real meals with it too: AllRecipes' Microwave Recipes

melting butter, defrosting meats, I nuke a lime/lemon before I juice it for 10 seconds to get extra juice, and heating up leftovers

I'll second ArielG's suggestion to test it by defrosting meat: does the microwave defrost evenly, or does the center get cooked while the outer edges stay frozen? Or, does it defrost a slice of frozen bread effectively?

We have a microwave but rarely ever use it. My brother uses it most to make popcorn/steam vegetables. I personally still have a stand offishness to the thing. I like old fashioned methods of cooking, like on the stove or oven- I can understand how it all works and it seems natural to me.
That said I only ever use the microwave for things which come in a box with microwave instructions (like frozen ready meals). We've tried to defrost meat but it always cooks the edges and doesn't defrost the middle. The microwave we have now was given to us when the old lady next door went into a home. No instruction manual so the only thing we really understand how to do is set it to 'low', 'moderate' and 'high' and set the timer.

I'll be interested to see how your experiment goes!!

Also a household sans microwave. It took up too much space in my small kitchen when all I did was melt chocolate/butter, reheat leftovers and burn popcorn. Is it possible to make popcorn in the microwave without burning it?

I try not to use the microwave for too much "cooking" but my favourite use is korean egg jiim - a steamed egg dish.

All you do is crack a couple of eggs into a bowl and add whatever you want - vegetables, salted shrimp, meat...though my go-to is pickled pollock roe. Add water measuring about half the volume, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 3-4 minutes. Easy and delicious!

Lately, I've been using the microwave to heat up tortillas with cheese and beans on top, and then I add salsa and lettuce to make a very fast burrito.

I second the use of the microwave for melting chocolate, and I also use it to soften butter and reheat rice. I know that risotto should be eaten right away, but if you do have leftovers and don't want to make pan fried risotto cakes, it works pretty well to reheat in the microwave. It does NOT work well to reheat it on the stove!

A microwave is perfect for a mug of water for making tea tea.

Other than that, I like my microwave mostly for heating leftovers, especially casserole or other soft, wet dishes. I hate heating in the oven or on the stovetop, food always ends up dried out. Food like pizza or something with a crusty or crispy component are still better done in the oven, they can get soggy in the microwave.

Also don't have a microwave, and it was after I got rid of mine that the recipe for "one-serving chocolate cake" made in a coffee mug in a microwave started circling the internet, and it is one of the only things that make me want to get one again- I want to try it! I love gooey, warm, chocolatey things that are terrible for you, and that recipe fits the bill.

I use our microwave all the time for the following:

The one-serving chocolate cake - the best thing ever - wonderful!

heating baked beans

making scrambled eggs - so fluffy!

baked potatoes and also baked sweet potatoes

cooking veggies - frozen peas work wonderfully

cooking sweetcorn

morning porridge

reheating meals I have cooked several portions of and frozen

melting and softening butter

I NEVER use it for defrosting meat - it never works properly and I'm paranoid about giving us food poisoning!!

Many things for which the microwave would seem to be a life/time saver are dreadful, a 9-minute baked potato -- Idaho or sweet -- comes immediately to mind. But you can't beat it for all those melting chores, one of which you mentioned. I suppose, first and foremost, it is a must for "cooking" frozen things like Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Kashi and Amy's entrees. Most of these cannot be done in a conventional oven because of the packaging, and if you pop out the frozen slab and try to "cook" in in a glass dish, it's a disaster unless the dish is precisely the same size.

Fiddle with it, try stuff. You guys are the food experts, after all. Or is that a joke?

I have a microwave I only ever use it for heating plates.

We use a covered pyrex casserole dish to make "Grandma's Grains" (check 101 cookbooks) or quinoa. 1:2 ration, 13 minutes, let it stand for 5 - 10 minutes. Perfect every time.

i actually like it for steaming veggies. and i too will make a quick egg in mine sometimes, but it's best for warming up left over soup and making hot cereal in the morning.

Corn on the cob! It's PERFECT. Don't shuck the corn, just put it on a plate or paper towel, and micro for 2 minutes per ear of corn you've got in there. Wrap in a kitchen towel for another couple of minutes, and shuck. The corn will be cooked perfectly and you haven't heated up your kitchen with a big pot of boiling water.

You can also shuck the corn first and twist-wrap it in parchment paper if you want to flavor the corn while it cooks (with butter & soy or lime for instance).

i love my microwave for melting butter and steaming veggies.

recently i've started using it in the mornings to make breakfast sammiches - 1/4-1/3 cup of egg beaters in a small bowl and nuke for 2 minutes. it's the perfect size to fit on an english muffin or my beloved arnold's sandwich thin. no mess!

Heating cream or milk - zap 30 seconds, stir; repeat. For instance in Panna Cotta or Yo Cotta:
YoCotta Breakfast Cups
1 pkt gelatin
2 c milk (nonfat OR almond)
1/3 c sugar
2 c non-fat greek yogurt
2 tsp almond extract OR 1 tsp vanilla OR 1/2 tsp lemon extract
6-8 lightly oiled bowls, ramkins, custard dishes
Optional: freeze 2 tablespoons (2 cups total) fruit puree in bottom of 8 oiled ramkins for 30 min before starting. This prevents the fruit from mingling with the gelatin mixture.
- Pour 1/2 c COLD milk over gelatin. Wait one minute: whisk. Wait 10 minutes: whisk.
- Then zap remaining milk 30 sec in a glass measuring pourer, add sugar: whisk. Zap 1-2 min more in 30 sec increments. Don't boil; it should be almost too warm to touch.
- Add gelatin mix to zapped milk: whisk. Cool for 15 min.
- Whisk yogert & extract in a large bowl. Add 1/3 milk: whisk again. Add remaining milk: Whisk.
- Pour into 6-8 oiled ramkins, depending on use of fruit puree. Cool 4-5 hours. Serve with granola for breakfast or lemon curd for dessert.

Thanks, everyone! We're looking forward to trying some of your suggestions! :)

Don't bother buying microwave popcorn. Use regular popcorn in a small paper bag. Sprinkle with seasonings and POP! (1/4 cup un-popped for about 5 min) until the pops are about 2-3 seconds apart.

I use it to make my morning grits and to reheat leftovers.

Honesty, I hate the thing. It takes up entirely too much room on my tiny counter and if I have my window unity and my tv on, using the microwave will blow my circuit breaker.

Booooo.

Things to NOT use the microwave for: aluminum. (Hey, if you've never used one before I'd hate for you to learn the hard way.)

I don't use mine to defrost meat either. I think it makes the meat taste weird..a pot of water is so much better. I DO use my microwave to make baked potatoes, steam frozen peas, melt butter, for instant oatmeal (2 minutes is perfect) and to heat up tomato sauce if I don't feel like dirtying a pot. I usually put a paper plate on top of whatever I'm cooking, too, so it doesn't get all over the inside of the microwave. Oh, and I used to make bacon in it, but I haven't eaten that in a while. It is also great for melting cheese onto a sandwich really quickly. When I was a kid I would make "nachos". I use it to steam my tortillas for burritos, too. Wrap em in a damp paper towel first. ALSO! I use rice-filled fabric bags I made for aches and pains, and if you don't have a microwave there is no other way to heat them up!

Microwaves can be a great thing, working in a high end kitchen has taught me a lot about microwaves. First, metal can go in a microwave. Cheap, no name, super thin, rips when you rub against the counter edge aluminum foil will arc and create sparks, not good. The thick, heavy duty, use as a baking sheet cause you are to lazy to do your dishes aluminum foil will work in the microwave as will solid metal dishes. I do this almost nightly and I dare anyone prove me wrong. Side note, don't put any fancy plates with metal lace work on it in there, as I learnt when I was ten yrs old, it looks like a fuse burning. Cool to watch, but the plate looks like crap when you are done.

As to the microwave cooking, understand that it heats water only. I personally think that microwaves are only good for reheating non-proteins, the wetter the better. Somethings heat up much, much better then others. Veggies, pasta, sauces, drinks etc. I have yet to see anyone consistently and tastily COOK food other then a few basic things (pototoes) in a microwave.

Understand how a microwave works, its strengths and weakness'. Like any kitchen tool knowing how to use it makes all the difference.

This might not be the posts point but I kind of want to ditch my microwave now. Thanks.

Brussels sprouts: cut an x in the bottom of each, add 2 tbsp water, place in covered dish and nuke 2 min on high...excellent

I think I most often use a microwave to melt a couple tablespoons of butter or to warm some maple syrup. The timer is kinda nice too...