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121 Cooking Secrets to Impress Friends and Family

Chapter VIII: Microwaving

106. Defrosting frozen supermarket foods. Food that was readily bought out from the

supermarket's freezer must be removed from its plastic wrapper first before

putting it inside the oven. The same goes for those that were packaged using

foam trays. The heat will melt the wrapper and will transport its chemicals to the

food, thus making it already unsafe to eat.

107. Defrosting meat and chicken. Do not forget to cook the meat or poultry once

you're done defrosting it in the oven. Although the defrosting process has also

begun heating some parts of the meat, not all of the parts are fully cooked.

Harmful bacteria are still present on some of the portions that didn't absorb

regular amount of heat.

108. Rearrange food according to size during cooking. The microwave oven does not

spread out the right amount of heat to every part of the food. If you will be

cooking your food inside the oven, it is recommended to arrange your food

according to its size.

109. Cook using medium heat for large pieces of meat. When cooking large pieces of

meat all together inside the oven, do not cook it in high power right away. The

best thing to do is to keep on medium heat and just prolong the time of cooking

so that the heat would be gradually distributed in all parts of the meat.

110. Rotate foods occasionally. While cooking in the microwave, rotate your food

once in a while to prevent the occurrence of cold spots. You can change the way

the food is order and/or turn food over.

111. Always reheat food with a cover. If a food has already been cooked and will just

be reheated, remember to put it in a covering or a container that is microwave-

friendly. These include cookware such as glass, plastics and ceramic containers

that are labeled as good to be used on microwave ovens. Silicone Lids are great

coverings as some plastic covers may contain BPA.

112. Generally speaking, don’t use containers intended for refrigeration. Do not use

containers that are intended for refrigeration because this will just melt once it is

put inside the oven. An example of this is margarine or a butter tub. Chemicals

present in this kind of container will just contaminate your food.

113. When reheating, stir often. Once the food to be reheated is now in the oven, do

some constant stirring to even out the heat. Always remember to put back the

covering of the container every time you're done with the stirring.