Best cooked in a microwave
Discussion
Is there anything that is best cooked in a microwave. That is that there is no other means of preparing this dish that is better than the result you get from a microwave? This has puzzled me for some time time now (a rather sad amount of time to be honest), or are microwaves just the also-ran of cooking equipment?
Re-heating cups of tea don't count, nor any other re-heating as it's not proper cooking, neither do things like "microwave cake" as that's just a cheat.
It is my contention that there is no such dish.
Re-heating cups of tea don't count, nor any other re-heating as it's not proper cooking, neither do things like "microwave cake" as that's just a cheat.
It is my contention that there is no such dish.
Microwaves only really heat water. They don't give the same effects as the other types of cooking, particularly baking/roasting, but they also won't sear a steak, for example.
Tea, coffee, baked beans, frozen peas with a teaspoon of water all work as you are, in essence, reheating water. But they don't work better than kettles and pans even for these.
Defrosting things quicker is as close as I can think of. But I'd normally choose a freezer bag and a sink of cold tap water...
Tea, coffee, baked beans, frozen peas with a teaspoon of water all work as you are, in essence, reheating water. But they don't work better than kettles and pans even for these.
Defrosting things quicker is as close as I can think of. But I'd normally choose a freezer bag and a sink of cold tap water...
jamiebae said:
Exploding eggs? A classic breakfast dish in the more retarded parts of the UK which can only be prepared in a microwave.
My mum was boiling eggs, forgot about it, let it boil dry then remembered after the eggs had exploded and covered the kitchen roof in bits of egg, I would say its worth further experimentation to see what method explodes eggs better.grumbledoak said:
frozen peas with a teaspoon of water all work as you are, in essence, reheating water. But they don't work better than kettles and pans even for these.
I would say frozen veg is the exception and is the answer to the OP's challenge. I wouldn't add a teaspoon of water, just put the veg in and rather than losing taste and goodness into surrounding water, you are just heating them up in their own water. 
The microwave can turn out a passable egg - crack it onto a greased saucer, break the yolk and then put another saucer upside down on top. Dial up 1:30 and let it run but stop the microwave for a little bit if you hear a popping noise!
Great if you can't be arsed mucking about with a frying pan, and the egg's done by the time you've sorted yourself out with a tea and toasted a bagel
Great if you can't be arsed mucking about with a frying pan, and the egg's done by the time you've sorted yourself out with a tea and toasted a bagel
I'm not convinced about the scrambled egg as Mrs.S. is great at cooking eggs of all sorts and could easily produce better than the microwave.
Sweetcorn seems a good contender, as there's little else to do to it other than heat it up and the short cooking time means that less flavour is lost and the vitamins aren't destroyed (unless they get zapped by the microwaves I guess). But wouldn't veg in general be better in a steamer?
Sweetcorn seems a good contender, as there's little else to do to it other than heat it up and the short cooking time means that less flavour is lost and the vitamins aren't destroyed (unless they get zapped by the microwaves I guess). But wouldn't veg in general be better in a steamer?
Symbolica said:
I find that ready meals (i.e the ones where you have a choice of microwaving or oven-cook) generally tend to be better microwaved, not that I eat a huge amount of them.
No way. They taste a million times better when cooked in the oven, even if they are still a long way from as nice as freshly cooked from scratch. Shaolin said:
I'm not convinced about the scrambled egg as Mrs.S. is great at cooking eggs of all sorts and could easily produce better than the microwave.
as could most people. the beauty of the microwave scrambled egg is that you can get close to the taste from a pan, but with 99% less hassle. Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff