Food Question

[KC2ESD]

Well since it says Recipes above in the Rag Chew section I have a Food question.
What taste better, Microwave or Conventional cooking?
I been cooking small Pizzas and Chicken Pot pies in the Microwave for years. This week I cooked a small Pizza on Friday on the Gas oven and tonight I cooked a chicken pot pie in the gas oven. I have to say both IMHO taste better cooked in the gas oven then the Microwave oven.
What your Opinions on this everyone? Microwave or Conventional cooking.

73 de Rick KC2ESD

[KB3LIX]

Send the microwave back to the indians.......

Somehow, I don't think that is politically correct, but I don't care.

Microwaves are best at heating things up, like water for a cup of tea, or to reheat cold coffee. That's IT, IMHO.

I tried using the microwave for cooking, (and I LOVE to cook, and am very good at it)
but microwaves S U C K at cooking.

[ka5piu]

Hello.

I agree, a microwave is excellent for things like macaroni and cheese, boiled eggs, that type of thing.
But, if you value the flavor of your food you will take up a real oven and range, not the radar range.
Searing in the flavor is something that just does not happen with a nuke job.
And, how would one bake a cake in the atomic wonder?

[K9STH]

I don't really like "gas" for cooking since I learned to cook using an electric stove and electric oven. However, food cooked on both gas and electric definitely tastes better like 99 percent of the time. Then cooking over a grill tastes even better! Charcoal is usually the best, but a gas grill with plenty of lava rock and some hardwood for "smoke" can come pretty darn close. Since charcoal generally takes considerably more time I normally use a propane grill with a lot of lava rock.

My wife heats things like TV dinners and left-overs in the microwave. However, the vast majority of the time I use the electric stove for heating left-overs (I just don't like TV dinners).

One thing that cuts down on the cooking time and often improves the taste of the food when cooking on a "stove top" is to "put a lid on it"! Many people don't bother with a lid but not only does that cut the cooking time it also cuts down on the load on the air conditioner during hot weather. Thus, the utility bills are cut a "fair" amount in terms of energy used while cooking.

Glen, K9STH

[wa4brl]

LIX and PIU hit the nail squarely on the head. So long as the food is rather dense and has a high water content, you can warm it very successfully in that microwave. Sticky or pasty items (like mac-n-chese) may require stopping to stir a few times, but still warms well.

BUT THIS IS NOT COOKING!

Reheating refrigerated pizza leftovers usually ends badly in the microwave. The pointed ends overcook the cheese, while the center area of each peics remains cold. Worse, the crust turns tough as leather. Just don't do it! Take your time and use your regular oven fo this task.

I absolutely LOVE microwave popcorn, though. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[n2ize]

If you want to bake a REAL pizza you gotta have a COAL fired oven. Big difference, For most types of cokking I go in the ordder of wood -> coal -> gas -> electric -> microwave with wood being the best.

In this case Old is better than New.

[W2ILP]

You can not bake a conventional type cake or bread in a microwave oven. You can heat up left over pizza in a microwave oven...but you can not make pizza in a microwave oven that has a crisp crust and or is not entirely burnt.

w2ilp (I Like Pizza)...I bake home made pizza in an oven on a stone disk that is designed for that purpose.

[WF7A]

As an aside, pizza tastes better on the east coast than the west coast. The reason: the water--it's more alkali west of the Rockies which in turn affects the flavor of the dough.

IMHO, real pizza is New York pizza...though I had some really good pizza at Shakey's in Dayton, Ohio, once.

As what everybody else said, a "real" oven beats the daylights off of a microwave...though we use a convection oven--it heats the food more evenly than a "regular" oven.

[G8ADD]

I see I am in a minority of one, here!

If you use it correctly, the microwave will do a perfectly good roast.

I seal the surface of the roast, put it in a deep pyrex dish with a little water, and cover it with cling film. I then cook it at a relatively low setting, about 40%, for half the calculated time, take it out and invert it, re-cover with cling film and cook for the remainder of the time, but turning the power to 100% for the last few minutes.

Most people use the microwave with the intention of cooking as quickly as possible - no wonder the flavour is inferior!

Mind you, I hold that you can't beat the smell of a good oven roast permeating the kitchen, you don't get much smell from the microwave!

73

Brian G8ADD

[w4glm]

Mine does a MEAN bag of butter popcorn.....Mac


Add some Root Beer and you're good to go

[kf6rdn]

Not sure if there's a good rule of thumb, but I've found, if the consitancy is not to change, a microwave is fine.. i.e. heating something up, things like that. Except with breaded things, it makes the bread mushy.

If there is any consistency change, such as a pizza dough getting crisp, meat getting browned and such real heat works better.

On small pizzas a toaster oven is great for small servings.

Exception is bacon comes out pretty well in a microwave.

[k4kyv]

I once read somewhere that vegetables cooked in the micro lose many of their natural nutrients.

My mother-in-law has a recipe for cooking a certain kind of fish by microwave, and it turns out better than regular cooking.

But warmed-up chicken gets a nasty taste.

I use mine mostly for quickly warming up leftovers. Works well for rewarming coffee, if you run it at lower power for a longer time period.

It's also great for defrosting frozen items before cooking them using a regular stove.

[ae4fa]

Quote[/b] ]Microwaves are best at heating things up, like water for a cup of tea, or to reheat cold coffee.
Yup.

All gas cooking here, indoors and out. I used to frequently use a smoker until my wife revealed that she doesn't like smoked meat. The hell of it is that she bought me the smoker as a birthday present. Ya just can't win!

[W4HAY]

With the exception of heating leftovers, popping corn, and baking spuds, we stick to conventional ranges. I never could get the flavors to develop in the microwave oven.

[K8MHZ]

Why waste perfectly good radio waves to heat food?

[KW4MW]

I have cooked successfully in a microwave - I think the secret is to understand the mechanisms of cooking, both conventional and uwave, and being able to combine the best features of each. #

G8ADD speaks of successfully cooking a roast in the uwave. #

I recently cooked a nice 2 Lb pork roast in the uwave, complete with potatoes, onions and carrots in the same dish. #The secret was to trim all the excess fat from the roast, have plenty of moisture available, (I used about 1/2 cup of white wine), sear the roast briefly on the range to seal the juices, cover the entire dish with plastic wrap (pierce it in a couple of places with a toothpick) and cook the dish on low power (20% or less) for 1.5 - 2 hours. #Check for doneness with a meat thermometer. (160F)

The purpose of using lower power is to allow the roast to rest between intense bursts of uwave power. #

Certain foods should never be cooked in a uwave or even heated up for that matter. #Flour dough products can be reheated very briefly, <10 secs; any more than that and the glutin molecules tend to combine to make the bread or pizza dough very chewy. #

A friend of mine liked to put scrambled eggs in the uwave - what an ungodly mess that was and they stunk to high heavens - he liked them though.

I'll close with this tidbit - I worked as a tech at a uwave research lab for awhile where we tested the effects of uwave radiation on animal tissue. #We discovered that if a sufficent amount of radiation was applied that muscle tissue in rats would develope cyst like nodules and that cataracts would form in the eyes of rabbits.

[KF0RT]

Quote[/b] (KW4MW @ May 20 2007,07:39)]I'll close with this tidbit - I worked as a tech at a uwave research lab for awhile where we tested the effects of uwave radiation on animal tissue. #We discovered that if a sufficent amount of radiation was applied that muscle tissue in rats would develope cyst like nodules and that cataracts would form in the eyes of rabbits.
Yeah, but how does that compare to a rotisserie? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Microwave ovens are great for a lot of things; most have been mentioned here. Hot dogs, too -- wrap in paper towel, but leave the bun out.

In fact... the more I think about it, it's packaged cooking for packaged food. Real food is best cooked elsewhere. The nuker saves electricity, though.

And for Rick... Lay off the pizza and pot pies. No good can come from that stuff.

73, Rob

[W1GUH]

Don't think you can really do justice to a roast, a casserole, or a pasta dish in the microwave. They're best cooked on the stove...I like the instant controllability of a gas stove...but then, if you take what you've prepared, make separate portions and freeze it quickly (sub-zero), the microwave makes some great instant meals. Meals that you can take to work, heat in the microwave, and have great home cooking for lunch (and you'll save a few buck on lunches.)

Breakfast is also awesome in the microwave. Eggs? A micro-wave poacher make excellent poached eggs in less than a minute. Bacon? Much quicker and better than in a fry pan (the broiler is a close second) Sausage? The pre-cooked frozen kind are "instant" in the microwave. Pre-cooked and froze waffles? Quick work in a microwave.
all told, total prep time for sausage and eggs, bacon and eggs, or even waffles, bacon, and eggs is much less than 10 minutes...and it's delicious.

[K9STH]

7A:

Although New York style pizza is good, nothing can compare to a good Chicago style pizza!


RDN:

I have to agree on bacon. After you learn just how long to cook it bacon does turn out pretty darn good in a microwave.

Glen, K9STH

[KF0RT]

Quote[/b] (K9STH @ May 20 2007,10:21)]RDN:

I have to agree on bacon. #After you learn just how long to cook it bacon does turn out pretty darn good in a microwave.

Glen, K9STH
So, how do y'all cook bacon in a microwave oven?

We separate it with sheets of paper towel. It works well, but kind of a pain to un-separate afterwords, and you can't use just any paper towel (the cheaper, the better).

Is there a "vastly superior" method?

73, Rob

[KE5FRF]

Quote[/b] (n2ize @ May 19 2007,23:43)]If you want to bake a REAL pizza you gotta have a COAL fired oven. Big difference, For most types of cokking I go in the ordder of wood -> coal -> gas -> electric -> microwave with wood being the best.

In this case Old is better than New.
Wood? Coal? Gas?

I'm shocked. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[W3MIV]

I use a "bacon tray" that is made for the microwave. It is deeply ridged to keep the rashers above the base, and there is a grease drain and collection area at one end. The tray slopes slightly so that the liguid fat flows readily.

I put that tray on the lid of the open dishwasher; spray it liberally with cooking spray, then carefully lay each rasher across the tray. I guess I should add, only a single layer of bacon. It holds six or seven rashers per load. Cover it with a paper towel, and microwave on high for about 1.25 minutes per slice -- that will, of course, vary with each microwave. Start low. You can always add time, but as I can attest, approaching my dotage as I am, you can never REMOVE time.

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[KF0RT]

Quote[/b] (W3MIV @ May 20 2007,10:55)]I use a "bacon tray" that is made for the microwave. It is deeply ridged to keep the rashers above the base, and there is a grease drain and collection area at one end. The tray slopes slightly so that the liguid fat flows readily.

I put that tray on the lid of the open dishwasher; spray it liberally with cooking spray, then carefully lay each rasher across the tray. I guess I should add, only a single layer of bacon. It holds six or seven rashers per load. Cover it with a paper towel, and microwave on high for about 1.25 minutes per slice -- that will, of course, vary with each microwave. Start low. You can always add time, but as I can attest, approaching my dotage as I am, you can never REMOVE time.

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
I'll be on the lookout for one of those trays -- seems it might make the job a bunch easier. Thanks, Albert.

73, Rob

[KF0RT]

Quote[/b] (n2ize @ May 19 2007,22:43)]If you want to bake a REAL pizza you gotta have a COAL fired oven. Big difference, For most types of cokking I go in the ordder of wood -> coal -> gas -> electric -> microwave with wood being the best.

In this case Old is better than New.
I think the "real" Italian pizza is done in a wood fired oven at very high temperature -- 800 degrees rings a bell, but don't quote me. It only cooks for about a minute.

Pizza on the grill, though... that's livin' large!

http://tatanka03.home.comcast.net/pizzagrill.jpg

73, Rob

[W3MIV]

Quote[/b] (KF0RT @ May 20 2007,12:57)]Quote[/b] (W3MIV @ May 20 2007,10:55)]I use a "bacon tray" that is made for the microwave. It is deeply ridged to keep the rashers above the base, and there is a grease drain and collection area at one end. The tray slopes slightly so that the liguid fat flows readily.

I put that tray on the lid of the open dishwasher; spray it liberally with cooking spray, then carefully lay each rasher across the tray. I guess I should add, only a single layer of bacon. It holds six or seven rashers per load. Cover it with a paper towel, and microwave on high for about 1.25 minutes per slice -- that will, of course, vary with each microwave. Start low. You can always add time, but as I can attest, approaching my dotage as I am, you can never REMOVE time.

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
I'll be on the lookout for one of those trays -- seems it might make the job a bunch easier. #Thanks, Albert.

73, Rob
Going on the presumption that folks out there in mountainous netherlands are no longer tied to the vagarant drummer and his wagon of tinware, I would suggest looking in a Linens 'n' Things. That is, if such outfitters of la bon cuisine survived the winter.

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[W2ILP]

I dunno if it is the water...but New york City (especially Brooklyn) bagels are the world's best. There are many bagel stores on Long Island, NY and they are pretty good...but somehow NYC bagels are better. The same goes for pizza, even when it is spun and basked by the same bakers...so it must be the water. California bagels and pizza can't match those in New York or Chicago...but Mexican food in New York can't match Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex food. Its all in the peppers ..I think.

The microwave oven cooks anything containing water or fat by distributing heat throughout the item. The inside of the oven is a CAVITY RESONATOR tank load to the microwaves, which develop a modal pattern. There are nodes and anti-nodes in the pattern, but they are close together. The food must be rotated to get the hot-spots uniformly distributed. It is rotated in most uwave models by being on a rotating plate.

You can not make a hard boiled egg in its shell in the microwave because the yoke will set before the white part can and the egg will suddenly explode. This is proof that the heat penetrates uniformly. I have other experimental proof... using powdered coffee, cocoa or chocolate in a microwave causes the water in which the powder is in to suddenly expand and overflow because every molecule of the powder dissolves at the same instant.

When I make chili or taco meat I first heat the ground meat in the microwave.... If it is frozen or not. This browns the meat and most of the fat and water separates from the meat. Then I put the meat in a pot on the range and add all the spices and garlic that I want, without having too much fat in my meat mixture.

A conventional oven cooks by heating the stuff in it from the outside, and the heat is then gradually conducted deeper into what you cook. This is unlike the microwave, and cooking usually takes a lot longer...but we have learned to bake on conventional ovens and roasts and cakes were designed for conventional ovens and are best that way. The outside of a turkey or a roasting chicken can not get roasted properly in a microwave , nor can a meat roast of any kind , when we expect the fat on the outside to moisten the roast as it gets heated first.

There are ceramic trays, such as the bacon tray mentioned here, which contain particles of metal in them. They heat up faster than the bacon and the bacon actually fries on them...but even without the trays the thin layers of fat on bacon heat up very quickly and thus the microwaved bacon can be crisp.

Fresh vegetables cooked in a microwave do not lose any vitamins. Do not add any more water than it takes to wash the vegetables and do not cook them too long. They will retain more vitamins and bright color than they would if boiled and/or steamed. Fresh corn on the cob comes out great in a microwave. Chop off both ends but keep some of the husks on the corn. Don't cook it too long, and remove the husks only after it is served. Potatoes come out fine if cooked in a microwave. Yams or sweet potatoes take less time to cook than white potatoes. Pasta can be best if boiled in a pot, following instructions on the box, but left over pasta dishes are good when reheated in the microwave.

I dunno what I would do without a microwave...but nobody had microwave ovens in 1960 and they did just fine, using conventional ovens, most of which are natural gas types in New York.
When in Maryland I had an electric oven..In my opinion it was never as good or the same as a gas oven. Chinese or Japanese will not build restaurants in areas where natural gas is not available. You can not get the high BTUs needed for stir frying, wok or hibachi cooking from electricity.

w2ilp (Igniting Left-over Pasta)...and reheating pie in the T^2E^3 a la mode.