microwaves are stupid.

[kingjames488]

how can something be half frozen and half molten lava at the same time?

stupid idea... what was wrong with taking 10 minutes longer and heating things evenly?!

[Fajita Jim]

Originally posted by Acetyl:

Originally posted by Fajita Jim:

Heat is what denatures nutrients. Microwaves cook faster and thus the food maintains more nutrients than cooking on a stove/oven.

Microwaves heat by dielectric loss in water, which exists in a structured / bound state around hydrophilic materials like proteins. Causing them to spin 2.4 billion times per second to stay in pahse with the field is not comaparable to heating by other means. It's also not all just the rate and distribution of heating (ie "microheating") either, hough that non-uniform coupling can play a role at higher power densities.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/ask-the-doctor-microwaves-impact-on-food

I've heard the same question from many of my patients about microwave cooking. It is so convenient that some people worry that it's "too good to be true." People have expressed two concerns to me. The first is that our exposure to the microwaves might somehow injure our bodies. To make a long story short, there is no evidence of this.

The second is the concern you mention: that microwave cooking might damage the nutrients in our food. It is true that cooking food by any method does tend to cause some of the nutrients to break down. Cooking damages the chemical structure of the nutrient, to some degree. However, there are plenty of nutrients left. And cooking kills many microbes that might have contaminated the food—and might have caused health problems.

However, microwave cooking is actually one of the least likely forms of cooking to damage nutrients. That's because the longer food cooks, the more nutrients tend to break down, and microwave cooking takes less time. So cooking a roast in an oven is more likely to cause some loss of nutrients than cooking the roast in a microwave. And boiling vegetables is more likely to rob them of nutrients than either cooking them in the oven or microwaving them. That's because some nutrients leach out of the food into the water.

So microwave cooking is not only fast, it's also sometimes nutritionally advantageous. Of course, I've ignored an important question: does food cooked in a microwave taste any different from the same food cooked in an oven? I leave the answer to your palate.

—Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D.
Editor in Chief
Harvard Health Letter

[Acetyl]

Originally posted by Fajita Jim:

Originally posted by Acetyl:

Microwaves heat by dielectric loss in water, which exists in a structured / bound state around hydrophilic materials like proteins. Causing them to spin 2.4 billion times per second to stay in pahse with the field is not comaparable to heating by other means. It's also not all just the rate and distribution of heating (ie "microheating") either, hough that non-uniform coupling can play a role at higher power densities.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/ask-the-doctor-microwaves-impact-on-food

I've heard the same question from many of my patients about microwave cooking. It is so convenient that some people worry that it's "too good to be true." People have expressed two concerns to me. The first is that our exposure to the microwaves might somehow injure our bodies. To make a long story short, there is no evidence of this.

The second is the concern you mention: that microwave cooking might damage the nutrients in our food. It is true that cooking food by any method does tend to cause some of the nutrients to break down. Cooking damages the chemical structure of the nutrient, to some degree. However, there are plenty of nutrients left. And cooking kills many microbes that might have contaminated the food—and might have caused health problems.

However, microwave cooking is actually one of the least likely forms of cooking to damage nutrients. That's because the longer food cooks, the more nutrients tend to break down, and microwave cooking takes less time. So cooking a roast in an oven is more likely to cause some loss of nutrients than cooking the roast in a microwave. And boiling vegetables is more likely to rob them of nutrients than either cooking them in the oven or microwaving them. That's because some nutrients leach out of the food into the water.

So microwave cooking is not only fast, it's also sometimes nutritionally advantageous. Of course, I've ignored an important question: does food cooked in a microwave taste any different from the same food cooked in an oven? I leave the answer to your palate.

—Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D.
Editor in Chief
Harvard Health Letter

From the healthiest country on Earth.

[Fajita Jim]

Originally posted by Acetyl:

From the healthiest country on Earth.

Mighty hard deflection, there.

[Acetyl]

Originally posted by Fajita Jim:

Originally posted by Acetyl:

From the healthiest country on Earth.

Mighty hard deflection, there.

There's nothing to be said. My initial post addressed all of those common misconceptions.

Bioelectromagnetics and magnetobiology are not common areas of knowledge, nor are they taught as aprt of any general curriculum. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Kamiyama]

The turntable should prevent the food from being half-frozen and half-cooked.

You could try cooking smaller portions at a time, or getting a inverter microwave and cooking for longer at half power.

I use my microwave almost every day and it cooks stuff just fine. But I buy a lot of food that's supposed to go in the microwave. Jamaican beef patties and hot pockets. They come with foil that helps them cook completely.

I reheat pizza too but the trick with pizza is to not overcook it. If the cheese is melting and pooling onto the plate, you went way to far. You want to warm it up, not cook it a second time.

[Fajita Jim]

Originally posted by Acetyl:

Originally posted by Fajita Jim:

Mighty hard deflection, there.

There's nothing to be said. My initial post addressed all of those common misconceptions.

Bioelectromagnetics and magnetobiology are not common areas of knowledge, nor are they taught as aprt of any general curriculum. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

Is there any conspiracy theory you don't personally subscribe to?

[Kamiyama]

Originally posted by Irene ❤:

Originally posted by Jack Strickland:

You obviously do not own an air fryer

I do.
It really makes food dry and hard.
Haha you boys dare question my kitchen? :erune:

I love my air fryer. I cook tater tots in it and they come out perfect.

Anything potato works great in the air fryer. Curly fries, hash browns, you name it.

[Acetyl]

Originally posted by Fajita Jim:

Originally posted by Acetyl:

There's nothing to be said. My initial post addressed all of those common misconceptions.

Bioelectromagnetics and magnetobiology are not common areas of knowledge, nor are they taught as aprt of any general curriculum. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

Is there any conspiracy theory you don't personally subscribe to?

You've asked me that before. I replied.

[ʙᴜɴ.ᴇ]

Originally posted by Irene ❤:

Air fryer = makes food dry and hard
Microwave = certain parts are cold

Hot water steam is the best method.
For cold food / frozen chicken / etc just steam it.
Tasteful, delicious and juicy.

steaming also locks in the most nutrients in the food. Its by far the best cooking method.

I steam all my carrots.

[Devsman]

Well, microwaves are definitely inferior to legitimate heating methods, but if you have the molten and still frozen at the same time problem, it's because you don't know how to use the power level setting.

Microwave ovens operate by blasting microwaves (imagine that) at your food. Like any other wave, a microwave has peaks and troughs, and they transfer the most energy at those locations. But at the point where the wave crosses its own average, zero energy is transferred. In addition to this, all types of directed-energy technology, including particle accelerators for medical research, have issues with penetration. In the case of microwaves, they deliver less every as they penetrate further.

So, unsurprisingly to anyone who has ever used a microwave oven before, your food ends up with hot and cold spots in it, with the cold spots being more pronounced the closer to the middle of the food. One technique to combat this is to rotate your food a quarter-turn halfway through, or just use a microwave that's less the 50 years old, since it will rotate your food automatically. But this can only help so much, because of the penetration problem. The only solution to the penetration problem is to heat it a little, then give it a few seconds for the heat the spread/even out, then cook it a little more, then give it a few more seconds.

Ooooooor, you can set the power level to 50%, which makes it cook 50% of the time and let the heat even out 50% of the time.

[RRW359]

Originally posted by Devsman:

Well, microwaves are definitely inferior to legitimate heating methods, but if you have the molten and still frozen at the same time problem, it's because you don't know how to use the power level setting.

Microwave ovens operate by blasting microwaves (imagine that) at your food. Like any other wave, a microwave has peaks and troughs, and they transfer the most energy at those locations. But at the point where the wave crosses its own average, zero energy is transferred. In addition to this, all types of directed-energy technology, including particle accelerators for medical research, have issues with penetration. In the case of microwaves, they deliver less every as they penetrate further.

So, unsurprisingly to anyone who has ever used a microwave oven before, your food ends up with hot and cold spots in it, with the cold spots being more pronounced the closer to the middle of the food. One technique to combat this is to rotate your food a quarter-turn halfway through, or just use a microwave that's less the 50 years old, since it will rotate your food automatically. But this can only help so much, because of the penetration problem. The only solution to the penetration problem is to heat it a little, then give it a few seconds for the heat the spread/even out, then cook it a little more, then give it a few more seconds.

Ooooooor, you can set the power level to 50%, which makes it cook 50% of the time and let the heat even out 50% of the time.

If you are spending any time whatsoever trying to figure out what settings to microwave something at you are missing the point of microwaves.

[Good Night Owl]

Microwaves use electromagnetic waves to cause the water molecules to move rapidly causing heat. The waves only bounce in certain areas though. That's why a lot of microwaved foods require stirring and turning so that you hear all spots!

[Acetyl]

Originally posted by Good Night Owl:

Microwaves use electromagnetic waves to cause the water molecules to move rapidly causing heat. The waves only bounce in certain areas though. That's why a lot of microwaved foods require stirring and turning so that you hear all spots!

Yep. Many microwave ovens have cavities tuned to try to produce standing waves, hence the need for rotation.

[Devsman]

Originally posted by RRW359:

Originally posted by Devsman:

Well, microwaves are definitely inferior to legitimate heating methods, but if you have the molten and still frozen at the same time problem, it's because you don't know how to use the power level setting.

Microwave ovens operate by blasting microwaves (imagine that) at your food. Like any other wave, a microwave has peaks and troughs, and they transfer the most energy at those locations. But at the point where the wave crosses its own average, zero energy is transferred. In addition to this, all types of directed-energy technology, including particle accelerators for medical research, have issues with penetration. In the case of microwaves, they deliver less every as they penetrate further.

So, unsurprisingly to anyone who has ever used a microwave oven before, your food ends up with hot and cold spots in it, with the cold spots being more pronounced the closer to the middle of the food. One technique to combat this is to rotate your food a quarter-turn halfway through, or just use a microwave that's less the 50 years old, since it will rotate your food automatically. But this can only help so much, because of the penetration problem. The only solution to the penetration problem is to heat it a little, then give it a few seconds for the heat the spread/even out, then cook it a little more, then give it a few more seconds.

Ooooooor, you can set the power level to 50%, which makes it cook 50% of the time and let the heat even out 50% of the time.

If you are spending any time whatsoever trying to figure out what settings to microwave something at you are missing the point of microwaves.

Doesn't take any figuring. Just hit 50%.

[Birds]

It heats the water molecules because they're strongly polar and rotate easily. Fat is mildly polar and also heats, at a much slower rate unless the water heats it.

When you heat somethng it gets surrounded by a corona of mixed-temperature air that inhibits further heating. Especially for fats, which are often trapped in micro-pockets of cooling vapor that further heating only serves to cool through convection. The rotating water molecules acting as little fans for your micro-swamp cooler. There are two approaches to dealing with this, using a microwave:

1. Microwave it for a minute or two first, or approximately one minute after defrosting if working from frozen. Then open and let the 'steam vapor' (which will be room temperature or so) vent. Then microwave as normal, although the cooking time will be shorter than having microwaved without this technique. Takes carrots from about 7 minutes down to about 3.

2. Simply trap the vapor and prevent it from escaping, forcing it to heat thoroughly, then stir to conserve water and resume. This is what 99% of frozen dinners are designed to do with plastic films.