Best way to heat up certain foods

[Pengwuino]

Now, for most foods, especially liquid ones, it seems like a microwave is the perfect way to heat them up. One problem that I have run into however is that some foods don't heat up evenly. Its mainly when its rather large foods. So what is a better way to heat this food? Would throwing it in a conventional oven work best to evenly heat the food?

 

[hypatia]

With microwaves, its the "wait" time that counts. When I use it to cook larger items..loosely cover...decrease the power{6 to 8} level...cook for X amount of time...let sit 5 minutes...repeat. I only kick it up to 10 power once the inside of the dish is really warm. Even after the final cooking I let it rest for 5 mins.
While the oven heats more even,it often takes longer and used more energy. But sometimes I micro to warm things up and finnish it off in the oven, just cause I like some things browned a crispy.

 

[gravenewworld]

LOl we have microwaves at work that are supposed to heat things evenly. No wonder they cost $30,000 though.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There is a wonderful new microwave technology emerging called "carousel technology". I can't say anything more for now though; all very hush hush.

 

[Moonbear]

There is a wonderful new microwave technology emerging called "carousel technology". I can't say anything more for now though; all very hush hush.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, mine already has a turning thingy in it.

I'm trying to figure out how hypatia's "wait 5 min" between steps and repeating ends up any faster than tossing it in the regular oven for 15-20 min, which usually seems to be long enough to heat anything (at least anything not starting frozen). And don't tell me about time to preheat, because usually I don't bother preheating the oven, especially if it's just to warm something (sometimes it is important to preheat, but with most stuff I bake, it isn't).

 

[JamesU]

There is a wonderful new microwave technology emerging called "carousel technology". I can't say anything more for now though; all very hush hush.

I know, only a select few get to try it, only about 80% of microwaves have that feature

 

[Pengwuino]

I know, only a select few get to try it, only about 80% of microwaves have that feature

Well I am part of the general population and am only allowed to own the stationary technology ones

But no no, when i meant that they don't cook evenly, its from top to bottom, not side to side. Crap at the bottom of say, a bowl will always be a a bit cold while the top stuff will be 480,000 F. Its like something is stopping all thermodynamic processes in the middle of the bowl.

 

[hypatia]

There is a wonderful new microwave technology emerging called "carousel technology". I can't say anything more for now though; all very hush hush.

I do have one that spins, but when I take a large frozen item, it still dosent heat evenly, hence the wait. He was talking about large food, which in my oven would take 40 min to a hour. Even when I cook in the oven I let things rest for a few when it done.
I can micro wave in 25 minutes, and use far less energy, and not heat up my house in summer.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

With many of the nuke dinners available now, the packaging is designed to heat the food more evenly. And they seem to work fairly well. Look for products that specify that the dinner be cooked in the box. I tried some Marie Calendar's dinners recently that were surprisingly good.

But beyond frozen veggies and other frozen or dry mix boxed thingies and thawing applications, we almost never cook real food in the nuke. I do try to pre-nuke bad stuff like bacon in order to get as much of the grease out as possible, but then I fry it to finish.

 

[ek]

My family has had the same microwave for going on 20 years I think. At least 15 anyway. No turny thing. Very old school. Still works great though.

 

[Moonbear]

I do have one that spins, but when I take a large frozen item, it still dosent heat evenly, hence the wait. He was talking about large food, which in my oven would take 40 min to a hour. Even when I cook in the oven I let things rest for a few when it done.
I can micro wave in 25 minutes, and use far less energy, and not heat up my house in summer.

Anything in a small enough dish to fit in my microwave would definitely heat up in my oven in 25 min. I've reheated huge lasagna pans for parties that have taken 40 min, but those would never fit in the microwave anyway. Then again, unless I was cooking ahead for a party, I can't think of too many occasions when I'd want to reheat a whole big pan of food and not just single servings. I'm not a huge fan of microwave cooking anyway. Other than to sometimes quickly cook a baked potato or a TV dinner, I only use it to defrost stuff.

 

[arildno]

Often, I've found that "over-heating" the top in the micro-wave and then wait a bit before eating the food helps on evening out the temperature in the meal.

 

[honestrosewater]

What if you set the dish in another dish with enough water in it to cover the part that doesn't get heated? You could even heat the water beforehand. I don't know if it would work, but it wouldn't hurt to try.