A practicle problem involving soup.

[mrspeedybob]

I have in my possession 2 quarts of the most delicious vegetarian chili. The problem is that due to the fact that it is left over from a month ago it is currently frozen solid in my freezer. I am hungry and wish do eat it as soon as possible.

My first act is to place the container of chili in the microwave and turn it on, soon however I encounter a problem. I hear the soup boiling, but upon inspection I find only a very small portion of the chili around the edge of the bowl is hot, the majority of the interior is still frozen solid. I do not want to overheat the chili as I thaw it because the onions are best when medium rare and not overcooked. I am left with 2 options...

1. turn the microwave to a lower power setting so that the heat will have time to move from the outer regions into the frozen core without the outer regions overheating

2. frequently remove the chili and drain off the liquid into another bowl, then return the frozen portion to the microwave. This increases the time when no heat energy is being added but reduces the average mass of the chili in the microwave. One additionalmfactor here is that the chili has stratified so the entire block bust be thawed before it can be properly mixed again, I can't just thaw and eat a portion.

So the question is, which of these approaches results in me having a bowl of chili in the shortest time? Is there another approach I haven't thought of?


P.S. I'm already eating the chili now so information gathered through this discussion is for future reference.

 

[fss]

Does your microwave have a turnstile-thingy in it? Sometimes I find that mine heats things unevenly and I situate it on the outer edge of the turnstile so it's not in one place relative to the center of the heating chamber.

 

[spancho]

Since the chili is going to melt from the outside in, the best way to decrease the melt time is to increase the surface area i.e. break it up into smaller frozen chunks.