Microwave Techniques

My microwave directions tell you when to cover, vent, stir, rearrange, or turn the food. Here's what I mean.

1. Covering- Cover foods with dish lids or microwave-safe plactic wrap to hold in steam and help foods cook faster. Cover vegetables, casseroles, fruits fish, skinned poultry, and ground meat.


2. Venting-When you use microwave-safe plastic wrap as a cover, vent it by turning back one corner. The unsealed corner allows excess steam to escape.


3. Stirring- Because microwave energy tends to penetrate the edges of food first, stir the hotter portion on the outside into the cooler center.


4. rearranging-Rearrange foods that can't be stirred so that they'll cook evenly. Move the less-cooked food from the center of the dish or plate to the outside. Some foods require rearranging are chicken pieces, fish fillets, muffins, cupcakes, and foods in individual dishes.


5. Turning the dish- turn foods that can't be stirred or rearranges. Every timea recipe says to turn a food rotate the dish halfway, unless otherwise specified.


6. Turning food over- Turn over large pieces of food, such as burgers, if you notice that they're cooking faster on the bottum than on the top.


7. Testing for Doneness- Always test foods after the minimum cooking time specified in the recipe, using the doneness test given. Some micro-cooked foods may look as if they need more cooking even when they are done. Finished cakes, muffins, and other baked products for example, still will look wet on the surface. To test these foods for doneness, scratch the surface and see if a cooked texture has formed underneath.