Cooking in a microwave

The microwave is the best for making candy. I can
make home made fudge or caramel corn in a quarter of the time it takes to make it on the stove. However, for me, cooking good cuisine in the microwave never seems to taste as good as when it is cooked in a conventional oven.

I don't go in much for "cuisine" but for food you can't beat the microwave.
Mine broke down recently and as we live a long way from shops I thought I would be without it for a few weeks. I lasted two days before I had to make the trip.
Even heating a can of baked beans was too much trouble in a pot and being a long way from fresh supplies we keep most things frozen and I couldn't even make a sandwich without waiting for the bread to thaw. It ranks higher than the washing machine or the telephone with me.

Just use the micro-wave for heating up cold coffee and -sometimes- for gearing up the defrosting process of frozen food (when I embarrassingly forgot to get the food early enough out of the dep-freeze).

So, I agree totally with your daughter-in-law, Noddy: either you cook or use a microwave.

I think somewhat on the same level as your daughter-in-law, but I do use the microwave at times and think it's a nice thing to have when you're strapped for time.

I think there is a lot of snobbery surrounding microwaves - my friend point blank refuses to use one, seemingly thinking they are unhealthy!!!
I do not cook a lot with the microwave, but I would never get rid of it. I use it to heat 'delicate' foods which do not do well with a lot of stirring in a pot. I also like to give my broccoli 30 seconds in there before adding it to my stir fries. It is useful for defrosting too.
Most importantly, it is simply the best way to cook porridge! Oats, milk and water, straight into the bowl, microwaved for a couple of minutes, stirring halfway, and you're done! Sure beats the mess of a porridge pot on the stove!
Microwave ovens are so cheap these days, so I think purposely rejecting them just for being a microwave is short sighted.

Why do people think you can jump on the latest technological fads and still call it "cooking"? Come on!

The only real way to cook is with a blazing fire. Meat should be turned on a spit and stews made in cast iron pots. Brick ovens are OK for the masses but it is a slippery slope away from wholesome cooking.

People always think you can play with fancy scmancy gas stoves. Well it ain't cooking and it ain't cuisine.

The food made with gas stoves and stainless steel pots just doesn't taste the same.

I thought there were some research results recently that said microwaved food was less good for you than regular food. Zaps out more nutrients or something. Also a single study (with more to follow, no doubt) about food zapped with olive oil in plastic - leaches some nasties out of the plastic and into your food.

I think it depends on what you're trying to do to the food... if you need to surround the food with hot air, as you must in order to brown a roast or a loaf of bread, you need to use a conventional oven. If you're trying to heat the food without browning or drying the surface, nuke it...

And I agree with Eve. If you want five-star cuisine every day, go for it. At the end of a long day I'll take all the help I can get to put a meal on the table!

Our microwave before this one broke down and I thought that I would..or could just live without it....but NAHHHHHHH.......can't do it. lol I have two boys and for quick fixes for thier lunches, you can't beat it. Zap a pack of mac n cheese...ravioli's...hot dogs, microwave food...its short, simple and sweet. And half the mess.

But for other FOOD....FOOD, I find it handy for doing veggies....less mess, shorter time. But for the main course....I use the stove.

Little K--

Microwaves do not mandate incorporating unwholesome bits of plastic with food. Microwaves, oils and plastics are a bad idea--but there are always glass and pottery dishes.

Microwaved vegetables use less water than conventional vegetables and hence retain more nutrients.

Noddy - true, but how many people know all that when they use their microwaves?

One of the things a microwave does is save dishes. I usually want to eat from the dish I microwave in and I don't like eating from plastic... therefore, china or glass in the microwave, even if the food was stored in plastic in the fridge.

Little K--

Microwaves come with instruction books. Plastic dishes come with warnings. Some people choose ignorance.

I'll bet there are more people worried about contracting mad cow disease than about ingesting toxins from not-to-be-microwaved plastic.

For me, the microwave is just another pair of hands in the kitchen ... Useful for some things, quite innapropriate for others. It's that simple - you use it for what it does best.

I could not live without my microwave!

Now, if people take the time and effort to find out what makes it tick, you can make just about anything in it without hurting the food.

The old saying, undercook, then let stand, is my personal fave!

Not only are they great time savers, they save on electricity too!

I can make burgers, freeze them, then heat in the microwave for 1 minute, the burger is ready before the bun is toasted. It's magic!

I forgot, I LOVE steamed carrots/veggies, I have a microwave steamer, they are awesome!

I have a microwave rice cooker, and I swear by it. The rice is always right... and the cooker also doubles as vegetable steamer and popcorn popper.

Wy

Yes, it does rice very well, I agree.

I make a really good chili half on the stovetop and half in the microwave.

It's faster, but also feel much more secure sozlet-wise if rather than a big pot boiling on the stove over a flame, it is simmering behind a closed door out of reach.

Always use glass or pottery.

hard boiled eggs are very messy in the microwave.
I try various things in the nuke and , while most do not turn out well, a few are surprisingly good, like a reuben sandwich.