Microwave Cooking
I am old enough to remember life before microwave ovens became a fixture of most American kitchens, offices and convenience stores. My first microwave oven was a Litton that took up a large chunk of my counter. I decided that the disadvantage of decrease in working space was far outweighed by the convenience of this marvelous new gadget. I could do all kinds of things more quickly and easily. This was great for a working mother with a busy family. I could bake potatoes in fractions of the time it took in a regular oven. I could melt butter and chocolate quickly. I could get a vegetable on the table in half the time and not heat up the kitchen. I was in love.
Like a lot of honeymoons, familiarity began to show the limitations and flaws of my new love. My biscuits which were always a family favorite came out of my Litton just slightly softer than the rocks in my garden and my roast had the consistency of bubble gum. It was tough and got bigger the longer you chewed. I decided counseling was in order to save this relationship, so I enrolled in a class to learn to cook microwave style. I quickly learned that there are some things that a microwave can do well and some things it cannot do at all. I had already begun to understand that there were limitations to the things my microwave convection oven could do. Experience is a great teacher!
Now microwaves come with an assortment of bells and whistles that allow the user to brown and crisp, defrost automatically by weight, and sense when food is done. Also standard is a digital clock, and pre-programmed cook times for a variety of common foods. Safety features have been enhanced with child lock out systems and you can even get a drawer microwave oven or a built in microwave convection oven. If you are doing a cabinet refacing project you can even get microwave oven doors that match your cabinet doors. The microwave I have today is an over the range type and it has a vent that closes when the microwave is not in use, surface light, pre-programmed food preparation, turn table, and a lot of other features I never use. I decided against a convection microwave because my regular oven is convection. I thought that would be over kill. When I replace this microwave, I think I will get the convection feature.
I still use my microwave primarily for warming left over meals, melting, heating water and cooking veggies. I don’t do nearly as much actual meal preparation in my oven as I once thought I would, but it is an essential tool in my kitchen. With all of the microwaveable foods available today, I think microwave ovens are here to stay. There is one for every budget, size, color and style. If you don’t believe in microwave cooking, that is your decision. For me it is like living without color TV, It can be done….but why.
This was a guest post by Dan Rissla. Dan normally writes for rissla.com where you can find information on all types of indoor and outdoor furniture.
