Cooking tips

Amount of food

lThe more food you want to prepare, the longer it takes. A rule of thumb is that a double amount of food requires almost double the time. If one potato takes four minutes to cook, you need about seven minutes to cook two potatoes.

lif you want to cook two meais or contain- ers of food at the same time, you can do so with the Bi-Level Cooking Shelf. For ex- ample, you can cook two frozen dinners or reheat two plates of food by placing one on the shelf and one under the sheff. The DUO SYSTEMTM heating system will heat both servings equally.

Starting temperature of food

lThe lower the temperature of the food being put into the microwave oven, the longer it takes to cook. Food at room temperature will be reheated more quickly than food at refrigerator temperature.

Composition of food

lFood with a lot of fat and sugar will be heated faster than food containing a lot of water. Fat and sugar will also reach a higher temperature than wafer in the cooking process.

lThe more dense the food, the longer it takes to heat. “Verydense” food like meat takes longer to reheat than lighter, more porous food like sponge cakes.

Size and shape

lSmaller pieces of food will cook faster than larger pieces and same-shaped pieces of food cook more evenly than irregularly shaped foods.

l With unevenly shaped foods, the thinner parts will cook faster than the thicker areas. Place the thinner parts of chicken wings and legs in the center of the dish.

Stirring, turning foods

l Stirring and turning foods distributes heat quickly to the center of the dish and avoids overcooking at the outer edges of the food.

Covering food

cover food to:

l Reduce splattering

l Shorten cooking times

lRetain food moisture

All coverings that allow microwaves to pass through are suitable. (See ‘Utensil materials” on page 39.)

Releasing pressure in foods

l Several foods (for example: baked potatoes, sausages, egg yolks, and some fruits) are tightly covered by a skin or membrane. This can cause the food to burst from steam building up in them during cooking. To relieve the pressure and to prevent bursting, prick these foods with a fork, cocktail pick or toothpick.

NOTE: Food cooked in the CRISPWARETM Crisper Pan will not burst and does not need to be pricked.

Using standing time

lAlways allow food to stand for a while after cooking. Standing time after defrosting, cooking, or reheating always improves the result since the temperature will then be evenly distributed throughout the food.

lWhen cooking in a microwave oven, food continues to cook even when the microwave energy is fumed off. Food is no longer cooked by microwaves, but if is still being cooked by the high heat left over from the microwave oven.

l The length of the standing time depends on the volume and density of the food. Sometimes if can be as short as the time it fakes you to remove the food from the oven and take it to the serving table. However, with larger, denser food, the standing time may be as long as 10 minutes. During standing time, the internal food temperature will rise as much as 46°F as the food finishes cooking.