Tips & advice
Testing the food
You can test whether food is cooked in the same way as conventional cookery.
•Using a food thermometer. After cooking or re- heating all foods have a certain internal temperature. You can use a food thermometer to test whether the food is hot enough, or ‘done’.
•Using a fork. Test fish with a fork. If the flesh is not transparent and comes off the bone easily, it is done. If it is overcooked, it will be brittle and dry.
•Wooden skewer. Test cakes and bread by sticking in a wooden skewer. If the skewer comes out clean and dry, the food is ready.
Working out cooking times using the food thermometer
After it has cooked, every drink or item of food has a certain internal temperature. When it is reached the cooking can be stopped, and the result will be good. You can test the internal temperature with a food thermometer. The temperature chart below gives most of the important temperatures.
CHART: USING A FOOD THERMOMETER
TO DEFINE COOKING TIMES
Drink/food items | Internal | Internal |
| temperature at | temperature after |
| the end of | |
| cooking time | standing time |
|
|
|
Heating drinks (coffee, |
| |
water, tea, etc) |
|
|
Heating milk |
| |
Heating soup |
| |
Heating stews |
| |
Poultry | ||
Lamb |
|
|
Rare | 70o C | |
Well roasted | ||
Roast beef |
|
|
Rare | ||
Medium done | ||
Well done | ||
Pork, veal |
Adding water
Vegetables and other foods containing a lot of water can be cooked in their own juices or by adding just a small amount of water. This will retain many vitamins and minerals in the food.
Food with skin or peel
Pierce foods such as sausages, chickens, chicken legs, potatoes in their skins, tomatoes, egg yolk, etc with a wooden skewer. This allows the steam to escape and the food won’t explode.
Fatty foods
Food ‘marbled’ with fat or with layers of fat cook faster than lean meat. You should therefore cover these parts with some aluminium foil, and place the food fatty side downward.
Blanching vegetables
Before they are frozen vegetables should be blanched. This is the best way of retaining the quality and flavour.
How to blanch vegetables:
Wash and chop the vegetable, place 250g of the vegetable in a bowl with 275ml of water, cover and heat for
Plunge into cold water immediately after the blanching process to prevent further cooking, and then allow it to drain. Pack and freeze the vegetable in airtight containers.
Preserving fruit & vegetables
Preserving fruit and vegetables using the microwave is a quick and easy process. You can buy preserving jars, seals and preserving jar clamps specially designed for
microwave use. Precise instructions are provided by the manufacturers of these items.
Samll & large quantities
Microwave cooking times depend directly upon the amount of food you want to defrost,
The rule of thumb is:
TWICE AS MUCH = ALMOST TWICE AS LONG HALF AS MUCH = HALF AS LONG
9
