Questions and Answers (continued)
Food
Question
What is wrong when baked foods have a hard, dry, brown spot?
Why do eggs sometimes pop?
Answer
A hard, dry, brown spot indicates overcooking. Shorten the cooking or reheating time.
When baking, frying, or poaching eggs, the yolk may pop due to steam
Why are scrambled eggs sometimes a little dry after cooking?
Eggs will dry out when they are overcooked, even if the same recipe is used each time. The cooking time may need to be varied for one of these reasons:
•Eggs vary in size.
•Eggs are at room temperature one time and at refrigerator temperature another time.
•Eggs continue cooking during standing time.
Why do baked apples sometimes burst during cooking?
The peel has not been removed from the top half of each apple to allow for expansion of the interior of the apple during cooking. As in conventional cooking methods, the interior of the apple expands during the cooking process.
Why do baked potatoes sometimes burn during cooking?
Why is a standing time recommended after microwave cooking time is over?
Why is additional time required for cooking food stored in the refrigerator?
If the cooking time is too long, fire could result. At the end of the recommended cooking time, potatoes should be slightly firm.
CAUTION: Do not overcook.
Standing time allows foods to continue cooking evenly for a few minutes after the actual microwave oven cooking cycle. The amount of standing time depends upon the density of the foods.
As in conventional cooking,the initial temperature of food affects total cooking time. You need more time to cook food taken out of a refrigerator than for food at room temperature.
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