Reheating by Microwave
Affects of the foods
1.Starting Temperature
The colder the food the longer it will take to heat to 72˚C. Extra time must be allowed if food has been defrosted as the centre may still be icy.
2.Headspace
When heating liquids, ensure they do not completely fill their containers; a headspace allows the liquids to be stirred during and at the end of the heating time without spillage.
3.Covering foods
A container covered with either cling film, a plastic plate cover or even the lid to the dish, will heat fractionally faster then an uncovered dish. Do not cover foods which require a drier texture, such as pastries, as the steam that becomes trapped under the cover will cause the food to go soggy.
4.Crisp Foods
Reheat pastry and bread items, such as sausage rolls, pies and croissants, on a plastic rack to reduce the chance of “sogginess”. The rack allows the air to circulate beneath the food and remove steam which causes moist, limp pastry. Your Panasonic Combi offers a COMBINATION facility which will help crisp pastry items as they reheat.
5.Uneven shapes
When heating uneven shaped pieces of food, place the thick part of one piece against the thin part of the second. This helps the food to heat more evenly.
6.Porous Foods/Dense foods
Porous foods reheat more quickly than dense heavy foods.
7.Food with “Skins”
When reheating foods with a skin such as fish, chicken or baked beans, reduce the power to a lower setting to prevent the food from heating too quickly and “exploding”.
8.Heating two dishes together
It is possible to reheat two products with the same heating time together. For example, two Chicken Curries with a reheating time of 4 minutes each or one Taglatelle Carbonara and one moussaka, both of which have a heating time of 4 minutes each.
9.Doubling Quantities
A reheating time is based on weight and usually a time is given for a particular quantity of food, i.e. 11oz Lasagne takes 2 minutes. When the number of portions to be heated together doubles, then the reheating time will need to be increased by 75- 100%. Two portions will take 4 minutes 30 seconds to 5 minutes. Generally two lighter textured products
such as pastries will take the shorter time, whilst two denser products such as Lasagne will take the longer time.
10.Frozen Foods
For speed, some foods can be reheated from frozen but they must be foods that can be STIRRED eg meat sauce, Chilli con Carne. Set the total reheat time but open the door to stir regularly.
DO NOT COVER.
AVOID REHEATING solid foods that cannot be stirred, eg Lasagnes/Shepherds Pies from frozen. Avoid reheating PLATED MEALS from frozen..
Microwave
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