Microwave Recipe Techniques
Menu Planning for Microwave Cooking
How to Keep Everything Hot at The Same Time Plan your meals so that the food will not all need last minute cooking or attention at the same time. The special features of microwave cookery make it easy to serve meals with everything piping hot. Cooking of some foods may be interrupted while you start others, without harming the nutritional value or flavour of either.
A recipe which requires standing time can be microwaved first and another food cooked while it stands. Dishes prepared in advance can be reheated briefly before serving.
It does take some experience and time to cook with confidence. Microwaves are fast so you will have to do some experimenting. You might find you will use your conventional range in conjunction with your microwave oven. For example, while cooking the roast in the microwave oven, you can be cooking the vegetables and gravy on the range top. This can also be done the other way around. Prepare your meals as follows.
1.Firstly, cook the most dense item (roast or casserole). Drain and retain meat juice from joints then cover with foil.
2.Cook the potatoes, rice or pasta.
3.Cover with foil for standing.
4.Cook greens and other vegetables.
5.Cover with foil for standing.
6.Cook the gravy with the retained meat juices, stock and thickening.
7.Carve the roast and serve the vegetables and gravy.
While you are learning to plan meals, you may get a bit behind time. Don’t worry. Dinner servings may be suitably reheated on Medium, for 1 to 2 minutes per serving.
If you prefer not to use foil, cover food with saucepan lids. A metal lid will retain the heat for at least 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, how can you cook all the vegetables at the same time? Simply place potatoes and pumpkin in one dish and less dense vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beans and peas in another. Sprinkle greens with water. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap. Cook on High for cooking times refer to vegetable cooking chart on page 40. Fresh and frozen vegetables can be mixed on a vegetable platter, but remember frozen vegetables are not as dense as fresh vegetables, as they have been blanched before freezing.
If vegetables are cut to a similar size, they can be cooked in separate ramekins or small dishes at the same time.
Increasing & Decreasing Recipes
Increasing
•To increase a recipe from 4 to 6 servings, increase each ingredient listed by half.
•To increase a recipe from 4 to 8 servings, double each ingredient listed.
•For larger quantities of a recipe, a large dish should be used. Make sure that the dish is deep enough to prevent the recipe from boiling over during cooking.
•Make sure to cover, stir or rearrange food as directed in the recipe and always check the food during cooking.
•Increase standing times by 5 minutes per 500g.
•Use the same Power Level recommended in the original recipe.
•Increase the cooking times by: 1⁄3 of original cooking time for 6 servings; and an extra 1⁄2 of original cooking time for 8 servings.
Decreasing
•To decrease a recipe from 4 to 2 servings, decrease each ingredient listed by half.
•For small quantities, a small dish should be used. Make sure that the dish is large enough to prevent the recipe from boiling over during cooking.
•Use the same Power Level recommended in the original recipe.
•Decrease the cooking times by 1⁄2 to 2⁄3 of the original cooking time.
Cooking for One
•To decrease a recipe from 4 to 1 serving, quarter each ingredient listed.
•A smaller dish should be used, making sure that the dish is still large enough to prevent the recipe from boiling over.
•Use the same Power Level recommended in the original recipe.
•Quarter the original cooking times, then add extra time, if needed.
•Make sure to cover, stir or rearrange food as directed in original recipe and always check the food during cooking.
Converting Recipes from Other Sources
When the recipe is written with a wattage different than your oven, adjust the cooking time by approximately 10% per 100 watts, e.g. 6 minutes would be adjusted by 36 seconds. Alternately, adjust the power level by one level. If your wattage is higher than the recipe: (1) Adjust time downward or
(2)Adjust power level downward. If your wattage is lower than the recipe: (1) adjust time upward or (2) adjust power level upward (when possible).
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