The Microwave: Humanity’s Most Underrated Wizardry
Let’s ponder over that unassuming little kitchen appliance, the microwave. People hardly think of it as a little negative entity. It’s almost always the little appliance that makes popcorn and reheats last night’s delicious restaurant leftovers. But, now, nearly every cook (and even non-cooks) knows that the microwave is good at melting (ah, the “thing” microwaves do best). Its near-universal presence in kitchens frees us from the necessity of boiling water for (probably) 20 minutes that’s so prevalent in our “reheat anything” kitchen heat. Consider the microwave your kitchen’s middle child, and let melting be its “go-to thing.”
Cooking and Baking Wizardry:
Let’s now examine the most astonishing technique. Can you believe that scrambled eggs can be “cooked” in just 90 seconds? That’s faster, I would argue, than you can type a “debate” about the merits or demerits of President Obama, say, and post it on Facebook (not that there’s anything wrong with doing that, either). So, how does one achieve this almost unreal quickness? By cracking eggs into a bowl, whisking them well with a bit of milk, and microwaving them. Of course, you could also use that same microwave to brew the last, undrinkable cup of coffee you will ever make.
It’s easy to make microwave potato chips, and I think they’re the best way to get a chip that doesn’t give you the impression of having eaten a potato chip. They’re hot enough to seem like fried chips but aren’t fried. They could be seasoned, but unless you want to send an eyes-up signal that you’re happy or lay down a pre-sign that keeps us safe while you sustain your chip-loving fantasy, these seem like a poor avenue for that which would, if anything, make the chips riotously unhealthy. So if I had my druthers, that would be microwave potato chips’ best and most health-relevant incarnation.
If the task of peeling is not to your liking, you can use the microwave to spare you from the tedium of preparing potatoes or garlic. Put recalcitrant items in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, and they will shed their skins as effortlessly as we shed responsibilities when we make excuses during performance reviews.
DIY Gourmet Touches
The microwave can be your best friend when it comes to budgeting, provided you have ample cooking expertise. Imagine yourself as Julia Child but on a budget using dried herbs and laboring to coax some hint of a flavor from them that, in your vision, approximates the perfection of a sauté. Place the herbs in a bowl and heat them in the microwave for 20 seconds… ding, ding, ding!
Those brown sugar transformations from a sticky, clay-like substance to a rock-hard lump are almost too easy to pictures. But what if, instead of using a mortar and pestle, you used a tool that is found in many American kitchens? One kitchen conundrum, described above, can be easily solved using a microwave oven.
Should you microwave peaches and tomatoes for peeling them? If you’re going to be blistering skin, do it in the microwave instead. First, nuke a bowl of water for a minute (this will make microwaving the fruit way more effective). Then, grab your fruit and “peel away.” You should find that the skins of the tomatoes and peaches slip off without jeopardizing your hands and while saving you kitchen time not performing this task in an incredibly laborious manner.
Life Simplified by Microwave Alchemy
Let’s move to making things uncomplicated with extensive generalities. The microwave is not just a kitchen gadget; it’s a domestic-simplifying dynamo. Does your microwave work like a Jackson Pollock painting? Fill a bowl with H2O, add a lemon, and run your microwave on high for five minutes. When you take out the bowl, the inside of your microwave is cleaner than your moral condition after seven minutes of vacuuming with an upright.
To maintain an envelope’s stamp intact, one must be thoroughly logical. First, moisten; then, microwave; finally, peel. To suss out whether a container can take the heat of the inverter oven in the next scene, you should test the container itself, not the delicate human tissue that might also be called into the testing service. If what you’re using to determine safety can’t take it and instead goes kablooey, that’s also a clear sign to your character that the container was never safe at all.
Saving Lives, One Germ at a Time
The microwave is a fantastic option for low-maintenance germaphobes. It’s a simple kitchen appliance, but a powerful one for getting rid of germs. It’s also so safe to use that you can hardly worry about who might be doing the reheating. When you reheat doorknobs, it just gets effective and speedy. The microwave can be used to sanitize many items beyond leftovers, including these easy kitchen options.
- Sponge: Two minutes. You obtain a pristine sponge, free of any bacteria.
- Cutting Board: 1 minute. You can slice and dice without worrying about the microwave damaging your cooking surface. Your knives will not be dulled or otherwise harmed by this task.
- The Microwave Oven: Follow the established protocol and clean it, even if it isn’t mentioned directly.
Wrapping it Together
The microwave is more than just a cooking device; it’s an upgrade in our kitchen. It saves us two basic culinary cornerstones: time and attention. Both are vitally necessary for good cooking but are often in short supply. With the microwave oven, food maintains its basic qualities of boiling, baking, and even (when called for) its browning aspect. Neither boiling nor baking could be done without boiling and baking dishes and the good sense to use them. So use your microwave wisely. Use it like an upgrade, and know that even using it to “zap” food is just enacting a small part of the larger culinary magic that makes food, food.
