"Microwave Ovens and Metals"

Harold McGee again wrote the article I read for this journal entry. I am really growing fond of this man, and his work. The science and passion that he brings into his writings is what I am enjoying. The article was called “On Food and Zapping.” As it may be guessed the title is in reference to food and cooking with a microwave oven.

When I think of microwave ovens the first think I think of is leftover pizza. After 20 seconds there’s perfection, or at least as close as you can get while sleepwalking.
The second thing is metals and the misnomer of their microwave oven use. As Harold McGee discussed in the article it is actually okay to use metal in a microwave oven.

As with anything in life there are rules. When it comes to microwave ovens and metals a major rule is to check and make sure the metals are not magnetized. Due to how the infrared microwaves travel the magnetism causes sparking. Sparking is what most people immediately think of when associating the two items together.

Secondly people must remember to not allow any sides of the metal to touch the walls to the microwave oven. This helps allow the microwaves to travel through the inside of the oven and dissipate. If there is a connection on any of the four sides the metal will burn the oven due to the microwaves being trapped at that point of connection.

In the article Harold McGee also discussed proper cooking within a microwave oven. The real key is based upon understanding the occurring action within the walls of the oven as you are cooking. With traditional cooking methods the air around the product is heated and the food is cooked from the outside in.

On the opposite, upside world of cooking with the microwave oven you are not. The microwave oven heats food with radio energy. This cooking process actually cooks the food from the inside out. With radio energy the food actually cooks by exciting the moist unbound water molecules. These molecules of water start to vibrate and move faster than others in the food. The excited fast moving water molecules crash into other molecules such as proteins and give them a jolt. These jolts end up causing the food product to rapidly heat up and cook.

All food products seize up and toughen when over cooked, and that’s why microwave oven cooking is often made fun of. Due to the way it is hard to control the temperature with in a microwave oven people often over cook their food. The key according to Harold McGee is to cook on lower power levels. The lower power level actually pulses the food with short and long radio energy. This causes the operator the opportunity of producing a better end product, along with more control.

Due to how the food’s water molecules become hot fast a lot of steam is released while cooking in a microwave oven. Hence why food cooked in a microwave oven tends to become dry. The trick to preventing as much moisture loss is to cook foods within a container that has a lid. Although sealing the container all the way seems right, it is not. Due to the steam releasing there is a buildup of pressure that could cause the container to explode.

Safety is key, and knowledge is the biggest key of all…
With the vibrating water and the steam pressure you may ask yourself “What else don’t I know about?” EXPLODING WATER!!! Water within a container with smooth surfaces can cause this. A cup of water can super heat to a temperature past boiling without releasing air bubbles. This causes the water to super heat and let out one massive bubble once agitated.

Another problem could be butter, plain old butter. Butter when heated in a microwave oven actually will heat and separate in to layers. These layers have a base of water, a middle layer of butter fat and finally a top layer of salt and impurities. As with plain water the water on the bottom can explode. Butter has harsher consequences; the water will explode with hot insulating fat on top of it. If this fat gets on your skin it will sit there holding its heat and burning you worse due to its coating attributes.

My goal is not to scare down microwave sales. It is actually to educate those who do not know and lets them see the light. Microwave ovens are great tools if used properly with a little education.

Until later with a fun food based entry,
This is Jason Soko CC signing out,
Goodbye and Happy Cooking!

Part ii:
Microwave Homework By: Jason Sokolowski
For Food Technology & Design as Taught By: Chef John R. Dion, MS, Associate Professor, College of Culinary Arts, Johnson & Wales University

Discovered 1940s accident American Percy Spencer self-taught engineer from Howland, Maine. He was building magnetrons for radar sets with Raytheon. Spencer was working on an active radar set when he noticed that a peanut chocolate bar he had in his pocket started to melt. The radar had melted his chocolate bar with microwaves. The first food to be deliberately cooked with microwave was popcorn, 2nd an egg.

To confirm findings Spencer formed a high density electromagnetic field by feeding microwave power into a metal box from which it had no way to escape. Once food was placed in the box with the microwave energy, the temperature of the food rose promptly.

In 1947, the world was introduced to “The Radarange.” The first microwave oven clocked in at 6 ft tall and weighed 750 lb and also sold for $5000. At the time it consumed a whopping 3 kilowatts (that is three times much as today’s) and was water-cooled. With energy a large issue the company fought to reduce the usage down to 1.6 kilowatts by 1954 and sold the updated models for $2-3000. By 1955 microwaves sold for $1295. With in twelve years (1967) microwaves were sold for less then half ($495). Microwave popularity took off by 1986, roughly 25% households owned a microwave, up from only about 1% in 1971. Currently 90% of the United States population owns at least one microwave oven.

Harold McGee wrote an article called “On Food and Zapping.” As it may be guessed the title is in reference to food and cooking with a microwave oven. When I think of microwave ovens the first think I think of is leftover pizza. After 20 seconds there’s perfection, or at least as close as you can get while sleepwalking.
The second thing is metals and the misnomer of their microwave oven use. As Harold McGee discussed in the article it is actually okay to use metal in a microwave oven.

As with anything in life there are rules. When it comes to microwave ovens and metals a major rule is to check and make sure the metals are not magnetized. Due to how the microwaves travel the magnetism causes sparking. Sparking is what most people immediately think of when associating the two items together.

Secondly people must remember to not allow any sides of the metal to touch the walls to the microwave oven. This helps allow the microwaves to travel through the inside of the oven and dissipate. If there is a connection on any of the four sides the metal will burn the oven due to the microwaves being trapped at that point of connection.

In the article Harold McGee also discussed proper cooking within a microwave oven. The real key is based upon understanding the occurring action within the walls of the oven as you are cooking. With traditional cooking methods the air around the product is heated and the food is cooked from the outside in.

On the opposite, upside world of cooking with the microwave oven you are not. The microwave oven heats food with radio energy. This cooking process actually cooks the food from the inside out. With radio energy the food actually cooks by exciting the moist unbound water molecules. These molecules of water start to vibrate and move faster than others in the food. The excited fast moving water molecules crash into other molecules such as proteins and give them a jolt. These jolts end up causing the food product to rapidly heat up and cook.

All food products seize up and toughen when over cooked, and that’s why microwave oven cooking is often made fun of. Due to the way it is hard to control the temperature with in a microwave oven people often over cook their food. The key is to cook on lower power levels. The lower power level actually pulses the food with short and long radio energy. Almost like the rapid cook system produced by the “Turbo Chef” company. This causes the operator the opportunity of producing a better end product, along with more control.

Due to how the food’s water molecules become hot fast a lot of steam is released while cooking in a microwave oven. Hence why food cooked in a microwave oven tends to become dry. The trick to preventing as much moisture loss is to cook foods within a container that has a lid. Although sealing the container all the way seems right, it is not. Due to the steam releasing there is a buildup of pressure that could cause the container to explode.

Safety is key, and knowledge is the biggest key of all…
With the vibrating water and the steam pressure you may ask yourself “What else don’t I know about?” EXPLODING WATER!!! Water within a container with smooth surfaces can cause this. A cup of water can super heat to a temperature past boiling without releasing air bubbles. This causes the water to super heat and let out one massive bubble once agitated.

Another problem could be butter, plain old butter. Butter when heated in a microwave oven actually will heat and separate in to layers. These layers have a base of water, a middle layer of butter fat and finally a top layer of salt and impurities. As with plain water the water on the bottom can explode. Butter has harsher consequences; the water will explode with hot insulating fat on top of it. If this fat gets on your skin it will sit there holding its heat and burning you worse due to its coating attributes.

A microwave oven, or a microwave, is a kitchen appliance that cooks or heats food by dielectric heating. This is accomplished by using microwave radiation to heat water and other polarized molecules within the food. This excitation is fairly uniform, leading to food being adequately heated throughout (except in thick objects), a feature not seen in any other heating technique.

Basicly microwave ovens heat food quickly and efficiently, but do not brown or bake food in the way conventional ovens do. This makes them unsuitable for cooking certain foods, or to achieve certain effects. Additional kinds of heat sources can be added to microwave packaging, or into combination microwave ovens, to add these additional effects.
A common misconception is that microwave ovens cook food from the "inside out". In reality, microwaves are absorbed in the outer layers of food in a manner somewhat similar to heat from other methods. The misconception arises because microwaves penetrate dry non-conductive substances at the surfaces of many common foods, and thus often induce initial heat more deeply than other methods. Depending on water content, the depth of initial heat deposition may be several centimetres or more with microwave ovens, in contrast to broiling or convection heating, which deposit heat thinly at the food surface. Penetration depth of microwaves is dependent on food composition and the frequency, with lower microwave frequencies (longer wavelengths) penetrating better.

A microwave oven converts only part of its electrical input into microwave energy. A typical consumer microwave oven consumes 1100 W of electricity in producing 700 W of microwave power, an efficiency of 64%. The other 400 W are dissipated as heat, mostly in the magnetron tube.

A variant of the conventional microwave is the convection microwave. A convection microwave is a combination of a standard microwave and a convection oven. It allows food to be cooked quickly, yet come out browned or crisped, as from a convection oven. Convection microwaves are more expensive than a conventional microwave and are not considered cost-effective if primarily used just to heat drinks or frozen food. They are usually used for cooking prepared dishes. Convection microwaves also suffer from smoke and burning odors when microwaved foods spatter grease and food particles. This spatter collects on the heating elements and does not do anything when used solely for microwaving, but it all burns off when later used for convection.