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Getting the Best cooking results
Testing your dinnerware or cookware
Test dinnerware or cookware before using. To test a dish for safe use, put it into oven with a cup of water
beside it. Cook at 100% cook power for one minute. If the dish gets hot, do not use it.
Some dishes (melamine, some ceramic dinnerware, etc.) absorb microwave energy, becoming too hot
to handle and slowing cooking times. Cooking in metal containers not designed for microwave use could
damage the oven, as could containers with hidden metal (twist-ties, foil lining, staples, metallic glaze or trim).
To get the best results from your microwave oven, read and follow the guidelines below.
•
Storage Temperature: Foods taken from the freezer or refrigerator take longer to cook than the same foods
at room temperature.
•
Size: Small pieces of food cook faster than large ones, pieces similar in size and shape cook more evenly.
For even cooking, reduce the power when cooking large pieces of food.
•
Natural Moisture: Very moist foods cook more evenly because microwave energy is attracted to water
molecules.
•
Stir foods such as casseroles and vegetables from the outside to the center to distribute the heat evenly
and speed cooking. Constant stirring is not necessary.
•
Turn over foods like pork chops, baking potatoes, roasts, or whole cauliflower halfway through the cooking
time to expose all sides equally to microwave energy.
•
Place delicate areas of foods, such as asparagus tips, toward the center of the dish.
•
Arrange unevenly shaped foods, such as chicken pieces or salmon steaks, with the thicker, meatier parts
toward the outside of the dish.
•
Shield, with small pieces of aluminum foil, parts of food that may cook quickly, such as wing tips and leg
ends of poultry.
•
Let It Stand: After you remove the food from the microwave, cover food with foil or casserole lid and let it
stand to finish cooking in the center and avoid overcooking the outer edges. The length of standing time
depends on the density and surface area of the food.
•
Wrapping in waxed paper or paper toweh Sandwiches and many other foods containing prebaked bread
should be wrapped prior to microwaving to prevent drying out.
USA-MHC4
DE68-03143Q.indb
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2007-06-12
6:40:10
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