Cooking Safely in the Microwave Oven

Microwave ovens can play an important role at mealtime, but special care must be taken when cooking or reheating meat, poultry, fish, and eggs to make sure they are prepared safely. Microwave ovens can cook unevenly and leave "cold spots," where harmful bacteria can survive. For this reason, it is important to use the following safe microwaving tips to prevent foodborne illness.

Microwave Oven Cooking

* Arrange food items evenly in a covered dish and add some liquid if needed. Cover the dish with a lid or plastic wrap; loosen or vent the lid or wrap to let steam escape. The moist heat that is created will help destroy harmful bacteria and ensure uniform cooking. Cooking bags also provide safe, even cooking.

* Do not cook large cuts of meat on high power (100%). Large cuts of meat should be cooked on medium power (50%) for longer periods. This allows heat to reach the center without overcooking outer areas.

* Stir or rotate food midway through the microwaving time to eliminate cold spots where harmful bacteria can survive, and for more even cooking.

* When partially cooking food in the microwave oven to finish cooking on the grill or in a conventional oven, it is important to transfer the microwaved food to the other heat source immediately. Never partially cook food and store it for later use.

* Use a food thermometer or the oven’s temperature probe to verify the food has reached a safe temperature. Place the thermometer in the thickest area of the meat or poultry—not near fat or bone—and in the innermost part of the thigh of whole poultry. Cooking times may vary because ovens vary in power and efficiency. Check in several places to be sure red meat is 160 °F, whole poultry is 180 °F, and egg casseroles are 160 °F. Fish should flake with a fork. Always allow standing time, which completes the cooking, before checking the internal temperature with a food thermometer.

* Cooking whole, stuffed poultry in a microwave oven is not recommended. The stuffing might not reach the temperature needed to destroy harmful bacteria.

Microwave Defrosting

* Remove food from packaging before defrosting. Do not use foam trays and plastic wraps because they are not heat stable at high temperatures. Melting or warping may cause harmful chemicals to migrate into food.

* Cook meat, poultry, egg casseroles, and fish immediately after defrosting in the microwave oven because some areas of the frozen food may begin to cook during the defrosting time. Do not hold partially cooked food to use later.

Reheating in the Microwave Oven

* Cover foods with a lid or a microwave-safe plastic wrap to hold in moisture and provide safe, even heating.

* Heat ready-to-eat foods such as hot dogs, luncheon meats, fully cooked ham, and leftovers until steaming hot.

* After reheating foods in the microwave oven, allow standing time. Then, use a clean food thermometer to check that food has reached 165 °F.

Containers and Wraps

* Only use cookware that is specially manufactured for use in the microwave oven. Glass, ceramic containers, and all plastics should be labeled for microwave oven use.

* Plastic storage containers such as margarine tubs, take-out containers, whipped topping bowls, and other one-time use containers should not be used in microwave ovens. These containers can warp or melt, possibly causing harmful chemicals to migrate into the food.

* Microwave plastic wraps, wax paper, cooking bags, parchment paper, and white microwave-safe paper towels should be safe to use. Do not let plastic wrap touch foods during microwaving.

* Never use thin plastic storage bags, brown paper or plastic grocery bags, newspapers, or aluminum foil in the microwave oven.

Source: FSIS

Tips To Heat Up Food

Microwave comes in very handy in heating up cooked food or leftovers, because it is fast, clean and the food won't stick to the food container (saves you a lot of time in cleaning and washing).

I would like to share with you the amount of time that we need to heat up different types of food. It is faster and time saving if you put the food in a container and cover it (not air tight container, it might explode in the microwave oven as the steam build up from within!)

1. 30 seconds: bread, cakes
2. 1 minute: cooked rice, porridge, noodles, soup, coffee, tea
3. 2 minutes: canned food, meat, poultry, seafood
4. 2-4 minutes: frozen cakes / pizza (depends on your preferences)

I hope this serves you as a guideline in heating up food, especially if you are a new microwave oven user. It took me a while to figure out how much time for different types of food.

Microwave oven.....

Living in a studio apartment doesn't give you much space to cook. So, finally got enough money to buy a microwave oven (yipee!) the other day.

Well, have so much in mind to cook.... but don't know how???

So far, just use it to heat ready meals and YES, I did scramble eggs (a big improvement!). Bla bla bla....

I know there are much more that I can do with microwave, but I am still very 'green' in using it.

Anybody who would like to share with me easy to prepare microwave cooking recipes and tips, please post here.