The Microwave Oven
Submitted by Stuart Broz on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 1:28am
Over on Slashfood yesterday, Sara Bonisteel wrote about Wylie Dufresne's use of the microwave oven. One of the world's top chefs embraces the use of the common microwave? Shocking?
Not really.
Image by hipsxxheartsAs I commented on Sara's article, I don't find this shocking at all. Personally, I don't like using the microwave oven to cook food. I'll use it on occasion to boil water or something, but I rarely use it if there's a chance of overheating whatever it is that I'm cooking. The microwave oven is a tool for applying heat to food, but it is not a tool that I feel like I have fine control over.
In part, this is due to the fact that the microwave ovens that I've used haven't been the highest quality in the world. Their power has varied. Sometimes they have hot spots. Part of it is also, certainly, due to the way that food in the microwave feels out of your control once you close the door (somehow more so than in a regular oven). The biggest part of it, though, is that microwave ovens are still new. Yes, we've had them for a few decades, but I can still remember the first microwave that my parents got back about thirty years ago.
Back then, the microwave was all about convenience. It would cook your food faster (and in a box!) than a conventional oven. It wasn't about subtlety; it was all about cooking things quickly. The microwave was the sledgehammer of kitchen tools.
That mentality is still with us. We don't think to learn how to use our microwaves. We just zap our food in it. When we eat it, we might realize that it isn't very good. We assume that the microwave can't be used to cook things in a nuanced and skillful manner. We assume it is only good for what we're capable of doing with it.
On the other hand, what do we do with it? We microwave on high for 10 minutes... or one minute... or something like that. If we used our ovens the same way that we use our microwave, we'd be cooking all our meals at 400° for an hour. We might think that the oven isn't a very good tool for cooking.
It shouldn't take someone like Wylie Dufresne or Harold McGee to tell us that a microwave is a tool like any other... and one that can be mastered.
Comments
I'm sufficiently not a fan
I'm sufficiently not a fan not to own one. However there are things you can do with a microwave that don't involve sledgehammer cooking.
-Baked potatoes in a hurry. Don't do them all the way, but get them started in the microwave and finish in the oven. Similarly if you were wanting to do something like fried potatoes, cook the inside in the microwave and finish on the pan.
-Bacon on a rack. It's not bad at all.
-My mom used to steam vegetables in the microwave. That works OK. Cut the vegetables up and put in a bowl with a bit of liquid, cover with a dish. I prefer roasted vegetables so I don't steam them much.
Otherwise, as a convenience it's not bad, just not sufficiently convenient to take up precious countertop in my microscopic kitchen....