The Right Way to
Microwave Food So It Doesn’t Explode
Don’t feel like planning ahead to reheat yesterday’s chicken and
veggies in the oven? Can’t stand the thought of having to wash a pot for
warming your soup or cooking oatmeal? With a microwave you don’t have to. The
device exists to make things more convenient. And yet, when you have to waste
time scouring the inside of your hotbox because your food blew up—again—they’re
anything but.
Sure, you could be one of those people who ignores the mess and
lets the crusty, old food build up like snow in a polar vortex. (It’s just
gonna happen again, so what’s the point?) But instead of wiping down messes for
the umpteenth time, why not prevent the disgusting explosions in the first
place?
Why Foods
Explode in the Microwave
Microwaves function differently than other heat-inducing
appliances: Ovens and stovetops heat food from the outside in, but microwaves
warm everything at the same time, Penn State experts say. The electromagnetic waves
cause the water molecules to gyrate back and forth, like middle schoolers at a
dance. All that motion generates friction, which generates heat. (The waves,
FYI, do emit small amounts of radiation. But there’s no evidence proving that there’s enough radiation to
actually hurt you. So go ahead and nuke.)
Things can start to go awry when that heat penetrates food with a
high water content. With notorious exploders, “Water starts to turn into steam,
which could get trapped and form a bubble,” explains Institute of Food
Technologists Student Association president-elect Matt Teegarden. That bubble
eventually ends up bursting, and you end up with @%#! all over your microwave.
How to
Stop the Splatter
Microwaving burst-prone foods is all about keeping that wild water
under control. The best way to do that? It depends on the item in question.
Potatoes
White and sweet potatoes both have a thick skin that traps steam.
But making lots of little holes in the surface with a fork would allow that
steam to escape easily, Teegarden says. I tried it with a sweet potato, and I
heard a lot of scary hissing. “That’s the sound of the water getting hot and
turning into water vapor,” Teegarden told me.
The verdict: Despite the horrifying noises, this worked like a
charm. And it was a lot faster than baking the potato for an hour in the oven.
Eggs
With its steam-trapping shell, trying to hard-boil an egg is
practically begging for an explosion. The most obvious way to prevent steam
from building up is by pricking a hole in the eggshell with a pin. But that
didn’t do much good for me: The egg still kablammed. Making a larger hole just
caused the egg white to start leaking out. Some people say to cook the egg at
50 percent power, but the only way that my microwave rolls is full-throttle. So
I decided to get rid of the shell altogether and make scrambled eggs instead.
Stopping to stir the eggs every 30 seconds or so helped me achieve a fluffy,
curd-like texture, rather than a mass of uniform egg.
The verdict: In my non-fancy microwave, it was impossible to make
a hard-boiled egg. So I got rid of the steam build-up problem altogether by
making scrambled eggs instead. It was easy.
Spaghetti Squash
A spaghetti squash is a lot like a potato, just with thicker
skin... skin that’s too thick to prick with a fork. To deal with this, most
recipes for microwaved spaghetti squash say to slice the squash in half
horizontally and place the squash cut-side down on a microwave-safe plate. That
allows enough steam to escape without totally drying out the squash flesh.
The verdict: This worked! The squash didn’t blow up, and the
inside cooked up tender and moist. (Tip: Don't forget the microwave-safe plate
like we did in the above GIF.)
Oatmeal
I came across a couple of odd methods that were supposed to keep
big bubbles from forming in my oatmeal. Adding copious amounts of butter was
supposed to make the oatmeal more slippery and less gel-like. Resting
chopsticks on top of the bowl was supposed to break up bubbles before they got
too big. Thankfully, there were also simpler options: Teegarden said I could
stir the oatmeal frequently to promote more even heat distribution and stop
bubbles from forming in the first place. Using a big bowl was supposed to
reduce the likelihood of spillovers.
The verdict: The part of the buttery oatmeal that didn’t end up
all over the microwave (about half?) was rich and delicious. Chopstick oatmeal
was just plain messy. Stirring the oatmeal often in a big bowl worked, but I
had to be vigilant. If I walked away for more than 30 seconds, I risked
returning to a bubble on the verge of bursting.
Tomato Sauce
Tomato sauce and oatmeal explode for pretty much the same reasons.
So I figured that I could keep my tomato sauce tidy the same way as my morning
porridge: Use a big bowl and stir the sauce frequently. And if that didn’t
work? “The best thing might be to get one of those splatter shields,” he told
me.
The verdict: As predicted, using a big bowl and stirring every 30
seconds got the job done. Yes!
The Bottom Line
You can
end the cycle of endless microwave explosions by stopping steam from building
up in your food. And maybe getting a splatter shield for extra insurance.
http://greatist.com/eat/how-to-microwave-food-so-it-doesnt-explode?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=story3_title&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_2016-09-28_testB_20160817
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