Cooking is a total mystery to me but I do know I have a microwave, could you kindly run through the full procedure including what tools you need, pictures would be wonderful. Thanks in anticipation, just off to get some of those eggs.
I've just poached an egg in the microwave. Only months ago I moved from the pan of swirling water and conifer method to a sauté pan with egg poaching plastic I things. Now I discover that I could have just chucked a raw egg in the microwave with some water and the job would have been done!!
Years wasted!!
Cooking is a total mystery to me but I do know I have a microwave, could you kindly run through the full procedure including what tools you need, pictures would be wonderful. Thanks in anticipation, just off to get some of those eggs.
You have to watch out for exploding yolks though - I kid you not, a microwave poached egg "went off" as I bit into an egg muffin once - I was almost ducked-down, looking for the red dot from a sniper!
You have to be careful with microwaves. I know someone who didn't like his cheese cold, straight out of the fridge. He used to pop it in the microwave and give it a blast for a few seconds to take the chill off. He never set the timer, just whacked it on full and then switched it off when he thought it had had long enough. One day, he'd just put it in and switched on when the phone rang: he answered the phone (in another room) and the microwave was blasting away on full power for 10 minutes or so. When he returned, the cheese was actually burning and had melted the plastic liner inside the microwave.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Never, ever try to boil an egg in a microwave. Gets messy pretty quickly.
Doesn't poaching eggs always get messy regardless of the method? I'd like to know how the microwave method works.
Poached eggs are minging !
Cheers
Simon
Ralph Waldo Emerson: We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.
With ham, and béarnaise sauce.
I have been using the cling film method of late. No mess with that.
You're supposed to prick the yolk with something like a cocktail stick to stop it exploding in a microwave.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
We have had a microwave egg poaching set for years - five little cups in a round plate type thing. Just put a little butter in each cup, crack the egg in, and microwave. Nothing else needed.
Works perfectly.
So clever my foot fell off.
Doesn't the butter obviate any - the single - advantage poaching has over the much preferred method of frying?
No - just prevents it sticking to the cup.
Works perfectly.
It's like this - but look! You can even make your eggs pretty!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kitchen-Mi...item43ae2f0ad8
So clever my foot fell off.
Hmm, interesting. Worth a fiver to try it out.
I once made the mistake of trying to finish off a boiled egg in the microwave. I'd boiled it but it was a bit runny so a couple of seconds in the microwave would finish it off nicely, or so I thought.
Despite the lid being off the egg the first delve with my spoon resulted in an eggy explosion! Both me and the cats jumped a mile and this send my tea flying too.
Spent the next few hours retrieving bits of egg from the walls, curtains, carpet, cats... well you get the idea.
It did make my wife laugh an awful lot though, so I guess every cloud and all that.
Cheers,
Gary
Microwaves were used to defend us in WWII - that's how RADAR works.
During my radar training in the '80's (at one point I was going to be a radar technician) I was told that on one of Her Majesties Ships a sailor was sent to polish / fix something near the ships radar and some 100% idiot switched the radar on.
Result? Dead sailor, completely fried. The power of those things is immense. Of couse it could just have been my prof's way to warn us about the dangers and no saior ever got fried, but the potential is there.
Mobile phones also use them but with much less power and that forms part of the argument about mobs and health, especially growing children's use of them Studies carried out in Sweden showed that the microwaves do not heat up the brain evently, they create 'hotspots' which may cause issues. I don't like mobiles but like most people we are virtually forced to use them.
Last edited by LeighG; 26th March 2013 at 21:04.
Lol.
Get some cling film and push it down into a cup or small bowl/dish type thing,crack the egg into it,add seasoning,tie the bag up and drop it into a pan of boiling water. Perfect poached eggs with no mess.
Years ago,we all went to a mates house after a big piss up and he decided to microwave some eggs. When he got them out one exploded in his face and he finished up in hospital getting treatment for burns. Ouch-beware the microwave witch!
Fire good, magic bad...
Ok, I can report that all went relatively well!
The egg stuck to the bottom of the bowl a little but other than that, easy!
I've learnt a new trick for my magic cube, Cheers!
Great for scrambled eggs too.
I bought one of those to try it out. Egg one, 1 min with tiny knob of butter. Didn't prick the yolk. Nearly exploded (glad of the lid) and the yolk was cooked.
Two eggs at once, yolks pricked, 50 seconds (on the principle that two things in a microwave take a lot longer than one). Yolk runny, whites not fully cooked, but enough. Not bad.
I loves me a poached egg or two in the morning. But found this method from some tellybox programme.
Take a small bowl and a put about a 7" length of cling film loosely over the top - let it droop into the bowl
Add a small dash of olive oil, some sea salt and a grind of pepper to the cling film
Crack an egg onto it all
Gather up the edges of the cling film and secure either with a knot or a plastic food bag clip
Boil for 5 minutes
Remove from water, unclip and slide out on to your toast/muffin/etc.
Perfectly cooked, no messing about with techniques, no horrible vinegar taste and already pre-seasoned. Sublime.
You can also add any flavourings or spices you like before cooking. A little smoked paprika is very nice indeed but fresh herbs work as well.
It sure is! I used to dry clothes in the microwave, but once forgot to set the timer. I thought water couldn't get any hotter than 100 degrees - but there was some oily stuff mixed in the cotton, I guess. The sweater and that irritating plastic cover no-one uses fused together and the fumes never left the kitchen. I moved out a couple of months later.
Love a good poached egg, but I generally fry mine, though I trim off nearly all the white in the pan with a spatula as it starts to solidify as I'm all about the runny yolk.
If you like your eggs solid though you could give one of these a try. I thought it was a spoof at first but apparently not : http://www.getrollie.com/
Pot noodle in the microwave was another surprise!
Quite. But its not faffy food right!!
The potential is most definitely there re the fried sailor. When I worked with satellite uplinks, we used to hang sandwiches, pasties etc in bags on the dish emitter arm, make sure we were not pointing at a satellite and wind up the transmitter. Red hot nosh in seconds.
Extremely effective but I must say very bulky and expensive outdoor cooking kit ;)
andy
Had our microwave repaired last week, it having gone pop and stopped warming things some time ago. It is an expensive 'fitted' one, so I was keen to resurect it rather than bin it and buy a cheapo replacement.
Anyway, chap came and mended it. Really knowledgeable bloke, happy to explain the finer working of the machine. Three parts needed replacing - a little 'rectifier' and mahoosive 'capacitor' (apparently enough stored energy to cause serious harm, if not kill after of week of no use) and the main microwave emitter/generator thingy, or as he called it 'the MAGNATRON'! Sounds like something from a Transformers movie! If microwaves are witchcraft, then this is the witch within. A really sci-fi looking gizmo and the heart of the machine.
I cannot even begin to comprehend how these things work, even after the repair chappie tried to explain it all. Ours does now work again, thanks to his good work and I am left with a spare, but non-functioning 'magnatron'. Hmm, I wonder if I should take it apart - maybe mend it. What would I do with it? Build a weapon? Hmmmm. Perhaps not.
It's probably best not to do that.
"Some magnetrons have beryllium oxide (beryllia) ceramic insulators, which are dangerous if crushed and inhaled, or otherwise ingested. Single or chronic exposure can lead to berylliosis, an incurable lung condition. In addition, beryllia is listed as a confirmed human carcinogen by the IARC; therefore, broken ceramic insulators or magnetrons should not be directly handled."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavity_magnetron