Did microwaves change the world?

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Posted at 12:02PM, 25 March 2008 by Mary Cadogan - food writer

When I designed my kitchen three years ago I forgot to allow space for the microwave. I remember this fact every time I trudge to the spare room to melt some chocolate or soften some butter as this is where it now lives.

I remember in the seventies when the microwave oven first came onto the domestic market, prices became affordable and it was the must-have piece of kitchen kit. We were told how it would revolutionise how we cook, and render the conventional oven and hob redundant. I wonder how much of this is true in modern households?

When the kids were teenagers and keeping strange hours it was invaluable for reheating missed meals or defrosting prawns to chuck into instant noodles. And the ping of the microwave will be forever associated in my mind with their midnight feasts as they came home starving from the pub with friends in tow looking for anything half edible. But does anyone actually cook complete meals in them?

If we are really honest what do we use the thing for?

I remember all the cookery demonstrations in stores and the cookbooks that were published giving us instructions for making anything from sponge puddings to casseroles. But if we are really honest what do we use the thing for most? Top of my list is softening butter for cake making, melting chocolate, warming milk or coffee that's gone cold, cooking a bit of fish or some frozen peas and best of all making a quick bowl of porridge with no cruddy pan to wash up afterwards. And that's about it really, now that relay mealtimes are a thing of the past.

Converts swear by microwave zapped scrambled egg, but I find it's a bit hit and miss and prefer to stir it in a pan to get it to just the right degree of creaminess, one second either way and it's ruined for me. So does your microwave earn it's space in your kitchen? Certainly as a reheating tool it's brilliant. Memories of crusty dried up plates of supper kept warm in the oven under a saucepan lid when I was late home from school convince me of that.

Comments

Babs

25 March, 2:42PM
Babs

I do use my microwave for more than just the things you said Mary, but mine is a microwave/grill and is fabulous for jacket potates in about 20 minutes for 2 and also for browing cheese toppings without worrying that it might set on fire under the grill. Talking of cheese it also does fabulous cheese on toast. Apart from this I do use it for mince dishes, browing the mince first and the thing I like even for meat casseroles is that the juice does not evapourate. Also one of the best things for me is new potatoes with the skins left on in just a tablespoon of water water. the skins don't go tough or soggy as they can when boiling in their skins, absolutley yummy and cooked in 8-10 minutes.

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tatooinechick

25 March, 3:23PM
tatooinechick

My microwave lives in the utility room "out of the way" which surely must say how often I use it. All I use it for would be to reheat the occassional meal, defrost a vital dinner ingredient that I forgot to take out of the freezer in time and my husband once tried to heat a mincemeat pie and actually set the whole thing on fire! My sister only bought one when she was warming baby milk in the middle of the night and now that the kids are a bit older she never uses it!

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Elaine

25 March, 4:53PM
Elaine

My microwave is also in the utility room, mostly because I think it looks rather ugly, but I do use it every day to make porridge, give baked potatoes a head start and heat up soup. Never cooked a whole meal in one but do find it very useful when I've got a big meal to prepare, esp at Christmas when the hob and oven get rather congested! Have begun to wonder in these eco-conscious days whether it's a more efficient way to cook â esp when heating things up. Does anyone know?

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Sarah

25 March, 5:08PM
Sarah

I use mine for occasional porridge, rare jacket potatoes, but everyday, regularly, and spectacularly without fail as the most accurate and failsafe TIMER! Other than that its a great dust collector and prop for holding up my chopping boards. I resolutely will not use it as a de-frosting device, it always leaves things looking grey and de-frosts only very patchily - one day I will get up the courage to give it the heave-ho and buy a little egg-timer, and I will find I have some more space on my worktops!

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igglepiggle

25 March, 6:46PM
igglepiggle

I don`t use mine that much mainly for reheating if I need too. I`m only on my second microwave had my first one for 25 years..think they`ve improved

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H

26 March, 4:44PM
H

I had a microwave, but soon after moving house I realised that I used it for very little except for defrosting bread. I took the decision to throw it out and have never missed it since, that was over 5 years ago. It's a personal thing and each to their own but I have no use for one and don't like food that has been cooked in one. Especially food served in some pubs!

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Chez Coco

26 March, 7:13PM
Chez Coco

I too use it mostly for softening butter or defrosting bread. All those receipes for roasts that look really brown and others 'almost as good as the original' are just that, almost as good and often much worse! And I have yet to see the feature of a good food chef who has created a microwave only receipe and claims that it is the micro waving that gives the unique taste / texture or whatever. Would you know such a receipe, Mary? Anything recommended by you is worth a try, I reckon.

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James

26 March, 8:22PM
James

Get rid of the microwave? Are you kidding? I'd be lost. Yes defrosting (the trick is to leave it to stand for a few minutes afterwards for the food to deforst properly) but also white/ cheese sauce that doesn't burn to a pan or go lumpy, chicken casserole/ curry, pre-cooking barbecue chicken so it's not raw in the middle from the BBQ. Steamed fish cooks in seconds in the micro - a little water, cling film and full power. Pastrami melts - heat the pastrami, pickles & cheese in the micro then slide it onto toasted ciabbatta - much cleaner. My gran used to make cakes in her microwave - much faster. So much more economical to run than an oven too!

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James

26 March, 8:26PM
James

Green veg can be cooked in the microwave, again with a little water to make steam, cling film the top and put it on medium power. If it's full the veg shrivels. That way you retain more vitamins - they're not lost the way you do when boiling veg away in a pan. Soups are much easier in the microwave too. If you have some left over cooked vegetables in the fridge. Heat them in the microwave, stick them in the blender with a little hot water from your thermos & marigold stock - instant soup.

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Mary Cadogan

27 March, 9:33AM
Mary Cadogan

I've just remembered a great recipe I adapted from one given to me by a chef in Provence which was for a Chocolate Iles Flottante http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1877/chocolate-les-flotantes- where the meringue is poached in the microwave. Works a treat and much easier than faffing around with poaching the meringue in a saucepan of boiling water.

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kipperelli

27 March, 9:40AM
kipperelli

After the first time i, did it i resolutely resolved before all my gods never ever to bake a potato in it again! where's the dry fluffiness and the delicious skin not worth the money saved on power. that said I would never give up my microwave. I wish mine didn't take up the kitchen space it does but i would miss it. Softening butter for packed lunches in the morning, warming milk for hot breakfast cereals, hot choc, peas sweetcorn and broccoli always get done in it. I also use it for reheating curries, chillis etc in the container i froze them in instead of using a pan.

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diva17

27 March, 2:58PM
diva17

I don't own a microwave at the moment. We got rid of an old microwave when we moved and never replaced it! I can honestly say that I don't miss it. The only thing I used it for was jacket potatoes and porridge anyway, jacket pots are 10 times more delicious in the oven and although it is a lot easier doing porridge in the micro, it quite often used to explode and make lots of mess to clear up! So I can honestly say I don't need a microwave!

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Lucy

27 March, 3:16PM
Lucy

I have a microwave but in all honestly I hate them. I only use mine to defrost things and to cook peas. I remember coming home from work when I lived with my parents and my mum would reheat my dinner. All the once crispy things like roast potatoes or yorkshire puds became soft and soggy and the food has this horrible distingtive taste. My dad too would never do jackets pots in the oven as "they took too long". I dont eat jacket pots now as it has put me off them....sorry dad

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Annie

28 March, 10:44AM
Annie

My sister in law made some wonderful meringues in her microwave - I'm not sure how she managed it as I tried the recipe and they were a disaster. If anyone knows how to do this any tips would be welcome!

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James

28 March, 2:50PM
James

... and, well maybe terribly 70's but now we live under 5 a day it's worth a try - microwaved grapefruit, instead of grilling it. Warming them in the micro brings out more juice. The trick with jacket potatoes is to cook them i the micro then flash them under the grill to crisp up - still better than having the oven on for an hour or two. And cheese crisps - place cheese (gruyere or parmesan) in microwave on full power for abour 30 seconds. Leave to cool for a few seconds - instant cheese cheese crisps - a good pre-dinner snack.... if you're not on a diet.

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Jenni

29 March, 1:12PM
Jenni

We had a kitchen designer round and he noticed we don't have a microwave. He said, 'But how do you reheat your coffee?' and although he was being ironic, he also meant it. After quite a lot of ruminating I've decided to put one in, but have lived happily for several years without.

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Jenni

29 March, 1:33PM
Jenni

We had a kitchen designer round and he noticed we don't have a microwave. He said, 'But how do you reheat your coffee?' and although he was being ironic, he also meant it. After quite a lot of ruminating I've decided to put one in, but have lived happily for several years without.

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Duckegg

31 March, 8:01PM
Duckegg

I have a combination microwave/oven and grill and it makes the best baked spuds ever inabout 10 mins , just weigh the spud and use the jacket potato function. Fluffy in the middle with crispy skin. For that reason alone I'll keep it!

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Carol

10 April, 1:49PM
Carol

10 years ago when we had a new kitchen fitted we decided that as we never used the microwave since the girls left home we would do without. I can honestly say in 10 years I have not missed it, my daughters have though when they come with their babies and wanted to heat milk in the microwave!!! They had to do what I did when they were young, heat it in a jug of boiling water!!!! Now they never ask as they know I will never buy another one.

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Mrs. Mason-Brown

31 July, 10:29PM
Mrs. Mason-Brown

When my husband and I were renovating, we lived with only a toaster oven, a crock pot, and a microwave for 8 months! You would be surprised what you can do with a microwave. Anything requiring damp heat went in the microwave and grilling or browning was done in the toaster oven. Our hydro costs were next to nothing during this time, and really made us think when it came time to select a cooker.

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