Microwave cooking is unlike any other cooking method in the kitchen. Cook’s Illustrated’s Lan Lam shows you how to get the most of your microwave with six easy recipes.
Recipes:
Best Baked Sweet Potatoes:
Caramel In The Microwave:
Microwave Frico:
Microwave-Fried Shallots:
Microwave-Fried Shallots:
Microwave-Fried Capers:
Creamy White Bean Soup with Crispy Capers:
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ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
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1:39 Microwaves can normally easily pass through the holes. The screen creates what is called a faraday cage effect, a field that contains the waves and prevents them from passing through the glass.
Awesome information!
I microwave 2 strips of pork bacon on a flat plate between paper towels at 40 % for 8 minutes.
Thank you! Love America's Test Kitchen and your video. :-D. We haven't had a microwave in years but your video will change that. I'm looking forward to trying the fried capers and shallots!
I LOVE this video. Especially the butter. I usually get watery butter even under 10 seconds. I loved the tips for frying garnishes as well. Awesome video. I like ATK so much
Every single one of these Lan Lam segments is fantastic.
Still mutates and kills food nutrition.
All I’ve got is Megatron
The most underrated button on a microwave is the one that says "Self Destruct."
Terrific demonstrations and explanations how to use micro more productively.
I have moderate ADHD, without microwave and food delivery I will starve lol. Cooking is overwhelming and my brain shuts down I'll just not eat, so microwave is a life saver! Air fryer is a close second!
Not quite…
Lan Lam is a national treasure. ‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼
Love all content from Lan Lam. One outstanding question is about reheating soup in container with lid on? Isn't there a risk of pressure building up inside? Also, does the rubber seal degrade over time, going from frozen to hot?
Another underrated reality in commentaries to videos is 'BREATHING/COMPREHENSION PAUSES! Pauses allow the brain to process information and meaning and instead of only partly cooked food, because of incorrect buttons, it is partly digested info – because the delivery of it is compacted or compressed and does a disservice to the interested listener?
An interesting note on that power button and duty cycle modulation. A magnetron is a high voltage DC device, essentially a type of vacuum tube. The traditional coil driven varieties run off big transformers that step-up mains voltage then rectify out and filter/smooth the rectified DC. This process limits the practical speed at which the tube can be switched on and start emitting. Switching it on/off a little too fast – at best – prevents the tube from reaching a steady 'on' state and – at worst – burns out the power supply. About 30 years ago, Panasonic introduced the inverter-driven microwave that doesn't use a transformer. In fact, it uses a type of power supply that's meant to be rapidly switched (on the order of about 1000 times per second). These can run at what seems to be a lower power state. They're still running it on for some time and off for some time but instead of, for instance, on for 10 seconds off for 20 seconds, it might be on for 10 milliseconds, off for 20 milliseconds. It really reduces burnt edges and helps prevent some parts boiling while other parts still frozen kinds of results.
I do sweet potatoes in the pressure cooker. I find microwave s dry them and make mealy. Imo but I use to reheat and defrost
Bravo, Thank You
Wonderful Video
"The Finest Kind"
This is why I don't have a microwave with buttons cause they're a ** nightmare have a microwave with dials they're cheaper and it's easier to set your power level and your timer.
Great video; however, 45 seconds at 50% melted some of a cup of butter. Check microwave’s wattage and start at 30 seconds and go from there.
How are people so stupid these days they need a video on how microwaves work. WTF, zero hope for humanitiy.
All I can say is… Wow and thank you for sharing your tips , this certainly safe a lot of my time prepping food.
Why are they bent in JAPAN AND CHINA ???????????
This is a VERY well-done video; however, one should never microwave with a plastic lid on top (bean soup). Google it-gasses are dangerous.
Is there any kind of cooking oil you shouldn't heat in a microwave?
Love This Demo By Lan! Just Need @nycgomo212 to view it!
Disappointed she didn’t mention inverter microwave ovens.
First class lecture. I couldnt have said it better myself, if I knew what the lecturer surely knows ,on the subject.
Unless they have improved the mesh on the doors, the microwaves can pass through a bit. When I was pregnant, everytime I would go near a microwave oven that was doing its thing, my baby would start doing gymnastics and stop when I backed away from the oven about 5 feet. Maybe it was the magnetron itself being on. There is something that interferes with pacemakers and makes foetuses panicky!
My favourite is cooking rice basmati
Really helpful. Thank you. Great explanations that have opened my eyes
I learned something new. Great ideas for shortcuts.
Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to change my microwaves level from 100%
Great episode. Please do more on garnishes to bump up dishes via microwave, airfryer, pan, etc. THANK YOU
I find the fast defrost cycle for 3-5 seconds softens butter. No longer than 5 sec.
Thank you for this! It is certainly very informative.
Thanks ATK
I really appreciated Lam’a knowledgeable and understandable explanation of how microwaves work. I had never thought about using my microwave to fry up garnishes! Thanks!
How do you defrost frozen slices of bread
How do you cook a soft poached egg
been using power button, but never thought that it can deep fry. wow
Great video, I learned a lot. Some I knew, but most I didn't. WELL DONE!
My favorite microwave technique is the perfect poached egg. 100ml of water in a small bowl, break the egg into it, use a toothpick to pierce the yolk in four places. Add another 100ml of water. Place covered in microwave on high for 1 minute 10 seconds (time varies by size of eggs and how soft you like the yolk) then let sit after removing for about 30 seconds. Lift out with a spoon, perfectly cooked, serve and enjoy on hot toast.
Microwave is not giving toy healthy food folks.
Go back to basics.
Cook from scratch .organic.
The United states is the unhealthiest country
I can't believe it i always thought it heated from the inside first.
Had 4 microwaves here in the last 10 years. I don't use them much just to warm up liquids. They all broke with weeks of each other recently. Brand new, hardly used but broken.
One: the base does not spin round. One of them the door handle broke.
Bad luck l suppose.
Honestly besides an electric kettle, microwaves are some of the most important kitchen items to own. I freeze veggies and rice, being able to heat up those components for dishes is crucial in my cooking. My microwave broke and it put a major dent into my drive to cook.
Few years ago I heard a report in microwaves that claimed that they destroy some if they health benefits of food.
An experiment was done using tap water in a plant and microwave water on a plant. The plant using microwave water died vs the plant watered from the tap. That did it for me.
"Annie Potatoes"?
Is this a product, a company, a person, or is it maybe Belfast pronunciation of "Any…." ?
Awesome explaination!!!