If your food is unevenly heated it’s probably because you need to adjust the cook time and power settings. Heating it longer at a lower power setting will let the heat spread more evenly.
Alternatively, check your microwave’s wattage. I always have to adjust microwave instructions to be about 10% longer because my apartment’s microwave is weaker than companies assume the standard microwave is.
✨ May better heated microwave food await you ✨
Yeah, once I started playing with power level settings, it was like night and day with cooking in the microwave.
Except the food has localized concentrations of oil, fat or water or differences on overall density.
That’s why you lower the power. Leave enough time for entropy to distribute the heat before dumping more energy into the food. The more heterogenous the food is, the more you need to lower the power (down to maybe even 200-400 W for mixed leftovers). And make sure all your foodstuffs are touching each other to allow heat to homogenize.
“How about I just heat the plate instead dipshit?”
But why’s it gotta be hotter than the runaway nuclear reaction at Chernobyl?
My plates always stay cold lol
In the kitchen it hums with delight,
A mischievous microwave, quite a sight.
With a twist of its dial, a dance begins,
Uneven warmth, where chaos wins.
With a flicker and a sarcastic hum,
Microwave, oh marvel, where chaos is spun.
A promise of warmth, a comedic jest,
In your reheating quest, you give us the rest.
Wavelengths oh do cancel when a crest and a trough
Do meet one another and, energy, not enough
Yet center the plate, or a bowl, it’s your choice
So the food spins round the high points and molecules, excited, rejoice
magical energy, technological wonder,
Could my reheating choice perhaps be a blunder?
My mind races, my feelings are mixed;
Lasagna like magma with ice patches betwixt.
I’ll bet 99% of the people who bitch bout this only use HI power .
I just started doubling time and using half power. It works sooo much better!
I can take a McDonalds cheeseburger thats been in the fridge for three days and nuke it to like it was just handed over the counter fresh by using 20-30% power for 4 minutes
This is because all microwaves have terrible UI/UX. If you are supposed to use less than 100% then why do I have to hit 9 buttons every time I want to use less than 100% power? And only 1 button to use 100% power for a variety of different settings.
Why is it not you hit Cook, then enter Power, then enter time? Like every single other stove in existence
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I usually just use high power. I should try this sometime, although I don’t tend to have issues with stuff having cold spots. Something I think that helps is stirring stuff half way through and letting it sit for a min after it’s done.
Rotating microwaves do a lot better of a job to avoid hot spots.
But it won’t do anything to avoid overheating some parts to rubber by overheating or heating too fast.
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No, if you’re using high power for anything longer than like 20 seconds to nuke a coffee or something, you’re microwaving wrong.
Most things are 👌 3:00 @ Power Level 6 (60% on, 40% off)
Yup, totally agree. Changed my microwaving habits a few years back. 3 minutes at about 600 watts works like a charm for just about everything. Add a minute or so if you’re heating soup or something else with a lot of mass/water.
I always did 2 minutes at maximum power previously and it was always like the surface of the sun on the outside and cold on the inside.
Mine only got 3 settings + thawing. Let me overclock this sucker to 200%.
microwave “power” changes are only on and off in intervals.
Not if you use an inverter microwave.
Among the other suggestions people have made in this thread, I’d like to add that just covering something and allowing the food to steam-heat makes a big difference. For instance I will usually poke a well in the middle of leftovers, put a tiny bit of water in (especially with rice, which dries out) and cover it with a plate. The water boils and heats it much better.
Great suggestion.
On a side note look into eating left over rice.
Yeah, aluminium foil as cover does sparking wonders in that regard!
Hey Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today
PROTIP: Whenever possible, shape/place the food you’re heating like a donut. ( O )
Microwaves need to penetrate the food; if it’s a big lump, it’s hard to reach the stuff in the middle. By using a “donut” shape, you are creating more surface area, and spreading out the “middle” so it’s easier for microwaves to reach all the parts of the food equally
Microwave ovens were a tech ahead of their time. It’s crazy how incredibly little these have evolved though decade after decade.
I don’t normally stop for “cute” but this one got me. It’s super cute.
Don’t inverter microwaves solve this problem?
I thought it was the metal fan in front of the magnetron that scattered and randomized the microwaves so there aren’t any hotspots.
Inverter microwaves allow you to change the power level without duty cycling
There’s nothing a bit of inverting the polarity can’t fix!
Not directly, but they improve the low-power modes substantially, and using the low-power modes for longer times is the solution. Inverters aren’t strictly needed, but they do make it better.
Some have sensors that will really help heat food evenly and will adjust times and power levels depending on what you’re doing. Most are just default cook times, but if you haven’t tried it out, it’s worth it.
I watched a video the other day discussing the sensors in some Microwaves for popping popcorn. Most lower end units don’t have these sensors but the ones that do, can actually make pretty good popcorn.
TechnologyConnections is pretty dope
Thanks, I couldn’t recall the name of the channel. He does some great content. I never cared about microwaves because I don’t use them, but I found myself watching a couple of long videos he did on them none the less.
America’s Test Kitchen will help you care
tl;dw: Learn to use the power settings to let heat defuse through the food during the process.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
America’s Test Kitchen will help you care
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I watched that same video, and it inspired me to upgrade my microwave game. I’ve had the same one for like a decade and it sucked. New one has all the bells / whistles and does air frying too. It’s night and day compared to the old one
You guys need an airfryer in your life.
I just got an air fryer and find that the food is cold in the middle but the rest is cooked. What am I doing wrong?
How am I going to airfry a soup?
(With that said I have an air frier)
Thawing the pizza? of course that one edge has to be half done while we’re at it!
lmao!
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@MicroWave@lemmy.world, care to comment on your creative process?
Spinny plate and letting it sit afterwards
