For convenience in cooking , a microwave oven oven can be tough to ticktack . The vulgar kitchen appliance , enclose forresidential habit in the 1950s , can cut down on the time and the electrical energy necessary to cook or reheat food . And lately we seem to be unduly focused on them . ( See our article5 Reasons People Still Refuse to Own a Microwave . )
But despite its many benefit , can a microwave oven oven equalize its other cooking opposite number in all way ? Frozen dinners and revitalized oatmeal are one thing . A prime cut of beef cattle , often consider a paragon of traditional cooking method , is quite another . On a stovetop ? Sure . In an oven ? You bet . On anoutdoor grill?Mais oui . But can a microwave oven cook asteakto a perfect medium - rare ?
Adiscussionon the online nutrient forum ChefTalk spans six years , with little consensus aside from a shared sense of outrage , disgust and perplexment . Though other precision- and science - base cooking techniques — sous vide and variousmolecular gastronomyapproaches , for example — have captured the imagination of professional cooks , microwave oven cookery has not .
" I have never attempted to cook a steak in a microwave , " say EJ Hodgkinson , the executive chef ofKing + Duke , a meat - focused eating place in Atlanta , Georgia . " I did once see a chef habituate a microwave to manipulate a steak to well - done , after removing it from the grille . I promptly resigned from my position with that restaurant . "
How Microwaves Cook
If you ’re going to consider test to cook a steak to medium - rare in a microwave , it ’s important to knowhow a microwave oven works . On the electromagnetic spectrum , microwaves sit between tuner waves and infrared irradiation . water system , fats and sugar engross wave in this frequence . microwave oven excite the substances ' molecule , producing warmth . The saw that microwaves cook " from the inside out " is n’t exactly true ; microwaves do fathom deep than the surface of a intellectual nourishment , but they have difficultness going cryptical than an inch or so . ( mean of how a nuke beverage can be piping hot on the outside but still just warm in the centre . )
microwave oven ovens also cook intellectual nourishment unevenly and unpredictably — a factor jolly palliate by microwave with go around plates , or cutting nutrient to little , even - sized pieces , and the form of thing you ’d want to avoid if looking for an even , uniform average - rare .
" Proteins like steak welfare from acute exterior heat , both in the caramelization of the protein , and the texture achieved in proper formulation . The welfare of cooking on grills and unresolved fire are vast , though I may be a little one-sided , " Hodgkinson aver . ( His restaurant cooks its " New American " fare over an open wood - burn fireside . ) " Cooking over wood and charcoal specifically gives a profoundness of flavor that is at the same time unequalled , and nostalgic . Proteins and vegetable alike take on tremendous characteristics when treated / rig suitably over exposed flaming . "
No Other Options?
That said , if a microwave is your only option , you may not be wholly out of luck . " The New Magic of Microwave Cookbook , " published in the food - nuke heyday of 1978,suggests using a browning dishor grill pan designed for a microwave oven , which can mime some of the exterior Robert Browning achieve through traditional preparation . The scheme involve preheating a browning dish in the microwave oven for seven minutes , then rate an 8 - ounce ( 226 gram ) rib - eye steak on the denture , misrepresent on high for 1 minute , flipping the steak and cooking for another moment , or more if want . The cookbook also recommend limiting the steak ’s thickness to no more than three - quarters of an inch ( 1.9 cm ) and using a room - temperature piece of meat . A2016 Foodbeast recipesuggests a similar method but instead purport using the medium stage setting on a microwave oven ( for succulence purposes ) .
And the website Microwave Master Cheftestedcooking two similar swing of meat , one in a microwave and one in a pan . The conclusion ? " Microwave steak wins if you require the nub well done powerful through , without charring the open . If you like it pink then just use the pan alone . "
So while it ’s not potential that a microwave steak will be identical to a pan - fried or grilled one , one thing ’s for certain — if medium - uncommon is n’t your matter , and you like a steak well - done and perhapswith tomato ketchup , microwave away !
