Just from a practical perspective: use your microwave as rarely as possible! Leftovers can be really amazing - sometimes as good or better than the original dish - but only when heated properly!
One massive exception: reheating coffee. Don’t leave your coffee maker on with a pot there. It will burn your coffee unless you agitate it frequently, which let’s be real, none of us is doing. It’s better to just turn your pot off as soon as the pot is done filling. Want more coffee in an hour? Microwave it. Why? Microwaves work by exciting water molecules. Your coffee will warm up very quickly this way, so go in short bursts and/or lower the power setting. This works for other similar liquids too, like heating up broth before adding it to whatever you’re cooking. Just don’t overdo it in the microwave because it will overflow if you aren’t careful!
Very good point! Microwaves are really the only way to reheat coffee. It’s not as good as just finishing the cup before it gets cold in the first place, but it’s miles ahead of every other option.
Not to disagree, but I find many people don’t know how to use their microwave. There are 10 power settings. Most microwaves allow you to do two settings at once. Just like we don’t put everything in the oven at 450° we don’t need to cook everything on the 10th power in a microwave.
Especially in this summer a microwave makes a huge difference in energy usage and also cuts down on adding extra heat in the house.
So while you’re not wrong about things tasting better being reheated in other ways besides the microwave, we also need to learn how to use our microwaves.
But… Why? What is “heating properly”? I heat almost anything in the microwave and it works perfectly, tastes just like any other way to heat stuff up. Most of the time it even works better, since it heats more evenly than almost any other method.
A microwave will heat stuff unevenly most of the time. You can get it to be better with hacks like changing the power setting and using a wet paper towel, but the evenness of heating will always be better on the stove or in the oven.
In addition, you can have more control over important variables like salt and moisture content if you don’t use the microwave. Lots of food… especially meats like chicken, will dry out to hell in a microwave. By switching to a stove or oven you can rekindle the original flavor and texture.
Lastly skipping the microwave allows you to heat stuff in a more modular way. If I was reheating a pasta with grilled chicken, I would get a better result 100% of the time if I start the chicken on the stove and then add the pasta later. You get a browning effect on the chicken and you can more easily time how done it needs to be before the pasta is added.
Weird, you seem to be having a completely different experience from me. Maybe because of “be better with hacks like changing the power setting”? I never considered this a hack, I just use like a middle to low power setting on the dial, arrange the food evenly on the plate, set it in there for 5 minutes or so and everything’s basically the exact same again as if I had just cooked it.
Even chicken. I mean sure, if you blast it full force and heat it up to more than consuming temperature (40°C/100°F) of course it will dry out, but you can just… not do that. If you put chicken in the pan with too much heat you also dry it out.
The difference for me is literally just a few seconds of work instead of a few minutes.: doing it in the pan/oven takes a few minutes of me being there, then I also have to clean the pan, versus I arrange it on a plate, put it in the microwave, go do something else for a few minutes, then I eat.
Just from a practical perspective: use your microwave as rarely as possible! Leftovers can be really amazing - sometimes as good or better than the original dish - but only when heated properly!
One massive exception: reheating coffee. Don’t leave your coffee maker on with a pot there. It will burn your coffee unless you agitate it frequently, which let’s be real, none of us is doing. It’s better to just turn your pot off as soon as the pot is done filling. Want more coffee in an hour? Microwave it. Why? Microwaves work by exciting water molecules. Your coffee will warm up very quickly this way, so go in short bursts and/or lower the power setting. This works for other similar liquids too, like heating up broth before adding it to whatever you’re cooking. Just don’t overdo it in the microwave because it will overflow if you aren’t careful!
Very good point! Microwaves are really the only way to reheat coffee. It’s not as good as just finishing the cup before it gets cold in the first place, but it’s miles ahead of every other option.
Not to disagree, but I find many people don’t know how to use their microwave. There are 10 power settings. Most microwaves allow you to do two settings at once. Just like we don’t put everything in the oven at 450° we don’t need to cook everything on the 10th power in a microwave. Especially in this summer a microwave makes a huge difference in energy usage and also cuts down on adding extra heat in the house.
So while you’re not wrong about things tasting better being reheated in other ways besides the microwave, we also need to learn how to use our microwaves.
But… Why? What is “heating properly”? I heat almost anything in the microwave and it works perfectly, tastes just like any other way to heat stuff up. Most of the time it even works better, since it heats more evenly than almost any other method.
A microwave will heat stuff unevenly most of the time. You can get it to be better with hacks like changing the power setting and using a wet paper towel, but the evenness of heating will always be better on the stove or in the oven.
In addition, you can have more control over important variables like salt and moisture content if you don’t use the microwave. Lots of food… especially meats like chicken, will dry out to hell in a microwave. By switching to a stove or oven you can rekindle the original flavor and texture.
Lastly skipping the microwave allows you to heat stuff in a more modular way. If I was reheating a pasta with grilled chicken, I would get a better result 100% of the time if I start the chicken on the stove and then add the pasta later. You get a browning effect on the chicken and you can more easily time how done it needs to be before the pasta is added.
Weird, you seem to be having a completely different experience from me. Maybe because of “be better with hacks like changing the power setting”? I never considered this a hack, I just use like a middle to low power setting on the dial, arrange the food evenly on the plate, set it in there for 5 minutes or so and everything’s basically the exact same again as if I had just cooked it.
Even chicken. I mean sure, if you blast it full force and heat it up to more than consuming temperature (40°C/100°F) of course it will dry out, but you can just… not do that. If you put chicken in the pan with too much heat you also dry it out.
The difference for me is literally just a few seconds of work instead of a few minutes.: doing it in the pan/oven takes a few minutes of me being there, then I also have to clean the pan, versus I arrange it on a plate, put it in the microwave, go do something else for a few minutes, then I eat.