• Slatlun
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    2 years ago

    1L of water boils in 3.5 min in my microwave. The microwave reheats leftovers and can cook certain food well. I don’t have an electric kettle because I already have an appliance that out performs it. The only downside is that it offends my friends from tea centric countries.

    • Stoned_Ape
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 years ago

      A electric kettle is still a bit better than a microwave, but if you already own a microwave, I guess the energy used to make the kettle can be higher than the energy difference for some time.

    • angarabebesi
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      Heating tea in a microwave oven sounds disgusting.

        • Stoned_Ape
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 years ago

          That’s pretty much the only reason why people don’t like microwaves… because all the other people don’t like them.

          • guojing
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            2 years ago

            Microwaves are all-around quite bad compared to a pan or pot. They are just faster, but that comes at a price in taste. Not worth it imo.

            • Slatlun
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              2 years ago

              You’re half right. Anything that you want browning on cannot be cooked in a microwave. Anything you would just give a short steam you can. Just need to understand the tool and its uses. High end restaurants use a microwave as part of normal dinner service (they pull out the dinging bell so you don’t notice though).

              • guojing
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                2 years ago

                That could explain why I dont like high-end restaurants.

            • Stoned_Ape
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              2 years ago

              Pans and pots are at the same time quite bad compared to an oven. At least if you want somethink baked. But that’s of course an unfair comparison, because the methods and wanted results are completely different.

              A microwave is not something that can do EVERYTHING better. Nobody ever said that.

    • Peter1986c
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 years ago

      I never tried tea from microwaved water, but according to rumours it makes the tea taste “off”. Microwave ovens are also taking up more space, so unless you have got one already for different reasons than boiling water it would make more sense to use an electric kettle or just the stove if it is a modern (induction) one anyway.

      • Slatlun
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 years ago

        I have heard the taste thing too (and some nonsense about radiation). Try it an have someone randomize the tasting for you. I did that and couldn’t choose the microwaved water reliably. Your sense of taste might be better than mine though.

        You’re right that it takes up more space and it would make no sense if you only use it for boiling water. For me it is more versatile and worth the space.

    • krolden
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 years ago

      When you microwave water you also get all that grease and whatever is in the microwave. It all vaporizes a little bit and settles on the top of your water. Unless you have a perfectly clean microwave.

      Yuck

      • Stoned_Ape
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 years ago

        A normally cleaned microwave is significantly more hygienic than the normally cleaned kitchen. There’s all kinds of stuff flying around everywhere, and almost none of it is bad for you.

        • guojing
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 years ago

          If there is vaporized oil in your kitchen, you have a serious problem

        • krolden
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 years ago

          I didn’t say it was bad for you I said it tastes bad.

      • Slatlun
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 years ago

        I suppose that could be true. I don’t clean my microwave much and have never noticed a problem. If it is a problem for water it would be a problem for anything you put in there.

        • Arthur BesseA
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 years ago

          try this: microwave some water, then let it cool to room temperature, and then drink it. does it not taste different than room-temperature water that hasn’t been in your microwave?

          • Slatlun
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            In addition to plain room temp tap water I will compare it to a different heating method. For me that will be stove top. I will edit this with results when the water cools.

            Background: I decided to take this up because things are easier to taste at room temperature than if they’re hot or cold. My previous comparison was done with hot tea and this seems like a better straight up control even if it doesn’t directly reflect the real world use.

            Method: I used unfiltered city water that is pretty average - not hard or anything like that. I brought it to just a boil with each method then left to come to room temperature. I tasted and so did my roommate. I marked the glasses and they mixed them up so neither of us knew which was which.

            Results: There was a definite difference between boiled and not. Both boiled had a slight drying feel compared to straight from the tap and left to come up to room temp. There was an extremely slight difference between stove and microwave. The stove tasted a tiny bit flatter/blander and the microwave tasted a little more minerally. We could only find the differences by tasting very, very closely and I thought the flatter tasting one was going to be the microwave. Both of us would rather drink the straight tap water than boiled and cooled water.

            Conclusions: For my use case the taste difference is so insignificant that it doesn’t matter. It is also only a difference and not a better/worse judgement. I could probably do more to help the taste of my water by adding a filter than by adding a kettle.

            Further research: I would be curious to see how the trial plays out in areas with hard water. The mineral taste from the microwave might be stronger in an area with a higher mineral content in the water to begin with.