uniformly warm with no dried out tough parts.
While she was there, she had a number of other tips
for me as well, and as I talked with other Perdue people, I
collected still more. By now, knowing a few little tricks
about the microwave, I know how to make much better use of
it. Because of the time it saves in cooking, and the time
it saves in clean-up (no baked on bits of food to scrub), I
use the microwave about as often as my oven.
Tips for Using Your Microwave
_The best microwave tip I know is, learn about
the "cold spots" in your microwave so you don't end up with
unevenly cooked chicken. To learn your microwave's "cold
spots," line the bottom of your microwave oven with wax
paper and then spread an eighth-inch layer of pancake
batter over it. Turn the oven on HIGH, and then check it at
30 second intervals. At some point, (in my case after a
minute and a half), you'll see that in some places the
batter is dried out and hard, while in others, it's still
soupy, as if the heat hadn't touched it. Once I made this
check, I gained an immense respect for the fact that
microwaves don't necessarily cook evenly, and I've made
sure to compensate ever since by stirring or turning foods
as directed in microwave recipes.
_Do not use utensils with metal trim (including the
gold trim on fine china), handle clamps, or fastening
screws. Metal trim can cause arcing (sparking). Aluminum
foil, in small amounts on the other hand, won't cause
arcing in most microwaves as long as it doesn't touch the
sides of the oven.
_The coverings used in microwave cooking have definite