Microwave Cooking Times
Microwaves have provided the consumer with a quick, simple way of cooking food. Most people in the modern world are busier than they have ever been, especially when both partners are working and a microwave gives them an easy way of preparing something to eat when they get home without all of the hassle of preparing a full meal. Although many people may just pop a ready meal into the microwave and give it a blast for a few minutes there are complete, nutritious meals that can be cooked from scratch with no difficulty. Meat can be cooked in the microwave, and although many people may shy away from this it need not be difficult. The benefit is microwave cooking times for meat can be significantly shorter than using a traditional oven.
Main reasons people tend not to cook their meat in a microwave include the fact it would not be brown and can look anaemic and raw, putting people off. Also, they fear the texture may be rubbery, and the main fear that it will not be cooked correctly and could cause illness. It also does not help that most people use a microwave to simply warm things up. Microwave cooking times need to take account of the type of meat that it is as well as the container that it is cooked in.
Essentially you can cook any meat in a microwave and it will be perfectly safe. There is the problem with the colour of the meat, as a microwave does not use heat to cook the meat can look pale. This is less of an issue if the meat you are cooking is to be incorporated into another dish, for example if cooking a Chinese meal you may be covering chicken or pork with a sauce, in which case the colour won’t matter. As an example, microwave cooking times for beef are approximately six minutes per pound, this can act as a rough rule for most meats but if cooking a whole chicken you will need to put half a cup of water in the container you are cooking the chicken in.
All of these microwave cooking times will need to be adjusted according to the power rating of your microwave. Microwaves are increasing in power almost every year, and although this might mean they can perform tasks quicker you will not necessarily be using the highest setting for everything that you prepare. On all microwaves you can adjust the power according to the meat you are cooking.
In any of these cases consult the manual for the appropriate microwave cooking times. An increasing amount of people are now using their microwaves for a variety of different reasons and most manuals now include detailed recipes.
