Microwave

Hi guys, 

Reading random blogs and random post around there is some buzz about the ole' microwave. What are your guys thoughts? Do you think the microwave is a good way to cook food for nutrient retention? Will you start using it? What about food texture and flavor of your food? 

Heres my take: The stuff I have read they selectively chose heat sensitive nutrients (Vit C) that respond negatively to heat, so when compared to direct heat cooking, microwaved food may have more Vitamin C but what about the proteins, fats and the not heat sensitive nutrients? What if they did the study with tomatoes? Direct heat would increase lycopene so the microwave would loose in that one. Further, texture and flavor is everything in heathy eating. I mean if you know how to cook (My wife is French chef trained) then you can make things like asparagus taste incredible! But you need to know cooking techniques that can not be done in the microwave. In the long term race on nutrition I think the ability to transform rather basic meals into something great is what keeps you eating the right way or it can break you. Taste fatigue is the #2 reason why people fail diets. So I am against the microwave. 

Interesting topic Jeff...

The microwave sucks for cooking food.

In college, it was my staple method, but now I have a taste of the various, enjoyable activities involved with procuring real food.

Over the last 5 years, my wife and I have taken on food preperation as a self-trained hobby of sorts.

In this adventure we have seen the excitement of the unknowns that come with fermentation, baking, curing: hoping the cultured, counter top yogurt, sauerkraut in the basement, or my 100% rye sourdough bread from our live culture will actually turn out each time. The long, slow process for making jerky from wild game, or homemade bone broths are enjoyeable. The various methods for preparing meat, raw, braised, or seared, the various forms of preparing greens/veggies raw or cooked, foraging wild berries: eatin whole, pureed, heated to sauce, or dehydrated to fruit leather. All forms of the physical preparation of the meal (which requires physical activity and sometimes sweat) makes for 50% of its enjoyment. Oh, and my favorite food preperation method coming up in 2 months: backyard maple syruping, carmelizing the sugars from the harvested sap outside over burning wood.

Overall, I use the microwave for speed when fast food is the alternative.

In general, the microwave lacks inspiration, if that makes sense, compared to all the various methods of food preperation.

Using the microwave to 'cook' food? I would hope not. I do use to reheat food, simply because reheating it on the stove takes more time and more clean-up. I have read that using microwaves could be bad for the nutrient count of your food, though, that could just be pseudo-science. Regardless, I don't cook anything in the microwave, because any food that can be 'cooked' in the microwave isn't likely something that I should be eating anyways. If we're talking reheating well, that comes down to the availability of time in one's schedule.

I've cooked stuff in the microwave, like oatmeal, there's nothing wrong with that, I suppose?

Microwaved water kills houseplants and all food we eat contains some % of water. Enough for me.

The microwave is convenient, even excellent, for heating stuff, but that's about it.

I struggle to find uses for it beyond that, and it tends to give veggies/meat/bread an unsavoury, gooey consistency.

If I want to steam a few veggies quickly, I just toss them in a pot with potatoes or rice that I've got boiling anyway, for about a minute prior to serving.

Domz said:

Would you be able to provide reference(s)? I am sincerely curious.

My thinking is that: 1) if I microwaved water and poured that boiling water onto a plant, ya, I'd expect the plant to die. (I presume they let it cool down though), 2) Humans are not plants, 3) if microwaves are so dangerous for food preparation, why have we not heard more about this outside of sources like Weston A Price...

Microwaved water does not kill plants.

Here's one of many articles that comes with a simple google search about the subject. http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp

Following article claims that microwaving does not break down nutrients any more than with other methods of heating.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/microwave-cooking-and-nutrition

Whaureb, the article you posted says

"Some nutrients break down when they’re exposed to heat, whether it is from a microwave or a regular oven. Vitamin C is perhaps the clearest example. But because microwave cooking times are shorter, cooking with a microwave does a better job of preserving vitamin C and other nutrients that break down when heated."

I find that to be an extremely manipulative statement because anything that produces heat reduces overall vitamin C content. Why did they not study a broad spectrum(maybe they did and their not talking about it) of nutrients that are and are not heat sensitive? But, thanks for the reference. - Cheers

Ryan Bailey - Dude! You are like Leonardo Dicaprio in The Revenant out there killing bears and making jackets and food out of them. Right on! - Let me get one of the claws? 

Ravn - I agree, it sure is convenient but no other real value. 

It's a tool: good for some things, bad for others. Used appropriately, it's fine.

Used inappropriately, you can make ball lightning, and I think maybe a van de Graff machine, but you won't have a microwave anymore if you do that.

Ryan Bailey said:

Interesting topic Jeff...

The microwave sucks for cooking food.

In college, it was my staple method, but now I have a taste of the various, enjoyable activities involved with procuring real food.

Over the last 5 years, my wife and I have taken on food preperation as a self-trained hobby of sorts.

In this adventure we have seen the excitement of the unknowns that come with fermentation, baking, curing: hoping the cultured, counter top yogurt, sauerkraut in the basement, or my 100% rye sourdough bread from our live culture will actually turn out each time. The long, slow process for making jerky from wild game, or homemade bone broths are enjoyeable. The various methods for preparing meat, raw, braised, or seared, the various forms of preparing greens/veggies raw or cooked, foraging wild berries: eatin whole, pureed, heated to sauce, or dehydrated to fruit leather. All forms of the physical preparation of the meal (which requires physical activity and sometimes sweat) makes for 50% of its enjoyment. Oh, and my favorite food preperation method coming up in 2 months: backyard maple syruping, carmelizing the sugars from the harvested sap outside over burning wood.

Overall, I use the microwave for speed when fast food is the alternative.

In general, the microwave lacks inspiration, if that makes sense, compared to all the various methods of food preperation.

Damn it, Ryan.  Now you have me inspired.

Except I live in Arizona and would be doomed to an eternal diet of rattle snake eggs, javelina jerky and cactus needle tea.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

My simple take on microwaves stems largely from its uneven heat distribution. Generally with regard to cooking you want to control exactly where the heat is, and also where it isn't. Let me give you an example.

Classic French cooking went ridiculously insane in how to properly cook an egg. The basic premise is when cooking an egg is provide just enough heat to get it to set but never anything more than that. Which lead to many iterations of trying to carefully cook it. From that we got very low temperature scrambled eggs ( its my favorite way to make eggs), poaching, Hollandaise, ice cream, and creme brule', as examples of this cooking principle. In all cases the minimum amount of heat is applied but never any more than is necessary. If you went over on your eggs they were essentially a ruined, tough, rubbery disaster. French chef's also went crazy with attempts at trying to minimize "too much heat", i.e. cooking eggs in a double broiler.

This is where we get back to the microwave. You have so little control over the heat and where it comes from, more often than not you burn the outside while the inside stays cold, even with stirring, even with the turntable. You absolutely crush whatever food you have in there by providing way too much heat in all the wrong places. This gives you little opportunity to protect whatever worthwhile heat sensitive nutrients are in your food. The temperatures they are subjected to increase their chance for denaturation.

My last point is you would never use the microwave on any food that is considered high value,  Nice rack of lamb? Great piece of tuna? Really expensive olive oil? Truffles? Foie Gras? See my point?
This is a crude and convenient machine that is only popular because its easier than actually learning how to cook.

For purposes of respecting the food you eat, and what you put inside of you, I would strongly suggest minimizing microwave usage.

Respect yourself and your time. Understand the tools you have available and in which context each tool is appropriate. There is no need to dirty a pan and wait 15 minutes for the oven to preheat and another 10 to 15 for your food to heat up when you're trying to cook last wednesday's leftovers for lunch.

vinca_minor said:

Respect yourself and your time. Understand the tools you have available and in which context each tool is appropriate. There is no need to dirty a pan and wait 15 minutes for the oven to preheat and another 10 to 15 for your food to heat up when you're trying to cook last wednesday's leftovers for lunch.

Microwaves damage the proteins, I thought it was rubbish until I noticed horrific constipation mixed with diarrhea I got after reheating chicken and other proteinous food in a microwave.

Now I stick to ovens and I won't use a microwave for anything now at all.

I'd say that if it's already "prepared" but needs to be re-heated, microwave's are good in that sense. If it's raw, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're desperate. 

For most people the "power" button on the microwave is like the rings in my local gymnastics facility. Everyone knows it's there, but no one ever used them until I showed up. Take an extra minute on your cook time and turn the power down to 5 or 6 out of 10, people! You may have to wait an extra minute but when you're not just blindly nuking your food it's worth it.