Our microwave oven died on Christmas Eve, and I ended up getting one of those newer flatbed ones. The novelty of putting something in there and watching it not rotate has not worn off yet.
Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
41–50 of 64 posts
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
We can measure weight using a scale. We can make a solid guess at volume using visible light and a rotating view (already provided by the unfortunately-common carousels), with a bit of CV and math. We can therefore deduce density. We can measure outside temperature using IR. And we can measure the power put into the things being microwaved. And we can also measure the temperature and humidity of the air that is exhau…
Agree. I think 90% if people use their microwave to reheat leftovers or cook pre-packaged meals. All they need is a timer. And I'd prefer a dial to a keypad. My wife bought a countertop convection oven that has nearly 100 pre-defined cooking programs and 10 different "quick set" buttons. How do we actually use it? Set a temperature and time. With a dial. Could have be so much simpler.
I use mine mostly for warming up shitty frozen burritos.
It has an inverter and a humidity sensor and 20 or so different preset buttons that use them, with sub permutations.
None of them work well at the job of warming up two shitty frozen burritos.
What does work well is this: One minute at power 10, and 3 minutes at power 3.
When others see me programming this in they think I'm a madman, and sometimes they even audibly question my sanity.
And I'm not sure that they're wrong.
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The microwave I grew up with had a mechanical timer knob (with a simple mechanical bell), a second knob to set duty cycle (probably borrowed from an electric range), and a start button.
It worked fine. I like being able to program things, but I'm usually standing right there anyway so I'm perfectly capable of turning the duty cycle knob down after about a minute passes and getting the same results that I do today.
(And that method did in fact work fine back then, too, even though people also thought I was crazy when they'd see me doing that)
And for bonus nachos: The timer also worked perfectly as a simple mechanical kitchen timer. Just give it a twist, avoid the start button, and it spins down until it goes "Ding!".
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#43I wonder if there’s a market for a microwave with an IR camera and AI to estimate food weight and thermal conductivity. With accurate heat tracking, it’d only need a button to open the door and no knobs.
IR sensors aren't reliable if there is a lot of water vapour coming off the food (it measures the temperature of the water vapour). Great for oil and other dry heat (but again beware, with shiny metal they tend to measure the mirror image of what's reflected by the metal, not the metal itself). These effects are more visible using an actual thermal camera.
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#44If you're screwing around with microwave sources, I'll pass on a warning I got from one of my profs.
Microwaves will heat your body up, but in a relatively harmless way. e.g. If you microwave your hands a bit, blood flow will transfer that heat out and things will remain pretty okay unless you really overdo it.
Your eyes are an exception. They're orbs of aqueous humor that's mostly water, but have relatively little blood flow when compared to most other tissues in the body. Microwaves will heat them up, but bloodflow won't distribute the heat away quickly. Protect your eyes around microwave sources.
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agree. I think 90% if people use their microwave to reheat leftovers or cook pre-packaged meals. All they need is a timer. And I'd prefer a dial to a keypad. My wife bought a countertop convection oven that has nearly 100 pre-defined cooking programs and 10 different "quick set" buttons. How do we actually use it? Set a temperature and time. With a dial. Could have be so much simpler.
>to reheat leftovers or cook pre-packaged meals There was some experimentation early on--I even have a microwave cookbook--but, outside of some vegetables, very few people actually try to cook using one. And, yeah, I don't know the last time I did anything other than set time. I rarely even do anything other than full power. I do use the popcorn setting from time to time but even that is pretty much unnecessary if yo…
My parents used to cook taco meat and bacon in the microwave.
It worked OK-ish.
It's hard to actually get the Maillard process going in a microwave with a couple of pounds of ground cow, so proper browning wasn't a thing.
They'd just put the moo into a glass mixing bowl, turn the machine on, and give it rigorous toss with a wooden spoon every couple of minutes. Ground beef crumbles were the result.
For bacon, we had a special angled plastic tray with drainage slots for the grease. They'd layer up bacon separated by paper towels, and start the machine.
This worked better than the taco meat did, in my opinion, but it still sucked because picking little bits of greasy, stuck paper towels off of hot bacon is annoying.
I've never done either of these methods myself, because I naturally want to do things better than they did. In my adult life, ground taco meat goes in a skillet on the stove (and uses a cheap wire potato masher to break it up), and bacon goes in the oven on a sheet pan.
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know someone who worked at a failed startup that attempted almost exactly this minus the AI. It used an IR camera paired with a secret method to beam form the microwaves to uniformly heat the food no matter how it was dispersed across a plate. This means you could have a pile of water rich vegetables and a steak on a plate and it would heat evenly. It worked great nut IIRC the issue that caused it to fail was calib…
This one? https://www.eater.com/2015/2/11/8022235/never-burn-popcorn-a...
No, but that is a neat idea!
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#47If anyone has a school-age child needing a science experiment, my niece created a list of various items and what she expected their behavior to be in a microwave at different cooking times.
And then tested her hypothesis in a cheap microwave (out in the yard in case of explosions), documenting what happened with photos and making a conclusion for each. She got top scores from the teacher for following the scientific method.
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#48Put a burning candle in there https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24081775/Candle-i...
I read somewhere that you can place a candle under a bowl (with allowance for oxygen to get in) and you can capture the plasma given off by the candle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5BFIVDUQPE
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
>to reheat leftovers or cook pre-packaged meals There was some experimentation early on--I even have a microwave cookbook--but, outside of some vegetables, very few people actually try to cook using one. And, yeah, I don't know the last time I did anything other than set time. I rarely even do anything other than full power. I do use the popcorn setting from time to time but even that is pretty much unnecessary if yo…
My parents used to cook taco meat and bacon in the microwave. It worked OK-ish. It's hard to actually get the Maillard process going in a microwave with a couple of pounds of ground cow, so proper browning wasn't a thing. They'd just put the moo into a glass mixing bowl, turn the machine on, and give it rigorous toss with a wooden spoon every couple of minutes. Ground beef crumbles were the result. For bacon, we had…
I actually have one of those bacon tray things. It's just very messy as you say and doesn't really save effort overall. Probably better using a standard oven for big batches.
re: ground beef or meat in general, slow cookers have sort of the same problem with respect to Maillard reactions. You're generally better off using a dutch oven, browning, and then cooking in the dutch oven--unless you want to do prep and then toss in a pot and forget for the day. I have a slow cooker but wouldn't buy one today.
Re: Science of Microwave Ovens (2016)
#50I wonder if there’s a market for a microwave with an IR camera and AI to estimate food weight and thermal conductivity. With accurate heat tracking, it’d only need a button to open the door and no knobs.
I want an IR camera and I want to input my desired temperature. That's all. Then I want the microwave to cycle on when the camera says everything is below temp, and cycle off as soon as any hot spot hits temp. Then wait for the hot spot(s) to dissipate before cycling back on. Seems like a foolproof way to cook evenly without overcooking. I kind of approximate it now by cooking something frozen on high for a couple mi…
If it's going to take 10+ minutes to cook, why not use something like a toaster oven?