kilikini wrote:
> Chatty Cathy wrote:
>> James Silverton wrote:
>>
>>> I have to admit that most of my use is for defrosting or reheating.
>>> Some simple dishes work quite well, e.g., chicken breasts covered
>>> with chopped onion and tomato sauce or salsa, also fresh carrots and
>>> cauliflower. I quite commonly bake potatoes there if I am only
>>> cooking for one or two. Baked apples are something that a microwave
>>> does very well and I even prefer them to those cooked in a
>>> conventional oven. My Sharp's "frozen entree" setting works rather
>>> well as does reheating the previous evening's coffee.
>> I use mine mainly for defrosting/heating up... I do frozen vegetables
>> occasionally - that seems to work well... but cooking a whole meal -
>> can't remember the last time I did - and then I usually use the
>> 'convection' option. I am not a baker, so I cannot speak for those
>> who are.
>
> I use mine for heating up, and that's about it. I also use it to melt
> butter or cheese. I just don't care for nuked food. I usually cook mostly
> fish, so I bake it, sautee it or fry it. Oh, and I always steam my veggies
> on the stove.
>
> kili

Reheating and melting butter and chocolate. It's great for making sauces
(like a super simple Bechamel sauce) and puddings. And it's the only way
to make apple sauce, with no water, just the taste of great apples. We
also like to cook some veggies with hardly any water at all instead of
blanching or parboiling them. With a temperature probe, it's handy to
make cocoa or heat up a liquid to just the temp you want. DH likes cocoa
or coffee at 180°. We rarely use it to defrost, hating the almost
cooked stage that happens if we aren't careful. It's just easier to
think and plan ahead and plop it out of the freezer when needed. So
mostly we use it to help use prepare food, not actually do the cooking.

And of course....POPCORN!


Melondy