The other night, I got home kinda late from work, and had a few important
phone calls to make, personal business-wise. I was very focused on the
phone calls, and pretty much picked up the phone and started dialing, while
doing my "get home from work" routine, which usually involves 10 minutes of
cat-lovin' followed by "what can I have for dinner that won't take more than
20 minutes....I'm HUNGRY!"

I found a Corningware pan covered in foil in the fridge, that I remembered
has a piece of chicken and some cooked asparagus, leftover from a couple
nights before. Perfect. Still on the phone--on hold, probably, I blindly
popped the dish into the microwave, punched in 4 minutes and went into the
dining room, where the papers were that I needed to discuss on the phone
call.

Someone finally picked up my call, we had our conversation and I decided to
check on dinner's progress. I walked back into the kitchen (it's a cordless
phone) and I was listening to the person on the phone--when I opened the
microwave oven (which was flashing "end" or "done" I forget which it says)
and my heart sunk.

There, inside the mw oven, was an ALUMINUM FOIL COVERED dish.

I thought "I've fried this thing, for sure!" But I took the foil off and
felt the food and it was hot. I ran it for another 20-30 seconds, just to
see if it worked, and it did.

I don't understand how it could have NOT caused sparking and a terrible
fire, because I once tried to heat up a jar of peanut butter (to get the
last of it out of the jar), and there was a sliver of the foil from the top
of the jar left, and it caused all sorts of sparking and smoke, it was
really actually very scary.

Anyway, the thing still works, and it's almost 9 years old.

Anyone know why a sliver of foil caused all sorts of pyrotechnics and smoke,
but the entire dish covered with foil didn't???

I'm confused (but glad it turned out as it did).
When I do need a new one, I'll be happy to get one that's got a smaller
footprint but the same interior room because of improved design technology,
but later rather than sooner is fine with me.

"Sheryl Rosen" > wrote in message
>
> There, inside the mw oven, was an ALUMINUM FOIL COVERED dish.
>
> I thought "I've fried this thing, for sure!" But I took the foil off and
> felt the food and it was hot. I ran it for another 20-30 seconds, just to
> see if it worked, and it did.
>
> I don't understand how it could have NOT caused sparking and a terrible
> fire, because I once tried to heat up a jar of peanut butter (to get the
> last of it out of the jar), and there was a sliver of the foil from the
> top
> of the jar left, and it caused all sorts of sparking and smoke, it was
> really actually very scary.

The mass of foil on a low plane like that is not a problem. You can use
foil to block the MW rays from hitting certain parts of the food so as not
to overcook them.

OTOH, the thin foil ring around the top of a jar acts like an antenna.
Spoon sticking out of a cup, vertical metal will cause a spark to jump
across, but a pan is OK. The only reason aluminum pans are not use is
because the heating will only take place from the top, not both sides,
taking more time to heat.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

>
> The mass of foil on a low plane like that is not a problem. You can use
> foil to block the MW rays from hitting certain parts of the food so as not
> to overcook them.
>
> OTOH, the thin foil ring around the top of a jar acts like an antenna.
> Spoon sticking out of a cup, vertical metal will cause a spark to jump
> across, but a pan is OK. The only reason aluminum pans are not use is
> because the heating will only take place from the top, not both sides,
> taking more time to heat.


Interesting. Now I know why my MW manual says that you can use foil to
protect things like chicken legs (on a whole roast chicken) from
burning. I always thought they were a bit "crazy". Thanks.
Cathy

--
I don't suffer from insanity - I enjoy every minute of it

Sheryl Rosen wrote:
>
> Anyone know why a sliver of foil caused all sorts of pyrotechnics and smoke,
> but the entire dish covered with foil didn't???

Go he http://tinyurl.com/bxczf

Sheldon

Sheldon wrote:
> Sheryl Rosen wrote:
> >
> > Anyone know why a sliver of foil caused all sorts of pyrotechnics and smoke,
> > but the entire dish covered with foil didn't???
>
> Go he http://tinyurl.com/bxczf
>
> Sheldon

There you go again Sheldon. Giving some good advice (or in this case, a
link)
Thanks
cathy

On Sun, 05 Jun 2005 14:56:46 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" >
wrote:

>
>"Sheryl Rosen" > wrote in message
>>
>> There, inside the mw oven, was an ALUMINUM FOIL COVERED dish.
>>
>> I thought "I've fried this thing, for sure!" But I took the foil off and
>> felt the food and it was hot. I ran it for another 20-30 seconds, just to
>> see if it worked, and it did.
>>
>> I don't understand how it could have NOT caused sparking and a terrible
>> fire, because I once tried to heat up a jar of peanut butter (to get the
>> last of it out of the jar), and there was a sliver of the foil from the
>> top
>> of the jar left, and it caused all sorts of sparking and smoke, it was
>> really actually very scary.
>
>The mass of foil on a low plane like that is not a problem. You can use
>foil to block the MW rays from hitting certain parts of the food so as not
>to overcook them.
>
>OTOH, the thin foil ring around the top of a jar acts like an antenna.
>Spoon sticking out of a cup, vertical metal will cause a spark to jump
>across, but a pan is OK. The only reason aluminum pans are not use is
>because the heating will only take place from the top, not both sides,
>taking more time to heat.
>--
>Ed
>http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Interesting. Does the above apply to newer MW technology? My
microwave, a behemoth, is at least probably 15 years old. Would be
convenient to be able to block the waves on certain parts of food...

TammyM
Sacramento, California

"TammyM" > wrote in message
> Interesting. Does the above apply to newer MW technology? My
> microwave, a behemoth, is at least probably 15 years old. Would be
> convenient to be able to block the waves on certain parts of food...
>
> TammyM
> Sacramento, California

I learned that at a MW cooking class about 15 or 18 years ago. Part of the
demo was to put a piece of cheese and a piece of chocolate wrapped in foil
in the MW to see the results. Since the foil was flat, it did not cause any
arcing and, of course, the chocolate did not melt. They also cooked a
turnkey with foil protecting the wings.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/