How to Get the Most From Your Microwave

Once you get used to a microwave oven that cooks, reheats, crisps, defrosts, melts ingredients, is easy to clean and releases little heat into the kitchen, it’s hard to imagine living without one.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of this useful appliance:

* For best results, use the directions that come with your microwave as a guide for cooking times. The times in most cookbooks and magazines are for an average 600- to 700-watt microwave. To produce the desired result, a compact 400-watt microwave will take more time, and a large 1,000-watt one will take less. Also, the various power levels are not standardized.

* To find the hot and cold spots in your microwave, spread a layer of trimmed white bread slices edge-to-edge over the microwave floor. Set the oven on high and watch the browning process through the glass door.

* To get full cooking power, wipe out the oven regularly--especially around the door seal--with a mild detergent or a baking soda solution.

* Soften stubborn soil with steam by boiling a cup of water in the oven. Then clean with a plastic (not steel wool) scrubbing pad. Or, cover a spill with a damp paper towel and turn the oven on high for 10 seconds. When the oven is cool, wipe it clean.

* To get rid of lingering food odors or stale smell, place a thick slice of lemon on a paper towel and microwave it on high for a minute or so and let it stand overnight.

* Avoid using brown paper bags and overcooking popcorn. And keep an eye on dishes with lots of sugar. All are common causes of flare-ups.

* Sparks or flashes in a microwave indicate a dish containing metal, which shouldn’t be used for microwave cooking. Remove the dish and transfer the food to a microwave-safe container.

* If a fire develops in a microwave, keep the door closed and unplug the unit. Let the fire extinguish itself before opening the door.

* Don’t rush out to buy special microwave cookware. Most ceramic and glass casserole and baking dishes are microwave-safe.

* If you do buy special microwave cookware, select plastic cookware that can also be used for freezer storage. Then precooked portions can go directly from the freezer to the microwave.

* Save the sturdy microwave-safe plastic containers in which some frozen foods come. They’re great for heating individual portions of any food in the microwave, and you can put them in the dishwasher.

* Some surprising things can be used as microwave cookware. Try warming leftovers on a paper plate, cooking bacon on paper towels and heating rolls wrapped in a napkin in a straw basket.

* Be sure any cookware is tall enough to accommodate boiling foods.

* Not sure if a dish is suitable for a microwave? Put the empty dish and a glass measuring cup half-filled with water in the oven and set it on full power for one minute. Then gingerly touch the dish and the water. If the water is hot and the dish cool, the dish is OK to use.

* Food in a round or shallow dish cooks more evenly. And any dish cooks slower in the center than at the edges.

* Even if you have a turntable to rotate food in your microwave, it’s a good idea to stir such dishes as stews and vegetables to ensure that all ingredients get fully and evenly heated.

* Before putting food in the microwave, cover with a loose-fitting plate or a glass lid. The food will heat faster, more evenly and will retain more moisture.

* To avoid explosions, loosen the lids of frozen food containers, slit plastic food pouches and pierce food with skin so that steam can escape during cooking.

* Don’t use a microwave to deep-fry.

* Center food in the oven and have the thicker, denser parts facing outward toward the oven walls.

Follow the recipe and let food stand after you take it out of the oven: It’s still cooking.

If you’re worried about high electricity or gas bills, economize by preheating food in a microwave on high before completing the cooking in a regular oven.