Panasonic NN-GT352 - Инструкция (Страница 30)

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Microwave Recipe Preparation and Techniques
- Eng-27-
Converting Your Favourite Conventional
Recipes for Microwave Cooking
When adapting conventional recipes for microwave cook-
ing, reduce the conventional cooking time by one quarter
or one third.
e.g. A chicken which takes 1 hour to cook in a moderate
oven will take 15-20 minutes on MEDIUM Power in your
microwave oven.
Use similar microwave recipes to help you adapt conven-
tional recipes. Remember, it is always best to undercook a
recipe and then add an extra minute or two to finish it off.
Here are some other tips that may help:
• Reduce liquids in a conventional recipe by one half to
two thirds, e.g. 1cup (250 ml) should be reduced to 1 /
2
cup (125 ml).
• Add more thickening such as flour or cornflour to sauces
and gravies if you do not reduce the liquid.
• Reduce seasonings slightly in a recipe where ingredients
do not have time to simmer by microwave.
• Do not salt meats, poultry or vegetables before cooking;
otherwise, they will toughen and dry out.
• If one ingredient takes longer to cook than the others,
precook it in the microwave oven first. Onion, celery and
potato are examples.
• If meat or vegetables are not being browned before
cooking, omit any oil or fat that would have been used
for browning.
• Reduce leavening agents for cakes by one quarter and
increase liquids by one quarter.
• Biscuits require a stiff dough. Increase flour by about 20
percent. Substitute brown sugar for white sugar and use
biscuit recipes that have dark spices or require icing.
Because of the short cooking time, biscuits don’t have to
brown. Chill dough for half an hour before baking. This
produces a crisper biscuit. Bake biscuits on a glass tray
lined with greaseproof paper.
• Since microwaves penetrate foods about two centime-
tres from the top, bottom and sides, mixtures in round
shapes and rings cook more evenly. Corners receive
more energy and may overcook.
• Items with a lot of water, such as rice and pasta, cook in
about the same time as they would on a conventional
stove. (Refer to Rice and Pasta chapter.)
Select recipes that convert easily to microwave cooking
such as casseroles, stews, baked chicken, fish and veg-
etable dishes. The results from foods such as grilled
meats, cooked souffles or two-crust pies could be less
than satisfactory. Never attempt to deep fry in your
microwave oven.
Menu Planning for Microwave Cooking
How to Keep Everything Hot at The Same Time
Plan your meals so that the food will not all need last
minute cooking or attention at the same time. The special
features of microwave cookery make it easy to serve
meals with everything piping hot. Cooking of some foods
may be interrupted while you start others, without harming
the nutritional value or flavour of either.
A recipe which requires standing time can be microwaved
first and another food cooked while it stands. Dishes pre-
pared in advance can be reheated briefly before serving.
It does take some experience and time to cook with confi-
dence. Microwaves are fast so you will have to do some
experimenting. You might find you will use your conven-
tional range in conjunction with your microwave oven. For
example, while cooking the roast in the microwave oven,
you can be cooking the vegetables and gravy on the
range top. This can also be done the other way around.
Prepare your meals as follows.
1. Firstly, cook the most dense item (roast or casserole).
Drain and retain meat juice from joints then cover with
foil.
2. Cook the potatoes, rice or pasta.
3. Cover with foil for standing.
4. Cook greens and other vegetables.
5. Cover with foil for standing.
6. Cook the gravy with the retained meat juices, stock and
thickening.
7. Carve the roast and serve the vegetables and gravy.
While you are learning to plan meals, you may get a bit
behind time. Don’t worry. Dinner servings may be suitably
reheated on HIGH, at 1
1 /
2
-2 minutes per serving.
If you prefer not to use foil, cover food with saucepan lids.
A metal lid will retain the heat for at least 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, how can you cook all the vegetables at the
same time? Simply place potatoes and pumpkin in one
dish and less dense vegetables such as broccoli, cab-
bage, cauliflower, beans and peas in another. Sprinkle
greens with water. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap. Cook
on HIGH for approximately 6-8 minutes for a serving for
four people. Remember, if you increase the quantity of
vegetables, increase the cooking time. Fresh and frozen
vegetables can be mixed on a vegetable platter, but
remember the latter are not as dense as fresh vegetables,
as they have been blanched before freezing.
If vegetables are cut to a similar size, they can be cooked
in separate ramekins or small dishes at the same time.
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