User manual

9
UK
Tips & advice
Working out cooking times using the
food thermometer
After it has cooked, every drink or item of food has a
certain internal temperature. When it is reached the
cooking can be stopped, and the result will be good. You
can test the internal temperature with a food
thermometer. The temperature chart below gives most
of the important temperatures.
Heating drinks (coffee,
water, tea, etc)
Heating milk
Heating soup
Heating stews
Poultry
Lamb
Rare
Well roasted
Roast beef
Rare
Medium done
Well done
Pork, veal
Drink/food items Internal Internal
temperature at temperature after
the end of 10-15 mins
cooking time standing time
65-75
o
C
60-65
o
C
75-80
o
C
75-80
o
C
80-85
o
C
70
o
C
75-80
o
C
50-55
o
C
60-65
o
C
75-80
o
C
80-85
o
C
85-90
o
C
70-75
o
C
80-85
o
C
55-60
o
C
65-70
o
C
80-85
o
C
80-85
o
C
CHART: USING A FOOD THERMOMETER
TO DEFINE COOKING TIMES
Blanching vegetables
Before they are frozen vegetables should be blanched.
This is the best way of retaining the quality and
flavour.
How to blanch vegetables:
Wash and chop the vegetable, place 250 g of the
vegetable in a bowl with 275 ml of water, cover and
heat for 3-5 minutes.
Plunge into cold water immediately after the
blanching process to prevent further cooking, and then
allow it to drain. Pack and freeze the vegetable in
airtight containers.
Preserving fruit & vegetables
Preserving fruit and vegetables using the microwave is
a quick and easy process. You can buy preserving jars,
seals and preserving jar clamps specially designed for
microwave use. Precise instructions are provided by the
manufacturers of these items.
Small & large quantities
Microwave cooking times depend directly upon the
amount of food you want to defrost, re-heat or cook,
i.e. small portions cook faster than big ones.
The rule of thumb is:
TWICE AS MUCH = ALMOST TWICE AS LONG
HALF AS MUCH = HALF AS LONG
Tall containers, flat dishes
Both types of container have the same capacity but
cooking times are longer for tall containers than for
flat ones. Therefore it is preferable to use dishes that
are as flat as possible, with the largest possible flat
surface.
Only use tall containers for foods that are likely to boil
over, e.g. noodles, rice, milk etc.
Round & oval dishes
Food cooks more evenly in round and oval dishes than
in rectangular ones, because the microwave energy
concentrates into the corners of rectangular dishes and
the food there may get overcooked.
Covering the food
By covering the food as it cooks moisture is retained
and cooking time is reduced. Use a lid, microwave film,
or cover. Do not cover food that should have a crispy
surface, such as roast meat or chicken. As a rule if you
would cover it in a conventional oven, cover it in the
microwave. If you would cook it in a conventional oven
without a cover, you can cook it without a cover in the
microwave.
Adding water
Vegetables and other foods containing a lot of water
can be cooked in their own juices or by adding just a
small amount of water. This will retain many vitamins
and minerals in the food.
Food with skin or peel
Pierce foods such as sausages, chickens, chicken legs,
potatoes in their skins, tomatoes, egg yolk, etc with a
wooden skewer. This allows the steam to escape and the
food won’t explode.
Fatty foods
Food ‘marbled’ with fat or with layers of fat cook faster
than lean meat. You should therefore cover these parts
with some aluminium foil, and place the food fatty side
downward.
1. HQ-32D-EU English 02/05/2006 14:17 Page 9