I have a friend who cannot cook worth a darn, but she taught me to use a microwave to ‘steam’ corn, and I’ve never gone back.
So I’ll bet the microwave could, in fact, do a good job with an artichoke. When you want something cooked at its core first, it’s the right tool to use.
Artichokes baked in butter for an hour are a delicious (typ. appetizer) dish…but doing it in a microwave (maybe under an hour then?) without cheesecloth over it sounds like it would dry out the outer leaves. It was a challenge to ‘fancy settings are lost on us’ (and/or having local artichokes; hope it works out?)
OTL no idea how to do it without packing a pound of butter and maybe tarragon in between artichoke leaves.
I think you’re right about the cheesecloth, or at least a wet paper towel.
But since no one EATS the top 3/4’s of the leaves in an artichoke, I don’t think it matters if they get a little dried out.
This needs to be an experiment in the near future!
Just got finished watching the The China Syndrome, the final scene when they go to commercial is on point…
I want to see the oven’s display show the dot-matrix chef saying, “DOT! MATRIX!” and in exactly the same way delivered by the TC host. Otherwise, no sale.
It does sort of give off a steam-punk vibe. Only thing missing is hand-rubbed mahogany.
This vintage ad for a frigidaire just came up on twitter and was very on-theme for this thread…(and very accurate assessment…)
I kinda make a point of trying to use every feature in my appliances, to see which ones genuinely improve my life in some way. The baked potato button on my previous microwave was a perfect example. It was so good that I started eating a lot more baked potatoes, which (if not over-dressed) are quite healthy. Most features aren’t so lucky. There’s another 5 or 10 features on that same microwave that are really stupid and don’t work at all. But you gotta kiss all the frogs to find all the princes!
Am I understanding that phrase correctly, you have microwaves built in over an oven/hob combo?
It’s just a way of saving counter space. I’ve also seen people put a regular microwave in a cabinet for the same reason.
I can see putting it in a cabinet but over the hob?
You’ll get grease and steam and whatnot all over it.
Unless of course you never use the hob, in which case why not admit it and just not have one?
Or if you’re stuck with the hob, why not stick a sheet of plywood or something over it and put a normal microwave on top of that?
Those models have a vent and fan incorporated on the underside, which is hooked into the standard ductwork. There’s usually a control for the vent fan on those microwaves. A little over-engineered, but the idea is that you save counter space and have all the cooking elements lined up one over the other (conventional oven, hob, science oven).
They’re really common in the us. Most are a combo range hood vent fan and microwave, though some installers don’t hook up the vent fan, so it becomes a greasy mess on the bottom, like you say.
Here’s an example:
It’s actually incredibly common in the States. Among other things, it means your exhaust system isn’t as robust, and you have less space to work with on the cooktop because there’s a huge box hanging down to maybe your shoulder height or below.
But for many people in the States, the microwave is the main food heating appliance, and the cooktop and oven are only for occasional holidays.
That makes me so sad.
My (ancient) microwave complicates this by allowing up to 99 seconds in the minute part of the timer. Setting it to 1:99 will actually run for 2:39 (159 seconds).
:99 is my preferred setting for morning instant oatmeal (TJs with 2/3 cup of milk).
Most of them have the option to be vented outside or into the room.
Ours vents into the room through 2 filters, no greasy mess but it would be nice to vent the heat to the outside in the summer.
