Thread: Microwave Ovens

Microwave ovens are a boon in these days of "ready to eat meals" days. Just one or two minutes and your refrigerated food is hot. Also kills all bateria in the process - which is sometimes not good because it does not differentiate between good and bad.

Now microwave ovens are coming in 2-in-1 (cook + grill) or 3-in-1 (cook + grill + convection). In my opinion this is a big rip off.

Please tell me (and men folks, maybe you could ask your mothers/wives), how many times did you use the grill and convection facility in the MW oven since you purchased it? Probably none, at most a couple of times. For these additional facility we have to pay a premium of 4K to 5K. So a 12K MW oven can be sold for 7-8K minus these facilities.

Hang on! I can hear the protests already. "There are MW ovens available without these facilities at the said price". Yeah right! They are tiny-winy pieces which can accomodate vessels of 6-7" inches in diameter. They can accomodate only one such vessel and you will have to do multiple rounds to cook/heat everything.

Why can't we have large (standard 12" plate) size pure MW ovens?

So let us have views.

I am really not sure about potatoes but honestly it may sound funny buy i use microwave to boil water only for my black coffee (this is the only best use i can think of a MW otherwise sometimes i use it to make parantha's warm, only to warm up for 50-60 sec.
Water boiled in MW remains hot for more time if we compare it with water boiled on normal LPG.

oh no complains for me...ppl at home try out weird combos with the micro wave to get crazy results...i eat it all, good or bad.

yes the day the microwave arrvied i tried using the grill option ..got nothin but burned food..
so in an attempt to make a minimum fool of myself i stay away from it these days.

Oh just the other day i melted a small hole into my container's plastic top by accidentally grilling it ....

And Oh ! Does anybody want to know what happens if you microwave an egg (with its shell on) ??

It explodes ! ... dont believe me ... try it out yourself ....

Microwave is such a kewlllllllllll gadget to unleash your cookery creativity ....

But i must confess nowadays i eat out more .... and only use my microwave for cooking sessions on weekends with my friends(My kitchen is more of a lab for me ) ... we generally end up doing Inedible but thought provoking dishes ... I dont mind posting the recipes (anybody interested ?)

I like to own a microwave soon so I can bake cakes, cakes, and more cakes. :14:

Originally Posted by smoothvibes

I am really not sure about potatoes but honestly it may sound funny buy i use microwave to boil water only for my black coffee (this is the only best use i can think of a MW otherwise sometimes i use it to make parantha's warm, only to warm up for 50-60 sec.
Water boiled in MW remains hot for more time if we compare it with water boiled on normal LPG.

Be careful when boiling water in a microwave. It can superheat
and explode. google it up and see.

Originally Posted by jhellie_baby

I like to own a microwave soon so I can bake cakes, cakes, and more cakes. :14:

Microwave Oven is not meant for baking cakes. You need a conventional oven for that.

i very much agree with just4kix
I took a micro wave with grill
till now after using it for 2 years i have used it just once

no use to have these additional features

Originally Posted by gardencityboy

i very much agree with just4kix
I took a micro wave with grill
till now after using it for 2 years i have used it just once

no use to have these additional features

If you know to use it correctly .... you can prepare/heat food quickly ..... saves a lot of time ......

Goes well with a refrigerator .... Heating food in a microwave is better than heating it on flame

Originally Posted by ShAdOwCoN

If you know to use it correctly .... you can prepare/heat food quickly ..... saves a lot of time ......

Goes well with a refrigerator .... Heating food in a microwave is better than heating it on flame

You are offtopic, buddy. This is not about whether MW is good or bad, or whether someone knows how to use it.

The issue is:

- MW ovens are bundled with features (grill & convection) that are rarely needed
- This increases their price unnecessarily and we have to bear the cost
- MW's w/o the above feature are too small, with manual instead of electronic controls and thus not attractive to buy.

Yup did nt see your first post .... But how does tat make it offtopic ?... i was still talking about microwaves

Originally Posted by ShAdOwCoN

Yup did nt see your first post .... But how does tat make it offtopic ?... i was still talking about microwaves

Sorry. Not offtopic. But tangent.

I recommend one should go with all the features... Even if its to be used on occasions... Its any day better than arranging coal for ur barbecue stand, if for example, u r throwing a small party on new year's eve at ur home... Its more convenient to barbecue chicken in a microwave oven with nothing to worry about the continuous inflammation of coal otherwise...

I have to admit that I have never ever used the grill on my microwave. Mine is mostly used for defrosting and baked potatoes.

Call me skeptical, but I don't like using the microwave for cooking anything that takes more than 5 minutes. I think the microwave can "zap" nutrients out of food if cooked too long--this can contribute to health problems later. I like to use it to reheat foods only.

i am plannign to buy one owen today or tomorrow.. i enquired abt full functions n all other things.. i preferred IFB company.. i dont know wat u ppl say abt it....well if i will tell u more abt this beauty.. kixxi will kick me.. teling off topic... so movin on to the topic...

i selected oven with grill n convection.. it will cost me 10k.. for 25 liters.. now according to my usage.. ppl say convection is more for non veg cooking.. i dont eat non veg.. never will.. so convection i think is useless.. but like as the shop guy told... its not only for non veg.. convection.. is like u can make pizza bases.. cakes.. puffs.. handva..(if u ppl know wats tht).. it has a iron stand like .. which does it.. although i never seen it.. how pizza bases it can make.. but if its acceptable.. i will be glad to make it.. cakes n all... rarely...


but above all... i dont find..if not using .. means not buying.. coz this is one time u buying.. y not to buy all in one.. who knows wat u need in future to make it... so simple.. buy complete package...


i needed to ask more details abt oven.. if anyone can answer my queries.. i will be glad...

:lol: OK milan, I will not kick you for going slightly offtopic.

I will suggest you the following:

a) Please go for 28L where the rotating place has a diameter of 1 foot. It will accomodate larger vessels and more than 2 smaller vessels. Don't hold back for a couple of thousand rupees just for that. You will regret later.

b) Pizza bases made in MW indeed?? Has anyone ever made such a thing in a MW. I am not aware of that. This is all tomfoolery. Technically it is possible to make a Pizza base in MW, one at a time. Such a Pizza base will not be fit for a Pizza. And why will you ever make Pizza base in an oven when ready made's are available.

c) Grilling to some extent could be used to toast bread or Pizza.

d) Convection is more or less useless to the vegetarian.

28L??? the shop fellow told me.. 25L then 30L... nothing like 28L...

basically wat does convection means?? can u plz tell me....


where i went tht shop fellow told me.. tht basically its same oven only.. wether u get for normal just owen or grill or with convection...
he explained.. tht for normal owen.. one more utility.. like with thick wire.. stand comes.. if u put inside tht owen.. u get facility of grill.. as like tht will be like a stand somehtin on which u put stuff.. so tht it will be more closer to heating element.. makes it grill.....

for convection he expained.. tht one non stick pan like thing.. just have tri pod small legs... without handle.. will come as additional element.. which can be used for making pizza and all.. non veg nothing he explained.. as v never wanted to make it..

overall... like same owen.. comes two vessels like utilities.. add ons.. which makes it tell tht its owen with grill n convection..

tell me how much is true in this??

do owen grill different than one with convection?? any more facility in operating and all???? y to pay so much?? i mean if same owen can do all just for add ons.. thing.. i will buy simple owen.. if in case in future.. i need convection .. i will buy tht single add on.. he told me tht will cost u.. 1300 if u buy it only tht.. so i m pretty confused..

25L straight to 30L? That must be the case with IFB. I have a National Panasonic 28L MW in my flat. Larger oven means larger space for cooking heating.

Grill facility: Basically there is a heating element inside the oven (at the roof inside) that can be used for grilling anything such as bread, pizza, kebabs (even veggie ones), etc.

Convection: It uses hot air that is circulated in the oven and can be used to bake goods better. But if you are not into baking, it will not be of much use to you.

u mean normal owen if i buy then tht circulating hot air stuff wont be there???

rest abt grill.. u said same as tht shop fellow...

thanks kixxi...

There is no NORMAL OVEN AND ABNORMAL OVEN :lol:

He was referring to convection Oven -cooks by heating

And Microwave Oven - Uses Microwaves to break down bonds from water molecules thus producing heat from the food itself to cook the food ...
Note: Even the driest food has some moisture ....
In short it uses microwaves to cook food naturally .....

Note : Microwave is not good for cooking spice ......Indian spices like garam masala never get cooked in microwave .....

DR you obviously slept thru your Geography classes at school .... otherwise you would have known what convection is

ShAdOwCoN,

You are slightly wrong about the way Micowave ovens work. Microwave ovens create strong non-ionizing electro-magnetic radiation of very long wavelegth (over 12 cm) and extremely high frequency (~2.4 GHz). When this radiation passed through the food all food molecules and especially water molecules (which are bipolar in nature) start vibrating. Because the bipolar molecules are disturbed they try to align to a set magnetic field which is unipolar in nature.

But the natural force bonding of the molecules tends to pull them away in their natural entropy. This causes them to vibrate stronger and collide with each other. The vibrarting molecules finally achieve resonance when they match the carrier frequency and collide heavily with each other creating intense heat.

That is why, the food heats up so quickly. And that is also the reason why MW is not suitable for certain type of food preperation such as baking, browning, etc.

The Grill and Convection features were added to MW oven so that people do not need multiple gadgets in the kitchen. But these features are quite useless and that is why this debate.

overall.. should i buy owen with convection or not?