THE
MICRO
m \ J
LAN!
BLOOMER
Microwave cooking is easy, once
you understand the basic dif
ferences between microwave and
conventional cooking. One of the
most important “basic”
microwave techniques is that foods
cooked in a microwave require a
period of standing time for the food
to finish cooking.
Standing time means letting the
food rest for some time, after
microwaving, before it is cut up or
served. Many beginning
microwave cooks have trouble
with standing time because they
don’t understand what happens to
their food during this time.
Standing tune is needed because
microwaves cook food from the
outside in to the center. (This is
contrary to a popular myth that
food cooks from the inside out.)
The outside edges of the food cook
first and very rapidly. Standing
THE VKON SYSTEM.
MAKE IT WORK
FORM
Sometimes it seems we spend half our
lives fighting the system But there’s one
system that’s
always on your
side—the Vicon
Haying System
With a Vicon
KM Mower/
Conditioner, one
of our high ca
pacity V-Rakes,
and a new Vicon
round baler, you can make hay faster,
better and more economically.
The KM 321, for instance, is the fastest
mower/conditioner in the world. It’s 30
percent faster than conventional mower/
conditioners. A new drive unit lets you
operate non-stop. Take square comers
without drive line vibration or danger of
failure.
you
nave a
heavy,
dew
wet
crop, the KM 321 won’t plug, and won’t
leave you worrying about leaf loss.
If you’re making big round bales,
VICON FARM MACHINERY, INC , PO Box 6313. Chesapeake. VA 23323 804/485 1600
time allows the middle of the food
to “catch up” with the edges.
While the food stands, heat from
the edges of the food moves into the
middle to finish cooking the center.
In large dense foods, like roasts or
turkeys, the microwaves cannot
reach the center. The center of a
roast cooks by conduction, or the
heat moving in from the edges, just
as in your range oven.
The amount of standing tune a
food needs depends on its size. The
larger and denser the food pieces,
the longer it takes the heat to reach
the center. Some average standing
times for common foods are shown
in the accompanying chart.
Standing time is most important
when you cook food on high power,
because the edges are cooked so
quickly. But even at the lowter
power levels, standing time lets
the temperatures even out in the
even if
lood, and gives tlavois lime to
develop more hill\
The most important thing to
understand about standing time is
that food continues to cook during
standing time. For this reason
some cookbooks call standing time
'carry-over cooking.” If you cook
food in the microwave until it is
“done” by conventional cooking
standards, the food will be over
cooked by the time you sit down to
eat it! (This is why those biscuits
you microwaved tasted delicious
when you sampled one when they
first came out, but were rocks
when you served them at the table
a few minutes later')
You need to revise your doneness
tests for microwaved foods to
allow for this extra countertop
cooking. For instance, baked
potatoes should still be a little firm
after microwaving. They will get
thoroughly soft after the standing
time.
Have you ever eaten potatoes
without letting them stand? I bet
they had soft spots, and hard, less
cooked spots in them. They didn’t
need more cooking, just 5-10
minutes of standing time!
A cake baked in the microwave
is “done” when it still has damp,
shiny spots on top. These will finish
cooking and dry up during stan
ding time. You wouldn't take a
cake out of your range if it was still
damp and shiny on top. If you
microwave a cake until it is
the next step is a Vicon V-Rake. Eight
or ten-wheel models provide a working
width of up to 22 ft. Rake quickly and
cleanly on the first pass. Pick up more
hay with less dirt and trash. And the
fingerwheels are ground driven to elimi
nate wearing parts. No gears. No belts.
No PTO shafts.
Finally, try one of Vicon’s new round
balers. The easiest starting round balers
in the world. They give you a tighter,
heavier, more consistent bale. Time after
time. The secret is Vicon’s revolutionary
design combining a full-width floating
pick-up with a wide-open throat. The
result—more
bales per hour
and lower oper
ating costs. For
more informa
tion on Vicon
Haying System
or the name of
your closest
Vicon dealer,
just call or write. We think you’ll see
that when you can’t beat the system,
there’s only one thing left to do.
Join it.
Join the C/tem) revolution
thoroughly dry on top, it will
probably be dried out (over
(ooked) along the edges and
corners.
You should check your food to
see if it is done after the standing
time. This is particularly im
portant with roasts. The tem
perature inside a roast will in
crease one or two degrees each
minute for up to fifteen minutes, as
the center continues to cook
If you like well done meat, it will
be hard for you to let a roast stand
' when there is red juice coming out
of it. You will probably want to
microwave it more right away
Don’t do it! l>et it stand, because
the red juice is coming from the
center where the microwaves may
not reach. The center will finish
cooking during the standing time
If your food is not done when you
check it after cooking time, you
can cook it longer then.
During standing time your food
can remain in the microwave if it’s
turned off. Or, if you need the
microwave to cook additional food,
the cooked food can stand on your
counter. Cover it with a lid, foil or
towel to keep warm. Wrapping
baked potatoes in a terry towel is
the best way to keep them hot
while they stand five minutes. The
towel lets steam escape, so the
potatoes don’t get soggy, like they
do in foil.
Many people
get "nervous”
FOOD TYPES
Scrambled eggs, muffins,
hamburgers, fish fillets
Vegetables, baked potatoes,
chicken pieces, bar cookies
Casseroles, smaller roasts,
whole chickens, cakes, pies
Turkeys, big roasts, hams
Copyright 19&5, Laal Bloomer
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 1,1985-813
about letting cooked food sit
around on the counter. Just
remember, during standing tune
the food is still cooking, and won’t
cool down if it’s covered. If the food
sits around longer than the stan
ding time,it will start to cool down
then. It can be reheated briefly, if
necessary, before serving.
When you have several foods to
microwave for a meal, cook food
with the longest cooking and
standing time first. Cook the food
that cools down fastest, or has the
shortest standing time last. This
way, all the food is hot and ready to
serve at the same time, even
though it came out of the
microwave at different times.
For instance, to microwave
scrambled eggs and bacon for
breakfast, cook the eggs first.
Then let them stand while you cook
the bacon. Both will be hot enough
to serve when the bacon is done. If
you cook the bacon first, as you
would on the range, it would be
cold by the time the eggs were
cooked.
Standing time is the biggest
difference between conventional
and microwave cooking. Since
beginning microwave cooks are
not aware of the extent to which
their food and will cook after being
removed from the oven, many
overcook their food. Overcooked
foods are dry, hard, rubbery, or
have hard spots on them. Food
cooked properly in a microwave is
soft, juicy and moist.
If you are getting dry or hard
food from your microwave, it has
been overcooked. Cook it less and
let it stand!
Cedar Crest FFA
conducts food program
LEBANON Cedar Crest FFA
members Brian Boyer, Becky
Smith, Jenny Embich, Brian Fulk,
Lisa Houser, Ann Lansberry,
Tonya Johnson, Chris Hartlieb,
Nathan Arnold and Jon Boyer,
conducted this year’s Food For
America Program.
The program was presented to
the third grade elementary schools
of the Cornwall-Lebanon School
District. The purpose of the
program was to teach the students
where the food they eat comes
from. The FFA members used live
farm animals, a large model
cheeseburger, and coloring books
to help the students learn. Animals
included a dairy cow and calf, a
pig, a sheep, a rabbit, steer and a
pony.
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STANDING TIME
1-2 minutes
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10 minutes
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Satisfaction
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