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Cooking Pork in
Your Microwave
Pork is one of the hardest foods
to leam to cook in a microwave.
When it’s microwaved properly,
however, it’s deliciously moist,
tender, and juicy. Since pork must
be thoroughly cooked to be safe to
eat, the microwaves tend to dry out
and toughen the edges before the
center cooks, if you are not careful.
The key to, cooking pork in a
microwave is to use a very low
power setting. If your microwave
has only high power, you should
cook pork on your range. However,
if your microwave has 30 percent
power (low, 30, 3 or defrost), you
can microwave delicious pork
meals.
Pork should be cooked on 30
percent power for 20 to 21 minutes
per pound. This is slow by
microwave standards-it will take
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an hour to cook three pounds of
meat. But this is still faster than
your range for most cuts, and your
microwave uses less energy to run
than a range oven.
Pork should be covered during
microwaving with plastic wrap,
waxed paper, an oven cooking bag,
or a casserole lid. Which covering
you use depends on the cut and
type of results you want. For
roasts, an oven bag or covered
microwave roaster should be used.
For ribs and chops, plastic wrap or
a casserole lid will give you a
moister, tenderer piece of meat;
waxed paper will give you slightly
drier, chewier meat.
Use these directions for cooking
pork in a microwave and for
adapting your own favorite pork
recipes:
Fresh Pork Roasts
1. Rub roast with garlic. Mix 1
GENETICS
3100 Sycamore Road • DeKalb, IL 60115
tabie&poon miciowavt browning
agent with 1 tablespoon liquid such
as juice or water. Brush over
roast. Sprinkle outside with pep
per, salt, thyme. Insert tem
perature probe into the end or side
of roast, so tip is in the center, not
touching fat or bone. Put roast
upside down in an oven cooking
bag, and set bag in a flat casserole
pan. (Or use a covered microwave
roaster.)
2. Fasten oven bag loosely
around the probe wire, leaving at
least a half-inch opening for steam
to escape. Tie bag with a plastic
fastener, or a strip cut from the
end of the bag. Do not use a metal
twist tie.
3. Put roast in oven and plug in
probe. Set oven for probe tem
perature of 100 to 115°F. and set
power level for low (30,3, defrost).
4. When oven stops, turn roast
over (bag, juices and all) in the
dish. Plug probe back in, set probe
temperature for 170°F. and reset
oven for low power.
5. When oven stops, remove
roast from bag and cover with foil.
Let stand for 10 minutes; use
juices in bag for gravy.
TIP: If your oven doesn’t have a
temperature probe, figure the
cooking time at 21 minutes per
pound. Cook the roast upside down
for half the time on 30 percent
power, in an oven bag as described
above. Turn roast right side up and
cook for the remaining time. Let
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 12,1985-B9
stand, then lest for doneness.
To cook roast on bed of
sauerkraut or with other
ingredients, put food in flat dish,
and use a turkey size oven bag. Put
bag around outside of dish.
Barbecued Ribs:
Use either spare ribs or the
meatier country style ribs for
finger-lickin-good results.
1. Arrange the ribs in one layer
in a flat pan or casserole, with the
biggest pieces around the outside.
Sprinkle with onion, lemon slices,
seasonings, etc. as desired. Cover
with waxed paper or plastic wrap
-and cook for 10 minutes per pound
on low (30,3, defrost).
2. When oven stops, drain off fat
and some of juice. Rearrange ribs,
putting least cooked ones to outside
and comers. Brush with your
favorite barbecue sauce and
recover. Cook for 10-11 minutes per
pound on low (30, 3, defrost). Let
stand five minutes, then test for
doneness.
TIP: For soft, falling-off-the
bone ribs, cover with plastic wrap,
and leave more juice in the pan.
For chewy, drier ribs, cover with
waxed paper, and drain off most of
the juice before brushing with
barbecue sauce.
Porii Chops:
For fried pork chops, use a
microwave browning grill (a
frying pan for your microwave),
and follow the manufacturer’s
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directions. Some people in my
microwave classes have reported
good results with these. But I have
never been satisfied with chops
microwaved this way. The chops
get too dried out when I follow the
directions for my grill.
Pork chops can be microwaved
in a casserole, with other
ingredients with good results.
Brown chops on the range first, or
brush with a microwave browning
agent.
If you have a pyroceramic frying
pan, brown the chops in this, add
ingredients, cover and transfer to
the microwave to simmer. A
pyroceramic pan is a “glass”
frying pan. These are safe on a
range burner and. also in a
microwave.
If you like cooked apples, try this
rice and pork casserole. It’s good
with a tossed salad.
Pork Apple
Casserole
2 cups apple juice
1 small onion
1 stalk celery
2 apples
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1 cup regular, uncooked rice
1 Mi pounds pork chops (4-6 chops)
1. Put apple juice in a 2-cup
measure heat on high for 6
minutes, until boiling. Chop onion
and celery; peel and chop apples.
2. Combine onion, celery and
butter in an Bxlo-inch flat
casserole. Microwave on high for 4
minutes, stirring after 2 minutes,
until tender. Stir in salt, rice and
apples, and spread evenly in dish.
3. Brown chops on stove or brush
with 1 teaspoon browning agent
mixed with 1 teaspoon apple juice.
Arrange chops on top of rice, with
meatiest part of chops to outside of
dish. Pour hot juice over all, and
sprinkle with thyme. Cover with
plastic wrap, or casserole lid.
4. Microwave on high for 2
minutes. Then cook on low (30, 3,
defrost) for 30 minutes until the
juice is absorbed and the chops and
rice tender. Serves 4-6.
NOTE: The cooking times above
are for microwaves with 600-700
watts of power. For 500-600 W, add
10 seconds to each minute; for 400-
500 W, add 20 seconds.
Copyright 1955, Lani Bloomer.
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