84-Uncastar Farming, Saturday, January 17,1987 THE MICRO m \jl mi ' ,J BLOOMER , 'i Understand Your Microwave and Avoid Disaster! If you are one of the many people who recently added a microwave oven to your kitchen, welcome! Today’s column is dedicated to helping you be a successful microwave user right from the start. First of all, don’t try to microwave these foods: hard boiled eggs, fried foods like fried eggs and chops, individual cookies, two crust pies (either pot pies or fruit pies), large amounts (over 8 cups) of liquids (soups or big pots of spaghetti), large sheet cakes, angel food, sponge or chiffon cakes, and pizza with an uncooked crust. These foods just don’t cook well in a microwave, or need a special recipe or utensil to cook properly. Secondly, most foods (except bacon) will not get crispy in a microwave without special utensils like a browning grill. If the food, such as breaded fish sticks, has to be crispy to be good to you, use your range! A microwave will give you deliciously moist, tender and juicy food when it is used properly. Any food that is dry, rubbery, or hard has been overcooked. This is true for reheated food too. Basic Microwave Techniques (Your microwave cookbook will explain these techniques more thoroughly, usually in an in troductory section.) 1. One of the most basic facts is that quantity is important. The more food you add to the oven, the longer it takes to cook or reheat. If | you change quantities of food in a microwave recipe, you will need to lengthen or shorten the cooking time. 2. Microwaves heat food from the outside in to the center. Since they heat the edges of food very quickly, the center of foods may not be fully cooked (or warmed if you’re reheating) when the edges are done (hot). The center of foods finish cooking during standing time. This is especially important when you use high power. 3. Standing time is the biggest difference between range and microwave cooking. During standing time the food cooks more, as the heat from the edges is conducted to the center. This is when most food overcooks. If your food doesn’t seem quite done at the end of the cooking time, let it stand before cooking more. Cook it more i « ■ jMV 1 T*" | PM* « J Mi 4? i Pressure treated wood with cedar shake shingles or Painted choice of color with asphalt shingles. 8-10-12- 14ft. wide You pick your own size Lykens Valley Structures RD2, Box 59, Millersburg, PA 17061 Leave message at; 717-692-2645 No Sunday Calls after the standing time if necessary. 4. Stir foods once or twice during the cooking (reheating) time to distribute heat from the edges in to the center. If you can’t stir, turn the power down to medium (50,5), but the food will take longer to cook (warmup). 5. Arrange larger pieces of food near the corners or edges of a container. If the food is evenly sized, check halfway through to see if the pieces in the middle are less done (warm) than the edge or comer pieces. If so, rearrange the pieces to put the less done ones on the edges or comers. 6. Thick foods like roasts or whole chickens should be turned over so the top and bottom are evenly cooked. Start these upside down, turn right side up halfway through the cooking time. 7. If you are in a hurry, cook (reheat) foods on high, but put the food in a ring or doughnut shape or stir more frequently. Just like on your range, foods will bum easily on high. Instead of scorching on the bottom, microwave burned food will be dried out along the edges. If you are not in a hurry, turn the power down to medium (50,5) and foods will cook more evenly without stirring, rearranging, etc. but they will take longer. 8. Read your owner’s manual! It may not be fun, but it will help you use all your microwave’s features. If you find it hard going, read and figure out just one section a day or week. 9. One last hint, start with easy things when you have time to experiment. Don’t try new things for company or when you’re in a hurry, you’ll just end up mad at the microwave! If you try one new thing each week, soon you’ll be microwaving lots of things. Microwaving a pudding mix couldp’t be simpler, and it will never scorch! Try this easy, confidence builder; Pudding Mix 1 box any flavor puddir tux, not instant (4 serving size) 2 cups milk 1. Combine pudding and cold milk in a 4 cup measuring cup or 1 quart microsafe bowl or casserole. Leave uncovered. 2. Stirring every 2 minutes, microwave on high for 6 to 8 minutes, just until pudding boils and thickens. 3. Pour into dishes and chill. Serves 4. Gazebos made to Also custom built ' storage sheds. I .• Dealer Inquiries Welcome Your choice of 3 styles Mini Barn Quaker Shed A Frame Large variety of colors and sizes to choose from. Food And Ag Institute At Cornell ITHACA, N.Y. - The Empire State Food and Agricultural Leadership Institute at Cornell University will continue its ..educational program to develop u&ders for New York State’s $24 billion food and agriculture in dustry. The institute’s 20-member ad visory council voted to continue the program on an ongoing basis, according to James Preston, director of the institute and a professor of rural sociology at Cornell University. “The advisory group based its action on the success to date with the initial two-year pilot program,’’ Preston said. “As a result, members of a second two year leadership development class, which is scheduled to start in October this year, will be recruited in the near future.” Preston said that his institute plans to start a new leadership class of 30 members every two years. Class members are selected from among applicants representing a cross section of the food and agriculture industry and other areas including government, business and education. Participants spend about 30 days per year attending classes and taking part in study tours. The 30 members of the first class, which started in the fall of 1985, studied trends affecting the state’s food and agriculture industry including changing consumer demands, future agricultural financing and size and scope of the food service industry. They observed food distribution systems in New York City. Now in the second year, the class will concentrate on public policy Tips —lf you have a new, big microwave, it probably has 600 to 700 watts of power. Use the shortest times given in a recipe. If you have an old or small oven, it may have only 500 watts, and you’ll need the longer times given in a recipe. Some mixes will thin out and get watery if overcooked, so don’t boil longer than directions on box. Copyright 19frf, Lent Bloomer. McmU'i h D I r To Continue Leadership Program issues and processes with regard to the food and agriculture in dustry at the local, state and national levels, according to Preston. The class will meet in Albany, N.Y., to study state-level govern ment processes and in Washington, D.C. to study policy-making processes at the national level. These sessions will be followed by a class trip to California to study the food and agriculture system in that state. The class will graduate in June. Established in 1985, the institute is sponsored jointly by New York State Agricultural Society, the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell and the New York Cooperative Extension. Financial support comes in part from organizations, businesses and individuals involved in the food and agriculture industry. This year’s goal is to raise $125,000 in contributions. Contributors for the second class now being organized include New Farm Show School Exhibit Awards „ _ . . _ Area HS Centre 10 Admiral Peary AVti 1 Lower Dauphin Senior HS , Dauphin 2Tn Cambna n Dover Area H S York 12 Cedar Valley H S Schuykil 3Tn Valley HS Adams, 4 CrM( HS Lebjlnon 13 M , m , nburg Area HS Manheim Central HS Lancaster 6 Union 14 Mldd | eburg Hs Snyder 15 Bloom Elizabethtown Area SD Lancaster 6 TwmVa|| ey sburg Senior H S Columbia 16 Danville HS CK . B *i S 7 H I U , H O S p B * r1 'v 5 .,,.l Montour 17 Oxford Area HS Chester 18 Ephrata Senior H S Lancaster 9 Penns Valley Bermudian Sps H S Adams 1 Donald Rohrer Lancaster. 2 Tobin Shank Lancaster 3 Donald Shank Lancaster 1 Robert Burkholder Lancaster 2 Raymond Burkholder Lancaster 3 Donald M Rohrer Lancaster 1 Donald M Rohrer Lancaster 2 Dawn M Rohrer, Lancaster, 3 Mike Rmeer Lancaster B Pennsylvania Grown Smoklnc Clast 4 Bottom one-third 1 Karen J Frey, Lancaster 2 Gary R Nett Lancaster 3 Nett Bros Lancaster Clou 5 Mlddlo ono-third 1 Steven J Sensemg, Lancaster 2 Neff Bros Lancaster 3 Gary R Neff. Lancaster Class 6 Top ono-third 1 Karen J Frey Lancaster 2 Neff Bros Lancaster 3 Garyß Neff Lancaster Vocational Agriculture Clau 12 Type 41, Pennsylvania Grown Seed loaf of I road leaf Wrapper 1 Tobin Shank, Lancaster 2 Larry Eshbach Lancaster. 3 Brian Eshbach Lancaster Clau 13Type41. Pennsylvania Grown Seed loaf or Broadleaf Filler 1 Tobin Shank Lancaster 2 Don Welk Lan caster, 3 Steve Sensemch Lancaster Farm Show Tobacco Awards Place- Name- County Clast 1 Wrapper Class 2 Filler Clast 3 Binder There’s something richly rewarding about getting up long before the sun does and working hard to get the most from your land and your livestock. We at Bank of Lancaster County salute you who have made farming your chosen field. We’ve been here in Lancaster County for more than 120 years helping farms like yours grow strong. Bob Badger and the Bank of Lancaster County’s Agricultural Loan Division understand farming from the ground up. For years now, Bob has been helping area farmers grow with loans for machinery, livestock construction, mortgages, and other operating ex penses. For whatever your needs, visit Bob at our Strasburg office, or give him a call and he'll visit you He gets up pretty early too Bank of Lancaster Agricultural Loan Division, Center Square, Strasburg (717)687-8691 York Milk Industry Council, Agway Foundation, Curtice- Burns/ Pro-Fac Cooperative, National Grape Cooperative, Plainville Turkey Farm Inc., Wegman’s Food and Drugs, Eastern Artificial Insemination Cooperative, Dairylea Cooperative, Upstate Milk Cooperative, Norstar Bank Up state New York (Utica), Central National Bank (Canajoharie), Tompkins County Trust Co. (Ithaca), Key Bank of Northern New York (Watertown), Dellwood Foods Inc., Erie and Niagara Insurance Association, Farm Family Insurance Co., Norman Allen of Schaghticoke, N.Y., Donald M. Bay of Macedon, N.Y., and James Colby of Spencerport, N.Y. Persons wishing to contribute or apply to the institute’s second two year leadership development program may contact James Preston, 434 Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853, telephone (607) 255-1692. Class 14 Pennsylvania Grown Smoking Bottom ono-third I Dean Enck Lancaster 2 Jeff Hoilmger Lancaster Class 15 Pennsylvania Grown Smoking Middlaona-third 1 Todd Ament Lancaster 2 Tony Bitts Lan caster 3 Becky Barley, Lancaster Class 16 Pennsylvania Grown Smoking Top one-third I Dean Enck Lancaster, 2 Tony Bitts Lan caster 3 Todd Ament Lancaster GRAND CHAMPION OF SHOW Grand Champion Wrapper Donald Rohrer Grand Champion Filler Tobin Shank Grand Champion Binder Donald M Rohrer Grand Champion PA Grown Smoking Todd Ament Bank of Lancaster County The better bank because we live here too