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It might not be considered so odd as the chef in question was culinary experimenter Wylie Dufresne, who took to the dining room of his restaurant, WD-50, to make an egg dish with a microwave.
"I think microwaves are pretty neat," Dufresne said before his demonstration. The chef uses three standard microwaves in his kitchen and has been testing out this new model for the last three weeks.
"We realized we could poach in the microwave," he said. But it takes time ... 29 minutes to be precise.
Hear how he uses metal in the microwave after the jump.
Yes ... after trying out a Panasonic microwave that uses "inverter" technology -- something Slashfood has not tested, but which company officials say eliminates hot spots and makes for a microwave that heats food continuously -- Dufresne told a crowd of foodies and techies that he had found a few good uses for the machine.
1. Eggs His method includes the use of aluminum foil and cooking the egg for about 29 minutes. (Metal, it seems, is OK in the microwave provided there are no sharp edges and you keep it far from the sides where it could cause an arc. But AGAIN this has not been tested by Slashfood and so we can't recommend it in any way, shape or form).
2. Vegetables "The microwave is fantastic for vegetables." Vacuum seal or zipper-lock bag a few spears of asparagus with a hint of olive oil for 20 to 50 seconds and find yourself with bright blanched veggies.
3. Foie Gras "We've done a lot of stuff with foie gras." His method for foie gras (still in development) involves freezing it, deep-frying it and then finishing it off to medium rare in the microwave.
Photo: Sara Bonisteel
Photo: Sara Bonisteel
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6-03-2009 @5:12PM Harlan said... I've got a little plastic microwave egg cooker that I really like. Break the shell, put the egg in the pocket, prick the yolk with a fork, and microwave for 50 seconds or so. Get a fully-cooked but not over-cooked egg, perfect for anything where you'd chop up the egg before serving. The microwaves cook a full half-inch of thickness, so you don't have the slow migration of heat issue you have with boiling eggs. I'm sure you could get perfect soft-cooked eggs with some practice and a little care, just as long as you don't mind the shape.
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6-03-2009 @5:24PM Stuart said... Microwave ovens are tool for heating food. The key to good cooking is temperature control. When they were introduced, microwaves were still fairly crude... and they tended to be used even more crudely. People were entranced by their convenience and were willing to sacrifice quality for it. That is what the microwave oven became known for, but that doesn't mean that it is all there is to it.
A microwave oven can, I am sure, be used very effectively by someone who experiments and learns how to use it as something other than a sledgehammer.
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6-03-2009 @6:24PM John Sconzo said... Ferran Adria has been using microwave ovens at elBulli for at least a couple of years to great effect, making spongelike "cakes." It is another tool that when used intelligently can do some things that other tools can't. I'm not surprised that Wylie understands that. It looks like he has achieved some cool new things with it. I have grown to love my microwave for par-cooking vegetables. Harold McGee had an article in the NYT on that topic not too long ago.
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6-04-2009 @7:05AM Bernie B said... Chalk me up for hating the Microwave. If I see or know of a restaurant using one on my food I won't be back.
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6-04-2009 @9:18AM Bear said... 29 minutes? Is that on full strength? That's an awfully long time to microwave anything....
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6-04-2009 @1:51PM Spoonman said... Not bad. My grandmother's been doing amazing things with a microwave for almost 20 years. I'll never forget the time I was eating some cake she made in there. You wouldn't have known it was done in the microwave. It's all about skill and getting over the "persona" of microwaves, I guess.
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6-04-2009 @1:59PM Astin said... Microwave = great for veggies. A little bit of water in the bottom of a bowl, cleaned veggies, covered in plastic wrap with steam holes poked in, and 1-2 minutes. Bright green, evenly cooked, and the nutrients not all boiled/steamed out.
I also used to do a great, quick, from-scratch chocolate pudding recipe in the microwave. It's been awhile since I've done that one though.
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6-04-2009 @8:36PM Bernie B said... Microwave = Bad for veggies as the cooking process destroys up to 97% of their vitamin content. Granted other forms of cooking can have similar impact, but IMHO the microwave is the worst offender.
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6-04-2009 @10:14PM Jennifer said... And yet Bernie... you'd be wrong. New research shows that microwaving maintains more antioxidants in veggies than other forms of cooking.
http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/69578/microwaving-veggies
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6-04-2009 @11:45PM Aizat said...
The central issue is whether there's such a thing as a "microwave effect"--that is, whether microwaves do anything that conventional heating methods don't. The main way microwaves heat up a plate of leftovers is by causing the food molecules to vibrate--an accelerated version of what ordinary cooking does. The microwave effect, if it exists, is more mysterious and potentially a lot scarier. For example, some conjecture that certain frequencies of microwave radiation can resonate with food, body tissues, and whatnot. Just as a low-power radio wave reaching a tuned-in boom box can rattle windows, a seemingly innocuous beam of microwave energy striking a harmonically attuned target may have disruptive effects. Microwave ovens aren't the only or necessarily the most urgent cause for alarm, either. Another significant source of microwaves, admittedly of a different frequency, is the ubiquitous cell phone, which people hold for extended periods to their ears, only a few centimeters from their brains.
http://taszara.com/cop-without-a-badge-danielle-staub-and-kevin-maher/366/
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6-08-2009 @3:52PM Amy said... I like using the microwave to cook king crab legs (and snow crab legs). Just put them in a covered casserole with a little bit of water and cook. Duration depends on quantity and if raw. They turn out great. People are always surprised when I tell them I used the microwave. Other than that I mostly use it to re-heat things. Occassionaly I'll use it to "pre-cook" (my own term, but not quite right) items that need a long time to cook to reduce the overall cooking time. E.g. I microwaved some short ribs several minutes before braising them since I was running out of time to cook them conventionally. This was a recommendation by my parents and they turned out really good. I still did have a couple of hours to braise though. So it wasn't the majority of the cook time.
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7-28-2009 @3:56AM Grete said... I started using MWO one year ago and now I run small cooking course because the MWO is excellent for heathy food like fish and nearly all kinds of vegetables - it is fun to make experiments with different sorts of vegetables adding either various sorts of oils, sweet or sour substances ect - the taste is intensified, the result on the plate is delicate, it is easy to serve yourself with several kind of vegetables every day - just get started -there is no ending -you will enjoy it - it is fast and cheap - and leaves only little dishwashing - no pots and pans (no cancer promoting roasting or frying)-
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