Can You Microwave a Steak to Perfection?

While it may not be our first choice in cooking methods, yes, you can microwave a steak to a perfect medium-rare. Learn how, plus how microwaves work, in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Lauren Vogel bomb here. For convenience in cooking, a microwave
oven can be tough to beat. The common kitchen appliance
introduced for residential use in the nineteen fifties can cut
down on the time and electricity necessary to cook or
reheat food. But despite its many benefits, can a microwave

(00:24):
oven match its other cooking counterparts in all ways? Frozen
dinners and revitalized oatmeal or one thing. A prime cut
of beef, often considered a paragon of traditional cooking methods,
is quite another on a stovetop. Sure, in an oven,
you bet on an outdoor grill heck yes? But can
a microwave oven cook a steak to a perfect medium? Rare?

(00:47):
A discussion on the online forum chef Talk spans six
years with little consensus aside from a shared sense of outrage, disgusted,
and perplex mint. Though other precision and science based cooking
techniques so vied and various molecular gastronomy approaches, for instance,
have captured the imagination of professional cooks, microwave cooking has not.

(01:08):
We spoke with E. J. Hodgkinson the executive chef of
King and Duke, a meat focused restaurant here in Atlanta, Georgia.
He said, I have never attempted to cook a steak
in a microwave. I did once witness a chef use
a microwave to cook a steak two well done after
removing it from the grill. I promptly resigned from my
position with that restaurant. If you're going to consider trying

(01:29):
to cook a steak to medium rare in a microwave,
it's important to know how a microwave oven works. On
the electromagnetic spectrum, microwaves sit between radio waves and infrared radiation. Water, fat,
and sugar molecules absorb waves in this frequency. Thus, microwaves
excite the substances very molecules, producing heat. The adage that

(01:50):
microwaves cook from the inside out isn't exactly true. Microwaves
do penetrate deeper than the surface of a food, but
they have difficulty going deeper than an inch or so.
Think of how a microwaved beverage can be piping hot
on the exterior but still just sort of warm in
the center. Microwave evans also cook food unevenly and unpredictably,

(02:11):
a factor somewhat mitigated by microwaves with rotating plates or
by cutting food into small, even sized pieces, though that's
the kind of thing you'd want to avoid if looking
for an even consistent medium. Rare Hodgkinson said a proteins
like steak benefit from intense exterior heat, both in the
caramelization of the protein and the texture achieved in the

(02:33):
proper preparation. The benefits of cooking on grills and open
flames are vast, though I may be a little biased.
His restaurant, By the Way cooks its New American Fair
over an open wood burning hearth, he continued. Cooking over
wooden charcoal specifically gives a depth of flavor that is
simultaneously unique and nostalgic. Proteins and vegetables alike take on

(02:54):
wonderful characteristics when treated and manipulated appropriately over open flame.
That's a If a microwave is your only option, you
may not be entirely out of luck. The New Magic
of Microwave cookbook, published in the Food Nooking Heyday of
nineteen eight, suggests using a browning dish or grill pan
designed for a microwave, which can mimic some of the

(03:16):
exterior browning achieved through traditional cooking. The strategy involves preheating
a browning dish in the microwave for seven minutes, then
placing an eight ounce that's two thirty gram rebi steak
on the plate, cooking on high for one minute, flipping
the steak, and cooking for another minute or more if needed.
The cookbook also recommends limiting the stake's thickness to know

(03:36):
more than three quarters of an inch that's about two centimeters,
and using a room temperature piece of meat. At food
Beast recipe suggests a similar method, but instead proposes using
the medium setting on the microwave oven for juic nous purposes. However,
because all microwave ovens vary, you may want to do
an experimental run before trying this method out for your

(03:59):
next dinner. Part. Oh and by the way, the cooking
possibilities of microwaves were discovered by accident. Percy Spencer, a
radar researcher, noticed a candy bar that he had in
his pocket, melted after he stood in front of a magnetron,
an electric vacuum that creates high frequency radio waves. Spencer
subsequently tested his observation with popcorn and an egg and

(04:22):
microwave cooking was born. Today's episode was written by Christopher
Hassiotis and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this
and lots of other topics cooked to perfection, visit our
home planet, how stuff works dot com