Frying in the microwave oven...

[Externet]

Hi all.

I usually fry garlic cloves, or chopped onions in oil on a capped small glass pot.  Varied results, 2.0 to ~2.5 minutes.  Is there any tricks?  Has the food to be submerged, or just sitting in oil, or just coated ?  Covered or not ? (can make a mess)    I do not have a small susceptor-lined pot.  Any key ways to succeed, do it better ?  Near to a frying pan results ?

[Sensei]

I am always "shocked" when I see Gordon Ramsay use inaccurately peeled garlic..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuSdvpevaw0&t=149s

I use only properly peeled garlic.

14 minutes ago, Externet said:

I usually fry garlic cloves, or chopped onions in oil on a capped small glass pot. 

Why "or"? I often use both garlic and onion at the same time..

14 minutes ago, Externet said:

Is there any tricks? 

Fry the meat on one side, then as Gordon did in the tutorial above, add the garlic and onion, switch sides of the meat and fry them together.

Tricks? Do not over fry?

[Externet]

This thread is about frying in microwave ovens...

[mistermack]

6 minutes ago, Externet said:

This thread is about frying in microwave ovens...

No reason why it can't be done, but there might be a fire risk. It's so quick and easy in a small frying pan, I wouldn't bother trying it. It sounds like it would involve a bit of cleaning afterwards, but not in a lidded pot as you suggest. I use an air fryer quite a lot these days, that's quick and easy too. 

[Sensei]

38 minutes ago, Externet said:

This thread is about frying in microwave ovens...

https://www.google.com/search?q=microwave+oven+and+heating+oil

"Oils have a specific smoke point and heating them beyond their smoke point can result in losing the nutritional benefits of the food as well as the oil. Also oil does not heat easily inside a microwave, it is the container that gets heated first and heats the oils. Thus, it is best to avoid heating oils in a microwave."

"Can you put oil in a microwave? Yes, you can microwave oil for a very short time. Oil does not contain any water, therefore the oil itself does not heat, but rather the container holding the liquid."

ps. There are also conflicting threads on the web on this topic..

ps2. Do you have any microwave oven safe thermometer that you can put on the oil to check its temperature while "frying"...? You can create an Excel chart with time in one column and temperature in the other column.

 

https://microwavemealprep.com/can-you-put-oil-in-microwave/

Edited September 4, 2023 by Sensei

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, Externet said:

Hi all.

I usually fry garlic cloves, or chopped onions in oil on a capped small glass pot.  Varied results, 2.0 to ~2.5 minutes.  Is there any tricks?  Has the food to be submerged, or just sitting in oil, or just coated ?  Covered or not ? (can make a mess)    I do not have a small susceptor-lined pot.  Any key ways to succeed, do it better ?  Near to a frying pan results ?

I struggle to see how frying can be possible at all in a microwave oven. It will heat the water in the food only and thus can’t exceed 100C, whereas the essence of frying is hot oil, which is at about 200C. It is this that browns the outside of what you are cooking. I think you are just boiling your garlic in its own juice , with a  covering of cold oil. Doesn’t sound very appetising.

Edited September 4, 2023 by exchemist

[swansont]

23 minutes ago, exchemist said:

I struggle to see how frying can be possible at all in a microwave oven. It will heat the water in the food only and thus can’t exceed 100C, whereas the essence of frying is hot oil, which is at about 200C. It is this that browns the outside of what you are cooking. I think you are just boiling your garlic in its own juice , with a  covering of cold oil. Doesn’t sound very appetising.

The energy is absorbed by anything in the oven, with varying efficiencies (oil would likely have a low efficiency). It can get things hotter than 100 C, just not liquid water.

Ceramics and glass don’t have water in them either, but they heat up. You can melt plastic.

[exchemist]

43 minutes ago, swansont said:

The energy is absorbed by anything in the oven, with varying efficiencies (oil would likely have a low efficiency). It can get things hotter than 100 C, just not liquid water.

Ceramics and glass don’t have water in them either, but they heat up. You can melt plastic.

In my experience glass doesn't seem to heat up to any noticeable degree, and with ceramics I've found it depends on the glaze: the ceramic itself does not seem to heat up. Oil may heat slightly, but I feel sure the dominant process will be heating the water content of the food.

Edited September 4, 2023 by exchemist

[Externet]

1 hour ago, Sensei said:

Oil does not contain any water, therefore the oil itself does not heat, but rather the container holding the liquid."

Oooops... Then I learned wrong long time ago that oil, bacon, butter too, do heat up very well under microwaves, to much higher than 100C.  No need to have water.

And heating the container holding the liquid is exactly what happens on a frying pan.  Why not in a microwaved container ?

Perhaps am biased by the fast, thorough action of microwaving bacon.  Is it that different fats/glicerid molecules shapes/polarizations are more prone than others to react to the 2.45GHz microwaves ?   That could explain the difference in heating different non-watery foods.  This oil yes; that oil nope. 🤔

[Externet]

Well, tried about 30 g. of 1 to 2 mm thin slices of garlic submerged under 1 to 2 mm of canola oil for 4:30 min covered in a 1KW microwave oven.  Good aroma in the house, light brown color, crunchy.  Stopped there to not risk burning.  Next time will stop at 4 minutes or before.   Will get there, somehow it is an improvement.

I had not done it this submerged way before, result were mushy. 

I could reduce the time or increase the thickness of the slices, or something else...  Will see.

But fried, it is !

Your turn to try and tell...

[Endy0816]

I've fried noodles in the microwave using popcorn bags and that turned out okay. Was trying out a bunch of Prison recipes had seen online.

Made garlic confife and garlic oil before, but not in a microwave.

[Sensei]

51 minutes ago, Externet said:

Your turn to try and tell...

Like:

3 hours ago, Sensei said:

ps2. Do you have any microwave oven safe thermometer that you can put on the oil to check its temperature while "frying"...? You can create an Excel chart with time in one column and temperature in the other column.

 

18 minutes ago, Endy0816 said:

Was trying out a bunch of Prison recipes had seen online.

..send them to Donald... 😛

 

[swansont]

3 hours ago, exchemist said:

In my experience glass doesn't seem to heat up to any noticeable degree, and with ceramics I've found it depends on the glaze: the ceramic itself does not seem to heat up. Oil may heat slightly, but I feel sure the dominant process will be heating the water content of the food.

Right. It works best on polar molecules, like water.