Microwave ovens came to simplify our lives: we can cook, reheat and, in some cases, even bake and gratin food. They also allow us to defrost food in a matter of minutes and, in general, makes our work easier if we are cooks without much time to cook.
But, if we don’t use them well, we may have found ourselves cursing this appliance because we have to clean up the spattered spaghetti sauce or leftover egg that we have cooked in the microwave. When certain foods are introduced, they begin to burst and leave the entire interior splattered with food. What is it about this appliance that makes some foods more prone to this than others? Why is this happening? Is there any way to avoid it?
Pressure, responsible for some foods exploding
To understand why some foods explode, it is important to first understand how microwaves work. These use microwave radiation, a form of electromagnetic radiation, to heat food. But, unlike a conventional oven, which heats the air around them—that is, it transfers heat from the outside to the inside of the food—microwaves penetrate deeper into the interior.
What microwaves do is cause molecules to spin and hit each other, creating heat. Water is one of these polar molecules and here we find a good part of the explanation. Although heat can escape, it is usually trapped inside, allowing for faster cooking. But if the food has a high water content, it expands and turns into steam. What happens if the food is wrapped in a shell, like an egg, or a skin, like grapes? This will cause, as the water inside evaporates, the amount of water vapor inside will increase and, since it cannot escape because it encounters a barrier, it will put pressure on the coating and end up bursting.
Another similar explanation is given by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), according to which the main culprit is water, which explodes if it exceeds its boiling point. Therefore, if we want to heat water we must do so with caution. In the case of eggs, steam cannot escape from the whites, so pressure is generated. What happens is that the microwaves set the moisture particles in the egg in motion; The friction heats the egg from the inside and releases steam, which cannot escape through the shell. If it has not exploded before, when we cut it or, worse still, bite it, the steam is released instantly and the explosion can burn us.
What other foods can burst? We are talking about tomatoes and tomato sauce, lemons, potatoes (unless we make holes in them before cooking) or eggplants, as well as whole unpeeled fruits such as peas or corn. Thicker soups are also more likely to splatter than thinner liquids because heat concentrates more easily in a viscous liquid, allowing steam bubbles to expand until a pop forms.
In the case of tomato sauce, what happens is that the mixture of water and fiber that it has tends to retain the heated water molecules, preventing evaporation to the point where the vapor ends up escaping and exploding towards the walls of the saucepan. microwave. It can also occur with any type of puree.
It is also not advisable to heat mussels or clams in the shell, as they will burst in a short time. Even without the shell, shellfish are not very suitable for this type of cooking, not only because they can explode but because, being rich in collagen, a protein that needs gentle cooking, they run the risk of becoming sticky.
What to do to prevent food from exploding in the microwave
Although finding our microwave full of soup or tomato sauce is something we don’t like, it is, as we have seen, a purely physical phenomenon that is nota priori, dangerous. Although there are tips to limit the risks. Some ways to do this are more obvious than others, but no less important:
- Place the food in the center of the microwave so that the heat is distributed evenly. We must keep in mind that the edges contain hot spots that are more likely to cause water in preparations such as soups to turn into explosive steam bubbles.
- Cook thick soups or stews at a lower power, stirring occasionally. Using lower wattages allows us to extend the cooking time, ensuring that heat has a chance to transfer to the internal parts of foods like sausages without overcooking the outside or causing a steam explosion.
- Make a small cut in the skin of tomatoes, grapes or peas to prevent the heat from concentrating inside and not being able to escape.
- It is not advisable to cover the container with a tight lid, as steam will accumulate underneath and be expelled violently. Yes, we can cover the bowl with a small plate, which will not prevent the explosion, but it will avoid having to clean the walls of the microwave.
- Pierce the plastic lids when we put them in the microwave. In this way, we give the steam a path and an escape route so that it can escape and the container does not explode.
- Stirring the sauces frequently will help prevent them from bursting because this way the steam dissipates and we will avoid splashes.
We must keep in mind that the more food we put in the microwave, the more likely it will be that there will be cold spots that do not heat up as well. We can avoid this by cutting food into smaller pieces, dividing it into smaller, flatter portions or heating them at intervals, stirring occasionally to heat evenly. For example, in the case of spaghetti, it is better if we make a circle in the center of the plate.
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