Food Theory: You've Been Using the Microwave WRONG...

Spam 🍿 in the comments if you only use the :30 sec button

ABOUT TIME THE MICROWAVE EPISODE

It blew my mind when the popcorn bag said don't use the popcorn button I've been lied to by my microwave for years

Rotating tables in microwaves were once rare. You moved the food yourself halfway through.

When I make popcorn, I initially listened for the popping, but then I looked at how long the time had gone for. Now i just put it in for that time and its perfect every time

When Matpat originally revealed Food Theory, I thought the concept was kind of ridiculous, but I genuinely think I look forward to these videos more than the other channels now.

You missed an incredibly important fact about microwaves and power level. You see... most microwaves do NOT scale power, at all. They just turn the magnetron on and off. For example at 50% power, they microwave cooks at full power half the time, and is actually off half the time. Enter the Inverter Microwave, they can actually scale power, so cooking at 50% is actually half power for the entire time. This difference between microwaves leads to extremely different cooking, and honestly, as a user of Inverter Microwaves for over a decade now, they are really so much better. And honestly, your results for this entire episode would be drastically different with an Inverter Microwave included.

You just explained to me why the pizza button I found on a hotel microwave ruined my pizza. I had to run to my kitchen to see if my microwave has a popcorn button etc., because I never use those things, and I honestly didn’t know. It does have them. I didn’t bother to look inside to see if it has a steam sensor, because between my hotel experiment and this video, I have no intention of ever using those buttons.

Some super fancy microwaves have a microphone that listens to the popcorn bag to tell when it's done cooking.

That intro with Santi pulling us out of the microwave got me I have not seen an express option or a turn-knob thing for power level on any of my microwaves

You just solved a decade long family feud. Popcorn button vs. listening to the pop! Thank you

That microwave sound in the video was evil, I thought my microwave was actually going off 😂

Chocolate melts in man's pocket: Doh! Chocolate melts in Raytheon engineer's pocket: must be this doohickey, for I am a stone cold engineer, incapable of mammalian love

As someone who has experimented with the power level button for years, lower settings are WAY MORE USEFUL than just in niche cases. Maybe this is applicable to only my microwave (Panasonic Inverter 1200W, w/ rotator), but I figured I'd share my findings with my fellow theorists. Do you suffer from cold spots after nuking it on high, and end up having to microwave it more anyway? Double the time and cut the power level in half. Once it's done, you can just eat. Do you suffer from steam mushifying your leftovers on high for 1.5 minutes? Set power level to 1 and microwave for about 10x as long (15 minutes). It's slow compared to microwaves on high, but it's still faster than using an oven. The goal is to gradually heat it up without letting it steam too much. The steam is what mushifies everything. Edit: I have only used these methods for precooked foods. Also, I have received two replies which seem to be blocked. I'll copy them below: Pedro Franca replied: "High power also makes the middle of whatever you're doing get dry, and it destroys any mozzarella I place on it for more than 15s, making it crispy and not melty. Low power is a tool I should... [YouTube cuts off the preview]" V L replied: "To me, varying the power level is the most game-changing pro-tip and I am surprised the video did not mention it at all! To reheat meat, I use power level 5 to 8 depending on how delicate it is, ... [YouTube cuts off the preview]"

Definitely use the hearing method for your popcorn, but also make a note of how long it took, because there's a good chance that you can find find a reliable time that works almost perfectly every time, without having to focus on the microwave the entire time. It helps a lot when you wanna grab a drink or something while it pops.

Microwave fireplace, for a toasty evening in 30 seconds

"But whether you have a fancy schmancy microwave..." shows a toaster oven

Suggestion: Best types of chocolate to use in cooking and those to eat on their own 🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫

I am so proud of you Sanji for uploading this video because now I can actually be able to show this video to my mother and since because it has captions my mother is deaf so this will actually greatly help her learn how to use the microwave better

First item reheated with a MW: Chocolate Bar First item cooked with a MW: Popcorn