Buzz
You can grill a steak. You can broil it in the oven. You can sear it on the stovetop. But a microwave? Really? pa_YON/Moment/Getty ImagesMicrowave ovens are hard to beat when it comes to convenience in cooking. This common kitchen device, introduced for residential use in the 1950s, saves both time and electricity while cooking or reheating food. And lately, we seem to be overly focused on them. (Check out our article 5 Reasons People Still Refuse to Own a Microwave.)
Despite its many advantages, can a microwave oven compete with other cooking methods in every way? Frozen dinners and reheated oatmeal are one thing, but a premium cut of beef, often seen as the epitome of traditional cooking techniques, is quite another. On a stovetop? Absolutely. In an oven? Without a doubt. On an outdoor grill? Mais oui. But can a microwave oven cook a steak to the perfect medium-rare?
A discussion on the ChefTalk online food forum has spanned over six years, yet there's little agreement except for a shared sense of outrage, disgust, and confusion. While other precision-based cooking methods, such as sous vide and various molecular gastronomy techniques, have caught the attention of professional chefs, microwave cooking has failed to gain similar popularity.
"I’ve never tried cooking a steak in a microwave," says EJ Hodgkinson, executive chef at King + Duke, a meat-centric restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. "But I once saw a chef use a microwave to cook a steak to well-done after removing it from the grill. I immediately resigned from my position at that restaurant."
How Microwaves Cook
If you're considering cooking a steak to medium-rare in a microwave, it’s essential to understand how a microwave oven functions. On the electromagnetic spectrum, microwaves fall between radio waves and infrared radiation. Water, fats, and sugars absorb waves in this frequency, causing the molecules in these substances to excite and generate heat. The common belief that microwaves cook "from the inside out" isn’t entirely accurate. While microwaves do penetrate deeper than the surface, they don’t typically go much deeper than an inch or so. (Think about how a microwaved drink can be scorching hot on the outside but lukewarm in the center.)
Microwave ovens tend to cook food unevenly and unpredictably. This issue is somewhat alleviated in models with rotating plates or by cutting food into smaller, uniform pieces. However, this uneven cooking is something you'd want to avoid when striving for a consistent, perfectly medium-rare steak.
"Steak and other proteins thrive from intense heat applied to their exterior, not only in caramelizing the protein but also in achieving the proper texture. Grilling and cooking over open flames offer numerous advantages, though I admit I may be a bit partial," says Hodgkinson. (His restaurant serves "New American" cuisine cooked over an open wood-burning hearth.) "Cooking with wood and charcoal imparts a depth of flavor that is both distinct and nostalgic. Proteins and vegetables alike take on remarkable characteristics when appropriately prepared over an open flame."
No Other Options?
That being said, if a microwave is your only available tool, don’t lose hope just yet. "The New Magic of Microwave Cookbook," which debuted in 1978 during the microwave craze, recommends using a microwave-safe browning dish or grill pan, designed to simulate some of the exterior browning that traditional cooking methods achieve. The technique involves preheating the browning dish in the microwave for seven minutes, placing an 8-ounce (226 grams) rib-eye steak on it, microwaving on high for 1 minute, flipping the steak, and cooking for another minute or more as needed. The cookbook also suggests keeping the steak’s thickness to no more than three-quarters of an inch (1.9 centimeters) and using a room-temperature steak. A 2016 Foodbeast recipe advises a similar approach but recommends using a medium microwave setting for juicier results.
Additionally, the website Microwave Master Chef tested cooking two similar cuts of meat, one in a microwave and the other in a pan. The verdict? "Microwave steak is ideal if you want the meat well-done throughout without charring the exterior. But if you prefer a pink steak, stick with the pan."
So, while a microwaved steak may never match the quality of one pan-fried or grilled, one thing is clear: if medium-rare isn’t your preference, and you enjoy a well-done steak — possibly with some ketchup — feel free to microwave away!
The discovery of microwave cooking was purely accidental. In 1945, Percy Spencer, a radar scientist, realized that a candy bar in his pocket had melted after he stood near a magnetron (a device that generates high-frequency radio waves). Spencer then experimented with popcorn and an egg to test his theory, and thus microwave cooking was born.
