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The microwave is usually frowned upon by ambitious chefs. It provides a convenient way to quickly heat ready made meals or the leftovers from the day before, but it is usually not regarded as a serious kitchen utensil (as is testified by one of the answers below).

However, it seems to me that the unique way in which a microwave delivers heat should open up possibilities for food preparation that simply did not exist before the introduction of this device.

Not being an experienced "microwave chef" myself (in fact I never had access to one until very recently) I ask myself:

Aren't there any crazy avantgardistic or molecular cuisine type ways of preparing food that exploit the specifics of a microwave oven in an unconventional way?

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    Google "modernist microwave cake"...it is a common technique.
    – moscafj
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 17:34

4 Answers 4

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One creative invention that requires the use of a microwave oven is the Frozen Florida - a reverse Baked Alaska. And seeing as this was invented by Nicholas Kurti, it surely counts as Molecular Cuisine. (see https://blog.khymos.org/molecular-gastronomy/history/ )

The inverted baked Alaska, described as a Frozen Florida, consists of a container made out of meringue. The container is filled with an alcoholic liquor and put in the freezer. After a couple of hours, the container is taken from the freezer and put into a microwave oven. The result is a dessert which is hot inside, but remains cold on the outside

I just found something else - a Vacquelin is an egg-white foam stabilized in the microwave oven. I haven't tried it, but it sounds a bit like a cross between warm ice-cream and meringue.

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You can fry thin leaves such as parsley in a microwave. Use a microwave-safe stretch film to cover a plate or a bowl. Lightly oil the surface and place the leaves.

You can now use the microwave to fry a thin layer of leaves.

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here is a molecular gastronomical cheese sauce method https://skillet.lifehacker.com/make-gooey-melty-slices-out-of-any-cheese-with-melting-1778257068

skip the immersion circulator and make it much more simply in your microwave in a microwave-safe bowl

zap everything but the cheese to a boil. dump in the cheese. zap another 30 seconds. stick-blend until smooth. (whisk or electric beaters just won't make it smooth, stick blend or nothing)
serve your glorious microwave cheese sauce.

very flexible on the types of cheese used

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No, a microwave is not a cooking tool. It destroys food. A microwave is a convenience when needing to warm something quickly, it doesn't heat uniformly, when food starts to dry out and burn it does it quickly while another part of the food is still icy cold.

Use the microwave for what it is good for, softening butter (3 times at 8-10 seconds a pop usually works well), TV dinners (which are still better if you take the time to bake them), or softening up some bread.

I use the microwave when I don't have time to cook properly or to warm something up conventionally. That's what it is good for. Warming and reheating leftovers faster than usual.

EDIT: I stand corrected. Apparently there may be something avante-guard about something cooked on the edges but still cold in the middle, but we aren't talking black and blue here.

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    Aside from being wrong, there are cookbooks full of things you can make in a microwave, you haven't addressed the question at all. Conceivably there could be some "crazy avantgardistic or molecular cuisine type" recipe that deliberately makes something cooked on the outside and icy in the middle, for example.
    – Ross Ridge
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 18:53
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    I'm sorry, but this is a little unnecessarily negative. As you say, there are things it's actually perfectly good for, and your list isn't complete. For things that can properly steam or boil, the heat evens itself out and they can't dry out. It's possible you're right that there's still nothing unique you can do (obviously you don't need a microwave to steam/boil) but you haven't really said that in a convincing way.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 18:54
  • boiling in a microwave is dangerous. That fact has been documented over and over. Water can become superheated before it boils, which means it simply hasn't been given a vehicle to bubble off steam, such as the heated bottom of a pan or speck of dirt in the water. Without going through experimentation in the microwave, if you want to see superheated water, start up your fryer and spritz a little water in there from your wet finger tips. That popping is the water exploding popcorn like because it didn't boil off before it exceeding boiling temp.
    – Escoce
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 19:02
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    Boiling water is dangerous regardless of how you boil it... Any way try this; Pork belly, microwave on 10% power for 60 to 90 minutes until fat is rendering, then grill (broil) for 20 minutes at 200°C until skin is crisp and bubbly. Same result as in the oven for hours, and much less power used
    – TFD
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 20:29

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