With the pace of social development, microwaves are now a must-have at home. Many friends save time with them, but we use microwaves not just for heating food; we also use them for defrosting. However, the results of defrosting are not always what one would expect. It's not always a good result for people. Let's take a look at the basic principles of microwaves!

Thawing Process: The microwave operates at 40% power, meaning the microwave tube is active for only 40% of the time. To put it simply, if you set a 5-minute defrosting time, only 2 minutes are actually heating, while the remaining 3 minutes have no microwave activity. However, it's not as straightforward as 2 minutes of heating followed by 3 minutes of no heating. Instead, it's a 20-second cycle, with 8 seconds of heating (due to microwave operation, slightly longer) followed by a 12-second pause (the oven's turntable is active, but no microwave cooking is taking place, so the sound is minimal). This is when you might hear the radio's radio control switching relays. The 12-second pause is also part of the process of preparing the food itself.

Microwave heating is an infiltration heating method, but its infiltration ability is limited; household microwave ovens can only penetrate about 4 centimeters of food. When heating a large piece of food, it is necessary to use the "rest for 12 seconds" principle to naturally distribute heat within the food. The general manual introduces the heating technology of microwave ovens. Therefore, if the food is larger, it should be cut into smaller pieces or constantly monitored, removing partially thawed portions as needed.

Microwave Heating Alert: Misunderstanding from internal heating, a microwave will not produce food thicker than 4 cm. Food items with a radius of 4 cm are usually heated, but the surface heat is affected by the hot air from the fan (visible in winter), while the internal heat remains unaffected. This can make the food seem overly heated from the inside.

Microwave Oven

During thawing, it is essential to use non-free or medium-low power gears to fully distribute heat and prevent partial food from thawing while the other part begins to develop maturity.

For large frozen foods like meat, once thawed to a certain degree, the meat should be removed and rested for a few minutes to prevent the inside from being undercooked while the surface has already been cooked. Additionally, the food should be rotated promptly during the thawing process.

3. Foods taken out of the refrigerator should be immediately thawed in the microwave, not left at room temperature for too long. Otherwise, the surface of the refrigerator starts to defrost, and when the ice crystals melt into water, they absorb a significant amount of microwave energy, obstructing the microwave from penetrating to the center of the food, resulting in slower thawing at the core. Since water absorbs more microwave energy than ice, the melted portion absorbs microwave energy rapidly, heating quickly; while the expanded portion absorbs much less microwave energy, heating slowly, leading to uneven heating and thawing of the food. 4. Some thawed foods may exceed 30 degrees Celsius, making bacteria more likely to multiply, so it's necessary to cook or eat them immediately. To prevent bacterial food poisoning, do not refrigerate thawed foods.

Take a look at the performance above; I believe the friend should now understand the importance of proper freezing methods, not that the microwave is unsuitable for thawing. However, we couldn't find a thawing method because the microwave's overall capability is too low. So, we have a large piece of meat; don't put it in there. I started thawing it, and it's basically thawed now.