Is microwave cookery making a comeback?

• Microwave mug cakes put to the (taste) test

For the past 20 years, the home microwave has mainly been used to zap Lean Cuisines, reheat leftovers and defrost cuts of meat hidden in the back of the freezer since Neolithic times. However, microwave cooking might be making a comeback.

The internet is partly to blame with endless articles appearing with headlines such as "27 things you never knew you could cook in a microwave". Thrifty social media users, meanwhile, are keen to show how they "tricked" traditional cooking by poaching fish or baking puddings via the magic of electromagnetic radiation.

Some of these recipes sound edible enough. In Britain, for instance, award-winning food blogger and columnist for The Guardian, Jack Monroe, is a big fan of the microwave. Her A Girl Called Jack blog has recipes for microwave zucchini, tomato and cheese gratin, carrot ribbon pasta, and Thai-inspired meatballs with coconut slaw.

Australians have been typing "microwave" into their search engines more often in the past few years. We're searching "microwave" more than twice as much as we were in 2011. "Mug cake" (that's a cake cooked in a mug in a microwave) especially has had a sharp increase in Google Australia searches since January.

And ominously, a US company now claims to have "fine tuned" the appliance to rectify some of the microwave's greatest flaws, including uneven cooking.

In February, the BBC's Radio 4 Food Programme dedicated a half-hour slot to Britain's love of the microwave, particularly targeting those who wanted to make "full, nutritious dinners using new recipes tailored to their microwave".

In that broadcast, Jennipher Marshall-Jenkinson, president of the Microwave Technologies Association claimed to have not used a saucepan for 30 years.

"Using a microwave is common sense," Marshall-Jenkinson says. "Why would I want to cook rice, for example, in a pan of boiling water and have a really sticky, horrible saucepan to wash up afterwards? Why would I want to cook porridge or a scrambled egg in a saucepan when you can cook it directly into the bowl that you're serving it in?"

But while microwaves can help save on dirty dishes, not everyone is a fan. Chef Matt Stone, formerly of Greenhouse Perth and Melbourne's Brothl​ (and soon to take over the Oakridge Wines restaurant in the Yarra Valley) is a non-believer.

"I haven't had a microwave at home since I was a teenager," he says. "I don't like what they do to food. It seems like a really unnatural application of heat. That something can be warm in the middle and cold in the inside, to me, rings alarms bells."

For the affirmative side, Mr Wong executive chef Dan Hong has fond memories of using the family microwave to stretch the snack-time frontiers.

"I used to use it all the time when I was a kid to microwave eggs," he says. "It takes 35 to 40 seconds, depending on the wattage of your microwave, to get the perfect sunny side-up egg. My sister used to microwave potatoes with cheese on top, and I would even cook instant noodles in the microwave without using a pot. Crazy stuff like that."

He says his mother would steam whole fish in the microwave with soy sauce, ginger and shallots for 10 minutes and it was delicious.

Chefs share their microwave hits and misses

"Kidneys," says Justin North. "There was an interesting thing we did when I was working with [Michelin-starred chef] Raymond Blanc in the UK. Veal kidneys are quite big and to get the cooking process started, and make sure they cooked evenly, you would put them in a microwave for a bit to get the heat going in the centre."

North says many chefs use microwaves in their professional kitchens as an efficient way to reheat purees. Four in Hand chef and My Kitchen Rules judge Colin Fassnidge​ is one.

"We use them to reheat purees and sauces because when young guys reheat sauces there's stuff that dries around the side of the pot and makes the sauce go bitter," he says. "Whereas you can just give it a whiz in the microwave and [it] stops the bitterness."

Fassnidge says microwaves aren't bad for steaming vegetables after a quick blanch, but actual steam is still better.

Sokyo's​ executive chef, Chase Kojima, introduced a microwave into the Sokyo kitchen only a month ago. "We serve hot sake and the microwave is the best thing for heating it," he says. "We used to have a hot sake warmer and then one of my staff members, who can't read Japanese, blew it up. We bought a microwave because a lot of the fine-dining restaurants in Japan use a microwave to heat up the sake. The sake heats fast and customers never complain it isn't hot enough."

North is no stranger to heating liquid in the microwave either. "What I am famous for at home is making a cup of tea and letting it go cold," he says laughing. "Rather than remaking them, I just keep giving the cold one a blast. It's rather frowned-upon behaviour."

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