@Joe Smith Well, between internet provider problems and a few other obstacles, here is my DUCK! In our MICROWAVE, above: Below a clearer picture, back side up. Below, after about 30 minutes, looks good! With breast up. Nearly done, total time 55 minutes. Will roast just a bit more to crisp-up the skin a bit more. Breast side up. Done! Color is a bit messed up, took pics with kitchen available light. Inside meat temp. was 185 degrees. We polished it off in two days! Delicious! Frank
@John Brunner Why does everyone cling to the unsubstantiated belief that microwaves can't be used to cook food? Back in the '80s my wife worked for a store which sold only microwaves, selling them. She was nominated to teach their free cooking classes for anyone who bought an oven. The sold hundreds, especially at Christmastime. She cooked up things in class which were fast, beef roasts, cakes, potatoes, etc. It takes 55 seconds to make perfect two-egg scrambled eggs, yet everyone thinks eggs explode in a microwave (they do if confined to the shell). Yes, certain foods do not lend themselves to microwave cooking. Not many, though. The Sharp (which ours is) cookbook has recipes to make all kinds of meats, poultry, and fish. And, yes, microwaves do brown things; after all what causes browning in any method of cooking? HEAT. What does a microwave produce? HEAT. I believe I showed scrambled eggs long ago on the forum. I will look up my pics, and show the method down the road. Frank
@John Brunner Die hard mistaken beliefs. If you heat something enough, ask yourself what happens to it? Turns dark, then black, as it becomes charcoal. Frank
I've done my share of cooking in a microwave, but not meat. I had a microwave egg poacher, and have poached eggs in the microwave using a glass bowl of water. I've also done scrambled eggs in it. But my understanding is that microwaves cook from the inside out, and cannot brown meat unless the food has already been cooked...or unless you use a special microwave browning dish. I'd love to be taught something new. But any cookbook I've looked at says that after you cook the meat in the microwave, you gotta brown it in a pan (unless you use that browning dish.) That being said, it's been a long time since I've even read on the subject. Maybe it works with duck due to the high fat content actually frying the exterior. Another misconception is that you cannot put foil in a microwave. My first microwave (Litton) came with a cookbook that showed how to shield the ends of meat with foil so they would not dry out. You just gotta watch the amount of foil relative to the mass of the meat.
Frank...you wouldn't be able to use that metal rack and pan in a microwave. Are you sure you weren't using a convection setting on your Sharp oven?
I'm not sure about that. I believe my Litton had a metal rack, and it was 100% microwave. They are "tuned" to that microwave.
Beats me. We have a Sharp combo oven in our RV; it has metal racks for use as convection but they have to be taken out to use microwave function.
@Beth Gallagher, @John Brunner Absolutely sure! I conferred with my wife, who is our microwaving expert. Here's what we concluded: Sharp instituted the turntable concept (calling it Sharp Carousel) as both a tool and sales gimmick. Rotating the food exposes it more evenly to the microwave energy, thus more even heating. She has handled many dozens of Sharp models, and states with certainty that EVERY Sharp microwave oven, excluding those having a convection option, came from the factory with a GLASS turntable. Every Sharp microwave/convection oven came from the factory with a METAL turntable. The metal turntable exhibits NO arcing or adverse effect when microwaving. She recalls never seeing a Sharp microwave/convection having BOTH metal and glass turntables, to be interchanged based on the type of cooking being done. Indeed, our big Sharp oven has a "MIX" setting in which BOTH microwaves and convection are used at the same time to cook the food. Consulting the Sharp User Manual reveals microwave energy DOES NOT heat materials from the inside-out. Nor does it heat different materials equally. Pyrex, Corning Ware, Fire King, and Porcelain dishes and utensils are but very little heated by microwaves. They get hot from heat transferred to them from the food being heated. Metal objects placed in a microwave oven will often form electric arcs, thus the general rule is NO METAL. (Even though Sharp gives you a metal turntable). I will sidestep the technical part of this unless more info is desired. Food wrappers like Arby's Roast Beef are foil/paper, and will instantly arc and catch fire: (happened to me). Not all plastic and treated papers are microwave-safe. To be safe, check the underside of the dish or bowl. Good design saw early-on that a turntable limited the size and shape of cookable item to prevent rubbing the sides of the oven as it turned. Many makers jumped on Sharp's bandwagon, providing a turntable in their ovens, but the good designs employed a "stirring fan", a dispersal device which actively spreads the microwave energy evenly around the inside of the oven cavity. Thus, a relatively "square" food load like a turkey, which would hit the sides if rotated, could be easily accommodated standing still. Materials most-heated by microwaves are FATS, SUGARS, and WATER. Thus a slice of cherry pie heated by microwaves will quickly get very hot in the center, where the sugars are, and less hot in the crust, where some fat is present. The microwaving craze created many spin-off products for use in microwave ovens. One useful one was a "browning dish": These had a thin pad of material embedded within the bottom surface which got very hot quickly and served to effectively brown or sear meats without resorting to stovetop heating. This could be done either with or without some fat, then added water cooked the meat completely. These were never very popular, as folks were still leery of added products costing ~ $20, so they disappeared from the stores. Some made in very small production numbers became collectors' prized items. I was absolutely amazed just now when I searched for browning dish images: Corning Ware Spice of Life Lechalote used ETSY $18,000.49 One unique item was a WIND-UP removable turntable to be placed in non-turntable ovens! Many saw the impracticality, actually uselessness of these, wife sold very few. Frank
@Beth Gallagher As you saw, I was using a METAL rack with the duck on top of it. This relates to the proportion of mass of metal to the food. The duck, 6.5 lbs. while the rack weighed 1/10 as much, no problem encountered. Note below are two metal racks which came OEM with Sharp microwave ovens: Sharp OEM Sharp Microwave Chrome Tall Rack Baking Originally Shipped With SMC1585BS, SMC1585BW, SMC1585BB Might you please give us your Sharp microwave oven's model number? Frank