ABSTRACT
From an engineering standpoint, both microwave heating and cooking of foods are complex. Thus, microwave cooking is certainly complex and a complete engineering description of this process that includes physical, chemical, biological, and sensory aspects is simply not available. As discussed throughout this handbook, cooking depends on such a myriad of oven and food factors. Thus, even after all the discussion of principles in this handbook, there are situations where a final product is more of an art than science. Patterns begin to emerge from persistent testing of actual food products and processes. These can lead to the development of simple, basic microwave techniques, developed from the other end of the spectrum, i.e., final product. This chapter is one person's effort [1] to provide some of these principles obtained from years of practical experience in product development using the home microwave oven. Its purpose is not to explain why things work, but rather "what works." These rules of thumb may not be unique and alternate approaches are possible, as may be seen in Refs. 2-21. The principles and rules-of-thumb presented in this chapter should complement the scientific approaches laid out elsewhere in the book. It is even possible at times that a few of these rules apparently contradict some of the principles laid out elsewhere. This is expected considering the complexity of the cooking process and its incomplete scientific understanding. Perhaps this chapter would also serve to identify some of the gaps in our fundamentally based understanding of the complex process of microwave cooking.
