why does an oven make food taste better than a microwave?

Question

like if you have lets say a tv dinner and u can put it in the over or microwave...why does it taste better? same with things like hot pockets

Answer 1

Different foods cook differently in different appliances. If you're boiling water, it's much faster in a microwave and there's no flavor to be affected. A microwave generally heats from the inside and a conventional oven heats from the outside. In a conventional oven, food will brown on the surface, which is good for the flavor and texture of many foods. On the other hand, a microwave oven is much better for a cup of soup, since you don't want that to brown.

A microwave oven is not "better" or "worse" than a conventional oven, it's just different and can be used for different types of cooking.

Answer 2

Cooking is the art of blending flavors.
An oven will slow roast food by heat exchange (the food absorbs the surrounding heat), and gives the juices and flavors time to mingle.

Microwaves heat by passing micro-radio waves through the food, causing the molecules to vibrate faster and therefore causing the food to heat. The cook time is much faster but the flavors don't get as much chance to mingle and blend. Microwaving also tends to dry and toughen some foods, like meat.

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Answer 3

It's just the way microwaves cook things. Usually things can't get crispy in a microwave, and also if something is frozen, like a hot pocket, and you put it in the microwave, it thaws so quickly it can make the food taste different, or seem almost mushy.

Answer 4

Because microwaves zap the food so quick. Whereas ovens let the food "cook" instead of just warming it up. The prolonged heating time in an oven brings out all the flavors in the food.

Answer 5

I agree with ShuckyDucky - whereas the microwave is sometimes faster and easier, the oven is better for the food because everything - in the words of Emeril - "gets happy!" Although, there are exceptions like popcorn - whoever heard of doing that in an oven?!?!.

Answer 6

Ovens "carmelize" things it bakes - microwaves don't - they just heat it. This is one of the reasons early man started to cook meat - they discovered that cooked meat had a lot more flavor than raw meat, which is virtually tasteless.

Answer 7

Ramen Noodles

Answer 8

because it uses waves to warm the food faster than actually cooking it in a normal oven

Answer 9

an oven cooks from the outside in and retains the natural juices and flavors... i don't know where they go in a microwave......don't own one...

Answer 10

b/c in microwaves the water vapors can't really escape, so they come back and make the food soggy, especially the underside