Paul M. Cook©® wrote:
> Yeah, you got me dude. My mission in life is to disparage microwave ovens
> by posing as an oven physicist. Tell me, just how does one "steam" crab in
> a MW oven without turning the internal water into steam?
That's easy, you just wrap the crab in wet paper towels.
The keyword here is "wet". Microwaves will penetrate food
but only to the depth set by the food's water content. A
few layers of wet - not damp, wet - paper towels will stop
most incoming microwaves. The water in the paper towels
will heat up and steam the contents. Variations on this
technique are common in most receipes that have been adapted
to the microwave.
Also, water is not simply "turned to steam". It has to be
heated, like any other method, starting out at whatever the
temp was and rising as more microwaves rattle the molecules.
If the towels are still wet when you take them out, then
obviously most of the water is still present - as water. Not
as steam, even if some steam is rising from the wrapping.
Likewise if the crab is not dry then most of the water in
it is still there. Maybe even a bit more from the steaming.
And if the water in the towels isn't rising in massive clouds
of steam then it didn't reach the boiling point, therefore
the crab did not reach the boiling point, therefore the
water in the crab never turns to steam.
Really, Paul. Apply a little logic.
And, by the way, even though I haven't seen the episode in
question I have seen enough of his shows to be pretty certain
that he included an explanation of all the above with his
little styrofoam puppets. Unlike most chefs, he really
understands why food does what it does when we cook it.
We're probably lucky he doesn't go into pi-muon-neutrino
interactions (complete with styrofoam puppets).
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