In article >,
"Pete C." > wrote:

> Julie Bove wrote:
> >
> > Now I've seen it all! Just saw this commercial. Who in the world would
> > need such a thing? And yet, I can see people who don't know how to cook
> > buying this thing, thinking that it's a miracle like they said. If my
> > grandma were alive, she would have bought it and probably raved about it!
> >
> > http://www.stonewave.com/
> >
> > I can remember buying microwave dishes when I first got my microwave, mainly
> > because my grandma told me that I needed them. I quickly learned that I had
> > wasted my money. My mom has a microwave but she uses hers in different ways
> > than I do. For instance, if she is making instant mashed potatoes, she does
> > the water in there. I find that it is much quicker and easier to do that on
> > the stove! Then you don't have to deal with an unwieldy large bowl of
> > boiling water. If I am heating canned vegetables, I put them in there.
> > Angela and I generally eat them straight from the can but husband likes his
> > hot. My mom always heats her canned veggies on the stove. I don't think
> > she ever fell for the microwave dish thing. Maybe she bought the bacon
> > cooker. I think I do remember seeing that.
>
> I put stainless steel mixing bowls in my microwave, leave spoons in
> stuff that needs periodic stirring, etc. and never have a single issue.
> There was a lot of misinformation in the early days of microwaves, some
> of it due to not thinking people could handle using metal properly in a
> microwave, but now any microwave manual or cookbook gives the proper
> directions for using metal in the microwave.

The magnetron (thing that generates the microwaves) in early microwave
ovens could be damaged by reflected energy from metal items in the oven
cavity.

Later on, the engineers figured out how to prevent that from happening.
I think the change was made because the companies had better success
making the devices idiot proof rather than trying to tell the idiots
what not to do.

In any case, metal is still a shield for microwave energy, so using a
metal container may result in even more uneven heating than usual.

Whether metal items work or not, or damage the unit or not, sticking a
platinum or gold-rimmed china plate in there is a bad idea.

Isaac