Microwaved Stories

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It is amazing how many amusing tales I have about microwave cooking - seeing as I don't prefer it as a method of cooking. I got to thinking about this after discussion with @xander6464 - and thought I would share the fun (if that's what you call it?) with everyone else. ;-) For a period of many years, we didn't have a microwave - I think it was because we deemed them unhealthy. Either way, it was fine by me. I was comfortable cooking on a stove top. When we finally broke down and got one, it was like modern magic to me. While I don't prefer cooking anything complex in them, they can be a blessing when you want to thaw, heat up a vegetable or left overs, or even microwave popcorn which seemed like a real magic trick. Now growing up - my dad always made pan-fried popcorn which is still the best. Though, after we got the microwave - we got more into microwave popcorn which was just about as good. Seems like in the late 1990s and early 2000s there were more varieties available. I remember a wonderful "corn on the cob" flavor which is no longer for sale in this part of the world. Also I remember caramel and cheese corn. And there's where my first story begins. The cheese and caramel corn came with the bag of popcorn seeds , and a packet of oil mixed with the flavor that you would shake in the bag after the popcorn was done popping. It was really good, but like all microwave popcorn, seems to be gross when cold. So I thought I would reheat the cold half bag of cheese corn. Imagine my surprise when I started smelling burnt - and looked at the microwave and saw flames. I thought fast, opened the microwave, used a tongs and threw the burning bag in the sink. Another time, we had some banquet chicken. For those that don't know this is a frozen, boxed product of fried chicken. You put it in the microwave or oven and ta da - chicken at home. I wanted a piece - and seeing as we had the new microwave - I decided to heat up my chicken in the microwave. I read the back of the box. 12 minutes. Alright, great. Well, right around 5 minutes I thought it smelled rather well done. At 10 minutes there was literally a black spot of molten chicken and the microwave was full of smoke. I stopped it. Took the plate out. What had gone wrong? I hadn't even run it the full 12 minutes. I re-read the box. 12 minutes for the entire box of 12 pieces of chicken. I threw my molten chicken outside and it took forever for the microwave to stop smelling like burned chicken. My aunt's cabin had an old microwave in it. Seeing as - that seems to be what people do. The old furniture, appliances etc = as long as they still work - go to be used at the cabin. This thing was like 4 times the size of a modern day microwave. It had big dials on the front. I wouldn't doubt that there is some collector value to it. So those are my funny microwave stories. I would love to hear yours. Photo: Pixabay