In microwaves, cooking food evenly can be challenging without a turntable or stirrer. The turntable or stirrer is designed to rotate the food during the cooking process, which helps distribute the microwave energy more evenly throughout the dish. This rotation prevents hotspots and ensures that all parts of the food receive a similar amount of cooking time.
However, if your microwave doesn't have a turntable or stirrer, you can still take some steps to improve the evenness of cooking:
Manual rotation: Stop the microwave at regular intervals and manually rotate or stir the food. This will help distribute the heat more evenly and reduce the chances of some parts being overcooked while others remain undercooked.
Arrangement: Properly arrange the food on the plate or dish. For example, you can place thicker parts of the food toward the outer edges of the plate and thinner parts in the center to promote more even cooking.
Food placement: Ensure that the food is evenly distributed on the plate and not piled up in the center, as this can lead to uneven cooking.
Covering: Use a microwave-safe cover or microwave-safe lid to help trap steam and heat, which can aid in more even cooking.
Cutting and slicing: Cut or slice the food into smaller, uniform pieces when possible. This can help reduce cooking time and ensure more even heat distribution.
Pause and check: Pause the microwave a couple of times during cooking to check on the progress and rearrange the food if necessary.
Remember that even with these techniques, achieving perfectly even cooking in a microwave without a turntable or stirrer might be more challenging. If you frequently use a microwave for cooking and find the lack of a turntable or stirrer to be inconvenient, you might consider investing in a microwave model that has these features for more consistent results.