microwave getting too hot

[Pants]

My wife just heated up rice for 20 minutes in our microwave in a glass bowl that was uncovered. The outside of the Microwave became extremely hot. It partially melted a candle sitting on top of it.

Is it normal for microwaves to get this hot when cooking for long periods of time?

I've got a warranty...Should I return it?

 

[NYJimbo]

Nobody "heats up" rice for 20 minutes. You cooked rice for 20 minutes. Its likely the heat that came out was the water boiling. When you took out the rice was it extremely hot ? I mean the water was boiling for 20 minutes.

Water is the main target for a microwave. If you put a candle on top of the microwave that's a bad idea, it will melt if the heat dissipates from the oven to the thin walls, especially during cooking when water is boiling inside.

 

[Pants]

Nobody "heats up" rice for 20 minutes.

I'm not sure what you mean by this

 

[NYJimbo]

I'm not sure what you mean by this

"heating up" means you are reheating something. Cooking means you are making it from "raw".

If you took a serving or bowl of cooked rice and put it in the microwave and "heated it" for 20 minutes it would dry out and probably burn.

Have you ever owned a microwave before ?

 

[Pants]

lol Ok sorry. My wife didn't heat up the rice, she cooked it from raw form. Apparently she got the recipe off the Internet and just followed the directions. I guess it called for leaving the bowl uncovered while the rice cooked.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

"heating up" means you are reheating something. Cooking means you are making it from "raw".

You gotta "heat up" the water to make it steam/boil to cook the rice. It's far from being limited to the use of "reheating". There's nothing wrong with using the term "heating up" to refer to one of the prep steps of cooking something the first round. Once the cooking medium is heatED...you can then move to the step of actually cooking with it.

RE-heating is the act of warming up last nights leftover doggie bag the next day or week or whatever.

 

[NYJimbo]

You gotta "heat up" the water to make it steam/boil to cook the rice. It's far from being limited to the use of "reheating". There's nothing wrong with using the term "heating up" to refer to one of the prep steps of cooking something the first round. Once the cooking medium is heatED...you can then move to the step of actually cooking with it.

RE-heating is the act of warming up last nights leftover doggie bag the next day or week or whatever.

His wife was not heating up water and then cooking rice. People normally don't put rice in boiling water to cook it, unless its one of those "boil in bags" or instant rice. My point is that if she was just heating cooked rice it would not generate the amount of heat that boiling water for 20 minutes does. So that's why I said she was not heating rice, she was cooking it. Cooked rice reheats in a minute or two and does not generate as much heat as cooking rice for 20 minutes.

When I cook pasta in the microwave the whole machine gets very hot and you cant touch the bowl without gloves. If I heat up some cooked pasta the plate general just gets very warm.

 

[numnutz]

On occasion I have microwaved a frozen meal I think they go for 20 minutes or so. I never experience the outside of a microwave get more than slightly warm. I would definitely refer to the owners manual or contact the manufacture. Just wondering though I'd the oven in a very tight space with little ventilation? If so maybe try giving it more space? Good luck

 

['putertutor]

Wow, I have never seen a set if instructions on any type of food (frozen or otherwise) that called for 20 minutes on high in a microwave!! Most food will cook (heat, reheat, re-cook, whatever the f you want to call it, its the same process) in less than 10 minutes. Honestly, you probably ought to be using the stove at that point. There is almost no time savings with that rice recipe compared to doing it on the stove.

That being said, I have cooked several plates of food in rapid succession which amounted to almost or maybe even more than 20 minutes of cooking. My microwave was hot as well, though I chalked it up to the extreme usage, rather than radiant heat from the food. If yours heats up like that under regular conditions (5-6 minutes on high) then you might have a concern.

 

[angry_geek]

Rice for twenty minutes in a microwave would equal mush.

 

[Pants]

The rice actually turned out pretty good.

 

[SilverLeaf]

Most microwaves are usually rated for several hundred watts. Assuming most of this energy is released as heat (although indirectly), it seems reasonable that the mostly uninsulated cabinet would get fairly hot after 20 minutes. Sure, much of the heat is usually absorbed by the food; but in the case of something like rice, the microwaves aren't necessarily heating the grains, so much as continuously heating the water to cook the rice. Being uncovered, the heat will escape upward.

Frequently, I will use the microwave to steam a large bowl of frozen vegies for a dish I make. It usually takes about 18 minutes or so to get the desired result. I've really never paid any attention to how hot the case gets, but its one of those built-in, "over-the-range" models, so it would be hard to tell anyway...and of course the dish I use is covered to keep the steam in.

 

[Vicenarian]

Whoa guys, the bigger question is why aren't you using a rice cooker?

Seriously; they're about $30, and cook rice WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than any microsoft/stove/anything.

You put the rice into the rice cooker pot, rinse it a bit with some water, add enough water so it just covers the rice, and then put the pot into the rice cooker itself and hit GO. SHAZZAM! 15 minutes later your rice is perfectly cooked; not too soft, and not dried out at all.