Kitchen

[Gokat]

Another Rangemate owner chiming in. I received mine last Weds. and have been having a great time with my 800 watt microwave. I'll post up some items and times later for everyone that's interested. This is a great little toy, and I'm having a ball with the learning curve. I see that there are several others interested in the correct preheating method for the unit. I posted a question to Rangemateusa on Facebook, and they just got back to me with:

Rangemateusa wrote: "Sorry getting back late. Yes, preheating is ok, just do it at 5 minutes most at a time because the empty grill gets real hot heating by itself. The manual is a little confusing..we'll see if we can fix that."

I HTH's. I know I've been concerned about ruining my new toy so was glad to get the answer from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Also, one of my Google searches brought up a nice site for converting microwave watts: microwavecookingforone.com/Charts and I thought I'd share for anyone interested. It covers most wattages, and I printed out the one I needed and taped it inside the cabinet over my microwave.

This is a nice, informative place for us rookies to share our experiences, recipes, and simple hints with the Rangemate. Thanks for starting OP!

[Gokat]

On 7/8/2014 Blondelle said:

Is anyone getting a grilled look with a 700 watt microwave? I tried ribs again and they were gray, with a touch of brown on the edges. I just wanted to render some of the fat out before I finished cooking them on a cast iron grill, but it would have been nice to be able to continue cooking them in there. I'm going to try preheating before giving up on meat. The meat would brown better if you didn't need to keep the lid on.

How do cupcakes and muffins come out? Someone mentioned they were too soft. So far I'm happy with making hard boiled eggs, grilled ham and cheese, pasta, pizza, and potato wedges. Couldn't get grill marks on the sausage I tried. Still experimenting. So much fun and so many new things to try!

Hi Blondelle! I have an 800 watt microwave and have been pretty successful with the browning...even did some precooked ribs, and they browned up nicely, as well as grilled cheese and burgers. I posted a site where you can print off a conversion chart between the 1200 watt and 700 watt. It's been helpful for me. I've also made the Indiv. French Toast muffins...full pwr. 7 mins...50% pwr. 6 mins. Yummm! I'll bet you're not cooking them long enough. Now that we know how to preheat I'm sure that will help, too. Have fun and keep posting your experiences!

[Gokat]

On 7/8/2014 suzeecat said:

I made the Italian sausage with onions, peppers and tomatoes and it was excellent! I'm really not sure what wattage my microwave is, but I found that I had to cook a bit longer than the recipe called for, which seems to be a common remark here on this thread.

I rinsed the unit out, wiped with a paper towel and it came out clean and shiny! I then used the carmelized banana recipe for dessert and it was great. I was a little concerned that there might be a leftover smell or taste from the sausage and peppers, but there was no such issue.

Question: When using the silicone insert for cakes/pies, do you need to spray the insert first with cooking spray? I've never cooked/baked with silicone before.

Sounds like you're off and running in great style, suzecat! To answer your question...YES, a little cooking spray, butter, etc. really makes removal a snap. Poached eggs to die for!

[Blondelle]

On 7/8/2014 gokat said:

Also, one of my Google searches brought up a nice site for converting microwave watts: microwavecookingforone.com/Charts and I thought I'd share for anyone interested. It covers most wattages, and I printed out the one I needed and taped it inside the cabinet over my microwave.

Thanks GoKat! I found the site very useful. I used the chart for 1100 as it's between the 1000-1200 watt ovens they say it works with. Going to print it out and underline the full minute settings so I don't need to search for them each time.