Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Microwave vs Oven: Round One

A couple nights back, I was preparing to cook dinner, and before cooking, I double checked the directions. I then noticed that the recipe had two available options for cooking: Microwave AND Conventional Oven, and I thought this was weird because who in their right mind WOULDN'T microwave a Hot Pocket???



And then I studied these alternate cooking instructions even deeper. Not only would I have to wait for the oven to preheat, but the cooking time was thirty minutes! 30!!!

Everyone has a microwave. Who wouldn't just zap it for two minutes? Why would someone spend an extra forty minutes to cook a Hot Pocket. That's almost like really cooking. There must be some superior result in using an oven. So I set out to find the answer. A taste test. A comparison like no other:

MICROWAVE:


versus

OVEN:



Actually, it turns out that the Oven Hot Pocket tastes much better.
Oven positives: Evenly heated. Crisp exterior. Completely melted cheese.

But was the taste worth all the extra time???

No. The winner is Microwave Hot Pocket.
Microwave positives: Two minutes. Can't burn it, because the microwave turns off and beeps when it's done. Easier clean-up. Just throw away that little pouch thing.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a proud consumer of the Hot Pocket, I must congratulate you. I've often wondered the same thing but never considered wasting a half-hour of my time to find out. Bravo.

AH said...

Marie Callander's pot pies are also not bad at all in the microwave, although they take almost 10 minutes to cook, just in case you were interested in mixing it up a bit.

Matt Graff said...

You know, I have thought about mixing it up... subtly suggested by the title of the blog: ROUND ONE.

So hot pockets, pot pies, what else?

AH said...

frozen burritos perhaps?

Nick said...

This is hilarious. The fact that you managed to take 30 minutes for this taste test, click some pictures and give us a worthy report tells me that it rains too much in the NW. And the fact that I found this useful tells me that it's been a long time since I cooked a real meal.