Standing time (sometimes called carry-over cooking) means that some cooking continues even though the energy source has been turned off. It varies from one to three minutes for small items, to 15 minutes for turkey or other large items.

Using containers that are round or oval in shape can help to heat food more evenly. With square or rectangular shaped containers, the corners tend to receive more energy, which can cause the food to overcook in these areas.

Why Your Food Is Heating Up Unevenly Microwaves are sending radio waves toward your food, rather than heating it from underneath it like gas ovens. And people tend to pile leftovers with the densest part in the middle, which is why the outer edges will heat up, leaving the center cold.

It is the reason why many recipes call for standing time. The carryover cooking that occurs during standing time causes the internal temperature of the food to rise several degrees and allows for the temperature to become more equalized throughout the food.

If you let it stand, the heat will distribute more evenly through the food, so you don’t end up with cold spots, and it’ll taste better.

Cooking terms (9) Cutting terms 5 Mixing terms 9 Preparations7

Fahrenheit – a temperature scale with 32°F as the freezing point of water and 212°F as its boiling point (to convert to Celsius, subtract 32 from the Fahrenheit, multiply by 5 and divide by 9).

When cooking a gravy or a fry etc the recipe says let stand for 5 minutes or 7 minutes. This means off the stove. Cover the pan or pot with a lid and let the food cook in its own heat ie from the hot vessel, curry or the hot fry.

To let stand is to let a food cool or set at room temperature before cutting it or before serving it. To marinate is to place food such as meat, chicken, fish, or vegetables in a seasoned liquid in order to give the food additional flavor before cooking.

Common Culinary Terms

• Al dente. To cook food until just firm, usually referring to pasta, but can include vegetables.
• Bake. To cook food in an oven using dry heat.
• Baste.
• Beat.
• Braise.
• Broil.
• Brown.
• Caramelize.

The cooking instructions on a ready meal might say to heat it on full power for five minutes and then leave to stand for another two. Leaving it to stand allows the heat to make it to the centre, where it will kill off any bacteria.

Chilling food properly helps stop harmful bacteria from growing. To keep your food safe: keep chilled food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible during preparation. cool cooked food quickly at room temperature and then place in the fridge within one to two hours.

Yes it is completely safe. Microwaves do not linger in food. The microwaves stop as soon as your microwave stops. It works by exciting molecules, particularly water, in the food and giving those molecules some of its energy as heat.

You should not leave food in the microwave overnight. It says the limit for leaving cooked food out is no more than two hours, so food that stays inside a microwave overnight rather than being properly refrigerated has a higher risk of becoming contaminated with bacteria that can lead to food poisoning.

According to the CDC, microwaves have been proven to kill bacteria and viruses when zapping the food from 60 seconds to five minutes. But not all microwaves emit the same power and cook in the same way.

In a regular oven, hot air makes both the food and its container hot, while in a microwave, the air is cool. The microwave oven emits microwaves which cause food molecules to vibrate. The resulting friction causes heat. This heat can get hot enough to kill the bacteria in foods.