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I read this question for microwaving chicken, and it left me wondering:

Are there any dishes that can only be prepared with a microwave? If such dishes exist, what are their characteristics and why will in this case only a microwave work? What is the crucial difference between a microwave and other cooking methods here?

Searches I've done have come up with dishes that can be cooked using a microwave instead of using other appliances, but what I'm looking for are dishes that can only be cooked in a microwave and can't be cooked by any other method.

Soulis
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    I would strongly suggest an edit - as it stands, it’s a list and there’s no “right” or “wrong” answer - or this will be closed by the site’s rules (see [ask]). Asking what properties of a microwave _can’t_ be mimicked by another cooking method or what characterizes “microwave only” recipes or dishes would be perfectly ok. – Stephie Nov 15 '19 at 16:56
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    Note: the answer in question is deleted, because it was an unnecessarily hostile formulation of "no, you can't cook with microwaves". I think this question is clear enough even without that full context, though I do also share Stephie's concerns about the answerability of the question (and its breadth). – Cascabel Nov 15 '19 at 17:08
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    Did an edit. Soulis, if you would like to add your own thoughts, feel free to [edit] again. Just make sure that the question remains within the scope of the site and acceptable types of questions. The [tour] and the [help] will explain more. Welcome to Seasoned Advice! – Stephie Nov 15 '19 at 17:24
  • That looks good. Thanks for the edit! I didn't really know how to ask it without being too board. A list of dishes is definitely not an exhaustive list. – Soulis Nov 15 '19 at 20:51
  • I would guess some molecular gastronomy recipes only work in a microwave. – Chloe Nov 15 '19 at 21:18
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    Microwave popcorn. – Randy Zeitman Nov 17 '19 at 06:12
  • The well-known fast-food dish 'Chicken Ding'. What's that? Put chicken in microwave. Three minutes - Chicken goes Ding! – Laurence Nov 17 '19 at 18:15
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    @RandyZeitman, you can still do the microwave popcorn on the stove. https://www.ehow.com/how_7664178_cook-microwave-popcorn-pan.html – computercarguy Nov 18 '19 at 19:54
  • Not a full answer, but I've never gotten as fluffy scrambled eggs on a stove as doing them in the microwave. – computercarguy Nov 18 '19 at 19:54
  • Not really an answer, but I know a lot of people who prefer certain dishes done in the microwave to the oven or stove, usually because the more even (or center-outwards) heating impacts the texture of the food. Baked potatoes and scrambled eggs come to mind. – Austin Hemmelgarn Nov 18 '19 at 22:27
  • There are 'Instant microwave muffins' - you put the dry powder into a mug, add 2tbsp of milk, stir, microwave for 2 minutes and obtain a mug of spongy cake. I seriously doubt these are cookable by any other means. – SF. Nov 20 '19 at 02:12

6 Answers6

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Yes!

In 1969, the physicist Nicholas Kurti gave a talk in which he demonstrated a variant of Baked Alaska called "Frozen Florida": a shell of frozen meringue around a center of hot liquor. This was done by chilling the meringue and the liquor together, then cooking in a microwave oven which had a rotating platter and no stirring fan. Because the microwave beam was always heating the center but only intermittently heating any given part of the meringue, and because the meringue was low-density and frozen, the liquor could be heated while the meringue remained frozen.

(The idea was broadly similar to, and presumably inspired by, radiation therapy for cancer, in which a tightly focused beam of radiation revolves around a particular spot which may be deep inside the subject's body: only that single spot is always being energized by the beam, so it receives much more energy than the rest of the body does.)

Sneftel
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    You'd need to characterise your microwave very well, and it would need to be designed such that an antinode coincided fairly with the rotation axis (IME the axis is usually neither a node nor an antinode, tested using a slab of chocolate). Nice – Chris H Nov 15 '19 at 16:33
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    Was this just a physics experiment done in a lab or a practical application in home or commercial kitchens? – Stephie Nov 15 '19 at 16:47
  • @Stephie It doesn't sound like a particularly practical (or tasty) recipe, and a similar effect could be achieved much more easily by injecting hot filling into a pre-made meringue shell. (That would be cheating, of course.) It is definitely reminiscent of modern molecular gastronomy tableside stunts, though. – Sneftel Nov 15 '19 at 17:20
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    @ Stephie ♦: I was a high school student when Kurti, when visiting his home country, Hungary, had a presentation in an auditorium near my school to which my class was also invited (actually, we also had a more direct and personal meeting with him, thanks to my physics teacher's personal contacts with him). This was in the early 1980s. I don't know about the original setup of 1969 but by that time, Kurti had mastered the presentation so that it could be performed live in an auditorium. Some lucky people sitting in the first row had a chance to taste all his creations. – Gábor Nov 16 '19 at 14:39
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    @Stephie ♦: I still remember his words about how much his Frozen Florida creation was different from a lowly Baked Alaska: you burn your lips first but then your teeth start to hurt from the cold. With his Frozen Florida, you *first* ache from cold, only *then* you burn your lips. What a difference! I can't remember the exact details of the recpice, though, but I suspect the center was some kind of jam by then rather than liquor, this seems to be easier to handle. – Gábor Nov 16 '19 at 14:56
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    @Chris Appalams make a pretty good test too: https://www.evilmadscientist.com/2011/microwave-oven-diagnostics-with-indian-snack-food/ – Soulis Nov 16 '19 at 17:25
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    @Soulis, I'd seen that before but thank you for reminding me. When I've done it with chocolate we removed the turntable (no microwave-redirecting fan) so didn't get the rotational symmetry – Chris H Nov 16 '19 at 18:01
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    This is actually due to physics! Microwaves work *great* on liquids, but *terrible* on ice. https://what-if.xkcd.com/130/ – Wayne Werner Nov 16 '19 at 21:52
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    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/oct/18/foodanddrink.shopping has a version inspired by that with hot fruit puree inside a sorbet coated profiterole. "The addition of alcohol in the purée, along with the sugar, acts as an antifreeze, so the purée stays semi-liquid even when frozen. This means that it absorbs the microwaves a lot more than frozen ice cream would." (You probably could inject hot puree rather than rely on the microwave though, and just smooth a little sorbet over the injection hole.) – armb Nov 18 '19 at 16:01
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The "instant" sponge cake, innovated at El Bulli, can only be made in a microwave. Here is an example. Basically, a batter is poured into a whipping siphon. It is charged. The aerated batter is dispensed into paper cups. The cake is cooked in a microwave. The cups are removed and inverted. The cake is released. It is easy and fun to do.

moscafj
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    And I assume the foam would simply collapse if one tried to set (bake) it in a regular oven, right? – Stephie Nov 16 '19 at 06:55
  • I haven't tried it in the oven @Stephie, but I would assume a slower cook, and, therefore perhaps a less aerated and flatter result. – moscafj Nov 16 '19 at 12:10
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At least for smallish and thin objects, microwaves heat foods “everywhere and throughout at the same time” (for lack of a better description). Exactly what isn’t desired for a steak, as discussed in the Q/A that inspired your question.

To achieve similar results of heat distribution with other methods, you either

  • stir the food (for cooking in a pot)
  • supply heat from all sides (when baking in an oven or steaming)

If both don’t work, because you don’t want to heat from the the bottom or surroundings only and don’t want to stir, your can only use the microwave:

Place a Schokokuss for a few seconds in a microwave to puff it up. Unlike plain (and firmer) marshmallows, they become soft, gooey and semi-liquid. Total guilty pleasure and comfort food, but can only be made with a microwave. Use a low setting and take it out before it disintegrates completely. Here’s a random video (in German, but the text is utterly irrelevant).

Stephie
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I saw someone point out the El Bulli instant sponge cake, and it immediately reminded me of a different recipe: The Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake. I know it's not exactly a microwave-only recipe since cakes have been around since antiquity, but this is a specific recipe for the microwave with a couple advantages over an oven baked cake.

A microwave cake is done really quickly: it's essentially just mixing a bunch of ingredients in a bowl, pouring the batter into a mug, and putting it in the microwave for a little over a minute. The result is a surprisingly spongey cake that can be made even by the most inexperienced of chefs in per-person servings, instead of having to make an entire cake that you need to finish in a couple days.. there also is a lot less cleanup to do after this recipe: a mug, a stirring implement and a bowl, compared to 3 separate bowls for the egg components and the cake batter, something to whisk the eggs, something to mix the batter and a cake mould. I have personally made microwave cakes on occassion and it was surprisingly good.

Nzall
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If you nuke an onion half, with an X cut in the middle as deep as possible but not through the outer layer, and seasoned with lemon pepper and a pat of butter on top, until the onion is soft, you have a tasty serving of vegetable

I don't think any other way of preparing an onion would taste less "oniony".

Ray Butterworth
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Death by Words
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Possible duplicate of this question. As mentioned there, there is the intriguing idea of a Vauquelin - a heat-stabilized egg-white foam, somewhere in between ice cream and meringue.

Popup
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