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I want to cook about 300 g of parboiled frozen octopus. I am sorry to say that the parboiled octopus is white, not translucent but good quality, freshly produced.

The octopus therefore needs to be boiled to soften.

If I have a microwave, can I put the 300 g octopus in a glass dish and cook it for two to three hours in a microwave to soften?

Any recipes and formulas to convert the microwave output to percentage setting and time will be appreciated.

Rodrigo de Azevedo
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skvery
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  • Hours? I'm not a microwave expert but I've never heard of extended cooking times like that... Even a whole chicken takes under an hour to cook. – Catija Nov 01 '16 at 03:29
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    sorry I can't answer, but the question is wonderfully surreal! –  Nov 01 '16 at 04:34
  • Yeah, the 2-3 hours sounds way too long, based on what I've read (maybe a huge octopus would take a while, but not 300g), but the "can I boil in the microwave" part has pretty much the same answer whether it's 30 minutes or 2 hours. – Cascabel Nov 01 '16 at 05:34
  • Testing, 600 g 700 W, only a little water added. It started boiling in about 15 min and I reduced setting to low. Now one hour in a lot of water in the pot and parts are softening... – skvery Nov 01 '16 at 16:08
  • (JOKE) make sure to lay out your octopus so pairs of tentacle ends are 2.5 inches apart to form optimal dipoles, yielding good reception of the commonly used 2.4GHZ ISM band microwave energy. – rackandboneman Nov 01 '16 at 17:23

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If you want to boil something in your microwave, you certainly can. I doubt it'll be as power-efficient as doing it on the stove, but it's possible.

But there's no formula to get you a time and power level. You probably want to heat on maximum power until the water boils, then heat on the lowest power setting which keeps the water boiling until the octopus is done how you want.

On top of that, depending on your microwave, even the lowest power setting may be too high, and cause water to boil away enough that you'll need to replenish it eventually if you're cooking for an extended period.

Cascabel
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  • With 600 g and 700 W microwave with only a little water added. It started boiling in about 15 min and I reduced setting to low. Cook for another 90 min and it tested soft with a fork. I will call it a success. @Jefromi, I agree with 300 g the low setting might be to high and about a cup of water might be required. – skvery Nov 02 '16 at 06:47
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    Also see [Map of Sous Vide Cooking](https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-map-of-sous-vide-cooking) and look for the octopus island at 3 hours. – skvery Nov 02 '16 at 06:56