• terranoid@lemmy.cafe
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    11 days ago

    They’re literally small convection ovens rebranded. They’re not magic.

    Look up how microwaves work. Those are way, way fucking cooler. The way they generate the microwaves is cool as hell.

    • rain_enjoyer@sopuli.xyz
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      11 days ago

      you know what would be a lot cooler? same thing not needing electricity (concentrated solar can get hot enough and heat can be stored in hot oil)

    • kestrel7_7@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Microwaves are cool in theory but in practice the food is almost always soggy and mushy. Maybe I just don’t know how to use them, but I’m rarely happy with the result. Even reheating leftovers, I’d rather do in a saucepan

      • wjrii@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        While I had to learn that Microwave ovens don’t magically work on the resonant frequency of water molecules, they do work by inciting motion in dipole molecules, and water with those little H atoms hanging off to one side is dipolar, so microwaves are rather good at heating them up. This means that you’re sort of working in the same realm of temperatures and humidity as steaming or even boiling, for good or (mostly) for ill.

        Heating frozen food specifically engineered to come out okay from a microwave? Well, it’ll come out okay. Re-heating soup or re-steaming tamales (mmmmm. tamales…)? Pretty decent. Heating up anything that wasn’t meant to have “wetness” as a major part of its mouthfeel will go poorly, often disastrously if you don’t try to work around the microwave’s limitations.

    • dan@upvote.au
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      11 days ago

      They’re closer to impingement ovens than convection ovens.

      Convection ovens (or “fan forced ovens” in some countries) use a fan to gently and evenly circulate the hot air, whereas impingement ovens and air fryers use higher velocity fans to blow the heat directly onto the food.

          • Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone
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            11 days ago

            Just saying it’s not new or miraculous technology 🤷🏼 it’s just a clever and convenient consumer product.

            The better we can differentiate consumer trends and marketing from actual technological innovation, the better off we’ll be. cough AI cough

            • ikt@aussie.zone
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              11 days ago

              What is a new or miraculous technology that has been invented say in the last 5 years to you?

              You said AI is marketing to a guy that uses AI like all day long :\

                • ikt@aussie.zone
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                  11 days ago

                  Lemmy: AI BAD. I AM CONTRIBUTING TO THE CONVERSATION

                  Left wing progressives are such bots they don’t even qualify as AI

                  • kestrel7_7@lemmy.world
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                    11 days ago

                    There is no statistical evidence that AI helps any moneymaking process and there’s going to be a massive market correction over this pretty soon. I genuinely hope I’m wrong, but all the evidence points this way…

              • chunk6235@piefed.social
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                11 days ago

                Ah, you’re a marketing drone, that explains a lot.

                I use AI often enough and it’s just a shiny turd for anything complex. Good thing it’s good at stealing art, so that’s a big boon for marketing people.

                • ikt@aussie.zone
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                  11 days ago

                  I’m a marketing drone? Did you misread my comment?

                  You said AI is marketing to a guy that uses AI

                  vs what I think you appear to have read:

                  You said AI to a marketing guy

                  edit: I’ve updated my comment to remove confusion

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Things don’t need to be revolutionary to be life changing. Could I have used the convection oven for this one slice of pizza? Sure. Would I ever? Hell no.

      But yeah, microwaves really are neat. We’re going to fling these electrons around in these very specific magnetic fields and out pops light you can’t see.

    • Souvenir@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 days ago

      A more efficient and quicker small convection oven you can easily buy for 30 bucks and pop in a cupboard when you’re not using it.

      • Axolotl@feddit.it
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        11 days ago

        The price really depends where you live, eg: where i live an air fryer can cost 20-40€ , a microwave is often on the 50€ price range

        • Souvenir@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          11 days ago

          Same here.

          Meanwhile a reliable full size oven can easily cost 1000$/€ and consumes much more energy. Not always cheap/easy to install either.

          For people on a budget, who often live in a small/rented place, an air fryer’s a life saver. Plug it in, cook something, pop it away if you need some more space. Don’t even need a kitchen. Just use it next to an open window or vent.

          A rice cooker is similarly useful. Cheap, but you can use it to cook far more than rice, keep stuff warm, and largely replace a stove top. Once again, often without the need for space or installation.

    • TheRealKuni@piefed.social
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      11 days ago

      Microwaves are cool, sure, but they have a completely different utility. If I want a small amount of food hot, it goes in the microwave. If I want a small amount of food crispy, it goes in the air fryer. If I want a large amount of food hot or crispy it goes in the oven, with convection on or off depending on the end goal.

      • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        If you want crispy, heat with the air fryer.

        If want moist and hot, use a microwave.

        Don’t cook soup in the air frier or toast in the microwave.

        • Aqivex@fedinsfw.app
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          11 days ago

          You’re allowed to mix and match your appliances a little bit, as a treat.

          Microwave start to air fryer finish is leftover recover makeover.

    • cinoreus@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Microwaves are a prime example that if something’s cool doesn’t mean it’s good for it’s job.

      Btw, the part of microwave that turns electricity into microwave is called magnetron. Freaking magnetron. I didn’t know real inventions could have names as cool as that.