When using a microwave, is it better to center the food in the carousel or put it on the edge like the wooden horsie you used to ride up and down on?

I’ve wondered about that, too, and if I had enough scientific curiosity I’d do some experimentation and careful recording of observation (or at least research, as you’re starting to do with this question). So I’m interested in the answer, but not enough to set up, perform and then record results to draw conclusions from experiments. But I’m sure that someone has.

This article says better on the edge.

^^ This new learning amazes me Sir Bedevere…

I bet @luckyguy has figured this out scientifically.

Well, I always put it on the edge. My most used setting is for 1 minute. I’ve idly noticed that my plate or cup winds up right in front, where it started. I wonder if they calibrated it to do that on the minute? I need to check where it ends up after 30 seconds.

I’ve always put things in the middle, it just seemed right. So, it’s very good to be reminded yet once more that my natural instinct is not foolproof, by any means.

This article says better on the edge.

NOOOOOO!!!!!!! I take great care locating dishes EXACTLY on the center.

This ruins my day.

I refuse to assimilate until I see a diagram of how the emitters are aimed.

OK, I watched the video linked in the Lifehacker story. That is a sweet setup with the bulbs lit by microwaves.

But I’m not convinced. I want to see a 3D matrix of bulbs instead of a flat plane.

It used to matter, in the early days of microwaves, because the magnetrons had very focused beams, You had to place things in the center.

That hasn’t been the case for 25 years. The walls of the microwave have diffusers and reflectors, for even distribution of the waves.

I eat a fuckton of chicken nuggets I make in the microwave. I found that if I give a even distribution on the plate and center it the ones in the middle are raw while the ones on the rim are well done.

So now I just do a circle of nugs and set the plate about a inch off center and they come out the same.

And yeah.. I know cooking them in the nuke-waver is bad but they pretty much are only there to get ranch in my mouth.