We've all been there .. You sit down with your meal -- the meat is good -- the veg. is fine. The potatoes are cold.

You want to blast JUST the potatoes in the microwave, but not cook any other part of the meal which is fine. The food is already nicely arranged on your plate so you don't really want to get into pouring the gravy-ridden potatoes back into a seperate bowl for re-heating..

So you choose 1 of a set of differently shaped lead covers. Choose the shape that covers all of the plate apart from the bit you want microwaved .. and gently rest it on top of the 'already fine' bits of the meal. Then simply slap the entire plate in and give it a few seconds. The lead has stopped the microwaves reaching anything apart from the cold potatoes (or whatever needed heating).

Mix and match different shapes to only further cook/heat the parts of your meal that require it.
-- britboy, Mar 12 2004

I'm not sure you can put lumps of metal in a microwave. I think they might soak up all the radiation, or overload the transmitter. Why lead, anyway? Look at the window in the microwave, a fine mesh might do the trick.
Alternatively, buy a microwave without a turntable. They always boil one part of your plate, and leave the rest frozen.
-- Ling, Mar 12 2004


Wrap things not to be heated in aluminum foil. Keep foil crinkles to a minumum, do not let foil get within 2" of side of microwave, and your house won't burn down. Lead is not necessary, unless you enjoy the taste.
-- Mr Burns, Mar 12 2004


Instead of just a big antenna somewhere that radiates somehow the microwave oven of the future should have a moving antenna formed like a stylus with extra power coming out the at the tip. The tip would also carry an infrared sensor. As the stylus scans across the meal the signal from the IR sensor feeds back to the microwave power amplifier. Cold spots get a little more power.
-- kbecker, Mar 12 2004


Mr Burns has it right. Just wrap whatever you don't want to heat in aluminum foil (crinkles don't matter much, but make sure you don't have any holes or fold-overs that would create a loop). I do this on a regular basis with my leftover pizza so I can pick up and hold a hot slice by the crust without burning my fingers.
-- Freefall, Mar 12 2004



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