Hey friends! Today’s blog is going to clear your many misconceptions and confusions. Are you upset that your food tastes bad after reheating? On the next day, why do your leftover meals lose their taste and texture in the microwave or in the reheating process? IF yes, keep reading the blog till the end to clear up your misconceptions and confusion.
Why Does Microwave Food Taste Bad?
The reason why your reheated food tastes bad is that; when you put your food in the microwave for heating, the water molecules and the other components like proteins get damaged and the microwave damages the composition and structure of the already cooked food. The cell structure of the food gets ruptured and it totally changes the taste of your food, and the meal that tastes delicious the day before or in the morning loses its original flavor. Texture loss in reheated food is presenting the disruption of inside cell structure that changes food appearance.
What Components Change Your Food’s Flavor Totally?
Well! It is quite interesting to know the reasons behind problems. The main components of any meal are;
Water; water molecules are present in every meal. While cooking, a liquid medium (water is necessary) to properly cook food. When you put any kind of delicious meal that you freeze last night in the microwave; the waves excite the water molecules and the water that makes your meal juicy is taken out in the form of steam or you can say that water evaporates from your food. These water molecules are the actual factor of heating; when the reheating process starts; waves speed up the excitation of water molecules and all the deliciousness or flavor due to a liquid medium is lost and meals become like cardboard or a dry one.
Proteins; Proteins are essential and beneficial for our body. They are very much important to maintain the effectiveness and the actual value and purpose of the cooked food. But when we Reheat the leftover food, then the breakdown occurs in the protein; that changes the texture of food and chemically and medically it is not a good change. For example; in meat when protein breakdown occurs, iron is released that changes the meat or chicken appetizing taste to a less desirable and bitter one.
Enzymatic change is a big and harmful change in the reheated food because protein breakdown or any cell cannot rupture without the enzymatic action. So enzymes malfunctioning is not good e.g. Lipases are the enzymes that are used or which work to breakdown the fats in the meal. Fats loss means to make your food dry and waste. There is a chemical breakdown that occurs in every meal after every passing hour either you freeze it or reheat it.
What Meals After Reheating Taste Bitter?
There is a list of meals that are not good after reheating,
- Pizza
- Sandwich
- Eggs
- Fried foods
Why Does Food Tastes Bitter After Reheating?
The reactions of molecules don’t stop. There is always a reaction going in the food. When you reheat any food, the reaction only changes to heat up your food by doing some changes in the structure and components of your food.
When you put your frozen pizza in the microwave, it will not properly reheat because mostly the microwaves are default settings and people are unaware of power adjustment while reheating. Reheating at 100% power will not properly reheat the pizza, rather changing the texture from crispy and spicy to soggy and uneven heating makes the edges of pizza very hard; not edible and the palatable taste ends.
Eggs you know contain mostly proteins and they can be properly cooked on the stove but when you reheat in the microwave, proteinaceous components undergo the breakdown, and your egg wastes.
For meat; a microwave is also a bad option. Microwave turns your spicy chicken to soft and swampy. It changes its taste because when iron releases protein breakdown in the meat, there results in a breakdown of fat also and the result would be meat that is not acceptable and tasty.
Coffee; you know, coffee has highly volatile components in its composition because it is brewed from delicious beans. During reheating, its taste becomes bitter because the sweetness and the bitterness balance disturb. The highly volatile components evaporate and the taste with the passage of time of reheating finishes out. So, coffee’s bitter taste can make your day bitter.
What Kind Of Meals Taste Better Even After Reheating In The Microwave?
So, let me tell you some meals literally become appetizing even in the microwave;
- Curries
- Pasta meals
- Potatoes
The advice I want to give you is that some meals after reheating do not taste well and they are wasted either washed in the sink or thrown in the dustbins. But avoid wasting food, if the reheated food is not eatable for you but it is good enough to eat by the needy one then pack it and place it on the roadsides properly but don’t waste food in bins and the other idea is to turn your leftover food into the new meal and enjoy it.
Final Verdict
To wrap the whole topic up; Microwave is not a good option for juicy meals and fried foods because it involves the breakdown of structural components like proteins of that particular food and makes it useless. Microwave absorbs all the beneficial components of your leftover food, not all but some meals that are mentioned above and make your food radioactive. Microwave changes the original texture of the meal due to chemical breakdown such as meat, coffee etc. But some meals are cheesy and delicious even after reheating that basically depends on their structure and composition such as sauces taste delicious rather than reheating.