Software-Defined Cooking Using a Microwave Oven

Abstract

Since their introduction to the consumer market in the 1970s, microwaves have seen widespread adoption and, today, they are the third most popular domestic food heating method (after baking and grilling). Indeed, the original patents for the microwave by Raytheon Inc. in the late 1940s envisioned a universal food cooking instrument for all kinds of food ranging from meat to fish [2]. While microwaves have revolutionized the kitchen since their inception, today's consumer microwaves are mainly used as a blunt heating instrument (e.g., reheating pizzas) rather than a precise cooking equipment (e.g. cooking steak). The potential of microwave cooking is limited by the fact that today's microwaves heat food blindly, resulting in a non-uniform and unpredictable heating distribution [3].