how to defrost in a microwave?

PolishBigSpender

The previous owners left us most of the appliances, microwave oven included. Now, I'm trying to get the microwave to defrost things, but I've never had one before and I'm not sure where to start.
I tried looking for manual (it's Bosch hmt842k), but to no avail - it's an old machine. It has no button that says "defrost" either.
Can any of you help? Could you tell me how to defrost mince in a microwave?
Or maybe one of you has a similar device? It says "made in the UK", so I have my hopes...

missprice

dont have one sorry but does it have any kind of percentage anywhere on a dial or button?
ie
20%
50%

if yes then alter the percentage to the lowest one and that is in effect defrost
if not then a new microwave will cost maybe £30 and probs have defrost etc

PolishBigSpender

No, it has the choice of power though - from 90 to 600. Does that change anything?

loracan1

http://www.retrevo.com/samples/Bosch-Microwave-manuals.html
I know the model number isn't there, but some of the instructions may be similar. ie - which is power button and what terms they use.

sunshinetours

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

No, it has the choice of power though - from 90 to 600. Does that change anything?

That may be watts if its a 600W one (pretty low these days)

Just use one of the lowest settings to defrost as mentioned above. Will take a while on 90W though!

PudseyDB

Think you'll just have to experiment with the power. 90 may be too low to do much at all, but pop the food in the microwave on a low power setting for a minute and take it from there.

If in doubt....defrost on the lower setting for longer, rather than turning up the power for a shorter period of time - otherwise you might start cooking the outside while the middle is still frozen solid!

With mince in particular....try to break it up as much as possible.