I’ve never fully understood how the ‘popcorn’ button on microwaves work (I’ve read different things that may or may not all be true depending on make/model), but my current one always runs for exactly 3 seconds too long and ever so slightly burns the popcorn.

It’s not burned enough to throw it out, but it does give a noticeable “burnt popcorn” smell that kind of ruins my day.

So instead of pressing “popcorn” and doing something else, I have to stand there and watch it to hit ‘cancel’ in time.

  • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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    2 hours ago

    I’m sure others have linked to Technology Connections’ video on the subject below, but there are two general ways it works:

    1. There is a humidity sensor in the microwave that will sense when food is done. In the case of popcorn, it senses when there’s a burst of steam inside when the bag inflates enough to open the vent, and then given how long that took it calculates how big the bag of popcorn is and thus how long to keep running the microwave for. The other sensor cook buttons look for trends in humidity that have to do with other foods. The microwave will likely indicate that it has this feature with the word “Sensor” or similar branding on the control panel, and when you press the Popcorn button, it just starts running because it can figure out everything it needs to know for itself.

    2. Small, cheap microwaves probably just use a timer. If it asks you if the bag of popcorn is small, medium or large at the beginning, it’s just a timer and you should just go with the instructions on the bag instead.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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      4 hours ago

      I’ve seen those both on YouTube and at festivals. They’re pretty cool.

      Personally, I don’t even like opening a can of biscuits because of the ‘pop’, so I don’t know how I’d feel about using one of those at home. lol

      I do prefer to pan pop, but sometimes I’m just lazy and want to throw it in the microwave and only press one button.

    • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.de
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      5 hours ago

      Sometimes I think the internet needs an Alec symbol to shine anytime Technology Connections needs to be invoked.

      I imagine it would be like the bat signal, but look like hand painted LED Christmas lights or something.

      • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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        6 hours ago

        I don’t know what it would look like but I know what it would sound like – a heat-pump compressor starting up.

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      TLDW: The moisture sensor might be on the right side of the microwave, and the bag was pointing left when the steam was released.

      But that was definitely worth a watch.

      • spicy pancake@lemmy.zip
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        2 hours ago

        Would that mean best practice is to point the most-likely-to-pop-open end towards the center of the rotating plate?

    • Acamon@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Thia is exactly the video I was thinking of. I only came across his channel recently, and it is an absolute pleasure.

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      You don’t? I feel like every microwave I’ve owned in the last 20 years has one of these buttons

        • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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          6 hours ago

          The pizza button works pretty well (I think it varies the power kind of like defrost does), but civilized people should always either eat leftover pizza cold or reheat it in the air fryer lol.

          • snooggums@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            I am occasionally civilized!

            Air fryer is the best, although sometimes I have to cut them down to fit in the trays on mine.

            Microwave can work for some types of pizza, but I find it works way better with a reduced power setting and a little longer so it heats more evenly.

            Frying in a stovetop pan can work for hand tossed or thin pizza, but I haven’t had luck with pan or thicker crusts.

            Microwave on high is the worst though. Edges of cheese gets hard if it is long enough tonwarm the middle.

            • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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              4 hours ago

              I’ve thought about getting an air fryer just for this. I usually use the oven or toss it in a pan.

              If I’m having leftover pizza for lunch while smoking a brisket or ribs I’ll toss a couple of slices on the smoker on an uncoated paper plate. That’s actually my preferred method but I refuse to crank up a smoker for leftover pizza.

              • wjrii@lemmy.world
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                2 hours ago

                It’s a little pricy, but we absolutely love this Cuisinart Air Fryer/Toaster Over thing for anything that was properly cooked elsewhere, though I’ve used it for halfway decent roasted potato wedges straight from the knife. Basket Air Fryers hold so little as to be more frustrating than anything, and stacking deep defeats the purpose half the time. I have no idea if the grill setting works well, though.

                Bake setting, 325, 2-3 minutes is all you need for most pizza reheatings.

            • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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              6 hours ago

              Air fryer is the best

              It really is. I was late to the air fryer game assuming they were just another kitchen gimmick, but once I caved to peer pressure and bought one, I can’t imagine not having one.

              but I find it works way better with a reduced power setting and a little longer

              I think that’s what the “Pizza” button on mine does. You can hear it kicking on and off at a weird cadence similar to but more frequent than defrost, so I assume that’s how it works.

              Frying in a stovetop pan can work for hand tossed or thin pizza

              I’ve never tried that, but we have baked deep dish style in a cast iron frying pan.

              • snooggums@lemmy.world
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                6 hours ago

                On the stovetop I like to use a ceramic non-stick to reheat so I don’t need oil to keep i lt from sticking. The goal is evenly heating, so it doesn’t need to hold a lot of heat.

                I’ve always wanted to do the cast iron pizza!

              • Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de
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                6 hours ago

                What I do for pizzas overloaded with toppings is start in the microwave, finish in the air fryer.

                I’m also late to the air fryer game, because I didn’t want to keep making"fried" things… Instead I just kept frying things on the stove…

          • ryry1985@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            Putting a tiny cup of water in with your pizza is a game changer. It helps rehydrate pizza that’s been dried out in the fridge and keeps the dough from hardening as much.

            • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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              6 hours ago

              I did eventually learn that (read it somewhere), but by that point, I’d started using the air fryer. I’m also not above eating cold pizza straight out of the fridge lol.

  • _bcron_@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    I always thought it was weird that they don’t just stuff a cheapo little microphone in against an interior panel and write a couple lines of code, when it detects 3 really loud sounds within 1 second disable the timer, and when it detects a sound after a 2 second gap, turn off if no new sound detected within 2 seconds

      • _bcron_@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Same can be said for the normally implemented popcorn button. May as well spend 9 cents on a shitty electret mic and 6 cents on a marginally larger IC

        • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          You’re way underestimating the BOM and engineering costs, and also eating directly into the shareholder value, communist.