# "Sorry we can't serve our soup because our microwave is broken" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [September 12, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466 "2022-09-12T19:56:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/21 "2022-09-13T14:21:59Z")
What, you don’t deep-fry your pasta for fettucine alfredo? (I’m scratching my head at that one, too. Best I could come up with is there was a miscommunication at some end.) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/22 "2022-09-13T14:22:47Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I wouldn’t necessarily judge soup that’s kept under refrigeration and warmed in the microwave when needed as inferior to soup that bubbles on the stove all day. In fact, the former is likely to be better - after a certain point, there’s no value to continuous simmering. Between that and possibly not being held at safe temps and the potential of that giant pot getting thrown into the walk-in at closing and finally getting cold just before it goes back on a burner at the next opening . . . frozen/refrigerated/even canned soup is the much, much, better option. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/23 "2022-09-13T14:34:15Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > What, you don’t deep-fry your pasta for fettucine alfredo? (I’m scratching my head at that one, too. Best I could come up with is there was a miscommunication at some end.) The waitress told us right up front when we came in that their fryer was broken so some things were not going to be available. She took the order and then came back and said the alfredo was one of the things they couldn’t do. I repeated back to her what she’d said to make sure I understood, so I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/24 "2022-09-13T14:35:31Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > frozen/refrigerated/even canned soup is the much, much, better option. Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s not get crazy … you had me until “canned.” (But yes, if the option is food sickness and canned soup, I’ll begrudgingly take canned, though I may need a minute to think about it.) There’s just really no reason that soup needs to be on a burner for the whole shift at a restaurant other than maybe because it makes it immediately available to serve (and perhaps storage issues). Soup is ideal for reheating and it doesn’t taste different reheated on the stove vs the microwave. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/25 "2022-09-13T14:36:54Z")
I’m saying more that maybe she misunderstood the kitchen or something. I literally cannot even fathom a guess, unless they were doing – I dunno – some sort of deep fried alfredo balls a la arancini or something, but I doubt that’s the case, as I can only find a few mentions of it on the internet, and it would be called something more descriptive than just “fettucini alfredo” and probably found on the app section of a menu. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/26 "2022-09-13T14:41:03Z")
It shall forever remain a mystery. We didn’t go back after that and they closed a year or so later. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/27 "2022-09-13T14:47:12Z")
Count me as another vote for this being a completely mundane statement and situation. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/28 "2022-09-13T14:51:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m saying more that maybe she misunderstood the kitchen or something. That’d be my guess, too. I could see that she was told, “we can’t make anything fried,” and either confused fettuccine alfredo for another dish (which _was_ fried), or just didn’t understand what fettuccine alfredo was, or how it was prepared. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/29 "2022-09-13T14:52:47Z")
Maybe there were fried things in the fettuccine like bacon. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/30 "2022-09-13T14:54:45Z")
I thought in that direction, too, but – issues of what “fettucine alfredo” is aside – you don’t need a fryer to make bacon. You just need a pan (or, hell, any vessel) and heat source. And if you don’t have that, you just don’t have much of a functional kitchen. (Unless you’re microwaving everything and, well, the microwave’s broken.) ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/31 "2022-09-13T16:06:37Z")
Fettucine al fried-dough? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/32 "2022-09-13T16:09:04Z")
I laughed out loud at that one. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/33 "2022-09-13T19:21:40Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I know a fair amount about the back of the restaurant for one of the two above-named chains; in that case, pretty much _everything_ comes pre-packaged and pre-prepared (fresh produce being the exception); relatively little actual preparation, other than the final cooking/heating steps, actually happens at the restaurant. I’ve been casually looking for different things I could do now that I’m retired, and if that’s the job description… hey, I could be a chef! I’d just have to avoid telling people where… [bad french accent] _“Oh, eet ees nothing, I am merely a sous-chef at **[l’Homard Rouge](https://cdnimg.webstaurantstore.com/images/products/large/54544/364538.jpg)**… but, c’est triste, not the one in Belgium.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/34 "2022-09-13T21:02:31Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’ve been casually looking for different things I could do now that I’m retired, and if that’s the job description… hey, I could be a chef! I don’t think chain restaurants have chefs, at least not working at the individual restaurants. But you could be a cook, and IIUC you’d be filling a role that there’s a fair amount of demand for. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/35 "2022-09-13T21:21:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t think chain restaurants have chefs, at least not working at the individual restaurants. Exactly. The head of the kitchen at an Applebee’s (or whatever) has a title along the lines of “Kitchen Manager;” their staff are cooks. (At the corporate level, the chains do employ chefs, who do recipe development, but that’s a different animal.) ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/36 "2022-09-14T01:47:52Z")
There was a steakhouse in our area that had a sign by the front door that they sometimes used a microwave. I asked my mother about it, and she said some people would think that their “baked” potato would come out of the microwave (they weren’t). It was the 1970s so microwaves were still relatively new. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/37 "2022-09-14T13:10:46Z")
I think there used to be a warning about microwaves and heart pacemakers… > **[What is the Effect of Microwaves on Cardiac Pacemakers? | Samsung Support India](https://www.samsung.com/in/support/home-appliances/what-is-the-effect-of-microwaves-on-cardiac-pacemakers/)** > > FAQ for Samsung Cooking. Find more about 'What is the Effect of Microwaves on Cardiac Pacemakers?' with Samsung Support. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/38 "2022-09-14T13:20:40Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I know a fair amount about the back of the restaurant for one of the two above-named chains; in that case, pretty much _everything_ comes pre-packaged and pre-prepared (fresh produce being the exception); relatively little actual preparation, other than the final cooking/heating steps, actually happens at the restaurant. This isn’t a new phenomenon. Before the turn of the millennium, I went to school with a girl whose dad’s company made a massive portion of the bagged soup for restaurant chains, many of which were sit-down restaurants. At the time, I think he had at least 30% market share. It may have been more like 70%. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/39 "2022-09-14T13:46:51Z")
Incidentally, there is now a [concern](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211900) about the magnets in recent iPhones, AirPods and other Apple devices _possibly_ interfering with implanted pacemakers ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466/40 "2022-09-15T07:32:36Z")
There’s some strong elitism and policing of what “real” cooking is going on in this thread - a microwave is a perfectly reasonable tool to use to heat something. What’s so inappropriate about soup heated in a microwave? “If it’s not heated in a pot over a fire I don’t want to hear about it! You’re not even really a restaurant if you use a microwave to get things hot!” I mean, really? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-cant-serve-our-soup-because-our-microwave-is-broken/971466.md?page=3)