OK...all you gourmet chefs and culinary engineers...look away.

As you may or may not know...I don't cook.
I will prepare meals as necessary to survive.
Creating delectible food concoctions is not my bag.

Point of this post:

I was defrosting a piece of frozen salmon on a clean microwave-safe plate.
It was covered with a clean inverted (microwave-safe) soup bowl. (Pfalsgraf)

At the end of 5 minutes...the bell dinged and I opened the door and saw this.



These are the strangest markings I have ever come across. The marks are hardened...like they were painted on. Some are black, some are brown, some are blue. The salmon appeared to be fine. It was thawed and not discolored at all.

Whaddya think. Ever happen to you?

looks like the bottom of the bowl wasn't micro-safe.

weird... but cool...

~fafs

Trudes,
Are you familiar with the odor of ionic OZONE? Did you notice the odor when you opened the microwave to remove the bowl?

I don't know about ionic ozone smell, but it smelled like something burning when I opened the door. Something like if a noodle or piece of bread is on the stove burner when you turn it on.
The fish was not burned at all. It wasn't even dried out....it just looked normal.

OK...goin' to look up ionic ozone. Am I gonna croak?

So far I have found this about microwaves. Looks like I need a new recipe for boiling water.

Still don't know where those colors came from.
The circular pattern is probably the small cracks in the glass. Maybe it was ready to explode.

The burning smell likely overwhelmed the ozone odor. Plasma Ozone or Ionic Ozone has an odor a bit like rain at the begining of a big lightning storm. It smells exactly like the air when lightning strikes very close (that's because it is ozone). It is caused by super hot arc of electrical discharge changing the oxygen atoms in the atmosphere.

The ceramic glaze on your dish contains particles of electrically conductive metals causing electrical arcs between your microwave oven and the metal on the dish. They act like tiny arc welders that heat the metal strands or particles to incredible temperatures at a very shallow depth. The components in the silica glaze are scorched by the reaction of the arc and the metal. As the arc scorches the glaze, electrical resistance on the surface changes and the the arc finds a nearby particle to react with continuing on and on. The paths of these arcs along the surface of the glaze result in the scorched crop circles.

Some ceramic glazes don't work in microwaves... unless you like crop circles on your dishes.

And that is todays science lesson
I am Dr. Nimrod. I am not a real doctor. I have a masters degree in bullshit.

it's a little bit like your avatar.

cue twilight zone music....