It’s amazingly easy to find good food in Japan, which is largely due to how hard many food industry professionals work when choosing ingredients are and preparing their dishes. Every now and then, though, the country stumbles across some new delectable that, by any logical standard, has no right tasting as good as it does while being so quick and simple to make.

For example, this week Japan discovered a delicious cheese snack with just one ingredient that you could be enjoying in literally two minutes.

Since we already let slip that it’s a cheese snack, we’re assuming everyone has already deduced that the single ingredient is cheese. So, how do you make it?

Step 1: Place cheese on a baking sheet (and a plate if you’re feeling extra classy) in the microwave.

Step 2: Set microwave for one minute and 30 seconds.

Yup, that’s really all you need to do to whip up some delicious cheese crisps. The intense heat of the microwave vaporizes the moisture contained by the cheese, leaving it crispy like a cracker while the warmth enhances its aroma.

People across Japan started popping dairy in their microwaves this week after Tuesday’s broadcast of television personality Matsuko Deluxe’s talk show. Among the night’s guest was cheese expert Izumi Kajita, who clued viewers in on the easy-to-make snack. After sampling one, the food-loving host declared it delicious, and offered the suggestion that they would go great with beer.

Japanese Twitter users seem to agree.

▲ “Just made some of that microwave cheese they talked about on Matsuko’s show. Time to crack open some beer!”

▲ “Tried making some right away, and now I’m going through a ton of beer.”

Some even knowingly embraced the way microwave cheese completely obliterated their willpower.

▲ “It’s too awesome! Operation Weight Gain is a go.”

The recipe seems to work with any sort of cheese. Individually wrapped sliced varieties, due to their extra moisture, go through a particularly interesting metamorphosis, as they plump during the cooking process.

While the TV program recommended 90 seconds for 700-watt microwaves, that seems to be more of a broad guideline than a set-in-stone rule. There’s actually room for experimentation depending on what type of cheese you’re using and just how crunchy you want the finished product to be. For example, here’s a four-minute example wrapped in a piece of nori seaweed for a little extra salty flavor.

The current online record seems to be this nine-minute version, which essentially became cheese toast.

▼ Which, now that we think about it, doesn’t sound half bad.

But before you set out to make some extra crispy snacks for yourself, please remember to check if your plate is microwave-safe or not.

▼ Cheese still looks good, though!

Source: Naver Matome

Top image: Twitter (1, 2, 3)