Induction Cooking -- Amazing!

[sleebus.jones]

We use our portable outside for stuff like fondue. You get really good temperature control, and there's no fussing with an alcohol burner. Also have used it set to low to keep food warm without burning when taking stuff over to parties. Also good for frying fish, but now that I have a griddle, I use that instead.

 

[airedale]

I figured as much. Same issue with the regular electric burner. I guess I'm gonna have to break down and switch to a gas range.

If you're cooking on an electric stove right now, you'll be amazed at the improvement. I don't think any serious cook willingly uses an electric stove or cooktop.

But ... if you can find a store with a demo induction unit under power or find one in a friend's kitchen, try this experiment before you pull the trigger on the gas range: Take your big pan, put 1/2" or 3/4" of water in it, put it on the largest hob and set power to high. You'll probably be surprised how quickly you see bubbles. If they mostly cover the bottom of the pan, then you are getting the heat you need. If they are concentrated in a circle that does not reach the edges of the pan bottom, then the gas range will probably be better for such a large pan.

 

[Curt.P]

I don't think any serious cook willingly uses an electric stove or cooktop.

To be fair, serious cooks don't use induction or closed burner gas cooktops either.

 

[mchar69]

This is in the description -is this true?

In order to use this and any other induction stove, you need to use cookware with a magnetic bottom.

 

[airedale]

To be fair, serious cooks don't use induction or closed burner gas cooktops either.

I don't know about induction but professional restaurant chefs typically prefer open burners, but they are far outnumbered by serious amateur cooks, which I was referring to. Regardless, I believe my statement is true for both classes of cooks, including son and daugher-in-law, both of whom graduated from the CIA in Hyde Park.

This is in the description -is this true?

Yup. If a magnet sticks the pan is good to go. When we started on this project my wife checked all of her pans and almost all were magnetic. She also checked her pans at our lake home and found that the majority were magnetic. IMO it's not a big deal. These cook tops and ranges are expensive so plus/minus a few pans is not a major decision factor for us in deciding to proceed.

 

[glitchy]

When we moved 10 years ago, I left a gas range behind. The new house doesn’t have a gas hookup and had a flattop electric. A few years ago I bought an induction countertop burner and we used it all the time. Replaced our regular pots and pans a year or two back with Cooks Standard multi-ply. Finally last week, we decided to go ahead and just get an induction range (Frigidaire w/air fry) rather than hire someone to run a gas line as it would be a really long run and expensive. All I can say is wow so far. It boils water twice as fast as the countertop model, adjusts temps immediately, etc. You can move a pot of boiling water to a cold burner and have it boiling again in seconds. If you like a countertop induction, you’ll be blown away by a 220v induction range. Then to top it all off, it cleans so much easier than a gas range.

 

[Zak]

So i decided to buy one of these, the exact one from Amazon, since i have flat-top electric range and know it can take a little while to get things up to temp. I must say i expected more. I had some doubts at first due to the limited amount of electricity this can pull but figured worse case i can use it in conjunction with my cook-top. I was curious how fast it heated things up so i took a carbon steel skillet and put about 3/4" of water in it cranked it to "boil". Now, i did not do anything remotely scientific to compare this device to my cook-top but it sure didnt seem as though there was much time difference when bringing the water to a boil. Maybe this will excel in other areas of cooking that i havent experienced yet but so far i'm not impressed with this item.

 

[airedale]

So i decided to buy one of these, the exact one from Amazon, since i have flat-top electric range and know it can take a little while to get things up to temp. I must say i expected more. I had some doubts at first due to the limited amount of electricity this can pull but figured worse case i can use it in conjunction with my cook-top. I was curious how fast it heated things up so i took a carbon steel skillet and put about 3/4" of water in it cranked it to "boil". Now, i did not do anything remotely scientific to compare this device to my cook-top but it sure didnt seem as though there was much time difference when bringing the water to a boil. Maybe this will excel in other areas of cooking that i havent experienced yet but so far i'm not impressed with this item.

How big was the fry pan versus the hot spot/hob in the induction cooker? The symptom of a "too big" pan is that the bubbles in the water are concentrated toward the center and do not go close to the edge of the flat bottom surface. As discussed above, the pan must fit the hob or be at least close.

 

[Camille Eonich]

I just replaced my 36" 6 burner gas cooktop with a 5 burner induction cooktop. I love it. I put a 20qt steel stock pan full of water on last night to boil water for King crab legs. Full rolling boil in less that 6 minutes. There was at least 12 qts of water in there and probably closer to 15.


I can get a true simmer now. One the surface just does break. I can wipde the cooktop off while it's being used and clean up is awesome.


I did love the old gas cooktop because it looked completely awesome but it's useless to me if I can't simmer and even max on the largest element was no where near as quick as boiling on the induction. Also the AC doesn't run the entire time that I am using the cooktop now.

And since it doesn't take forever for all the cast iron and the actual surface of the cooktop to cool down like it did with that gas cooktop, it's always clean.

Pictures of awesome gas cooktop included because I do miss the no nonsense appearance of it.

 

[airedale]

... Pictures of awesome gas cooktop included because I do miss the no nonsense appearance of it.

Is that a Viking? It looks like the one we have at our lake place. Yes, it is a good cooktop. Now that I have seen induction, one of the things on the gas cooktop that bugs me is the heat coming around the sides of the pan. I makes metal handles too hot to touch and tries to cook my wrist when I'm stirring a pot.

 

[lzbcook]

I mentioned this thread to my son. His wife's parents bought two of the $300 Nuwave countertop induction units as trial/temporary units when their regular range gave up the ghost some time ago, and they were undecided about what they wanted for a replacement.
They liked induction, bought an induction range, and dropped the Nuwaves off at the kid's place. Kids had never used them.
When I talked about getting one, Son offered to try one out at breakfast and give me his opinion. He used a carbon steel 10" frypan and was very impressed. Quick heat, even temp., but was not thrilled with the fact it would turn itself off if he picked up the pan to toss the taters or flip eggs. Had to reset to start heat again.
Is that a normal feature across manufacturers platforms? Anybody have that experience?

 

[Tannhauser42]

My induction stove will shut off if you take the pan off it for more than a couple seconds. Not immediately, enough time to flip something or quickly pour something out.

 

[Dweverett]

I mentioned this thread to my son. His wife's parents bought two of the $300 Nuwave countertop induction units as trial/temporary units when their regular range gave up the ghost some time ago, and they were undecided about what they wanted for a replacement.
They liked induction, bought an induction range, and dropped the Nuwaves off at the kid's place. Kids had never used them.
When I talked about getting one, Son offered to try one out at breakfast and give me his opinion. He used a carbon steel 10" frypan and was very impressed. Quick heat, even temp., but was not thrilled with the fact it would turn itself off if he picked up the pan to toss the taters or flip eggs. Had to reset to start heat again.
Is that a normal feature across manufacturers platforms? Anybody have that experience?

I’ve read that the portable units do that pretty quickly. On my 36” range it takes at about 30 seconds before it turns off. It’s enough that you can drain a pot of water at the sink and get it back on easily for instance.

 

[Titch]

I’ve read that the portable units do that pretty quickly. On my 36” range it takes at about 30 seconds before it turns off. It’s enough that you can drain a pot of water at the sink and get it back on easily for instance.

I looked up the user manual for mine.
it mentions a 30 second cut off as well

 

[Dweverett]

I looked up the user manual for mine.
it mentions a 30 second cut off as well

That would have worked too. I went with the approach of pulling a pan off and starting to count 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi….

 

[mike243]

My older unit is the nuwave, came with a pan also, still going great after 5-8 years , 5 degree temps steps , the newer 1 sez 140 but it will still simmer on short cooks, not sure if a bigger/thicker pan might regulate the temp better,