We can do better than “same, but electric”

Re:We can do better than “same, but electric” by Reason077 on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @09:04AM (#30841996)

> ”Downsides of induction burners: bottom of pan heats up very quickly, but heat propagates through the pan slowly, so food is prone to burn”

Have you tried a thicker, heavier pan? A good quality induction cooker should heat reasonably slowly and maintain a constant temperature if you set it to, say, 1/3 or 1/2 power.

I’ve been using a friend’s one recently and found it to be much easier to maintain a steady temperature than with my old electric cooktop.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:We can do better than “same, but electric” by prometheus76 on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @12:31PM (#30844754)

I'm specifically referring to my experience of using a cast iron pan. The bottom heats up quickly because it's being directly affected by the induction process, but propagates through the sides of the pan very slowly, which is normal behavior for a cast iron pan. That's part of its usefulness: even heat. The problem with induction is that it hyperheats the bottom, but the slow propagation of the eat means that the normal benefits of cast iron are eliminated (at least in the first part of the cooking process, until the whole pan heats up).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:We can do better than “same, but electric” by Reason077 on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @12:36PM (#30844835)

Ok, so how about either a) starting at a lower power level to let the cast iron heat more gradually, or b) waiting until the pan heats up to the desired temperature before adding food?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:We can do better than “same, but electric” by prometheus76 on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @12:42PM (#30844947)

I have used solution A, and once it heats up, you still lose fine control of heat (because my induction burner is cheap and only has 10 preset temps that are spaced too far apart).

I was excited by the prospects of induction cooking, and if I'm boiling water, or even making a slow-cook stew, it works great. But for sauces and meat (where fine temperature control is critical), I'll stick to gas or (if I have to) electric.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:We can do better than “same, but electric” by EricE on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @04:38PM (#30848058)

Lack of fine control isn't a fault of induction, but of a cheaply made cooktop. I too made that mistake on my last house. My mom's induction range has half steps and they make all the difference. Getting a new house next month and I won't even be considering an induction cooktop with fewer than 18 steps.

Indeed I love to cook so much and one of the downsides of induction I didn't see talked about too much in this thread - matching pan size to hob size - bugged me so much on my old cooktop I'm tempted to get something ridiculous like the Gaggenau 400 Series that doesn't have defined areas for pans, but a grid of smaller hobs that will autodetect and adjust to the size/location of a pan. There are at least three versions of that cooktop from various manufacturers and one of the non-Gaggenau ones was something like 30% cheaper. And I just realized I didn't save it like I thought I had. D'oh!

[ Parent | on HN ]