Electric vs. Gas Cooking?

[scoots]

My Mother was an excellent cook and always favored gas stoves and range tops: I can't remember her ever cooking on electric. When I asked about electric appliances, she had some dismissive comments and that was that.

Mom passed in October and when Dad passes, I will come into the house: a relatively original 1910 foursquare house in Tennessee.

Right now, the kitchen is a muddle: The original 1910 room is intact, but there's also has a cheap 1950's wall cabinet, an assortment of "found" cabinets, and a few hotpoint 90's appliances, including a freestanding gas oven/rangetop.

Frankly, I'm considering my options since I intend to make a few general decisions and start buying/storing major appliances in anticipation of the day.

Many vintage cooking appliances are electric, not gas. I have no experience with electric, and no unbiased opinions to help.

Does anybody have any comments on cooking electric vs. gas?

Which category poses the greater challenge in getting a unit to work properly?

Are their any pitfalls I should be aware of?

Thanks...

 

[earthling177]

I grew up with gas.

You get used to the conventional electric ranges (coil or smooth top) very quickly unless you *decide* you are gonna hate it.

Yes, changing temperatures takes some time because when you change the power with gas, the flame has almost no inertia to it (it's only the pan and the grates), while electric will usually depend on the pan and the burner.

I suggest that when you start using an electric stove that you are not familiar with, put a frying pan on the element, fill it with enough water to cover the bottom by 1/8 of an inch or so. Turn the burner on, wait for the water to boil and then play with it for a bit.

For example, if you turn it off, how long until it stops boiling? Say it *just* stopped boiling and you turn it on to HI again, how long until it starts boiling again?

What you are trying to do is to find out the inertia/hysteresis of the system. You will find out that, in general, electric coils that are fairly thin and with many turns (like the GE Calrod) tend to warm up/cool down faster than coils that are thick and/or have just a few turns. For smoothtops, elements that have a ribbon resistor tend to be faster warming up/cooling down than elements that look "thick" under the glass.

Once you get used to the fact that it can take a bit (anywhere from 30 seconds to 2-3 minutes, depending on the construction of the burner), it's no big deal to change the temperature a little ahead of time.

People also have different preferences. Some prefer Calrod that changes temperature faster, some prefer the Frigidaire (Monotube? Radiantube? I forgot) thick flat burner because it kept the temperature more uniform even though it took a bit longer to change temperatures.

Once you get used to the electric burners, you may appreciate that you rarely need a double boiler (LO/Simmer is *very* low compared to most gas burners) and usually, unless you have a very high-powered gas burner, the electric burner will be faster to get a big pot of water to boil.

If you really want the most plusses and the least minuses, my suggestion is to get an induction range, we were just talking about them in a thread that Qualin started.

Cheers,
   -- Paulo.

 

[wayupnorth]

Gas here. Grew up with it and still have it. Works when the power goes out and could never cook right on an electric top but always felt an electric oven baked much better. Next stove I get will be a dual fuel.

 

[gusherb]

My default preference is gas. Had an electric glass top range and never could dial in the heat as well as gas. If I had to do electric again it would be induction or if I was forced to use resistance elements again I'd do a coil burner.

 

[askolover]

Grew up with electric from '71-'92 then changed to gas.  Mother won't go back to electric, my sister switched to gas in her houses, and I have gas in my house.  Induction, however, that's another story.....love it! 

If you've ever been cooking on an electric stovetop and an element blew out you'd never forget it!  It will scare the crap out of you!

 

[norgeway]

LOL!!!

My Dad got up one morning and put Mothers new stainless steel teakettle on our 55 Hotpoint, the water was almost to the boiling point when BANG! a big flash of blue and the kettle flew halfway across the kitchen spewing water out of a big hole in the bottom!! Daddy liked to have jumped out the window!!LOL

 

[panthera]

If one as a choice:

Gas/Induction/Halogen are 10^7 easier to use than electric resistance elements.

The inertia makes it very hard to do really heat-sensitive egg/dairy based dishes well without a lot of experience.

The European style solid burners are the worst, they're the reason I was one of the first people in Germany to embrace ceramic hobs.

The very thin Calrod tubes are least awful.

 

But - if one has the choice gas, induction or halogen (with the caveat that those broke down a lot) are the way to go for anyone who cooks a lot.

 

On a side note, the 'commercial' gas ranges sold for home use are a waste of money. They're trouble prone and overpriced.

 

[kd12]

My experience has been that gas cooktops cook better than electric because of more even flame heat, but electric ovens cook faster and more evenly than gas. I have a gas cooktop and electric oven, and wouldn't think of trading the electric oven for gas. Seemed to me that the gas dryers in my college dorm didn't dry as well as electric ones either.

 

[passatdoc]

Definitely prefer gas cooktops. Fast to heat up, instant response up or down (not counting retained heat of the grates). My present range is a Fridigidaire with Speed Bake (simple convection fan, no third heating element) from 2001. The current model has somewhat higher output burners (14 or 16K on the high output burner, rather than my 12k), which is no big deal to me, and grates that go all the way across, because there is a fifth center burner (don't need a fifth burner, but all-across grates are nice).

Electric ovens have some advantages over gas, in that they're not vented and keep the kitchen cooler. The solution for someone who wants gas cooktop and electric oven is a dual fuel range. In my situation, behind the range I have a 110V outlet and gas pipe, since the original range that the builder supplied when house was new was a simple gas range. I would need to remodel---and open some walls---to bring 220V to the kitchen. The kitchen shares a common wall with the laundry area, which features a never-used 220V outlet to supply an electric dryer---which I've never owned, I've always used gas dryers. So the amps are there. However, I'd rather leave that outlet alone in the event I someday buy a plug-in hybrid car.

 

[combo52]

Gas Vs Electric Surface Cooking

This is an old debate that is not really worth rehashing again, if you look through old posts on the subject you can read about it for hours.

In general electric cooks better for many reasons and is used much more the world over. CRs always rates electric ranges as better to cook on for example.

Induction is the best all around choice.

Generally more mechanically inclined people do well with conventional electric, people with less mechanical abilities often do better with gas because they can instantly see their mistakes.

If you want vintage it is much better and easier to go electric.

Best types of resistance electric surface elements are,

Best for speed open calrod type coil.

Best for safety cast-Iron solid elements, but worst for response times.

Best for safety and speed smooth-top glass, [ they formally also made halogen elements but there was absolutely no advantage and durability was poor, they are now discontinued in the US ]

John L.

 

[iej]

Absolutely Induction all the way!

I have had an induction hob (cooktop) for about a decade at this stage and just moved onto my second one after a kitchen refurbishment.

I have tried gas while renting while I was working abroad and while it's controllable, it is absolutely not even remotely as clean and it has a lot of drawbacks.

Induction gives you extremely rapid heating, absolute controllability and very little inertia. When you press pause, or turn down the heat, it goes down and when you turn up the heat it reaches temperature extremely quickly.
Depending on what you spend, your hob may also have fancier controls like timers, boil-over protection and zoneless cooking which gives you the possibility of using different shape pots and pans that don't conform to the shape of a traditional circular 'burner'.

The huge advantage I see with induction over gas is cleaning. The surface of the hob will stay clean with nothing other than a wipe with a microfibre cloth because it does not get very hot and nothing burns on. Obviously the surface will get as hot as the pot that's sitting on top of it, so don't put your hand on top, but it does not have the extreme heat of a burning gas flame.

Gas hobs have to be taken apart and cleaned every so often and if you boil over, you end up with gunk all over the place.

Induction is also extremely good at distributing heat (provided you have good stainless steel cookware).

Gas also tends to have the problem of the flames / heat licking up around the outside of pots which can burn wooden and plastic utensils and your pots get filthy looking very quickly.

I have used both open coil type cookers (these were common in Ireland until the early 1990s and there were still some around). They are ok, but they're a messy disaster if you get an spill into the tray below the elements and a lot of time and effort had to be spent scrubbing them out.

Ceramic (Glasstop) hobs (cooktops) with elements or halogen lamps are OK, but they're much harder to clean and they are not all that great with heat inertia.

As for solid rings. I wouldn't even bother discussing them! They are just awful. I have no idea how anyone cooks with them. Everything burns!

Two tips about induction hobs:

1) You need good, solid bottom, stainless steel or cast iron pots and pans. Aluminium, composite and so on will simply not work.

2) Ensure that you install it correctly. These machines have cooling fans in the bottom and need to be able to blow warm air out into the cabinetry. So, you need to follow installation instructions carefully or you will get your hob overheating and switching off.

3) They are not particularly good as sources of heat for wok cooking, but in general no electric hob is.
I would suggest you either buy a wok set for induction, or buy an actual electric wok.

 

[earthling177]

"1) You need good, solid bottom, stainless steel or cast iron pots and pans. Aluminium, composite and so on will simply not work."

Well, it depends on what one prefers. I have an enameled cast iron pot (Le Creuset) that is nice to cook on and great if you *need* stuff to "stick" to make a fond, also if you want some inertia with stored heat. The stainless we have (1 All-Clad frying pan, 1 Tramontina [all-clad style] 12 qt stock pot and 3 pressure cookers) behave slightly differently -- the all-clad style material has very little inertia and behaves slightly faster than if we were using them on gas, while the pressure cookers (with a bottom disk) hold a bit more heat (5-10 seconds lag).

Modern domestic induction burners are not tuned to work on aluminum, copper etc, that's true.

But I have really enjoyed using two different sets of aluminum pots&pans we got when we bough the new range:

The Circulon Symmetry is non-stick inside, very high-end Teflon-like coating, and black anodized outside. It has a rather thick induction compatible bottom, which has a slight lag (about 5 seconds or less), but the heat distribution is really excellent, pancakes, for example, come out a uniform color. The set is oven-safe up to 400F/200C and is dishwasher safe. The thing people complain about it is that the handles hold some water when in the dishwasher, I don't mind it but if one does, they sell newer sets that share the plusses and have different handles. One can often find a good set for less than $150 on sale.

Bialetti Aeternum Revolution is also aluminum core, with silicone coating outside and "ceramic" coating inside. The induction-compatible disk on the bottom is stainless steel and it's very thin, which makes the pots *very* responsive, and the heat distribution very good, altho I have the impression that the efficiency is a bit lower than our other sets. They are also oven-safe up to 400F/200C, even though the handles are all metal and less pleasant to use than the silicone covered handles in the Symmetry set. They claim the set is not dishwasher safe, but we had no problems in several years, and it' still non-stick. This set is also often on sale at Bath, Bed & Beyond, and judicious application of their 10-20% coupons helped. I don't much care for the red color, but for the price/performance I am happy to have it. Other, perhaps pickier folks, might want to look for the Aeternum Signature (dark gray) or other models from Bialetti which are of similar construction and may be on sale from other places, like Amazon, Crate&Barrel etc. Just pay attention because some of the collections look fairly similar but are not induction compatible.

Good luck!

 

[gyrafoam]

I think I am a decent (or perhaps lucky) cook and have used both types over the years.
I grew up with a gas range. In Atlanta, back in the day, ice storms were much more frequent winter events. We were always able to cook and shower as water heater was also gas.

Nothing is worse then a cheap gas or electric stove. Hate 'em. Take forever to boil water.
We have a cheap electric POS in the kitchen at my office. In order to make cornbread I just set it on its highest temperature 500 and leave it. It is marginal at best.

I have used numerous electric stoves including Frigidaire and GE.i have a '67 Frigidaire CI I use as a canning stove downstairs. I had to get used to them,however, I had no serious problems. It was hard to find a gas stove in Florida unless one lived in the oldest part of town. I had a place in Hyde Park in Tampa and that was a great gas stove. Everywhere else was (usually a GE) electric. I think the best electric I ever used was an 80's Kenmore Induction Cooktop.

I have a (re-badged) TOL Maytag Gas Range with a Convection oven. It's about nine years old now and has proven to be a great stove. I think I tend to prefer gas and am kind of old-fashioned, anyway.

In the end, it's all up to personal preference and cooking habits.

 

[dustin92]

I mainly grew up with gas and have become a much better cook since we moved to a house with electric. I think it's much more consistent and predictable, and more even than gas. To someone that's never cooked on an electric stove, use it as you would a heavy cast iron pan on gas- temperature changes take time. If you want to bring something to a boil but not boil it over, start on the highest setting and turn it to a medium/medium low setting when it just begins to bubble (we have Frigidaire radiantubes, so thick and heavy and hold heat for a long time) Electric ovens tend to bake more evenly and preheat faster. Electric elements take longer to heat up but will boil water much faster than gas, provided you have a totally flat pan. If your pan is warped, it will only cook properly where it's touching the burner. I've only used electric coil elements and smooth top ranges but much prefer coil elements. Coils do like smooth flat pans but not as picky as smooth tops. Pots and pans skate around a smooth top like they are on ice, pans have to be 110% totally flat or it will never cook. I have heated a smooth top to the point the glass was actually glowing cherry red (not the element, the glass) and still couldn't brown hamburger because the pan was slightly warped. Couldn't see or feel the warp, but it just wouldn't cook. Same story with a pot of water that took almost an hour to boil. Smooth tops are extremely difficult to clean if something spills and burns on. I just used a gas stove for the first time in YEARS and couldn't believe how long it took to boil water. And then there's the gas smell whenever a burner is lit, the extreme heat that's released into the kitchen (from the burners and oven) and the worry of a burner set to a low simmer getting blown out and leaking gas. Food cooked on electric smells better since you aren't combining the food smell with gas fumes. I'm definitely a convert from gas to electric.

 

[DADoES]

 
We've always had electric from the 1964 house to current.  Used gas on occasion at the grandmother's.  I always found it to be uncomfortably hot, her various kitchen window units through the years could *never* combat the heat when the stove/oven was in use.  Also a large ruckus to clean a gas stove, what with the grates and other paraphernalia.  I never could get her stove clean to the point I felt it was clean.

 

[abcomatic]

We have both

I find that it is a matter of what you are familiar. I have 1990 Whirlpool electric and am just used to it. I know what it will do by just looking at the settings on the dials as to what is going to happen.
The gas stove is a 1930's Detroit Jewel. The only thing that I find annoying is you have to constantly fiddle with the knob to get the exact amount of heat that you want. It is ok to use during the winter; during the summer, not so much. Gary

 

[ea56]

I've used both gas and electric since I began cooking at age 11 and I much prefer electric. It's faster, cleaner, cooler and easier to adjust, especially for lower hear settlings. And I've used both coil, those terrible solid disk burners and smooth top electric. I'll take coil any day, preferably GE calrod burners, they adjust up and down in heat faster as others have stated. Although, the best all around stove I ever had was a 1939 Westinghouse with Corax burner elements. That stove was a gem, but it was in a rental, and when the oven thermostat went out the landlord replaced it with a Magic Chef, there was no comparison! I still have the original Westinghouse Cookbook that was in the storage drawer and I use recipes from it all the time.

But in the end its all a matter of preference. And many people really like gas better, but not me. But I can cook on anything that I need to use to get the job done.
Eddie

 

[earthling177]

Gary,

Precisely!

Once you get used to just looking at the knob and knowing exactly what power/heat you are getting, it's really annoying to try to cook with gas again and having to look at the flame to know what you'll get (in case someone is wondering what the heck we are talking about, it's much easier to produce electric switches with a consistent calibration than gas valves that have a consistent calibration -- the result is that each gas burner tends to run slightly different than each other, even if the knobs all read "5", for example; maybe gas ranges that are super expensive do not suffer from this, but most home gas ranges do and you only notice after you don't have to deal with it anymore.)

 

[sudsmaster]

Range Wars

Before the advent of the widespread availability of induction burners, this topic would usually start a range war, with the gassers squared off against the sparkies.

The induction option appears to have cooled everyone's jets, which is a Good Thing.

Now, I prefer gas, but I have used GE style thin electric elements and thick Frigidaire elements. They are OK, especially in a breeze, but I'm not as fond of them as I am of a good gas burner. And, like with electric, there are variations of gas burners. IMHO the best are the old fashioned porcelain coated cast iron ones, with crumb trays underneath. These gave the best flame profiles, expecially for smaller cookware. The new style "sealed" burners may be easier to keep clean, but not really. The crumbs and overflows instead fall into the fixed in place drip rings. On my Frigidaire "Gas on Glass" cooktop, this means that once stuff gets burned on, I've found the best option is to unscrew the sealed burners, release the fixed in place drip rings, and put them in the electric oven for a self clean cycle. And life being what it is, the first time I did this, the too flimsy and corrodable metric (French) screws broke off and I had to drill and tap half of them for larger SAE stainless screws. I also use automotive never-seize compound on all the screws so they don't corrode in place.

As for induction and stainless, if nobody has mentioned it, there's high quality non-magnetic stainless, which looks great and is most corrosion resistant. Then there is magnetic stainless, which corrodes easier but heats up better on an induction hob. I have a set of stainless but it's all 18-10 and probably would be lousy for induction. The newer stuff sandwiches a magnetic stainless (or maybe just steel) layer in between the 18-10 for best results.

Similarly, induction ready aluminum cookwear generally has a magnetic layer between the aluminum and some nice shiny 18-8 or 18-10 stainless on the bottoms.

Yeah, I know, if you forge or "work" non-magnetic stainless it will become somewhat magnetic. But it never seems to be as much as the stuff that is designed from the get go to respond to magnetic fields.

Some people are terrified of gas, but I think electricity can be just as dangerous if something goes very wrong. Most house fires, for example, seem to be the result of electric short circuits, not a gas range going berserk. Just my opinion, mind you.

End of range wars.