Induction burners

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bajaespuma

bajaespuma

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Are there any experts here that would be willing to share what they know? I am building a new kitchen that will have induction burners and I know almost nothing about:

<ul>
<li>Brands</li>
<li>Power levels</li>
<li>Features</li>
<li>Special burners.</li>
</ul>
I first used induction back in 1996 when I took a professional sugar course at Ewald and Susan Notter's school in Gaithersburg MD. The shop was equipped exclusively with induction because they throw very little heat and/or humidity into the studio which is problematic for sugar art. I was amazed and impressed with their speed and technology. I love old fashioned electric coils but I'm getting tired of replacing them. My style of cooking seems to wear them out quickly. Any advice will be appreciated. Here's what we do with sugar boiled to 320<sup>o</sup>F:

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Induction hob

I can only tell you what I have learnt over the last 12 years of using them and that is I prefer the no surrounding heat like you get from gas, The speed of the burners is simply amazing and controllability is 2nd to none. Th only down side is having to find steel bottomed pots and pans but if you have older enamel type pans they cook great and so do cast iron skillets. If you have a lot of things you want to cook on that are not ferrous metal you can buy a plate that sits on the hob you put your pan on that it takes a bit longer but still NO surrounding heat. Another bonus is they are so easy to clean just a wipe and occasionally a little BKF and back to new in minutes.
Having cooked on all mediums including AGA's Wood fires etc induction is by the best of the lot.

Austin
 
Induction

Induction cookers have a limited lifetime.
The electronics just only last so long.
Heared 10 years of daily cooking quoted someplace.

Good ventilation helps a lot.
And don't be confused when you hear a cooling fan running suddenly - yes these use cooling fans like a PC.

Each brand is a bit different, but most I have used have 2 basic operation ranges:
1. Continous power of different levels
2. Pulsed power

You hear the difference quite well in a not to loud kitchen.

Most brands I remeber using puls power for the lower 2/3 of power levels in second long pulses.
Above that, power is continous and just increases.

I found that even with very cheap cookware you can get very good results for high power searing and such.
The cooktop can just provide so much power so directly that thermal mass dosen't really matter that much anymore for searing.

For low and slow cooking, high thermal mass helps with keeping the temp even between pulses on low power levels.

In general, though, you can go very low on power when you try to simmer something for a long time.
The short pulses keep temp very steadily due to their quicker pulsing compared to other methods.

(Still no gas though.)

Features really depends on what you want to spend.

"Booster" options are something I generally advise for.

Idea is that the cooktop can manage how much power it can draw total and then distribute that to every zone as needed.

So while usually a zone might be limited to 2.4kW, activating the booster allows that zone to draw something like 3.6kW as long as other zones don't draw to much or aren't active at all.
Limit there is the electronics in the machine and what your breaker can supply.

There are several cooking assitant option on offer.

Never used one, but can't imagine anybody whoe does serious cooking bothering with those.

However, if you are willing to spend a lot, full surface induction is something I was amazed by the first time I saw it.

Basically, there are no burners, no zones.
Just one large area of glass ceramic.

Underneath are dozens if not hundreds of small inductors.

Where ever you place a pan, that area is your zone.
You can pull and push pans around and they just track.

Main downsides are that the only UI that makes such a system viable is a touchscreen and that can be finicky while cooking, you loose some tiny amount of eveness (though really not that noticeable) and these things are expensive and complicated.

A cheaper variant of that is "zoned" cooking.

You have rectangular areas usually split in 4 zones (front back, left right).
Each zone can accomodate any shape vessel smaller than itself.

They can be bridged (usually front and back) giving you one big griddle size zone.

Thing in induction cooking is that you can use any pot smaller than the outline anyway without much loss.

So that makes it only somewhat usefull IMO.

Found that power control is one of the price differentiating things.

Some units only have 9 levels, some 14, some more.
And since these can actually be very granular, they can be usefull.
 
Induction Surface Cooking

Hi Ken, Are you looking for a CT that drops into the counter or  a full electric range ?

 

I believe there are still individual power coils that can be installed in custom ceramic counter tops as well, but these are expensive and involve a lot more work to install.

 

As others have stated induction is wonderful and I have seen no evidence that they are short lived, ourKM CT by Sanyo is going on 35 years of heavy use without a single second of problems and I know of several others that are just as  old working perfectly.

 

John L.
 
I have been using cheaper induction cooktops now. All of them had intermittent power on the lower settings. OK for most cooking but a nightmare for simmering etc. It's hard to find the right setting for such things.

Power boost is some of the most spectacular things of an induction cooktop, but it's highly overrated because you only use it for boiling water etc. Ofcourse that comes in handy when you do that, but regular cooking is done on lower settings. Besides that some pots can't handle so much heat. I have to small stainless saucepans that got a bit damaged by using power boost. You can't see much, but somehow the seam between the bottom and the pans itself got a bit loose. When they come out of the dishwasher some water got there and when I use them on the cooktop they release the water that has been stuck between the bottom and the pan.

That's some nice sugar work BTW!

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We've had ours (GE range) for about two years now and I'd never go back. Everything heats up so much quicker and it simmers at low temps beautifully. THere's even a "melt" setting on the small back right burner that Larry uses when he's making his "special" butters and chocolate edibles. Cleaning it is simplicity itself. I've never had to scrape anything off the glass, just spray and wipe off with a paper towel or something. If something does boil over you can pretty much wipe it off immediately by lifting the pan up and wiping which you can't do on other electric stoves or gas.
 
So I basically learned cooking on induction, the few times I cooked on non-induction was on holiday or at friends places - usually quite old equipment.

Found simmering harder on those, but that might just be me.

That's why I advice for the ones with many settings.

Our first induction cooktop was still coupled to the oven.
It had knob controls and had 9 levels with a medium setting between all of them, giving you 17 settings.
Fine-tuning was easy.

The IKEA one back home has 9 and that can make simmering problematic, yes, one is to high one is to low.

My AEG here has mid settings up to 6 and full steps beyond that.

I found for example especially with pressure cookers, you can go REALLY low.
Back home, 1 is enough.

I cooked Gulasch here recently, had it cooking on 2.5 for the entirety, and it bubbles just nicely.
So big mass helps as well.

The thing with the water I actually always explained differently.

The induction heats up so quickly the water dosen't slowly evaporate, it just flash boils.

Had that in the old flat share when I put in my new cooker.
Even the old equipment that was used on glass ceramic before had that happen.

I use power boost for a lot more.

Searing (pan is ripping hot in 30sec, throw in meat, wait 30sec, turn down to 9 and so on).
Quick-steaming frozen veg in a pan (pan on boost, throw in veg immediately, wait till you hear sizzling, add 2-3 tablespoons of water depending on pan size and immediately cover, keep on boost for 2-3min, drop power and uncover, finish as desired).
Reducing after deglazing (cook down wine or so in seconds before adding other liquids).

Anything that needs all heat ASAP.
 
Henrik

I guess you are blanching those frozen vegetables? I prefer to use the microwave for frozen vegetables, they only need a few drops of water then.

I was looking at this Demeyere pan recently. At the bottom it says that they advise to wash pots and pans by hand, to let them warm up slowly and also to not use the power boost on an induction top to warrant the longevity. So I drew the conclusion that the problems with my saucepan could have been caused by using power boost with them.

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We've had a Miele induction since 2016. It has a few issues covered under warranty in the first 9 months and then since then, we've had no issues.

It has 9 temps (You can enable half temps but that seems silly) plus Boost and Boost Plus.

For temps above about 4 or 5 (I'd need to specifically check) it seems to be able to vary the power without cycling. When you drop down to the very low temps, from 1-3/4 it cycles the power on and off.

I cook a lot in bulk, I turn 10 pounds of hamburger into lasagna or bolognaise at a time, so I use a 5 gallon stockpot to simmer a lot of those dishes. My biggest pot fits perfectly on the 12" main element. I also make my own stocks, so I fill that pot with 3.5 gals of water, plus 6lbs of chicken carcases, go for double boost and the whole thing can be boiling in about 10-15 mins from totally cold. If I'm in a hurry and want to boil 1gal of water for pasta, I can use the bridge burner at the back and put 7.2kw of power into the pot, within 3-5 minutes, I can have a volcano of boiling water if I dont keep an eye on it.

At the other end of the scale, you can melt chocolate on temp 1 without a water bath, and I have no issues with simmering. For a stew or soup, depending on consistency, temp 3-4 will keep it steaming with occasional bubbles.

The key things to be aware of.
1) To use all the power from a burner, the pot size needs to be matched. if I put a pan with a 6-8" base on the 12" burner, it takes for ever to come up to heat. If I use a 10-12" pan I get the full 3.6kw.
2) Cheap multilayer based cookware will vibrate, and if if it has aluminum in the layers and you use the dishwasher, you will end up with aluminum oxide vibrating out of the base of the pans onto the stove. You may have to shop around to find what works for you
3) With the Miele anyway, it shifts max power levels around, depending on how many burners you have on, how high the power levels are, and which burners are enabled. Mine has 4 burners, that operate in two pairs. You can run both in each pair at setting 9, but if you run one on boost, the other in the pair will top out at 6-7 until you lower the power settings on the other burner. The other pair can operate in the same way, you just have to be aware.
4) Likewise, if your trying to boil 9 gal of water on two burners, the electronics will generate a lot of heat and you'll hear the cooling fans ramp up. I've only really ever noticed this when I've been on an extended cooking bend. IE, I've made 5 gal of bolognaise, 60 portions of lasagna and 4gal of soup in a morning.
5) Cleaning is delightful, especially if your coming from a ceramic cooktop. I use a sponge with soapy water and 99% of the time, that'll remove anything thats cooked on. I dont think I've ever had to use the scraper yet.
6) At high power levels, you must watch whats happening. A pot of water almost at the boil can become a volcano of water gushing 6" above the pan if you let 7.2Kw of power into a pan without watching. On mine the controls are at the front so you can turn it down without getting scalded, but the amount of water that explodes everywhere has to be seen to be believed.
7) Frying works best with heavy pans, the trick is to find the right one. We initially had frypans with ridges embossed into the base, they didnt get hot or stay hot when trying to seal steak, or large quantities of hamburger. I ended up getting a Lecruset Enable 12" and now there is never an issue with heating. Preheat on 8 for 2-5 minutes and then your ready to fry until your hearts content. It did take trial and error to find a pan that worked.
8) Make sure your cabinet has plenty of clearance, Miele don't recommend vents, but there needs to be a certain about of air space in the cabinet. Also dont store anything flammable underneath the cooktop, we have a draw with Cooking utensils, and at times they can be almost too hot to handle, when your really pulling watts.

I hope this helps, I know its long winded, but now I've had induction, I'd never go back to anything else.

Cheers

Nathan
 
@Louis

Not really blanching. It's just steaming with very little power and very high energy input.

In a pan, so that I can finish it off with spices or some sauce or so.

Heavy pans are really still helpfull for the perfect sear, but you can get 90% there with anything thanks to the neormous power.

The main reason many manufacturers a cautious about the boost functions is that it is a lot of power many aren't used to.

Empty cookware can heat up so fast it basically gets thermo shocked.
Oil in a pan can be burning in less then a minute.
Stuff boils over instantly.

Starting cautious and going from there is a good idea.
 
I've come to the conclusion a few years ago already that those saucepans are just too small for using on the power boost function. These are older Swiss pans that I bought when induction wasn't very big yet. They can be used on it, but the power boost is a way different heat than for instance a 1000Watt solid electric burner.
 
I'm sure some are better

than others. Restaurants use the pricier types. Anything from Nu Wave, or Ninja is cheapler and cheaply made with low cost components. If the cooling fan fails, the rectifiers cook. If the control board fails, it just won't work. I don't know if any have fused protection. Without a surge protector, I wouldn't leave one connected to house current.
 
I have one of these.

I love it.

it is a real cheapy but works a treat.

2 things I like about this one - the display shows the power consumption in watts - so you can select between 200 watts and 2000 watts; and the sloping front means even if a big pan overhangs the control panel, it won't cook the control panel as the touchpad slopes down away from the cooking surface.

It's a cheap way to try induction and see if you like it.

 
That Ikea one was my other choice, but I live 3 hours from the nearest Ikea store.

They are stylish and I like how they can hang on a wall.

 $59 in Australia.

$49 in USA.

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