Induction cooktop--fun new addition to the kitchen

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jamiel

jamiel

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Just bought a Fagor induction cooktop from Newegg (I think) for $50. I'd wanted to try it, and wow was it neat. I made a cauliflower coconut curry very quick and easy in a tri-ply AllClad skillet. It's wild to have the heat so linear and so instant...I got a wonderful fond on the bottom of the pan while browning the onions and garlic, then was able to easily scrape it up into the coconut milk. Simmered 15 minutes. Served it with unflavored yogurt and sprinkled with some raisins. Accompanied with homemade buttermilk biscuits.
 
Malcolm,
Evidently since you have had your new stove you have fallen in love with it.
Glad to hear to you're so happy with it.

Rick
 
I love my Induction Cook-top!
It is so fast, even, instant!
It is the best I have ever used!
 
I bought a Salton portable induction unit a couple of months ago. I like how it heats so quickly and uniformly. It is easier to control the temperature. Previously when boiling pasta on my electric stove I would usually always have some boil over even when using a slow boil if I didn't watch the pot continuously. I don't have that problem when using the induction unit. And if something does spill over, it is so easy to clean up.

Gary
 
I have two and use them daily. I'm saving up for a brand new GE induction/ convection slide in. My LG dryer is arriving this coming Saturday.
 
Rex,
Check Target. Aroma has a model that Target sells. They run specials on it. I bought it before remodeling the kitchen to use and see if I would like cooking with induction. It is great and I still use it as an extra simmer or start cooker. I bought mine for about $35 before tax.
 
Rex,
Go to Target online and find stores near you. You can do a search for the cooker and see if those Targets have it in stock before you drive there.
I agree that Target does have a winder selection than Walmart on many electrical gadgets. I also find that Target's prices have been coming down quite a bit in the last year or so. If you have a Target Credit card, any thing you buy is an extra 5% off.
Happy Shopping!
 
Another great thing about induction is that if you just have one, you can use it to start the cooking where induction's efficiency at high power levels is great and once things are up to temperature, they can be transfered to a surface unit set to low or whatever where resistance is efficient. Bringing frozen veggies to a boil is done in a couple of minutes on induction. Once boiling, they can be moved if something else has to be started.

I almost never use induction for frying once I tried it a few times because I don't need more power than I can pull from the surface units. I never start a skillet over high heat.
 
Speaking of Frying...

Anybody still have a vintage Presto fry baby in use?

We use to use ours all the time for frying potatoes.

Malcolm
 
I have a Fry Daddy, and love it.. I've tried other fryers over the years, and find that the Fry Daddy does a better job.

I am looking at getting a Hamilton Beach Induction Cooktop.. I am able to get one free as a gift for my work reward.
 
We've had one in the house for about 12 years now and I would never, ever, ever go back!

I've had to use 'inferior' hobs (cooktops) in rental places and stuff like that over the years and honestly, they're all awful in comparison. The level of control with induction and the speed is comparable only to gas, and I find gas annoying as it tends to heat the sides of the pots sometimes and burn sauces.

Or, if you're using a small pot, it can sometimes burn your utensils / handles.

De Dietrich full sized hob (cooktop).
 
Malcolm,
I have a very large vintage Fry-Daddy. Don't fry all that much these days.
I have never found a better way to fry anything! Especially Fried Chicken! It keeps the oil at a consistent temp that I have never found with any other method.
Do you know if you can still buy them new? I need to look next time I go to Walmart or Target.
Brent
 
Got a Westinghouse 4-Hob system from late 2011. 

 

Its a huge improvement over the 1980's Westinghouse stove it replaced - which unfortunately suffered from warpage, and a blown ring around the heating surface (That metal ring which surrounded the hotplate). 

 

Boiling anything is merely a matter of moments, even in the largest skillets/pots. There's no wasted heat, a huge improvement in efficiency, no burning and very precise heat control. 

Those who still advocate gas should give these a try - As a "Gas Man" myself before the switch, I became a convert. Cooking on Gas always meant being "burned" from the heat of a burner on high, CO2 fumes in a well-sealed home (very important today), burning food and of course waste heat. 

 

Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, and have intermittent electricity, or prefer a vintage range for any reason, these are the best choice hands down today. I'm not sure about the electronics, but I guess even ceramic cooktops will be electronically controlled today. Not sure about gas - but again, a good quality top should last many years. 

These induction things are almost too good to be true. Lets hope all that magnetism doesn't turn out to be dangerous to one's health... 
 
I have used induction, have to say that didn't experience quicker heat up or cooking compared to my old westinghouse double crown, but I see how they can be faster than cooktops made today that are much weaker of how they used to be....

Also, do not know why but food cooked up on them tasted different, not as good as when cooked on a conductiomn method, but maybe it's just me....
I do see an improvement to efficiency though, this is especially because I can see many folks out there who cannot use gas or electric as they should anymore, many times I see people including my granma putting small pans on larger fires or coils, thinking that this way they will speed up things, what they get is flame not smashing in the surface but on the corner and heat going up instead of the base of the pot as it is supposed to...also many people do not center pans well on the heat source and you have sides of the pans where flame goes totaly out heating nothing but the air...
With induction you obviously do not have this problem as it heat only the pot.....
I see them being a good thing in this sense.....
 
Interesting comments, Freddie. 

 

I guess our old stove was just "knackered." However, even the newer electric cooktops can be pretty hopeless, as you pointed out. Perhaps due to energy constraints. 

 

It probably doesn't have to do with energy usage, but more effective utilisation of electricity being inputted. The "device" that magnetises the cookware might be rated up to some W or kW value, but due to its efficiency, can heat perhaps with the same ability as an electric or gas device of much higher capacity. 

Sorta like a heat pump, I guess. Not sure how much efficiency, but I think the actual value becomes somewhere around 84%, according to the figures posted by Wikipedia (from the U.S. EPA). For regular electric cooktops, a value of 74% and for Gas, read this JUST 40% efficiency... *LOL* I guess Gas won't be around much longer!

 

Edit: Here's an image reposted from Wikipedia (See Link). Looks pretty nice. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_cooking
washer111++5-3-2014-07-06-48.jpg
 
Yes, electricity is imputted to the pan base that is the only thing that heats up, and as pointed out this is a great advantage over gas that for how correctly you'll use it, because of it's nature of flame, will inevitably disperse some of the heat around being a flame and needing space to "breathe", and a little more toward electric conduction, because of these reasons pointed out before.
Anyway, despite induction of course offer more "energetic efficiency" because of reasons above,I see conduction still going strong in many houses where you have a more "elaborated" way of cook, as they offer a flexibility that induction will not offer for certain preparations.
As a chef, I know many "tricks" that you can do with a gas burner or electric one but no with the induction that I would never give up doing....that is why in many professional kitchens most of the times you will find a couple of gas burners whenever the other are induction....
For certain kitchen "tricks" gas is irreplaceble...
Also...
I see them replacing conduction in households in countries where electricity does not cost much also, but for countries where electricity cost so much than the gas costs, and where you have limits of kwh like Italy, gas will remain the favourite choice....
But without doubt induction is an easier and more efficient method....
 
Gas still used by 98% of the consumers here in Brazil.

It's much cheaper than electricity and there's also the ridiculous fear of new technologies.

 

1% use standard electric cooktops (probably because their kitchens have some kind of limitation, like employee lounges  in companies)

and only 1% discovered the wonders of induction.

The first models available were the electrolux and the Brastemp 1 burner portable cooktops. Just like me, people liked the idea of placing the stove outside (balcony or yard) to fry without messing up the kitchen. (nobody likes greasy cabinet doors and floors.)

Thanks to those little wonders, people started to love induction and comment with their friends and relatives... Soon, the manufacturers launched 4 burner cooktop units.

But anyway, cooktops aren't too popular in Brazil. People still prefer regular stoves. I just can't understand why the manufacturers didn't launch a magnetic indution stove with an electric oven. Well, in parts I understand. Electrocity in Brazil is so expensive that consumers are afraid of almost everything that has a plug. I strongly believe that after I saw a costumer asking a saleswoman how was the power consumption of a Samsung Galaxy S3 charger and in several homes I've seen people using electronic bulbs weaker than the necessary for the ambient only to save maybe less than 5w.
 
With the way things goes I cannot blame people for being "fearful" of new technologies..... Rather...just the opposite...
But at times there is something good,or not completely bad, among them coming along ,well, they have good aspects and bad aspects as everything...you just have to decide if you prefer renounce to good aspects of the old or the good ones of the new, so what you care more about to have...
For some people naturally to renounce of good aspects of the old is a HUGE problem, and it all relies in how much important are for you personally among old and new ones....
Taking in exam a stove, you may have a more efficient heat source with an induction,or even a quicker heat up if you use one of those modern weak ones, but you can say goodbye to the flexibility and results conduction gives for certain preparations,induction respond to heat control just like gas does, yes, but you can say goodbye to flaming, oblique cooking, constant sauteing etc... and all the flexibility in cooking procedures that gets better from a conduction method like gas... with the induction you have to have a more "static" cooking, you have to keep pots in constant contact with the surface, that may matter less or more to one personally, and may result in one not being happy with it....

[this post was last edited: 5/3/2014-09:49]
 
@ kenmoreguy89

The point of induction tops is that they do NOT heat the pot. They heat the contents inside the pot and that is what, by conduction, makes the pot hot.

In my life I have used every type of cooking top except wood or coal fired stoves and I can say that (in my 56 years) induction tops are the best I have ever used and I would not change to anything else how, even if I could. And I have not found they make the food taste funny either. And its is just as versatile a method of cooking than any other, probably more as it is possible to get very strong heat or very gentle heat.

Like IEJ above I have a full size De Detrich induction top since 2006

vacbear58++5-3-2014-12-43-39.jpg
 
In your opinion.....

Anyway, again, regarding versatility and heat control, I found heat control and response to be as versatile as with gas, you can control temperatures just the same way, but for versatility in cooking what I meant is that you cannot do all what you do with gas or convention...ie what said before, and have no other words to describe it.
Regarding food tasting differenf, again, maybe it's just me...but found it being different, not funny but different...it was cooked differently, tasted differently, probably the same way I find food cooked on a wood stove to be better than one cooked on gas...but I swear it was different to my mouth!
Do not know the type of cooking you do and how you do anyway, so I do not expect every one to understand what I mean....
Regarding pot heating, really I knew it very different, if it was just "pot content" ie supposed to be food, heating up, you would not be able to roast ,toast or brown....
And would be a kind of microwave no? , i have always known, and heck, could see with my eyes it is the pot or pan getting hot! Radiation heats up the pot base and of course thanks to it food in it contained to be cooked. Am I wrong?

[this post was last edited: 5/3/2014-15:50]
 

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