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My kitchen is definitely antediluvian by this standard. We still have a gas stove. The induction stove after week of use has been relegated quietly to the attic

My kitchen is definitely antediluvian by this standard. We still have a gas stove. The induction stove after week of use has been relegated quietly to the attic by the wife, and has stayed there for years. I suspect Indian cooking doesn’t lend itself well to the use of induction stoves.

globular-toast 5y ago
Induction stoves are good for boiling water and nothing else. And I mean boiling, not simmering. I'm going back to gas very soon and can't wait to start cooking properly again.
- tristor 5y ago
  Pretty much agreed. I thought induction was going to be the miracle technology that would make a kitchen both highly productive and capable while increasing safety standards markedly over working with open flame. I was all in on getting a high-end induction range to replace my older radiant electric range, and thanks to a friend's advice I decided to buy a freestanding single-burner induction cooktop to try it first. I found that induction is a VERY VERY uneven heating source, in fact it's the most uneven heating source. When using it with traditional cooking methods and implements that are also usually quite uneven (like cast iron) it becomes a complete travesty. Additionally, typical cooking techniques that are intended to address unevenness of heat like pan flipping doesn't work with an induction cooktop because when you lift the pan it shuts off. I ended up getting a dual fuel gas range (gas cooktop, electric oven with convection) and I love it. Gas is just the best way to cook, period. I wish it weren't so, because it's not energy efficient and it can be a safety hazard, but it just straight out works better than anything else.
  - dhosek 5y ago
    We're in the process of designing a new kitchen and I had thought that we might do a hybrid cook surface: use a six-burner space to have a 3–4 spot induction cooktop and a 2-burner gas cooktop. Hearing these accounts, I'm beginning to reconsider (certainly, there are some things, like roasting chili peppers that can only be done effectively on a gas range).
    - globular-toast 5y ago
      If you can I would go 4 gas and 2 induction. I think that would be a pretty good setup and a true "best of both worlds".
    - tristor 5y ago
      Induction is fantastic for boiling water, so if I were to get my dream range it'd be a 36" with a convection electric oven and two induction burners at high wattage (3600W) and 4 gas hobs w/ at least one gas hob being a tri-ring style burner. I think having 4 gas and 2 induction would be better. You can use the induction with a disc-bottom stock pot for making pasta or other things that require boiling large quantities of liquid. Induction is bar-none the fastest way to boil lots of water. Gas can be used for most everything else. Induction is really good with disc-bottom cookware generally since disc-bottom cookware tends to be very even and counter-acts the induction unevenness, but it also retains a lot of heat and doesn't run heat up the walls like typical clad cookware.
    - a1369209993 5y ago
      > a 3–4 spot induction cooktop and a 2-burner gas cooktop. Actually, that's probably a reasonable design. Induction is fine for boiling water (or water-like things - soup, sauce, water-with-pasta-in-it, velc), and that's probably the largest single class of cooking tasks. The problem with a induction stove is that you can't do non-boiling stuff at all, but if you have gas burners, that's a nonissue. Although as tristor notes, it's probably better to have 2 induction and 4 gas than vice versa - if you're running out of burners, using a gas burner where you'd normally use a induction burner is less of a problem than vice versa, and if you aren't, you can just use whichever are better suited to what you're currently doing.
  - globular-toast 5y ago
    This is my primary frustration with induction too. I use heavy cast iron and stainless steel clad aluminium cookware. This isn't some cheap thin stuff before people think it's the pans. The induction ring will make a hot spot hotter the sun in the middle of the pan while leaving the edges without any heat whatsoever. It's a complete nightmare for doing something like frying an egg, searing meat or anything really except boiling or deep fat frying where the water/oil provides the conductive surface rather than the bottom of the pan. The other problem is temperature regulation. It regulates heat by pulsing on and off. It makes a noise which is annoying. On some settings and some pans, it will pulse between boiling over and coming off the boil completely. Since the heat settings are digital it can be impossible to find a setting that will keep water at a simmer (even if your volume of water is large enough to overcome the pulsing). The one thing electric hobs have going for them is ease of cleaning. But cleaning a gas hob is a small price to pay for being able to cook properly. Gas hob with electric oven is definitely the best combination overall. I could see having a couple of induction rings in addition to gas useful just for boiling and deep fat frying due to increased efficiency and safety, but that seems like an overly complicated setup.
    - tristor 5y ago
      I do think some of that is alleviated with a better quality induction cooktop. The one I used was able to be tuned to a particular temperature and had a temperature probe, so you could set it to maintain a liquid at exactly 130F for instance. The problem is how uneven it is. It sounds like in your case the induction coils aren't spaced out far enough or have enough coverage for the size of your pan. This is a real problem on many induction cooktops, where a 10" or 11" burner will only have a 7" induction zone, which is horrible if you are setting a 12" or 13" skillet on top of it. On the higher end though, you can get dual-zone burners where they have a ring on the outer edge of the burner and an induction ring towards the center, and this helps a lot. It's still two hot rings rather than heat spaced across. I've played around with several cooktop types and read a LOT on the topic, and my finding is that radiant electric ceramic cooktops are the most even, but the slowest to change temperature, because they essentially heat the glass which heats the pan to some degree. By the same token disc-bottom cookware is the most even, but the slowest to change temperature. The least even cooktops are induction, even the better induction is much less even than gas or electric coil. The least even cookware is definitely cast iron. Using cast iron on induction is the worst case scenario, but if you use disc-bottom cookware and a high end induction cooktop you can salvage it. Also, watch out, induction has a tendency to warp or crack cast iron and carbon steel cookware, which if warped makes it basically not work at all on induction. But all that said, just using gas is better across all types of cookware, and you can do things like use copper cookware for ultra-fast responsiveness and easy falling to simmers.
Etheryte 5y ago
There are many dishes that you simply can't make without the heat of a gas stove. Mostly I would say you won't find these in the western cuisine though, so it explains how the author might miss this point. Modern gas stoves are pretty much as safe as any other appliance, but I can see why someone who doesn't see a need for one might avoid it.

globular-toast 5y ago

Induction stoves are good for boiling water and nothing else. And I mean boiling, not simmering. I'm going back to gas very soon and can't wait to start cooking properly again.

tristor 5y ago
Pretty much agreed. I thought induction was going to be the miracle technology that would make a kitchen both highly productive and capable while increasing safety standards markedly over working with open flame. I was all in on getting a high-end induction range to replace my older radiant electric range, and thanks to a friend's advice I decided to buy a freestanding single-burner induction cooktop to try it first. I found that induction is a VERY VERY uneven heating source, in fact it's the most uneven heating source. When using it with traditional cooking methods and implements that are also usually quite uneven (like cast iron) it becomes a complete travesty. Additionally, typical cooking techniques that are intended to address unevenness of heat like pan flipping doesn't work with an induction cooktop because when you lift the pan it shuts off. I ended up getting a dual fuel gas range (gas cooktop, electric oven with convection) and I love it. Gas is just the best way to cook, period. I wish it weren't so, because it's not energy efficient and it can be a safety hazard, but it just straight out works better than anything else.
- dhosek 5y ago
  We're in the process of designing a new kitchen and I had thought that we might do a hybrid cook surface: use a six-burner space to have a 3–4 spot induction cooktop and a 2-burner gas cooktop. Hearing these accounts, I'm beginning to reconsider (certainly, there are some things, like roasting chili peppers that can only be done effectively on a gas range).
  - globular-toast 5y ago
    If you can I would go 4 gas and 2 induction. I think that would be a pretty good setup and a true "best of both worlds".
  - tristor 5y ago
    Induction is fantastic for boiling water, so if I were to get my dream range it'd be a 36" with a convection electric oven and two induction burners at high wattage (3600W) and 4 gas hobs w/ at least one gas hob being a tri-ring style burner. I think having 4 gas and 2 induction would be better. You can use the induction with a disc-bottom stock pot for making pasta or other things that require boiling large quantities of liquid. Induction is bar-none the fastest way to boil lots of water. Gas can be used for most everything else. Induction is really good with disc-bottom cookware generally since disc-bottom cookware tends to be very even and counter-acts the induction unevenness, but it also retains a lot of heat and doesn't run heat up the walls like typical clad cookware.
  - a1369209993 5y ago
    > a 3–4 spot induction cooktop and a 2-burner gas cooktop. Actually, that's probably a reasonable design. Induction is fine for boiling water (or water-like things - soup, sauce, water-with-pasta-in-it, velc), and that's probably the largest single class of cooking tasks. The problem with a induction stove is that you can't do non-boiling stuff at all, but if you have gas burners, that's a nonissue. Although as tristor notes, it's probably better to have 2 induction and 4 gas than vice versa - if you're running out of burners, using a gas burner where you'd normally use a induction burner is less of a problem than vice versa, and if you aren't, you can just use whichever are better suited to what you're currently doing.
- globular-toast 5y ago
  This is my primary frustration with induction too. I use heavy cast iron and stainless steel clad aluminium cookware. This isn't some cheap thin stuff before people think it's the pans. The induction ring will make a hot spot hotter the sun in the middle of the pan while leaving the edges without any heat whatsoever. It's a complete nightmare for doing something like frying an egg, searing meat or anything really except boiling or deep fat frying where the water/oil provides the conductive surface rather than the bottom of the pan. The other problem is temperature regulation. It regulates heat by pulsing on and off. It makes a noise which is annoying. On some settings and some pans, it will pulse between boiling over and coming off the boil completely. Since the heat settings are digital it can be impossible to find a setting that will keep water at a simmer (even if your volume of water is large enough to overcome the pulsing). The one thing electric hobs have going for them is ease of cleaning. But cleaning a gas hob is a small price to pay for being able to cook properly. Gas hob with electric oven is definitely the best combination overall. I could see having a couple of induction rings in addition to gas useful just for boiling and deep fat frying due to increased efficiency and safety, but that seems like an overly complicated setup.
  - tristor 5y ago
    I do think some of that is alleviated with a better quality induction cooktop. The one I used was able to be tuned to a particular temperature and had a temperature probe, so you could set it to maintain a liquid at exactly 130F for instance. The problem is how uneven it is. It sounds like in your case the induction coils aren't spaced out far enough or have enough coverage for the size of your pan. This is a real problem on many induction cooktops, where a 10" or 11" burner will only have a 7" induction zone, which is horrible if you are setting a 12" or 13" skillet on top of it. On the higher end though, you can get dual-zone burners where they have a ring on the outer edge of the burner and an induction ring towards the center, and this helps a lot. It's still two hot rings rather than heat spaced across. I've played around with several cooktop types and read a LOT on the topic, and my finding is that radiant electric ceramic cooktops are the most even, but the slowest to change temperature, because they essentially heat the glass which heats the pan to some degree. By the same token disc-bottom cookware is the most even, but the slowest to change temperature. The least even cooktops are induction, even the better induction is much less even than gas or electric coil. The least even cookware is definitely cast iron. Using cast iron on induction is the worst case scenario, but if you use disc-bottom cookware and a high end induction cooktop you can salvage it. Also, watch out, induction has a tendency to warp or crack cast iron and carbon steel cookware, which if warped makes it basically not work at all on induction. But all that said, just using gas is better across all types of cookware, and you can do things like use copper cookware for ultra-fast responsiveness and easy falling to simmers.

Etheryte 5y ago

There are many dishes that you simply can't make without the heat of a gas stove. Mostly I would say you won't find these in the western cuisine though, so it explains how the author might miss this point. Modern gas stoves are pretty much as safe as any other appliance, but I can see why someone who doesn't see a need for one might avoid it.