Making the change from cooking with gas to an induction cooktop can be a bit daunting for any home cook. While many are devoted to gas, there are times when switching is simply unavoidable. What factors should you consider when cooking with induction?
That we all have to get rid of gas is a fact. If it is up to the government, by 2050 all of the Netherlands should be off gas. Besides saying goodbye to a gas heater, that also means saying goodbye to the old familiar gas stove. Many amateur cooks get panic attacks at the mere thought of it, because cooking on induction is no fun at all, right?
At Culy editors, we have made the switch from gas to induction in the past, and yes: we too were very skeptical at first. Cooking on induction was said to be much less controllable and incredibly bad for your pans. After several years of cooking on induction, we are completely converted and we dare to say that cooking on induction is perhaps nicer than cooking on gas(!).
How does induction work?
Why exactly that is we’ll tell you in a moment. First to the facts: what exactly is cooking on induction? When cooking on an induction plate, an electromagnetic field is heated. With induction, it is not the hot plate that is heated, but only the bottom of the pan. This is generated by the cooperation between the pan and an induction coil. Therefore, with an induction cooktop, you don’t see any red-hot cooking zones. This means that the plate is therefore not heated when nothing is on the burner.
This makes an induction cooktop very energy efficient and safe. Because the entire burner is heated, you get a heat source that evenly heats the pan and – unlike a flame – has no direct heat zones.
What are the benefits of cooking on induction?
Let’s start by saying that cooking on an induction cooktop is many times more energy efficient than cooking on gas. Did you know that a gas stove transfers only 40% of its heat to the pan? That means more than half of the heat disappears into the air that way. By comparison, an induction cooktop transfers over 90% of its heat to the pan. So that means it takes less time to boil a pan of water, for example, or to bring a pan up to temperature.
In addition, you can play with temperatures much more precisely while cooking on induction. Because of the precision, you end up with a better end result on your plate. With that said, it is important to have a fine control panel. For example, in the past we cooked with touchscreen, but that is not our preference. When moisture or food falls on this, the panel is difficult to operate. We prefer physical dials that always remain consistent.
Health risks and ease of cooking
Also, induction is a lot healthier compared to gas cooking because it does not emit toxins. Recent research shows that cooking on gas carries similar health risks to passive smoking. For example, children growing up in a home with a gas stove were found to be more likely to develop asthma than those growing up in a home with induction. This is because cooking with gas releases a chemical that is bad for your health.
But what about cooking convenience? Although it will take considerable getting used to at first for any cook, we are convinced that 99 out of 100 people will like induction better. This is mainly due to the aforementioned precision and evenness with which the heat is distributed.
To replace or not to replace pans: handy trick
The biggest drawback in making the switch to an induction cooktop is that your pans will need to be replaced. In fact, pans may warp if you have always used them on fire and then suddenly put them on an induction hob.
Having doubts? There is a trick to see if your pans will work on induction. By holding a magnet to the bottom you’ll know if the pan is suitable for the heat plate. Does the magnet stick? Then you can just keep using the pan!
