By Karen Melton, Southeastern Pennsylvania Group
In Philadelphia, many houses like mine use methane gas for cooking, heating and hot water. As a proponent of ‘electrify everything,’ I want to transition off of gas, but it’s a challenge! Our house is completely wrong for solar – it is not oriented in the right direction, there are dormers, so no uninterrupted expanse of roof where panels could go, and a large oak tree I would never cut down blocks the afternoon sun.
So I’m starting where I can – with cooking. I was already planning to transition from a gas to induction stove before the Inflation Reduction Act, which should provide a tax credit. But I have been cooking on a gas stove for many years, and always viewed electric stoves as much less flexible. So I had qualms about going with induction, especially since I would have to buy new pans.
Induction burners work differently than electric ones. A traditional electric burner heats up the burner (thermal conduction) which in turn heats the pan as well as everything around it. A lot of energy is wasted. An induction burner heats the pan directly through magnetic induction, so it is extremely efficient; however, the pan has to be made of a magnetic metal, such as cast iron. An easy way to tell if a pot will work on an induction burner is to check if a refrigerator magnet is attracted to it. With the growing popularity of induction cooking, many induction-compatible brands are available.
I have a set of decent quality pans that should have lasted the rest of my life, so as someone who values things that last, I wanted to know I wouldn’t regret not only giving up the flexibility of gas, but also having to buy new pots and pans.
One of my favorite bloggers (Zero Waste Chef) once had a photo of a portable single induction burner that she owns (the Nuwave Pic Gold). I trusted she had done her homework and bought the same one. For the past year I have used that single burner for as much of my cooking as possible, buying one pan at a time.
Induction provides the same flexibility as cooking with gas – when you turn the heat up or down it happens right away. And, it is also precise. I found I just needed to learn a few numbers in place of what we try to do by eyeballing gas. Boiling is 212 degrees; simmer is 185 to 205. An induction burner can be set to an exact temperature, anywhere from keeping something just warm at 100 to smoking hot for charring or searing. This precision and the built-in timer would also enable it to be used in place of a Crock-Pot.
I started one at a time with pans. I make a lot of soups and stews as well as frittatas, so my first two pans were a dutch oven and a frying pan. I am slowly adding more pans as I identify what I actually need -- only four so far -- so clearly it will be fewer than the set I donate. I now can’t wait to get the new stove (an induction top with convection oven -- have to get the 220 volt outlet first) and cross this off on my electrify everything list.
This blog was included as part of the April 2023 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!