Induction Cooking

For some reason induction cooking has not yet taken off in North America, which is surprising considering how willing we are to embrace new technology. I mean take microwave ovens for example, like TV’s there is barely a home in the country that doesn’t have one.

Maybe there is an element of suspicion that exists about their safety that some corporate plot is afoot and something nasty is being induced into the food being cooked. But more likely it is because these cook tops still command a fairly high price tag and will not work with all cookware.

I started by saying how willing we are to embrace new technology, but strictly speaking induction cooking is not a new idea, an early element was first patented in 1909, but it didn’t catch on then either. Today it’s a different story, induction cooking technology has come a long way since those early days and perhaps it is worth taking a serious look at how these cook tops stack up against the competition.

Early Induction Element

These units come in several sizes depending on your needs, so you can get a single portable element that sits on top of your counter all the way up to a 5 element built-in and even an induction slide-in range. The range normally has a cook top with 4 or 5 induction elements and a convection oven and warming drawer below.

The real advantages of induction cooking are all about safety and efficiency. An induction element creates heat by inducing an electro-magnetic field in the cooking vessel. The vessels resistance to this electro-magnetic energy induces heat in the pot rather than the surface it sits on. This direct transfer of energy from the element to the vessel makes the system far more efficient than either gas or conventional electric cooking units. It’s like cutting out the middle man, (the cooking surface) and going directly to the things being cooked.

Right away you can see the safety aspect of this method. No scorching hot plate to burn yourself on, no spillage that gets baked onto the cooking surface, so clean up is easy and no risk of fire from hot oil igniting on an open flame or hot element. There is less risk to children getting severely burnt from a hot surface too, which puts many parents’ minds at rest.

I remember those early advertisements where you would see a pot of water boiling on the stove top and alongside the pot would be a solid cube of ice with barely any melt water, thus demonstrating its efficiency.

For those of us who live in a hot climate it is especially nice to know that cooking our meals is not going to contribute very much to our discomfort. Because heat is induced in the cooking pot, the cooking surface heats up from being in contact with it. Very little heat is dispersed to the surrounding area.

Precise control, that is integral to the induction system, means that when there is no pot on the stove the unit senses that and automatically shuts off. If a pot boils dry the unit shuts off. You can set the control to deliver just the right amount of energy to maintain an even and constant temperature rather than my father’s settings, on a conventional electric range of either “off” or “high” where a fried breakfast could look like colorful volcanic debris.

Now we come to the issue of cooking pots. One of the things you’ll need to keep in mind is that induction units will not work effectively with every type of cookware. It needs to be made of a ferromagnetic material, a material such as iron that is attracted to magnets. This is because of the “nature of the beast”. An electro-magnetic field in order to work properly, in this case heat a pot, must meet resistance in the skin of the vessel being heated. Aluminum and copper are too good of a conductor to create sufficient resistance and are therefore not suited to this type of cookware. Certain grades of stainless steel are also less suited than others so when choosing the right cookware either look for a label verifying compatibility, or take along a small magnet to test whether the pot material is attracted to it or not.

Induction Compatible symbol

I should add that there are also certain interface plates that can be used with pots made of the wrong material. The idea being that the interface material would heat the pot instead, but then this rather defeats the purpose of an induction cooker.

All things considered an induction cooker is a wise choice despite the higher cost. Prices have come down and will probably continue to do so. If you consider the higher efficiency and the safety features then the extra cost is well justified and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive.