Induction cooking is a style of cooking that has been around since the 1970's and is not as widely popular as electric or gas. However, more and more companies are manufacturing this cooking style, and I'll touch on a few major benefits in a minute. But first, a little history of Induction Cooking.
The overall concept of cooking with high frequency magnetic fields was actually conceived in the early 20th century. It wasn't until the 1970's when it was "modernized" for home cooking. Westinghouse Electric Corporation was the first company to successfully develop the first in-home model and it was dubbed the "Cool Top Induction Range". Today, Induction Cooking is more popular in the European markets then anywhere else. But the overall idea has stayed the same since the beginning: an electrically conductive pot put on a magnet to conduct electricity to the pot thus making the pot hot. You're probably saying "Well wait a minute Brian, you mean to tell me that I'm going to put a pot on a magnet, which produces electricity, and I'm not going to get electrocuted?" That's right!
You see, in order for induction to work properly, you need to use special pots and pans. Any normal or average pan will actually cause the cooktop to not even work as a safety feature. Once that current is secure between an electrically insulated pot and the cooking surface, the cooktop will resume normal functions.
Ok, so now that we've got some of the basics down, you may want to find out why induction could be the future of cooking even though it's almost a century old.
1. Cooking Speed.
There are many out there who can do their own tests (If you have an induction cooktop and have tried the boil test, please reply to this post), but the fact of the matter is definitely true...I feel safe enough to say that I believe that induction cooking is the BEST at heating up the fastest, yes, even better than gas cooking. I've been to a cooking demonstration where they had a Wolf Gas Cooktop next to a Wolf 15" Induction Cooktop, and both boiled the same amount of water...within seconds of eachother! But that's not the only reason I feel that Induction is far superior.
2. Heat Distribution.
If you're looking for the safest and most "child proof" form of cooking in your home than look no further. Induction does the best at keeping the heat ONLY in the area that the cookware touches the magnet. So, if you have a 14" frying pan, and a 12" cooking surface, only the 12" of space will cook.
Looking at this picture, you can see that half of the egg is fried, and the other half is still raw! In the other picture, you see a specially made pot with a triangle taken out of it. In that cooking area on a normal cooktop, the ice would have already boiled off by now, but on induction, it simply melts over time. The best part ab
out induction is residual heat. There is none! When you pull a pot off of boiling spaghetti, you turn to go to the sink to strain it, and you then go back to the cooktop, the area may already be cool. Traditional cooktops hold alot more heat in and do so for long periods of time. On induction, as soon as the current is shut off to the magnet, the heat practically disappears. Young children reaching up to touch the cooktop will find nothing more that a room temperature cooktop. How's that for safety?3. Instant Adjustments.
The final reason why Induction is a better choice of cook surface, is the fact that you can go to a raging boil to a warm simmer in the snap of a finger! And vice versa. Not only that, but an induction cooktop can harvest the same maximum cooking power as a big btu'd gas counterpart.
Still not convinced? Electrolux Icon has a working Induction Cooktop in the Percy's showroom. Saturday August 30th, Icon is having a cooking demonstration from Noon to 3pm here at Percy's. I encourage you to come down and check it out. If you can't wait until then, schedule a test drive today and one of our experts will give you a personal demonstration that will blow your mind! Come see the tomorrow of cooking, today!