Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull
...The cool down is very likely largely a result of the thermal mass of the pot or pan you are using.
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As you will see when you get yours, cool down is incredibly fast. The reason that the resistance unit in the tests was slow to cool down is that the resistance element itself, and in this particular case, there is an iron plate that the element is attached to. In all the tests I did, I used the same pan. So, it might be possible to cool down in less than 7 seconds with a lower mass pot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull
...He feels that the heavier the pot (larger amount of ferrous material) the more even the heat.
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I think that a properly made pan would have ferrous material in combination with copper or aluminum. That's the way the Ikea pots are made, and they're the best I have encountered so far with regard to even heating. And they aren't so heavy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull
...it is FAR easier to simmer on an induction as he can literally dial in a specific temp.
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Yeah, that's the whole thing in a nutshell. I have even discovered that you can dial in a sub-simmer temperature and cook almost as quickly, and not create the humidity load.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull
The same with a gas element means that the heated area is very small, leading to scorching in that small area...
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The cooking coil diameter determines the immediately heated area. Some units have larger coils, some smaller. My 'Aroma' is about 4.5" my 'Avantco' is about 5.5". I looked inside the Avantco and saw that there was room on the support plate for a larger coil... wish they'd kept winding.
I have seen units with larger, segmented coils that sense the diameter of your pot and adjust themselves to your pot... for a price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull
You may have mentioned this, but what price range are the units and which one would you recommend?
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You want:
- Variable Power
- Variable Temperature
- Timer
I was looking for the cheapest I could find. The first one was $70 (power control, timer, but no temperature control, bad). The other was about $130 (timer, temperature control & power control).
I'm impressed with the possibilities of induction cooking, but I'm not 'all in' with either of the units I tried.
If you got a full-on cook top, you'd have hobs with power capability like 3600 watts, 1800 watts, 1200 watts.
I really do like having a knob to change the temperature settings, even though the knob on mine is a bit flakey.
Having many steps of temperature control is very important.
Ditto many steps of power control.
To cook a stew for a family, having 1500 watts would be plenty, so you should get 1800 watts, because the advertised power is not accurate. More power will heat up the water faster, but after that, holding a simmer temp only takes maybe 600 watts, cycling on & off.
There are also some sleek one and two hob flush mount units, very nice.
I heard all these tails of amazingly fast heat ups with induction cookers... well it is because they were using really high wattage cookers, like maybe 3600 watts.
The really good units are made by Cook-Tek and Vollrath, but
be prepared to bleed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull
Thanks again for your "Consumer Reports" feature.
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Yeah, I like to think of it as a 'Technology Reports' kind of thing, keeping the 'Eco' attached to the Renovator.
-AC