All About Induction…

August 31, 2009


What about induction cooktops?  There are some out there, but the penetration of this technology, originally developed in Japan nearly 30 years ago, in the U.S. remains quite small.  Induction is more common in Europe and Asia than in the U.S.  Available cooktops with induction choices remain quite expensive compared to traditional resistance electric or gas burner stoves.

The important thing to remember is that glass, copper, and aluminum cookware will not work on induction “burners”.  The reason for this is that only magnetic materials–i.e. iron and steel–can be heated by induction.  In Europe and in the U.S. many traditional aluminum pans are now being sold with a magnetic stainless disk impact bonded to the bottom of the pan in order to impart the desired magnetic characteristics. Stainless steel pans may or may not work, it all depends on if the pan has a carbon steel or a 440 stainless (the so-called magnetic stainless) layer inside the stainless steel or bonded to the bottom of the pan.

On the positive side, induction units are efficient in that they don’t waste energy heating anything other than the pan itself.  The heat is quite controllable, much like gas is.  You turn down an induction “burner” and it ceases to heat the pan immediately.  Typically the induction unit is covered with a hard, heat resistant smooth surface that is easy to clean.

The negative?  Well there’s the cost.  For instance,  Sears advertises a slide in 30″ induction range for over $2,900. A Whirlpool conventional range from Sears cost:  $479.  That’s a lot of difference.  Until major appliance producers get the price of induction units down to neighborhood of conventional cook tops and ranges, I predict a continued uphill slog for this product which does show promise, just not an economical one.

Update, September 15:  Someone must have heard me!  Samsung has just announced a four-burner induction unit for just under $2,000 which is available now at select retailers and which will be widely available by the end of month.  Here’s a link to the actual press release.

Back from the San Francisco Gourmet Show

August 19, 2009



A stack of calibowls

A stack of calibowls








Cook Your Way to Slimness?

August 5, 2009

Perhaps in connection with the premiere this week of the film Julia and Julie, there was an interesting article in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine by Michael Pollan–here’s a URL to it that you can copy and pasted into your browser.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Pollan&st=cse

Pollan charts the rise of the visual where we watch people preparing food, all the while forgetting how to do it ourselves.  And he cites a study from 2003 by Harvard economists that found the rise of food preparation outside the home could explain the increase in obesity in America.  Mass production has driven down the costs of the food that we eat and made what previously was a laborious task wonderfully easy.  An excellent  example is the french fry–now listed as America’s favorite vegetable, but only since industry has relieved us of the burden of preparing them from scratch.

The study found that the amount of time cooking predicts obesity inversely.  I.e., the more time spent cooking the less like you are to be fat.

Perhaps the current economic woes of the restaurant industry may produce a healthy by-product in more svelte citizens…except that the fast food portion of the restaurant industry seems to be doing just fine.

Glass cook tops

August 3, 2009


I certainly understand the popularity of glass cook tops.  My mother spent countless hours cleaning her beloved range (in a chocolate brown color no less) and wrapping the drip trays with aluminum foil.  She would have loved a smooth glass cook top had she lived long enough to see them on the market.  As it was she pulled out a perfectly fine gas cook stove (stainless no less) when my parents moved into the last house they lived in to put her brown stove into use.

That said, I get a lot of questions from consumers asking about cookware for use on glass cook tops.  What happens is this:  a new cook top is either purchased, or the consumer moves to a new home with a glass top already installed.  They put their traditional cookware on top of the perfectly flat glass surface and find that it is unstable…i.e. the pan is either convex or concave such that it spins.  This is obviously disconcerting and sometimes leads to a consumer blaming the cookware for the problem.

That’s really unfair to the manufacturer.  In fact some cookware is designed so that when it expands it flattens out, so that in a  “cold state” is appears to be somehow warped or mal-designed.

While I can’t argue with the advantages of cleaning a smooth cook top, or its sleek appearance in a modern kitchen,  there are some disadvantages to their use.  First, one may need new cookware in order to get a stable pan that doesn’t wobble on the surface. Finding  inexpensive, yet absolutely flat pans which will stay that way throughout their life, can be a challenge.   In light colors, the tops can stain, particularly by tomato-based sauces.  If you (oops) accidentally boil dry a pan that has a colored bottom it can fuse with the cook top requiring a non-warranty replacement costing several hundred dollars. While durable and sturdy, the glass tops can break. (Be careful in using heavy cast iron pieces over the top).

Here’s a link to additional information about cookware and glass cook tops:



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