One more reason to learn to love cooking: you’d have an excuse to buy an induction stove.
Now, it’s a little unfair to say that all men hate cooking. We don’t. In fact, some of us love it. I certainly do. I love the chance to create a little something in the kitchen that looks nice, smells delicious and fills my belly quite nicely. In fact, some men even make a living cooking. You might have heard of a few.
However, when it comes to technology, men are all over it like a cheap suit. We love technology in all its splendour. It’s an innate quality in all of us that we just want to press buttons, flip dials or click things.
Plus, tech makes our lives easier and much more convenient. So there is that, too.
Now, you can indulge your tech-head tendencies and channel some creative culinary urges more quickly and easily.
What sorcery is this? What dark magic could possibly make cooking fun? Something called induction heating hob technology. It’s not as widespread right now, but given some time I think you’re going to see this in many more homes around the country.
Induction cooking works very differently from gas or traditional electric cooking stove tops. Coils under the plate create a magnetic field. This reacts with the metal of your pan. In effect, the pan becomes the heating element, with no heat generated from the plate of the hob.
This offers several amazing advantages over traditional cooking. First, it’s fast. Very fast. As the entire pan is the heating element, this means more surface area is cooking for you. For example, a pint of water can boil in around a minute and a half, compared to three minutes on a gas hob. I’m not sure, but I think you can label that “progress.”
Then there’s the safety feature. If you’re a little clumsy sometimes, then you’ll be pleased to know that induction cooking is much safer than other hobs. Again, as the pan is the thing that’s getting hot, the rest of the stove top doesn’t. Well, it gets a little warm but nothing you can burn yourself on. In fact, you could heat your food with a towel underneath the pan and you wouldn’t have to call the fire brigade.
It also makes cleaning so much easier, which I know will appeal to everyone. Food won’t burn, so a simple wipe down is all it takes—unless you over boil and spill your linguini everywhere!
Controls are slick and instantaneous, meaning a much more efficient time spent planning your meals, with heat control almost as quick as gas counterparts. And speaking of efficiency, induction hob cooking has been found to be almost 80% more energy efficient compared to gas. You’re saving a little money in the long run, it seems, too.
When it comes to the kitchen, if you would rather be in and out, then an induction cooker is what you need: fast, powerful, efficient and effective.
Plus, they look really cool.
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Image courtesy of estatekitchens.net
Huh? Are induction stoves really “new” in the States? I live in Scandinavia, and here it’s the standard. Not high-tech, not fancy, just the standard thing you get when you need a stove. They where new and cool 10 or more like 15 years ago, but now? No. If you remodel your kitchen, you get induction. Why would anyone get anything else?
Hi Lars,
I understand what you mean. I did not mean to reference the technology as being brand new, but rather the use of the technology in kitchens is still relatively new in some places, including the US and UK. People still use gas hobs in these countries and it’s very much like a dishwasher. They see induction as an expensive luxury that they don’t really have to buy. But like a dishwasher, once you do use one, you won’t use anything else.
Sorry ’bout the late reply!
I agree with your dishwasher analogy – once you have it, it’s hard to imagine going back.