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We asked chef and author J. Kenji López-Alt for his thoughts on the next big thing in stovetops. Single Head Induction Cooker
With all of the hubbub lately about gas stoves — Will they be banned? Are they going to kill me? — people are understandably looking for alternatives when it comes to their stovetops. And since pretty much everyone agrees that traditional electric stoves are just about the worst thing one can cook on — they're slow to heat, slow to cool and difficult to control — an alternative was needed. Enter induction cooktops.
Induction cooktops aren't exactly new, but they're gaining in popularity. The way they work is via electromagnetism. An electromagnetic field beneath the slick glass surface of an induction cooktop causes a reaction in the pan (only magnetic pans like cast iron and stainless steel will work with induction), causing the pan itself to heat up. It's easier to control your heat with induction than any other type of cooktop, and their cooktops are a breeze to clean as well.
But while induction cooktops may be appealing to the average Joe, I wanted to see what people who really know cooking think of using them. In other words, what do chefs think of induction? To find out, I reached out to J. Kenji López-Alt. Kenji, as he is widely known, is a former chef and founding partner at Wursthall, the author of several acclaimed books, including The Food Lab and The Wok, and a food YouTube star with over 1.4 million subscribers. Here's what he had to say.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Speaking as a chef, do you feel like you would be at any kind of disadvantage if you only had access to induction for stovetop cooking?
Induction is wonderful for the vast majority of cooking. Typically when we cook, whether on a gas stovetop, an electric coil heater, or an induction cooktop, we transfer energy to food through the medium of a pan. In those cases, it doesn’t matter how the metal was heated; the food is cooked exactly the same.
The occasions where gas offers an advantage over induction are in specific cuisines or styles of cooking. In Mexican dishes, for example, often you’ll start a salsa by charring ingredients directly over a gas flame, which gives the ingredients a char and smokiness that you can’t get from an induction cooktop. In some wok-cooked Chinese dishes, the flavor of a gas flame igniting aerosolized oil from the stir-fry will impart a smokiness called “wok hei,” which can’t be replicated without a live flame.
The other thing that many chefs and home cooks like about a gas flame is the visual feedback you get when controlling it. It’s very easy to adjust a gas flame and visually confirm that the heat is at the right level. With induction cooktops, you need to get used to trusting the numbers printed on the dial.
I think for the vast majority of cooking that the average American home cook does, an induction burner will perform as well or better than a typical gas range. They’re also fantastic if you live in a hot environment. While gas cooktops waste a ton of energy heating up the air in the kitchen (only around 30% of the heat produced by a burner will make it to the pan), induction cooktops are close to 100% efficient; the heat is created directly in the pan surface itself, so there is very little energy being wasted into the environment.
You've spoken a bit about this subject on Instagram, noting that some workarounds may be necessary for cooking traditions that require an open flame. Do you have some ideas on what those workarounds might be?
If you have outdoor space, a grill or outdoor comal or wok setup with a live fire is the best workaround. In many Chinese homes, there will be a small electric indoor kitchen with an attached outdoor wok kitchen. I think this is a good model for people who have the space here. The other workaround is to use a small butane blow torch. I use a torch to give stir-fried noodles or fried rice a smoky wok hei flavor when I’m stir-frying on an induction burner for demos and classes. A blowtorch can also be used to char vegetables and aromatics for sauces, marinades and salsas.
Several companies make high-powered butane camp stoves that have outputs of around 15,000 to 16,000 BTU/hour. This is on par with high-end home kitchen burners. I find the camp stoves to actually work better for stir-fries than home stoves because the flame is concentrated directly under the bottom of the wok, as opposed to a wider spread pattern that a typical western-style burner will have.
Are there any sorts of dishes or cooking styles where you believe induction is favorable to gas?
Virtually any dish in the Western European tradition. Induction offers you more control and more efficient heating than gas. It takes some time to get used to the little quirks—trusting numbers on a dial instead of a visual flame, or having to keep your pan flat on the stovetop for heat to get to it, for instance—but once you get used to an induction cooktop, it produces results that are more repeatable, more controllable and more efficient than gas.
Do you have any words of advice for home cooks who are apprehensive about switching from gas to induction?
Professional Kitchen Cooker If I had the opportunity to build a home kitchen from scratch, I’d go with an induction range for sure. It’s safer, better for the environment, more easily controllable and for the majority of things I cook at home, it works just as well or better than gas. For those rare occasions where I need a live flame for specific dishes or techniques, I’ll rely on a blow torch, an outdoor wok burner or a butane camp stove.