Introduction to Induction Cooking

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Len and Jo

Len and Jo

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Flipped a coin and am posting this here rather then the "Technical" board.  Have always wondered about power consumption using induction cooking.  George nails it and of course provides hummer while doing it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOl_iyb2mTE
 
I really like a text article over a video (Bandwidth reasons)  21 minutes is too long to watch

So. how does he conclude induction cooking compares to a good old fashion resistive element?

I know my induction burner is nice for many reasons. including once I turn it off and lift the pan the surface is not hot to the touch (Warm yes. hot no) in fact it is so cool i can lay  a paper towel on it then put the fry pan on top of that and not have to clean splatters off it (they are pre-cleaned by the paper towel) (NOTE do not use PCR towels (recycled)  But mine i a single. I have a resistive burner an 2 burner resistive burner and a 3 burner gas if I need 'em.. I don't often need 2.
 
Just returned from our winter get away.  I had initially gotten them thinking I did to want to put all the heat in the RV i.e. gas burners.  This winter it was so cool everywhere the heat was actually welcomed just hate to haul and refill the propane tanks.

I used my induction burner and my pans most of the time.  I love the fast clean up as you really can just wipe them out and your food does not stay in the pan---hashbrowns, Mac and cheese etc.  they brown incredibly and the crust stays on the food!!!!!!

The set I got is copper chef and although the the burner is a little off on the temp. All you need to do is just work with it awhile and get used to your unit.

I love the investment and even for a simmer they are good.  Or even to keep food warm it works.  Also you can use them stovetop and also in the oven with the lids so very versatile.  Hope this helps your decision.
 
We use our induction burner almost exclusively for "stovetop" cooking.  However, it's worth noting that not all induction burners have equal capability and it's not about paying a lot, just being aware of the specifications.  First of all, one key spec is maximum power, ours is 1800W which is the maximum for a standard 15A device.  But there are lots of burners with maximums of 1500W or even 1300W; in this case more is better since it relates to how quickly you can boil a pot of water for pasta!

Even more significant, quite a few induction burners can't regulate themselves to power levels lower than ~40% of full power.  Most claim that they can regulate to relatively low temperatures, but they do that by pulsing on and off.  If they can't produce a low enough power they can burn foods during the power pulse.  The one we chose can control to 10% of full power and/or 90 degrees whichever way you wish to control.  It can melt chocolate without burning it!  But all these features are in a burner that costs less than $100: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FLR0ET8/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
I replaced our induction hot plate and our crock pot with an Instant Pot, perhaps one of the best improvements we made this year with our winter in Florida. I have used the instant pot for everything from prepping baby back ribs to go in my Smoke Hollow grill/smoker to corned beef and cabbage to chili. Best of all, I place it outside on one of tables.
 
decaturbob said:
I replaced our induction hot plate and our crock pot with an Instant Pot, perhaps one of the best improvements we made this year with our winter in Florida. I have used the instant pot for everything from prepping baby back ribs to go in my Smoke Hollow grill/smoker to corned beef and cabbage to chili. Best of all, I place it outside on one of tables.
Click to expand...

By way of comparison, our Instant Pot now sits, unused in our storage shed.  Our primary cooking methods are the induction burner, a sous vide cooker, and our microwave convection oven.  To each his own.

FWIW, sous vide cooking beats traditional slow cooking hands down.  Last night we had ribs that had been in the sous vide for ~24 hours.  They were falling off the bone good!
 
decaturbob said:
I replaced our induction hot plate and our crock pot with an Instant Pot, perhaps one of the best improvements we made this year with our winter in Florida. I have used the instant pot for everything from prepping baby back ribs to go in my Smoke Hollow grill/smoker to corned beef and cabbage to chili. Best of all, I place it outside on one of tables.
Click to expand...

I got a "knock off" of the Insta pot to replace an older pressure cooker and a slow-cooker /steamer I had  I still use a different slow cooker for ribs and all-day stuff (Force of habit) but I do admit I like the "Multi Cooker"  Use it most days or rather evenings.

Still use the induction burner for Frying... ON the rare occsions I fry.
 
We love our Instant Pot! I never would have bought one but our daughter loved hers so much she gave one to us. My parents used a pressure cooker weekly and an Instant Pot is not just a fancy version of a pressure cooker. This is something new and improved using less water because it is computer controlled. The first time you open the vent it's a little scary but the results are great. Most remarkable is how the meat and individual veggies retain their own flavor without everything blending together. Besides retaining more vitamins a roast comes out very tender but the veggies are not mush.  No more adding the veggies after the roast is mostly cooked. Just throw everything in at once and press the button. Doesn't seem to matter if a roast is 2 lbs or 6 lbs. Always comes out perfect.
 
I'm not familiar with Insta pot.  The ones I have just checked out on line draw 700 watts.  So what is the cook time for various items.  Really relates to battery drain.  If we were to get one for our 'B' it would be the 2 quart one (smallest one possible for limited storage space).  Since we dry camp a large percentage of the time power consumption is always an issue.  When we use a 1000 watt hot pot there is always battery issues.  The internal resistance of our two 6v golf cart batteries must be high since the 1000w draw (83 amps at 12 VDC) will knock the battery voltage down one to one and half volts.  Maybe an Insta pot at 700 watts would be friendlier to the batteries.
 
Cooking times using an induction burner are the same as using a gas or electric burner at the same heat setting.  The difference is the induction burner uses about 90% of the incoming electrical energy to heat the pan, while an electric resistance burner only sends 60% to 70% of the incoming energy to the pan, leaving the remainder to heat the room.

Or to put it another way, 700 watts of inductive cooktop heat is equivilent to 900-1000 watts from a conventional electric burner.

https://www.pcrichard.com/library/blogArticle/induction-vs-gas-vs-electric-cooktops/2300371.pcra
 
The Insta Pot is a pressure cooker so I am assuming that cooking time is shorter??
 
Yes, up to 70% faster "on most dishes" but I'd say at least 50% in reality. So you have to figure that into the electrical equation.
 
Next question.  Has anyone hooked it up with a Kill-o-Watt meter?  Some dishes say "start on high".  Does that mean the wattage is variable or just 700 watts but regulated by a thermastat??  If a dishes cooked at 700 watts all the time, say for 30 minutes- then consumption would be about 350 watts or so.  That would require me 300 watts of solar panels to have 2 hours of "good" sun to replace the wattage taken from the batteries by the pressure cooker.
 
We have a knock off instapot. For 2 racks of ribs it is 32 minutes (time from up to pressure to off). 34 minutes was too much - lol.

We put apple cider and liquid smoke in the bottom and but a dry rub on the ribs. Often, I will finish them on the grill with bbq sauce.
 
Len and Jo said:
I'm not familiar with Insta pot. 
Click to expand...

THe "insta pot" is a specific brand of what is properly called a "Mulit-Cooker" it is computer controlled with several settings. Right now mine is steaming up my supper. In this mode it's just boiling water that's all.  It can be a Pressure Cooker if I close the vent control and set it to pressure cook in this mode it cooks very very fast.
It has a soup mode. .Not sure how that different but think it's regulated to like 1 degree below boil.  A Fry/Saute mode. A rice cooker mode.. and more. 

Since I live alone but was taught cook for a Farm Family.. I tend, when I cook, to make a LOT of food. (Well the main course) this is then sliced up . wrapped in foil and refrigerated all but one serving.. Then I toss a foil pack in the steamer basket along with a potato and some veggies and set the timer usually to 32  It quicklly heats up and then beep beep beep dinner is served 32 minutes later.

If I pressure cooked it would go a bit faster.. But not all foods pressure cook.

I have a few "high pressure" (It has high and low pressure setings) recipes

But I've been using pressure cookers since about 13.
THis one is easier to use.
 
I added an air fryer lid to my instantpot so now I can air fry all sorts of great stuff from chicken tenders to veggies in minutes. When set up in RV park, my instant pot is sitting outside on one my folding tables. I can make the best ribs between my instant pot and my table top grill/smoker typically in less than 90 minutes for start to table and will rival my ribs at home in my smoker that takes 7 hours. BTW, unless I am running my generator, its foolish to run any type of electric cooking device off of batteries not sure why any one would.
 
Curiously, I notice that many (most?) folks say InstaPot but, search as I might, I can't find anything with that brand name. However Instant Pot is everywhere. It would be interesting to know where the shortened version came from.

A note on our Instant Pot: Way, way too often, when trying a recipe, even with extra water added, we wait until the pressure is up, then the countdown starts and, usually within a minute or less, it quits with "BURN." As a result, it doesn't get anywhere near the anticipated use (but it's dynamite with boiling eggs).

An induction cooker is another story, though, and our Ventana has a dual burner induction unit for the stove top, and it's great (we have a portable at home, too), doing a great job of cooking and it heats things more quickly than more conventional units. The only drawback is its need for some form of iron in the skillet or pan to interact with the coils.
 
Larry N. said:
The only drawback is its need for some form of iron in the skillet or pan to interact with the coils.
Click to expand...

The rule of thumb we use is that a pot will work with induction if a magnet will stick to the bottom.  We had a set of stainless steel pots which worked fine even though they were made in pre-induction days.  The cookware we bought last summer was all labeled to work with induction and that's become a lot easier to find these days.
 
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