Recently a new Italian restaurant opened in my area. Before official openingday the owner spent a lot of time researching her options when it came tocatering equipment. She came up with a list of what she considered were “musthave” catering supplies for her new business. One item on her list was aninduction hob. At about the time the list was completed, she successfully hireda head chef with outstanding culinary experience who would ultimately holdresponsibility for all food to be served in the restaurant. One of the firstthings the chef said to the owner when he came on board was that he would notwork with an induction hob. In his words it was not “real cooking”! So how dowe explain such anathema? Is there really a big difference between cooking withan induction hob and using a normal range? Well let’s take a look.

How Do Induction Hobs Work?Traditional cooking methods work through thegeneration of heat in a stovetop by electronic coils or burning gas. Incontrast, induction cooking involves heat being generated directly inside thecooking vessel. A powerful electro-magnet below the hob’s glass surfaceconnects to the molecules of the ferrous material in the pan above and producesan oscillating magnetic field. This field induces an electric current insidethe pot and creates the heat necessary for cooking purposes. The amount of heatproduced depends on the amount of electrical flow. Since this flow is extremelyeasy to control, induction cooking allows for instantaneous adjustments to bemade during the cooking process – a great advantage of the inductionmethod.

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Benefits of Induction HobsThis takes us very nicely to the other benefits ofinduction cooking. Now that we know how induction hobs work it is notsurprising that the most obvious benefit of using an induction hob is speed.Since the heat is produced directly inside the cooking vessel the cookingprocess is much quicker than would be seen if using traditionalstovetops.  A pan of water can reach boiling pan in just ten seconds.

Secondly induction cooking is much more energy efficient. This comes fromthe fact that 1) it uses much less power than a standard gas or electric hob 2)it allows for instantaneous control of heat and 3) it minimizes wastage ofenergy by not heating the air around the cooking vessel.

Thirdly induction cooking is safer. Not only is there no naked flame or hotheating element involved, an induction unit is able to detect whether cookwareis present (or whether it’s contents have boiled dry) by monitoring how muchpower is being absorbed. As a result induction hobs are able to offer a minimumboil facility or automatically turn off when cookware is removed.

Finally induction cookers are easy to clean because the cooking surface isflat and smooth, even though it may have several heating zones. Since thecooking surface is not directly heated, spilled food does not burn.

The DownsideInduction hobs only work with cooking vessels that are made of aferromagnetic metal and have flat bottoms. Glass, ceramics, solid copper and/orsolid aluminium cookware cannot be used. So if you are introducing an inductionhob into an established kitchen you may have to factor in the expense of newpans. You can test whether your existing pans would be suitable by seeing if amagnet sticks to the base. If it does then the pan is suitable.

Also the glass ceramic top that is found on induction hobs has to be treatedwith care. It can be damaged very easily. Caution should particularly be takenwhen using foil around induction hobs. Melted foil on the surface can result inpermanent damage to the top.

Another more minor concern is the noise generated by induction hobs. Thenoise may be the low volume whirring of an internal cooling fan or a whistling,whining sound from the cookware placed on the unit. In any case it is unlikelyto be audible enough to be a major problem.

Of more concern is the risk to people using electronic medical implants suchas cardiac pacemakers. The magnetic fields generated by induction hobs mightput the effectiveness of such implants at risk.

ConclusionSo what’s our conclusion? Well induction cooking is certainlydifferent from cooking on a traditional gas or electric stovetop. However ifyou’re fine with the cost of purchasing an induction hob and the possibleadditional cost of purchasing appropriate pans there is no reason why youshould not go for it. Resistance to induction hobs from chefs probably stemsfrom fear of change rather than any negative impact of induction hobs on thefood produced. If that resistance can be overcome there are many benefits to behad.

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