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And/or you are using crappy cookware. Cooking well on a gas stove requires thick bottomed pans that conduct heat evenly...I prefer 18/10 stainless steel or cast iron. If one can't cook in a pan that isn't "non-stick", they REALLY are a noob . Oh, and if the flame is coming up around the sides of the pot...it's too darned high!
I won't argue that electric isn't better for baking, because it is, it heats the oven more easily. The ideal cooking appliance would by a "dual fuel": gas stove top and electric oven. I don't want to spend the money on one of those and do much more cooking than baking, so gas it is. In fact, we converted the electric range in the house we bought last year to gas. There was already gas to the house, for heat and hot water, I couldn't imagine why the former owners had put in an electric range.
I don't fear it. It just sucks. You didn't read my post. It can't simmer, it burns things to the sides of the pot, etc. People who prefer gas don't know how to keep up with their food as it cooks, they're always reacting to it, not being proactive. aka they're noobs.
I'd never get a gas stove for the simple fact I hate the heat going around the pot.
When was the last time you used a gas stove. The new ones are so much better.
Mine has four different sized burners. Two are turbo charged or something like that. The smallest one is perfect for simmering. You use the burner that fits the pan.
Well, really they all are great at simmering, since the gas settings are much more refined.
There is a very simple solution to "the heat going around the pot." Turn. Down. The. Flame.
This is what I kept thinking. Does he/she not know to adjust the flame? lol We just moved from an apartment (electric) into a house (gas). I'm so glad to return to more adjustable stovetop cooking temps instead of having to wait for a metal coil to cool down. Here's yet another indication that gas is better, all professional kitchens use gas stovetops. Go figure.
first thing I did when I moved into my house 10 years ago was pull out the electric range and install my gas range.... I have cooked on electric over the years, mostly when renting apartments, and find gas far superior....
This is what I kept thinking. Does he/she not know to adjust the flame? lol We just moved from an apartment (electric) into a house (gas). I'm so glad to return to more adjustable stovetop cooking temps instead of having to wait for a metal coil to cool down. Here's yet another indication that gas is better, all professional kitchens use gas stovetops. Go figure.
Adjusting the flame does not matter. Heat rises, and heat rising from that ring of flame will tend to go towards the sides of the pot. Leaving the center cool and with a "hot spot" all around the sides of the pot. No amount of lowering the flame can adjust for this.
And as I already said, professional kitchens use gas because its faster, not necessarily because its easier to use or cooks food better. It makes more sense in a business environment, you'll never find a professional kitchen that uses electric, because I don't know any restaurant that actually likes producing food more slowly.
I read your dozen + paragraph of misinformation. If you think you can't simmer with gas or not burn the sides of pans you're the "noob". Your last sentence is total hogwash. If your cooking skills were lacking and you couldn't handle gas that's your problem.
So, most of the heat escaping the pot and going around the sides of it is hogwash, and "my problem"? Its a scientific fact. If you cook on a gas stove, you can feel the airflow around the edges of the pot, and you feel all that heat. That heat isn't going into the food, so its wasted energy that you're paying for, it heats up your environment (can make a/c costs worse in summer), and unless you have thick pots/pans you'll end up with cold spots and hot spots as you're cooking. Everything I've said in this paragraph so far, have been facts, that can be backed up with scientific evidence. Now, developing an opinion on how all that affects the cooking of food and preference for gas/electric is up to each individual. MY opinion is that with all that evidence for how gas is a pain to cook on, I don't like it, and prefer electric. And yes in the face of such evidence I find it funny how there are still diehard fanboys. Well, to each his/her own I guess, I mean heck there's people who still believe the world is flat.
I've cooked with electric and with gas, and I like gas better. I like it even with crappy cookware. I don't like electric stoves because when you turn them off, it still takes a good 20 minutes to cool down. With a gas stove, when you turn the burner off, it's cooled down within a minute. The same with an oven, though the oven stays warmer if you have an always-on pilot light.
The always-on pilot light also means you have consistant continual heat when you need your bread dough to rise. That was THE BEST thing about the gas oven. I don't even try making it in an electric oven, I haven't made a loaf of bread in 14 years and I totally miss it (I don't own a breamaking machine, THAT is for noobs).
For me, everything came out better, more consistant, on a gas stove or in a gas oven. Cleanup was easier as well - having to disconnect the burner from the electricity to wash underneath it is a pain. With a gas stove, I pull the range-cover up, wipe it down, and it's clean. I only have to keep my sponge away from the pilot light itself, which is easy to avoid.
Adjusting the flame does not matter. Heat rises, and heat rising from that ring of flame will tend to go towards the sides of the pot. Leaving the center cool and with a "hot spot" all around the sides of the pot. No amount of lowering the flame can adjust for this.
And as I already said, professional kitchens use gas because its faster, not necessarily because its easier to use or cooks food better. It makes more sense in a business environment, you'll never find a professional kitchen that uses electric, because I don't know any restaurant that actually likes producing food more slowly.
Heat rises on an electric burner too. If you put a pot on an electric stove, and turn it on, the coils will get however hot they get, and you will feel heat on the sides of the pot. No amount of adjusting to simmer will change this on an electric burner.
There's nothing magickal about electric-powered heat that will change physics.
Heat rises on an electric burner too. If you put a pot on an electric stove, and turn it on, the coils will get however hot they get, and you will feel heat on the sides of the pot. No amount of adjusting to simmer will change this on an electric burner.
There's nothing magickal about electric-powered heat that will change physics.
Then how come when I cook food using an electric burner, the area around the sides of the pot is cool? You'd have to be using a pot way undersized for the burner to encounter what you're saying. In my experience the heat is even and goes up into the pot and instead of around the sides. Meanwhile on gas you can use a pot 10x the size of the burner and still feel heat going up the sides of it.
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. Oh, and if the flame is coming up around the sides of the pot...it's too darned high!
Its a scientific fact. If you cook on a gas stove, you can feel the airflow around the edges of the pot, and you feel all that heat. That heat isn't going into the food, so its wasted energy that you're paying for, it heats up your environment (can make a/c costs worse in summer), and unless you have thick pots/pans you'll end up with cold spots and hot spots as you're cooking. Everything I've said in this paragraph so far, have been facts, that can be backed up with scientific evidence. Now, developing an opinion on how all that affects the cooking of food and preference for gas/electric is up to each individual. MY opinion is that with all that evidence for how gas is a pain to cook on, I don't like it, and prefer electric. And yes in the face of such evidence I find it funny how there are still diehard fanboys. Well, to each his/her own I guess, I mean heck there's people who still believe the world is flat.
