The Benefits Of Cooking With Induction Pans

The Quiet Magic Of Induction Cooking

We have heard it all before. The microwave oven, invented shortly after the Second World War and first sold in 1947, was to be the panacea cooking solution for all cuisines and every home. That revolution, while enormous in its shaping of the modern British kitchen, turned out to be a coup for quick heating and reheating, rather than creating meals from scratch. Now that induction cooking is coming into the mainstream, is there a new candidate for the technology that changes the way we cook?

Key to the technology behind induction cooking is the relationship between the induction cooker and the induction pans used on it. It is a relationship that allows induction cookers to use a far lower total amount of energy than electric or gas cookers. While some everyday pans work well on an induction cooker, they must have a relatively high ferrous metal content or the technology won't work. Stainless steel, iron and cast iron pans all work. However, purpose made induction Cooking Pans are generally the best choice for this type of cooking. This is due to the unique way in which the induction cooker itself works.

It is a little known fact that induction cooking is actually an older idea than the concept of the microwave oven. A 1909 patent sketch still in existence shows an old fashioned kettle on a basic magnet unit, and while the modern technology is far, far more advance than this, the principle remains essentially the same. The induction cooker produces a magnetic frequency which causes the particles of the induction pans themselves to become heated, thus the need for a ferrous metal in the pan, and this in turn cooks the food. No heat is actually generated in the cooker itself, and no non-ferrous item will be heated if placed on the cooker.

This has some major benefits. The obvious advantage of a system that only heats induction pans is that it is far safer for use around children and for general safety. It is also a more efficient way of cooking, while still giving you all the cooking options of a normal hob unit. Induction cooking utensils can do everything that electric or gas can, it can just do it far more efficiently. Pans can be heated instantly. Spillovers of milk or stock won't burn. If only half a hob is used to heat a pan, the rest will effectively waste no energy.

Whether this is to be the next cooking revolution is yet to be seen. Considering the benefits and the fact that induction can do anything gas or electric hobs can, it has a fighting chance of being just that.