[Sca-cooks] gas vs. electric ovens and ranges

[Robyn.Hodgkin at affa.gov.au]

I am a bit of a heathen to most cooks; I actually like electric stoves. <catches the nearest person fainting with shock>

This is because, rather than in the restaurant chef style of fast high heat cooking, much of my cooking is done at a very low simmer.  Vegetables for example have about a tablespoon of water in the bottom of the pot and are steamed.  Rice is brought to temperature and then set on the lowest heat to steam away. Bacon is grilled in a slow (compared to gas) heat grill so that it is crisp and browned without burnt edges.

I just hate the fact that my gas stove cannot simmer anything.  Even with two heat mats on top of one another and on the lowest heat, I get a slow boil, which is infuriating. I now cook rice exclusively in the microwave because I am tired of trying to battle the gas.

However. I do like the immediacy of gas, especially with ovens.  My ideal kitchen has 3 or four gas hotplates and 2 electric hotplates.

The one BIG hint with electric stoves is, if you can possibly avoid them, don't get solid hotplates!  They are slow to heat, slow to cool down and you cannot visually tell that they are on.

If you want to cook things on high at first and then on a low simmer, you can speed up the cooling of the plate by taking the pot off it for a minute.  Or have another hotplate on on low, and just transfer the pot across.

Hope this is of some help. I wasn't sure that I was feeling brave enough to admit that I like cooking with electric plates, but I figure you need some viewpoints from the other side.

Kiriel