Induction Cooking

Sez Hoo! wrote:
My cookware has no symbols on them at all. They are only stamped with Emeril on the handle. It is a very nice cookware set. They have no non stick coatings on them, but nothing sticks and very easy clean up. A thick and solid bottom so I get good even heating. I guess no induction cooking in my near future.

so just get that interface plate.
bumpy

Sez Hoo! wrote:
My cookware has no symbols on them at all. They are only stamped with Emeril on the handle. It is a very nice cookware set. They have no non stick coatings on them, but nothing sticks and very easy clean up. A thick and solid bottom so I get good even heating. I guess no induction cooking in my near future.

Forget the symbol. Grab a magnet off the frig and see if it sticks. I have several pieces that work, but don't have symbols on them. They do however hold a magnet. Just make sure you check it on the bottom and not on the side. It's the bottom alloy that matters.

Bumpyroad wrote:

so just get that interface plate.
bumpy

Sorry, but your nice pans probably won''t work without an interface plate.

I went to a seminar on induction cooktops and the instructor said that interface plates have been known to scratch both cooktops and pans bottoms.

She also said everything burns on my induction cooktop because my Cuisinart DSi induction-ready pans are "cheap". She suggested Analon brand.

Personally, I think my induction cooktop is just a crappy one. :)

Hi,

What is best about the NuWave is the multiple power levels. I've not managed to burn anything since I got mine.

At the 200 F setting it is interesting to see the unit cycle on the watts it draws. It changes pretty rapidly in a sort of "dance" from 7 to 295 to 585 to 695 and then circles back to the 7 watt setting again.

I wonder how my generator will respond to that.

If you ever tried the NuWave induction cook eye, you would pay the price and get cookware that works with it. I also had very good Emeril stuff, but replaced all of it after using the NuWave.

There are too many advantages to go into here, but three are:
1. The heat output is controlled in degree F. If you set it on 375F, that's what you get. Since the heat control is so precise in degrees F, you can do things like creating a slow cooker with any pot by just setting the temperature you desire. You can set the cooking time up to 99 hours.

2. The response to changing the heating setting is immediate -- even faster than gas.

3. Nothing gets hot except the cooking pan and the eye immediately under the cooking pan. You can place your hand on the eye -- just not where the pan set.

There's more, but this enough to start with. We're on the way to Maine and are looking forward to using ours to steam some lobsters.

Good Luck!
Wil

You might want to look at some other brands. Here is a link for reviews of portable induction cooktops: Reviews. We ended up buying a Duxtop because it was cheaper and had higher watts than the NuWave.

wca01 wrote:
If you ever tried the NuWave induction cook eye, you would pay the price and get cookware that works with it. I also had very good Emeril stuff, but replaced all of it after using the NuWave.

There are too many advantages to go into here, but three are:
1. The heat output is controlled in degree F. If you set it on 375F, that's what you get. Since the heat control is so precise in degrees F, you can do things like creating a slow cooker with any pot by just setting the temperature you desire.

This is what's lacking in my Schott induction unit. There's no way to hold a steady low/simmer temp. (And no, it's not because of my expensive "cheap" pans.

We saw the cook-by-temp feature on an induction cooktop in a new Winnie class A but I don't know what brand it was. Does NuWave make a built-in model or are they all stand-alones?

I wouldn't want this to get into a fight over manufacturers, but the NuWave comes in two different versions -- the standard at 1300 watts, and the pro at 1800 watts. The pro version has temp settings from 100 to 525 F in 5 degree steps and the 99 hour timer and delay setting.

I've not seen anything else close to that, but I don't care what you select and think you will be happy with induction.

Good Luck!
Wil

The problem with induction units is in the temperature probe. Unlike gas or electric where you adjust the flow of gas or current, an induction unit is on or off. The only place available to it is in the top of the unit.
I have a couple of the standard Nuwaves and have never had a problem burning anything, but you do have to decode them. The temperature probe can cause some things to toggle off too often.
I've not had much luck deep frying with ours. We use a lodge CI deep frying pot and I believe what happens is that the oil temperature drop that occurs when you drop cold items in doesn't reach the probe until the oil has cooled too much. I've noticed this on some other ventures and the common thing is the high setting on the Nuwave, 360 or higher.
This isn't a killer by any means, but when doing something like deep frying the temperature drop results in oil absorption. It's no problem when boiling anything because the drop is virtually unnoticed.

Hi SWMO,

No, the NuWave is not "on or off". It appears to cycle through various power levels, once it reaches the temperature setting. Check it with a kill-a-watt unit and you will see what I mean.