Induction Cooking -- Tips?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

. . .Boat stovetops/burners are like marine heads: Not the same as the real thing. A good home burner will be 10-13,000 btu, but on boats? You're lucky to get one at 10,000 and the others will likely be 7500 or 8500. Suitable for many things, but best at just simmering. I don't suppose induction cookers could be similarly rated for btus, since so much depends on the POT rather than the "burner". I've got to suspect they are not all created equal though.

I agree, and I think that the difference is even more than this. Boat stoves are not the real thing indeed, and I have always found them very unsatisfactory to cook on. Besides weak burners, I have always had a problem with the spacing of the burners, which doesn't correspond to the size of any real life pans I've ever seen I use my four burner Smeg stove as basically a two burner stove, with the heat directed to one corner of each of the two pans I can fit on there





All of which significantly increases the appeal of induction, which seems like a small nuclear furnace when you put it on "sear". It is so responsive that I burned a lot of food before I learned to keep my hand over the button when I used the higher settings. It's truly better than even a really good home gas stove.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Boat stovetops/burners are like marine heads: Not the same as the real thing. A good home burner will be 10-13,000 btu, but on boats? You're lucky to get one at 10,000 and the others will likely be 7500 or 8500. Suitable for many things, but best at just simmering. I don't suppose induction cookers could be similarly rated for btus, since so much depends on the POT rather than the "burner". I've got to suspect they are not all created equal though.

In my experience the pot makes little difference to efficiency other than whether it works at all or not.



Don't know about rated BTU/h for induction, but 2000W = about 6800 BTU/h.


Gas is generally reckoned to be about 40% efficient whereas induction is more like 85% according to Us Dept of Energy.


Which would make my induction plate equivalent to 14450 BTU/h propane stove



I can believe that, I can't go anywhere near the 2000W setting if I am doing steaks, chops etc. All that I got when I tried that was clouds of smoke from burning fats and burnt surfaces on the meat. The only thing I can use the highest setting on is for rapidly bringing a pot of liquid to the boil.



(When checking the above figures, I found that they rate propane ovens at only 10%. )

[Pelagic]

On other advantage of Induction stove I dont think has been mentioned, is that unlike a gas flame, it is not bothered by wind.

We have 2 portholes and a deck hatch right above the stove....on windy day days we needed to keep almost closed when cooking with gas.
Not an issue now and the breeze is nice

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by cj88

Has anyone who has tried silicone mats on the induction cooktops noticed any difference in performance?

No, no difference, works just fine, we use a silicon baking mat as anti-slip in rough seas.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

No, no difference, works just fine, we use a silicon baking mat as anti-slip in rough seas.

Advantages of catamarans. We also use silicon mats, which are great, but not nearly enough on a heeling mono


We need an induction stove with gimbals and pot clamps.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

You guys keep talking about heating canned soup. I don't know, I checked all my cans and none of them says anything about "heat before use". In fact the vichyssoise says CHILL before eating. I think you're doing it all wrong.(G)

Much as induction looks nice, only my teapot would work on it. My cast iron skillet would work, if I let it near the water, but all the rest is sadly, a very nice non-stick non-ferrous lot that I just don't feel like replacing.

Boat stovetops/burners are like marine heads: Not the same as the real thing. A good home burner will be 10-13,000 btu, but on boats? You're lucky to get one at 10,000 and the others will likely be 7500 or 8500. Suitable for many things, but best at just simmering. I don't suppose induction cookers could be similarly rated for btus, since so much depends on the POT rather than the "burner". I've got to suspect they are not all created equal though.

All aluminum cookware is nor usable on induction by design, but this is not a real issue for us, we used to cook on induction the last 15 years at home and we do not have any aluminum pots anyway, besides that exposed aluminum is not healthy either for your body.

There are workarounds with a iron plate between the pot and the hob, but it would ridicule the concept. We have a 4-burner residential hob on board, what is usually installed in the counter-top in a modern kitchen on land, not a cheap set-top camping induction plate. The power of this is unquestionable, it is rated 7.5kW with power boost function for the burners and can be connected single phase or two phase (half and half). The 7.5kW you reach only when turning on all 4 plates to max settings and use the power boost function on both sides. There is a configuration setting where you can limit the maximum power to a lower value too, but usually it is not necessary, you rarely run it all-in.

It depends on what you are up to, you can use a set-top induction plate in addition to your propane stove or go all in and install a cooking surface in your counter-top in a cat or on gimbals in your monohull. This is a personal preference. We chose a full conversion, no regrets yet.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Advantages of catamarans. We also use silicon mats, which are great, but not nearly enough on a heeling mono


We need an induction stove with gimbals and pot clamps.

What silicon mats do you use.

My research showed mixed results as these Amazon reviews indicate...look at photos
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/reviews...mb_top?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/Induction-10-...ews/B00HZ0QD68

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

What silicon mats do you use.

My research showed mixed results as these Amazon reviews indicate...look at photos
https://www.amazon.com/Induction-10-...ews/B00HZ0QD68

some round no-name el-cheapo ones from Amazon. With a kind of waffle pattern in them. They work fine for me.


These I think: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smithcraft-...3Q31HYSTTZZDN8

[CatNewBee]

I found my silicon mats in a cheap penny store, advertised as baking mats for the oven, a pair for 4€ or so, so I gave them a try. They are large square and thin.

[allene222]

Why are there always 7 pages of replies before I get the email? I didn't read all 7 pages so apologize if this has been covered. We have a Bosch home induction range with "Auto Chief
which sets the temperature min, low, med, high are the settings. Obviously they are measuring the temperature of the stove as heated by the pan. There is a huge difference between pans in how efficient they are at transferring heat to the stove so you have to basically calibrate each pan. Bosch sells pans that are good at this transfer. They are expensive but we did buy one. It is a very good pan but others work as well. I just calibrated the other pan by measuring its temperature after leaving it on the auto setting until it stabilized. I used an IR thermometer. I hope this is useful.

[allene222]

Your auto setting isn't going to work with those mats. Sorry if this has been covered, I didn't read all 7 pages...

[CatNewBee]

What do you mean with auto setting?
You wind up the regulator, when it boils you go down with the setting to your like let it simmering or boiling or what ever. Water does not get hotter than 100°C, it just evaporates faster.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by allene222

Why are there always 7 pages of replies before I get the email?

Because the email doesn't list every new thread.

[hartcjhart]

at the end of the day,leccy cuts out without drama, gas goes boom mucho drama

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

We have some experience using a cheap one-burner induction cooker and SSB:
- There is some interference from the induction cooker to SSB reception.
- But also there is some interference from the 230V inverter to the SSB, so the inverter will be switched off, so the above is no problem

- When transmitting SSB from the Pactor modem, the induction plate might switch on or off. That has probably to do with the sensitivity of the induction cooker's touch control on the glass plate. Also LED lights in the ceiling might give some light.



No problem with VHF, no other interference problems