Frying Pan

All,

I have worked a couple times this year with a man who has developed and is marketing some industrial ceramic coatings. They are very thin and almost invisible, and are used in bearings, gun bores, and other high-temperature and challenging environments. I can assume that they are used on cookware, but never asked him. These are probably more expensive and different than the speckled ceramic coatings I have seen on typical cookware.

--John

I am permitted to cook porridge. That is rolled oats and water. I use a stainless steel pot that has a thick copper base. I am permitted to do this as my wife dislikes mornings. For all my other inside cooking attempts she uses the Bristol Stool Chart as the scoring mechanism.

BAB.

OMG!!!

ahhhh, that's for the status report but I believe your post belongs here

Now that's a harsh food critic!

Cast iron pan is your safest bet. Results are better, too.

Have to agree fully.

Even more so on induction, they need far a lower "power" setting than any other cookware I have tried....

Do you have any idea whether that is because they are cast iron, or because they are thick? In other words, would a magnetic SS pot/pan of the same thickness heat just as well?

You asked a very valid question:-

In other words, would a magnetic SS pot/pan of the same thickness heat just as well?

My untested/unchecked reaction is to say no.

Cast iron, in my opinion only, is the exact metal that induction hobs are "tuned" to.....each metal has its "frequency" and cast iron has a certain resistance/impedance really, which I feel is perfect for the job....and the frequency used.

The heating effect is so much stronger than other (good) pans, that I have tried several...it is particularly good on those large cast iron griddle pans, and steak pans....you get lovely looking "bars" across your steak....which makes any meat look very attractive!!

But, I am not infallible (WHAT!! WHO SAID THAT!!!), never have been, so maybe as I have not actually checked thicknesses correctly, or heated a specific amount of water from one temperature to another, so I could be wrong..... Sorry.

Anyone who has used almost any type of metal detector, knows the incredibly strong reaction cast iron gives because the induced voltage, coupled with the impedance of the metal, causes the eddy currents to die away slowly.

Slower than all metals that I know of.....and be therefore easily "seen" by even the worst made metal detectors. Steel, except stainless, reacts similarly....

Conversely, some quite good metal detectors fail to detect gold properly at a distance, because the induced voltages in it die away SO quickly, and may be ignored/not seen.....

Particularly with some PI types.....the "sampling" of the return signal must be really rapid to properly detect gold underground!! In the lab, fine.....

I hope this helps a little.....

Maybe someone here can do some simple testing?

"...each metal has its "frequency""

There obviously must be differences from one metal to another; my measurements of a few years ago (apparently 2010 - if I hadn't checked, I would have said perhaps 3 years ago...) indicated a frequency of 52kHz at full power, and 26kHz at a lower power.

Unfortunately, I did not document those measurements well, but my 'scope photos seem to show a higher peak voltage at the lower power levels. This would indeed indicate a greater dependence on frequency than on signal voltage.

As I said recently (in this or another thread), I now have an energy logger at work. Once I'm able to bring it home, I already planned to do some testing on the energy consumption of induction vs. radiant cooking. When I do that (likely in a month or so), I'll set up the 'scope again, and document the results more carefully.

Just found this in Outside magazine's Encyclopedia of gear. http://www.outsideonline.com/2000416/dutch-oven

This issue was a very interesting read.

I know there is controversy on whether or not aluminum is dangerous to our health, but my own observations of how rapidly it gets pitted while cooking make me keep away from it. Thus I hesitate to call the aluminum one an improvement, although if I had to choose one of the two to carry around, I'd probably take the aluminum...

I haven't done any camping recently, but all of my camping utensils are of SS, except one I made myself from Inconel. That latter has served well as a cooking utensil, a serving plate, and as a shovel!

I have always been told that you never make anything with tomatoes, tomato sauces, lemons, limes or any acid tendencies as they will react with the aluminum. That is probably why aluminum pans and such are seen pitted. Also, the use of aluminum exploded after WW2, as lightweight utensils became popular, along with frozen foods, TV dinners etc. I think the Alzeheimer's connection goes back to the fact that many older people in our society were a part of that generation and the casual link was made. I am not sure, but someone told me that France outlaws any aluminum pots of pans in commmercial food preparation establishments. Maybe someone know more about this.

I think that you are on to something about the acidity of tomatoes and tomato sauces.

My wife would always cook tomato sauces in SS pots that had been used previously (and washed) for cooking starchy foods such as pasta or potatoes to cut the thin film of starch that washing couldn't remove.

Our 45 year old SS pots still shine like when they were new.

Anything with a lower pH does become more active at higher temperatures... come to think of it, I think with higher pH as well.

Yes, that is one of the interesting 'quirks' about chemistry: Chemicals react faster at higher temperatures.

That's why the eyewash and emergency shower stations are plumbed to use COLD water, hot water would 'make the chemicals more active,' increasing the damage they do before they get rinsed away; cold water 'slows the chemicals down' so they don't do additional damage while they're being removed.

Ask a scientist and he'll probably tell you that 'temperature' and 'level of molecular activity' are essentially the same thing; 'warmer' items just have their molecules shaking and bouncing around faster than 'cooler' items.

My family had a lot of lead christal that was used on 'special occasions'. We were told not to use it withy anything acid for similar reasons.

My brother has a brand new induction burner placed in the middle of the top of his virtually antique electric range. The both happened to be branded Frigidaire.

Never aluminium. Cast Iron is good for frying pans.