Does Food Prepared on a Granite Counter Top Taste Better?

Most will probably say "no differrence" for the counter top. If the refrigerator does well at control of different temperature/humidity zones then a few might have opinions. Stainless steel and stove quality will get a few going on how quick the heat comes up and how even the heat is. Thus, some of us older members know "Now that's cooking on gas" to be a positive statement.

Here is a response you didn't expect. My wife sometimes makes pork filled steamed buns. She has found working dough directly on granite to be MUCH easier than on other counter top surfaces or any other surface we have tried. With just a little flour (a very forgiving amount) the dough will not stick but will stay put when rolling or working in any other manner. I can't say if it actually is the granite or the sealer on the granite but either way she has a huge preference for granite when working dough.

The making of hom bow is high art. If the artist prefers granite, who are we to judge? Who would begrudge an audiophile his oxygen free copper or silver speaker cables?

That's what pastry marbles are for.

Granite is so passé--the hot ticket now is quartz.

<groan>

Stone countertops ARE the 'hot' ticket......As in radon.

Have a big dinner party and convince Gordon Ramsey you are running a Bistro. Free new kitchen and dining room if you can put up with the language .

Being a Brit, I'd forget any notion of a 'smart' fridge for colder beer (though automatic re-orders might be a plus).

Overall, new appliances are more energy efficient - mainly because insulation for fridges/freezers/ovens has improved significantly in the last decade. Fancy fridge and stovetop designs are not necessarily more efficient though.

Apparently the old fashioned 'freezer on top' fridge is the most efficient design. French doors let too much cold air out, so I doubt it will chill your beer better. The main thing about stainless steel finish is that it looks cool.

https://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/rooms-and-spaces/kitchen/the-most-efficient-energy-star-appliances

As for stovetops it's burner chaos out there at the moment, unless you use gas. The electric stoves are all glass or ceramic top now - they are neither as energy efficient nor as convenient to use as the old fashioned coil burners. They take forever to heat up. Induction is efficient and super fast, but you need a whole new set of cookware, add that to your cost. IR burners ? They are out there, but not getting glowing reviews yet.

"Induction is efficient and super fast, but you need a whole new set of cookware, add that to your cost. "

Not necessarily. Our set of HudsonWare by Volrath (Tri-Ply SS), purchased in 1968, works just fine on induction. So do our several cast iron frying pans, and so does our Presto SS pressure cooker, purchased in the '70s.

On the other hand, there are SO MANY advantages to cooking with induction, that I still recommend it even if you do need to get new cookware.

I was very impressed with the temperature control on induction burners as well as the speed. Would like one for my workshop as well as the kitchen. But aside from the cast iron, I could not get a magnet to stick to the bottom of any of my stainless steel pots and pans. Still mulling my investment strategy for kitchen renewal.

There are many other advantages to induction cooking. At the time we purchased our induction cooktop, 5 or 6 years ago, the only one available in white (wife's insistence) and of the 30" size (small kitchen), had two radiant elements and two induction elements.

Our previous cooktop had 4 radiant elements, so the wife was accustomed to them. When we first got the new one, she used mostly the radiant elements, but over time she used the radiant elements less and the induction elements more. Now she only uses the radiant elements when she needs more than two at the same time. Recently, she commented: "When we replace this one, I want all induction elements."

If you search CR4, you should find at least a couple of threads, first by Andy Germany, and later with my comments, listing other advantages of induction cooking. Those include safety, ease of cleaning, uniformity of heat, etc.

Besides the need for magnetic cooking utensils, the only other downside has been reliability. We also have a single-element portable induction unit; each unit failed during its first year, and was repaired under warranty. Fortunately, we bought the extended warranty, and the cooktop has been repaired twice more. I believe that all the failures were failures of the output transistors. Hopefully, the reliability has improved over the years, but do get an extended warranty!

I will sell you a sticker that says, "Genuine Red Quartz", that will make the food work harder to get your approval...

When it comes to food, and many other things, presentation is very important, a clean modern kitchen projects a superior dining experience, though it's true this part of the psychological aspect of life may have no effect of the actual quality or taste of the food, it does have an effect on the psyche....Having said all that, everybody knows the best tasting food comes from messy older kitchens that are generally always on the brink of being shut down....I discovered this fact after having worked in 100's of restaurants...

Beware a granite top can leach tiny bits of grit for ages like bits of sand & if you prepare pastry directly on it, it pulls the grit out of the top, Marble doesn't do this but is softer & therefor can scratch easily, if I were doing my kitchen I would go for a Corian type material, they're non porous have no joints visible & can be easily repaired if scratched and have the added bonus of being able to have sinks built in and made of the same material and in some cases the same colour.

I have quartz that has antibacterial ingredients built in to the material.FDA approved for direct food contact,scratch proof and maintains the original shine through much abuse.Non porous,never need sealing. My wife likes it for making dough because it keeps the dough cool while working it.It is a great heat sink and will also thaw items very quickly.Pricey,but worth it in my opinion

According to EPA,

Granite, like any other stone, may contain veins of naturally occurring radioactive elements like uranium, thorium, and their radioactive decay products. These trace concentrations may vary from stone to stone, or even within a single slab of granite.

"veins"? That makes it sound dangerous. The key words here are "like any other stone" and "trace".

"Any other stone" includes anything made from stone, such as the plates most of us use to serve dinner, and the tile countertops in older kitchens, not to mention floors, sidewalks, etc.

There are "traces" of radioactive elements in virtually everything, including your own body. That does not necessarily make them dangerous.

The issue is whether some granite countertops emit dangerous levels of radiation, especially the gas radon, which is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. Experts agree that most granite countertopsemit some radon and even other types of radiation.

Is there a generally accepted (by scientists) value for what constitutes a "dangerous level of radiation"? That "dangerous level" would have to specify not only on the amount of radiation at the surface of the granite, but other factors such as the volume and surface area of the granite, the average distance between the granite and the person being exposed, and the duration of exposure.

Regarding Radon: it is a dense gas, with an atomic weight of 222. That makes its density well over 7 times that of air. Any radon emitted from the granite will very quickly sink to the floor and lower. If you have an occupied basement, that could be a problem. Otherwise, not likely.

Please find some numbers regarding actual emissions from granite, and how those numbers relate to accepted safe/dangerous levels. Until I see such numbers, I'll take your comments to be the results of scaremongering by someone trying to sell something other than granite.

ForWhatItsWorth, our countertops are tile, so I have no vested interest for or against granite.

But remember the perfect gas laws. A gas tends to fill the space available. The Radon does not 'know' that the other gasses are there. Since the partial pressure of radon is very low it follows the perfect gas laws fairly closely and tends to diffuse to all elevations. At high (over a small fraction of atmospheric) pressures, gasses tend to stratify and we tend to think of them like oil and water. However, at low pressures that is not true. That is why Freon (heavier than air) is found (and causes problems like ozone depletion) in upper atmosphere.

Worrying about trace radioactive elements in countertops makes about as much sense as worrying about old dishware.

Not long ago the family came over for dinner.

When my wife mentioned that she bought the set of dishes at an estate sale, a look of disdain came over from several members and they said they really weren't that hungry, yet when we went out to eat several months later, they remarked how delicious the food was even though literally thousands of people had eaten off of those same plates.

Actually, while you are absolutely right about their unwarranted disdain, they might have had a slightly legitimate worry about radioactivity in those plates. Around 25 years ago, I attended a physics teacher's conference at Cal Poly. One of the talks was titled "Radioactive Emissions from Red China". The implication of the title was a discussion of emissions from the communist country, while in fact it was about emissions from the red colored vitrified layer on the outside of certain porcelain dishes. It's been long enough that I don't recall any details, but radiation from those plates was definitely measurable with a Geiger Counter.

AFAIK, those plates were not taken off the market due to the radiation, just as the thoriated lantern mantles continued to be sold. Thoriated lantern mantles were a well know and easily available source of radiation, useful for demonstrations of Geiger counters in Physics classes.

The original Fiestaware can be determined to be original with a gieger counter! The yellow, orange and reds were indeed pigmented with Uranium oxide and Uranium salts.

The dose is very low...for a meal or two.

I said that I had forgotten the details. You've just jogged the memory; that is indeed the stuff!

I don't think it really matters what type of countertop you have. All food should be prepared on a cutting board. I think that is why its called a countertop, not a cutting top.

Thanks. some good info there. I'm disappointed that you say nothing about induction cooking. Have you tried it? Obviously, Induction is inherently electronic, so you're not going to find a mechanical one...

Induction is great if you have the right pots and pans. But the surface is a slab of glass/ceramic and tends to get broken. I've installed them and removed them and generally the people who are used to them like them a lot. I see no advantages myself and so would never buy one.

I like gas. Mechanical controls and simple burners. You can't get 50yrs of service from electric heating anything. If the heating element isn't burning out then some capacitor is.

"I see no advantages myself "

OK, Here are some:

Advantages of Induction Cooking:

1. Speed. Heats fast, cools fast. My pressure cooker boils in one minute, is at pressure in two minutes. That’s with about 2cm of water, for cooking artichokes.

I haven't cooked with gas in many years, but I've been told that at the high power setting (at least on some units), Induction is faster than gas. This is logical, since the heat is created inside the metal of the pan, and does not have to be moved there by conduction.

2. Safety. Never gets hot enough to cause an oil/fat/grease fire. Never gets hot enough to cause a serious burn on the skin. (especially important if there are small children around)

Will never melt a pot that runs dry (Gas can melt aluminum).

No possibility of a gas leak.

Instantaneous Off. No residual heat in the element/support.

The unit will NOT heat at all in the absence of an appropriate pot/pan, so you can’t remove a pot from the heat and forget to turn it off.

3. Efficiency. Virtually all of the energy goes into the pot and its contents. Absolute minimum of heat lost to the kitchen. Great in summer!

The surface of the heating element is only heated by conduction from the pot.

4. Uniformity. All areas of the pot bottom are heated evenly. There are no hot spots, so scorching is rarely a problem.

5. Clean. No surface gets hot enough to burn anything. Cleanup is usually a wipe of the sponge. When frying, you can place a sheet of paper under the pan, so cleanup consists of discarding the paper. The paper doesn’t even turn brown!

6. Flavor. No burning, no hot spots, avoids degraded flavors.

Disadvantages of Induction Cooking:

1. Magnetic. Cooking utensils must be magnetic. No glass, ceramic, aluminum, copper, or non-magnetic Stainless Steel. Note that certain pots may work on one unit, but not on another.

2. Reliability. Both of our (9 or 10-year old) units failed during the warranty period. Our cooktop failed again later. Get the extended warranty!

These are all good points DK but no chef has ever ordered one that I know of.

I have put these into extended care facilities so none of the residents with dementia can cause a problem for ALL the reasons you state. Indeed, where safety is paramount an induction cooktop can't be beat.

I should have mentioned that presumably, the reliability will have improved over the ≈decade since we got our units. (It's hard to believe it's been that long, but Andy Germany got me started here on CR4 in 2007) https://cr4.globalspec.com/comment/125379/Re-Temperature-Control-and-Induction-Cooking

I agree 100% with you about ranges. I have cooked with gas for most of my life, but when I bought my current home, it came with a basic electric (coil top) range that badly needed replacement. I priced out a gas range that was in within my budget with an allowance for extending my city gas line from the basement to my kitchen. However, when I consulted with a plumber for a quote, I learned that my existing gas piping was inadequate to handle my furnace, water heater, and the range that I wanted. The cost to upgrade my gas system was well out of my budget. So I ended up buying a glass top electric with a convection oven.

After using it for two years, I do not like it! The cook top that is. While the convection oven is great, The glass cook top is useless for anything other than boiling water. I have no real control of the cooking temperature. It takes too long to heat up, and then it takes too long to cool down.

The oven in my old stove failed a few months ago so I decided to look for a more energy efficient replacement, but I won't be getting the ceramic/glass top type because of exactly as you said. The slow response time is useless. You can still get coil top stoves, but mostly by special order.

I couldn't find a coil top range with a convection oven though. I ended up getting a countertop oven with convection to try out - and continue to use the old stovetop. You can't beat the coil burners for decent service and longevity - okay, second to gas I guess. But I've had this stove for 25 years and it wasn't new. It had seen maybe a decade? of service already ( self-clean function as also the part that sets and times self-clean was non-functional when I got it). The other timer stopped working a few years ago, and stove and broiler elements have both been replaced, but the coil burners keep on going.

Incidentally I read somewhere that coil burners are as energy efficient as induction if the pans are properly sized to the burner.

"Incidentally I read somewhere that coil burners are as energy efficient as induction if the pans are properly sized to the burner."

Show me some numbers!

Coil burners must heat to a higher temperature in order to conduct heat to the pot, so they lose more heat to the surroundings. You can feel the difference if you stand within a few feet of the pot.

See my previous post.

Here are some numbers from DOE. Overall, the efficiency of coil burners vs induction burners is within 1-2% of one another, while "smooth" radiant burners fall chronically behind by about 5%ish. When at its best, the induction burner is a solid 2% more efficient than coil, but this depends on the burner design - see the description of various burner size/wattages on page 22, some tables of measured efficiencies are shown pages 28-30 where it looks to me, depending on your burner wattage, the efficiency of induction may fall below that of the coil in some tests.

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/11/f19/Conv_Cooking_Products_TP_SNOPR.pdf

So it is not so cut and dried, that induction will outperform coil in all circumstances. If the efficiency was even 10% better on average, you would be pretty sure of savings for all uses, but not so.

That is not to disparage the other valid points in favor of induction, the speed of coming to temp is superb, and on some models at least, there is temperature control to rival gas.

Thanks. At least that's a starting point, and so far, I haven't found anything better.

I did download that document, and read a good bit of it, but it looks/feels like a legal document: WAY too many words! I'm NOT impressed!

I fully understand the need for standardization when testing/comparing different methods/models, but COME ON! Heating a block of metal to test cooking? ...and specifying that the bottom of the block must be flat within 0.002"? A more realistic test would require that the bottom NOT be accurately flat, because virtually no real-world pot has a truly flat bottom, at least after it has been overheated, which I suspect most pans are within their first year of use.

So far, I didn't see how they define efficiency. When I have more time, I'll search to see if I can find how they define it.

"...there is temperature control to rival gas." Really? Is there a gas burner where you can set a particular temperature and walk away, expecting it to quickly reach the set temperature and then automatically adjust the flame to maintain that temperature? In my very limited experience cooking with gas, you must watch it pretty much constantly, and keep turning it up and down to try to get the desired temperature. All the induction cookers I've worked with have a thermometer sensor, although it may not be obvious.

Obviously induction has some benefits over gas!

My own experience with gas burners was when living in South America and in Spain. I have seen a gas oven explode, and personally would never choose gas for that reason. It also rates much lower for energy efficiency. However it is a fact that you can turn a gas burner down very low, as is necessary for optimal cooking of the classic Spanish tortilla (a thick hearty omelette not a bread). It just can't be done on an electric burner without browning the bottom. It's the first thing I thought of when I read about induction's temperature control.

Afaik the preference for gas burners among chefs is for this reason - better range and manual control of temperature that you don't have with a coil burner.

I wonder haw many of the people with their high end "professional grade" kitchens do anything more in them but to take their frozen dinners from their "smart" freezers and hand them to "Chef Mike" to prepare?

Most of my High-end clients really do cook, often, and quite well. Many of them have wine tasting parties with 10-15 guests and sometimes a celebrity chef either cooking or specializing in some dish.

The biggest range I put in was 1500lb 80" LaFrance. 16 gas burners, 3 ovens, and a Griddle. $35,000 not including installation. Duel Fuel.

It's in a house in the hills above Sonoma built just to entertain guests. It only ever gets used by famous chefs.

I think if you can afford a chef, you are not eating frozen dinners....

No it does not taste better at all. In fact it does not affect the food taste, only the quality of the items and spices being added makes it taste better. Fact, Western food is bland and tasteless to start with. The counter top and stainless steel just looks cleaner and hygenic and just makes life easier to clean up bacteria left from previous preparations.

On the subject of countertops, steel is the industrial standard and yet it does not outperform wood surfaces from a microbiological/hygiene perspective. Natural substances in the wood evidently have antibacterial effects of their own.

We made our kitchen countertops by laminating thick pine plank and finished with linseed oil. After 25 years they could do with refinishing. And they have acquired shall we say some character along the way, lots of character. Who would not be tempted to use a handy available wood surface as a cutting board, in the heat of the moment. And so on. I'm okay with the character. When I redo them though, I will do some tile insert around the sink which has taken the most punishment from water. Overall I am well pleased with the performance of the wood, and if I was in the market to replace the whole thing, a hardwood would do even better. Not trendy like the granite, though.

Wood should be cleaned and oiled with mineral oil only. Mineral oil dosn't spoil or polymerize and it won't support the growth of bacteria. That is what keeps a butcher block or cutting board clean and germ free.

Hot hot water with no soap or detergent, dry completely, and then oil.

IMHO, many spices were added in the days before refrigeration, to cover up the disagreeable flavors of spoiling foods. This seems to be especially true in hot climates. People in those climates got used to that, so they continued using the spicy food even after refrigeration removed much of the need.

Farther from the Equator, food doesn't spoil as fast, so the cover-up wasn't needed as much, and there was less need to get used to burning the inside of your mouth.

You find Western food bland; I find spicy (piquant/picante) food totally intolerable.

In the UK and S Africa, supermarket chicken tastes like fish. The UK chicken is full of water so it shrivels up to nothing. Pork looks like pork with a hint of pork taste and salmon, well, quite tasteless actually. Best spuds I had that tasted like real spuds was in India. Rice in Malawi is naturally tasty. I honesty find western/European food bland and tasteless. Its all forced. If you can eat this from Sweden nothing you eat will kill, maim or make you ill.====++++++https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HnfFg3yd-8========= No, I can't eat it and I can smell this in the town 2km away when they have the market day.

As Bruce's wife would agree all dough and pastry benefit from being worked chilled, so a granite worktop which acts as a massive heat sink is ideal. It is also easy to clean. But how often are you going to make bread or pastries. Granite is a big expense for something you don't need. Stainless steel looks good when cleaned but the acid on your fingerprints will leave discoloring marks all over it. Also a brush finish surface will disguise scratches that would show up and quickly mar a high polish surface but it is harder to clean. Commercial kitchens have to comply to strict hygiene regulations which means the work surfaces are rigorously cleaned after each service so the disadvantages are less apparent and it makes sense for them to be constructed in stainless but if you don't want that much effort steer clear of stainless in the kitchen. Stainless is not rust proof as most people believe, it is rust resistant. Commercial kitchens are usually made from 316 stainless, domestic kitchens are usually made from 304 stainless. The difference in rust resistance between the two grades is significant.

I have noted that a stainless steel appliance will be treated better, last longer and be more appreciated than it's painted counterpart. This is maybe the same as wearing a suit and tie to a job interview. Appearance influences our opinion and treatment. I have never had to replace a working stainless appliance, but I have hauled a working "avacado green" refrigerator to the dump because it just "wasn't right" anymore. It would help reduce our tendency to be such a throw away society if the old appliances retained their appearance. I use refrigerators as an example because they seem to be very repairable.

Ah... we sadly remember avocado and goldenrod. Gross colors that were absolutely the trend. The inventors of trends should have a little more discretion... OTOH they really made em to last back then.

I hate the stainless trend. It gets fingerprints even if you only look at it from across the room!

I like white. A lot of people are going back to white because it looks clean most of the time.

I agreed

Most of time frozen chicken is bad for health.

I doubt it, but... food prepared on a Himalayan salt block does... whether preparing steaks on it, or cutting up vegetables...

but don’t let the salesmen take your money with out first haggling with them... I asked them if I should be worried about germs. Their response was, no worries, germs can’t survive in a salt environment... of course disagreed with them and mentioned listeria is a robust pathogen that does... which left him (the salesmen) speechless,...