I am remodeling my kitchen completely and am wondering how I can have both gas and induction. I have read several threads about the induction vs gas debate. Up till three months ago, I had been cooking on gas only and never thought that I would like induction. However, I am living in my rental unit (for which gas is banned) and have been cooking with induction – I am liking it due to the faster heating properties and greater ease of cleaning.
One potential downside of induction – I have been avoiding carbon steel cookware (which I want to use eventually in my new house) at this rental, because I am not sure how to re-season a carbon steel pan/wok on induction. Correct me if I am wrong, seasoning a saute pan/wok requires occasional tilting of the cookware to achieve a layer of thin, even coating of oil. This is something impossible, or least difficult, to do with induction. It’s because induction requires full contact of the pan/wok with the glass top.
I kinda want to cook on induction more than half of the time, except when I use a wok or season any carbon steel cookware. I have grown to enjoy using a wok (flat-bottom version) because I like stir frying greens Chinese style. Another plus of induction is that it may help keep my kitchen less hot. I live in California and my house receives full sun all day long. It’s just bloody hot inside half of the year and I want to save $ from not blasting the AC all the time.
So, there are only two major manufacturers of hybrid gas/induction full ranges/cooktops that I found: Thermador and SKS. The latter is owned by LG and thus I want to avoid it at all costs. Another solution is to buy two modular cook tops, one for induction and one for gas. Gaggenau offers their Vario 200/400 lines for this, but they are pricey and, once the two cooktops are combined, the space requirement is quite big. Also, the hood needs to be very wide and I don’t know if Vent-a-hood (my ideal hood brand) makes a hood this wide. Wolf’s modular units look smaller and there is a gap between each module that is hard to clean. Other than these options, I found from a Google search that SMEG and AEG make hybrid cooktops: but these are for non-US markets, even though there are European vendors who will ship them to the US. Since they are not meant to be sold officially in the US, there is no warranty coverage.
What are your thoughts? How do you season a saute pan/wok with induction? For those of you who have hybrid cooktops, are they durable? What is your advice to me?
I am losing sleep over this issue. I want to remodel once in my life as this process is very $$$ and stressful. I plan to live in this house for a long time.
@droolingdoggie
People have seasoned woks and carbon skillets in extremely hot ovens, pans are coated with oil and turned upside down over a disposable baking sheet with edges to catch the drips. Pans were put directly on the racks in oven. Haven’t tried this method myself.
I was recently in a kitchen (in France) that had 2 induction burners next to their 4 gas burners. Essentially 2 separate cooktops. Since the induction top is so flat it didn’t really seem like “wasted space” since it’s an easy surface to use when not cooking on it.
There are also well reviewed stand alone plug in induction burners. Planning for extra plugs might be easier ….
I picked up an antique cast iron pan - sandblasted it clean to grey metal.
then, , , just cooked in it. using olive oil, butter, safflower oil, , , whatever.
wipe out - do not scrub clean!
the heat will polarizer the oils and in 1-2 weeks you’ll have a robust seasoning. no PhD required.
bought a Darto steel pan, also paella pan - followed the same procedure.
Thank you. I seasoned a brand new wok in an oven. However, I do not want to turn on the oven on a daily basis when the weather is hot, to avoid making my house a furnace.
I’d like to second the choice of a stand alone induction hob/burner. Easy to clean up, put it anywhere on the counter (it has plenty of cord length), nice control over the heat, safer than a flame and cost effective. Similar to the OP, I live in a desert climate and this induction hob/burner puts minimal heat in the kitchen. I can also take it outside, plug it into an outside outlet and let it simmer (if necessary) during the summer.
I don’t have gas hookups. To season a wok and carbon steel pans in the past I’ve used a portable butane burner (I have one made by Iwatani), which also allows you the possibility of doing the seasoning outside with better ventilation.
Not at all: You want only a micro-thin layer on each pass, anyway. So just put a tiny bit of oil in the pan (like 1/2 tsp), then wipe it all around the inside with some paper towel. And then, wipe it again with another bit of paper towel. It will look shiny, but not wet. If you see it beading up as you’re heating the pan, wipe it a third time. You don’t want drips or globs of polymerized oil.
I used to maintain the seasoning on my cast iron (after frequent erroneous scrubbings by my lovely wife) using the rub the drop of oil method, which becomes tedious. A short while ago, while using a vegetable oil spray on some meat, I realized that a single spray from the can was perfect for getting a tiny amount of oil on the cast iron. One quick wipe and I was done. To season a surface, sprsay, wipe, then heat on any burner.
That’s a good idea. Those spray oils seem to polymerize really easily too, I think thanks to lecithin in the mix. (Which is why I never use them - they always leave a yellow film in my pans that I need to break out some baking soda to clean off.)
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CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
15
100% agree. I was going to say the same thing, so I’m glad I read down through the posts instead of just jumping in.
The only thing to add is, once you get your CS wok seasoned, wok cooking on gas can be superior, because you can get the vaporized oil to flame in the pan (a bit of wok hei) by titling the pan edge down next to the flame(*) to ignite the vaporized oils.
I can’t get anything as good as what you see with the professionals in a restaurant or youtube (where they get dancing flames in the pan for 4 or 5 seconds), but I can get a bunch of baby 1-2 second flames in there.
(*) EDIT - Dang I’m dim. I’ve been doing the above for years, and yet it just now occurred to me that I could use a torch and stop straining my wrist trying to cattle-wrangle a 6+ pound pan…
Edit2:
I’m curious - how durable is the surface made this way? I’ve always had in back of mind that a surface with this kind of oil might scratch or ding easier, but I have no rationale for this that I can recall.
I can’t blister veg decently at all on my range (some GE model, 20k or so BTU, propane), so I use the torch constantly. It really ups my game.
2 Likes
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
17
LoL! I mentioned that in my post, except it was as an edit, and probably while you were typing! So you wouldn’t have seen it.
“(*) EDIT - Dang I’m dim. I’ve been doing the above for years, and yet it just now occurred to me that I could use a torch and stop straining my wrist trying to cattle-wrangle a 6+ pound pan…”
The spray oil I use is just oil and propellant, no lecithin. The seasoning is exactly the same as after rubbing unpropelled oil onto the surface. Pam and its lecithin containing like are for making grills nonstick temporarily and have no place in actual food.
You can buy an outdoor gas wok cooker at Crate and Barrel. You can also buy portable induction wok cookers with a curved basin (online). If your apartment has induction there might be rules against cooking with gas, either inside or outside.
