I have a new gas stove, bought last year. This one is better than my old one (both Smeg) - I now have lower lows and higher highs.
Also, my mom got a new Siemens gas stove last year and hers has actual discrete settings, just like an induction stove. So you can always repeat the same heat output. But unlike an induction top, you can also go to inbetween settings.
I don’t have any problems doing this on gas. When we’re talking for example a thick bolognese sauce, enameled cast iron pans and/or flame diffusers can help in keeping a steady low simmer. If we’re talking delicate sauces, I don’t foresee any issues either, with also the remark that on gas one can use copper cookware which is more convenient for delicate sauce making than the cookware that works best on induction (e.g. thick alu disc bottom).
Yes, and gas is warmer in winter. So that’s a tie. The big problem in summer time is not so much the gas flame but heat coming from the oven.
This is my personal opinion, Claus, there is no right or wrong here. I know many love induction and won’t consider going back to gas. To each their own!
The software in my Vollrath Mirage allows me to reign in the overshoot by going back and forth between “energy” and “temperature” modes–and once it’s achieved it’s higher temperature target, one can carry out temperature based cooking with accuracy better than 5 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s an interesting way to cook–and very different from cooking with an induction stove.
But my “professional” Vollrath hob is already heading into the cost range of a Control Freak–which has drifted down enough in price for me to begin considering it for my kitchen.
The more hotpad like home induction pods that cost less than $100 are much more limited.
If the Control Freak continues to become more affordable, it would pair very well with my Mirage Pro–which I’ve learned to manage successfully for temperature based cooking already. I wouldn’t have to use my infrared gun with the Control Freak, because it has a sensor to use inside the pan that hooks to it’s computer software.
I may consider upgrading my gas stove to get better low lows, but i just feel it’s a bit of a waste since my current gas stove is from 2016 and honestly performs fantastic.
Just with the only marginal problem that I wish it had a more fine tuned lowest low setting.
It’s not that my sauces burn on the lowest low, but I just wish I could place my sauce on a small burner and set it to lowest low and let it stay there without touching it for 10-15 minutes while I make the other stuff.
Can you leave a small sauce pot with a sauce on lowest low for 10-15 minutes without stirring in it on your Smeg and not burn it ?
Probably, yes. I’ve never done it, as I don’t make delicate sauces often. But I’m pretty sure this isn’t a problem. There are two ways to help prevent burning. Either use a cast iron flame diffuser or e.g. a Fissler saucepan, that is a pan with a thick conductive bottom. Both will help reduce the power of the flame coming at your sauce.
I have a Smeg Opera, 90 cm, with gas oven. It’s not a new model, I bought mine second hand from an old lady who never really used it. I 100% wanted a gas oven, and Smeg do not make gas ovens anymore unfortunately.
Hi Damiano,
My apologies in advance to you and Claus if I’m missing something here.
If the point is to keep the sauce warm for 15mn, the simplest way would be to just put the saucier in a larger pan or bowl full of hot water, wouldn’t it?
This bain-marie/double boiler technique can also be used to stay below the boiling point while cooking a sauce (or something like a zabaglione).
Or a thermal cooker. I rarely make delicate sauce, but I routine make stock/soup that are kept below boiling temperature. The easier way for me to achieve this is to make the liquid in a thermal cooker.
Well this idea would work, but I tend do this more with delicate egg based sauces such as hollandaise, bearnaise and musseline type sauces.
For a reduction sauce I actually like to have it at a slow steady low simmer while I finish the other things for the meal.
I can often also add extra butter or cream to the reduction sauce as the final stage of making my reduction sauce.
So I’m looking for a heat source that I can alter fast from low low to low mid temperature as the final stage.
I also prefer to have just one pan for my sauce and not two or an extra Bain marie to wash up after a long 2-3 hour session in my kitchen.
But your idea is good enough, just not quite what I’m looking for.
I had totally forgotten these things existed! They are virtually unknown in Europe and very difficult to source, all the more at a decent price. But definitely interesting! I’ll have to get one from the US or Japan, I guess. Thanks for the reminder, Chem!
