response 13 of 60:

Aug 29 15:37 UTC 2001

Sounds like Mary may be using induction burners, from the description.

I've had a CO detector in my kitchen for about a year now; I think it once
registered a very low amount; normally even when I'm cooking it sits solidly
on "0".

response 15 of 60:

Aug 29 18:56 UTC 2001

Pollution might also be a result of a mis-adjusted air mix on the burners.

response 17 of 60:

Aug 30 00:09 UTC 2001

Clearly somebody who doesn't know what they have doesn't deserve such a
high-end stove.  ;)

response 19 of 60:

Aug 31 19:18 UTC 2001

Anybody ever use a stove with one of those old "heat minder" electric burners?
This is the kind where one of the burners will have a sensor in the middle
of the coil and a control knob calibrated in degrees.  I don't think I've ever
used a stove with a correctly-working unit.  

I just replaced the control unit on the defective heat-minder on my new
antique stove with a standard control knob instead of fixing the sensor stuff.
It's not *that* hard to get the temperature I want.

response 21 of 60:

Sep 1 19:22 UTC 2001

I think there is insulation around the sunken slow cooker.  I never saw one
of those on a narrow stove.  Sounds like a really nice stove you have.

Jim fixed the sensor control for the burner on our Euro-style electric stove.
It is not calibrated in degrees, but it has lots of markings for fine control.
The idea is that you can set it to simmer at a particular setting, which is
not dependent on the pot size or contents.  I have never used that feature.
The burner itself only heats up at half the regular speed, which is a nuisance
since that is the only burner the right size for our pressure cookers.  The
other large burner is for large frying pans.  We also have a temperature
sensor thing on our double-wide sixties stove, in a burner that can be 6" or
8" (separate inner and outer coil) and that stove has push buttons, probably
five settings like otter's.  The book at the library explained how these
worked.  I think it involves some combination of 120 and 240 voltage producing
different amounts of heat in different parts of the coil.

response 23 of 60:

Sep 20 18:56 UTC 2001

The most efficient and also fastest way to cook is with electric appliances,
where more of the heat goes into the pot or pan.  We have a couple of
insulated 'natural ovens' with insulation outside the heating element, some
electric frying pans and woks, electric water boilers and even an electric
pressure cooker.

response 25 of 60:

Sep 21 16:09 UTC 2001

There are also differences in how efficiently the heat of the stove is used
to heat the pot or pan.  If you turn a gas stove up high and the flames lick
around the ends of the pot, the heat is being wasted.  I still think heating
the pot or pan directly (electric appliance) is probably even more efficient
than gas.  It is certainly much less likely to put carbon monoxide or methane
into your lungs.  Anyone with both gas and electric burners want to experiment
by measuring the temperature of the air just above burner height and next to
a pot on a hot burner, to see how much is escaping?

Efficiency seems sort of not very important in the case of cooking considering
how little fuel is used for it compared to heat or hot water (or motor
vehicles).  If you want to be efficient, use a pressure cooker or at least
boil things with the covers on.  Baking is much more wasteful than boiling
because a larger space is heated and a lot of the heat goes out a hole in top
of the stove.

response 27 of 60:

Sep 21 21:12 UTC 2001

So turn off the burner a few minutes before the water boils.  Or boil a cup
of water in the microwave oven, or in an electric pot.  When we cook with a
pressure cooker we turn it off before it comes to full pressure, then let it
cool off naturally.  Rice can be cooked (brown rice) by bringing it to about
10 pounds, turn it off, it goes to 15 pounds, then cools and it is cooked.
Same for presoaked beans.  

response 29 of 60:

Sep 24 12:05 UTC 2001

What do you cook most often on your ordinary stovetop?

response 31 of 60:

Sep 29 23:10 UTC 2001

[Btw, fwiw, we heat the house with gas and dry our clothes with gas, 
too.]

response 33 of 60:

Sep 30 18:44 UTC 2001

A very little, long ago.  (My grandparents had a cabin whose only (internal)
heat sources were wood stove & fireplace.)  You can adjust cooking heat
somewhat by moving the pans around on the stovetop.  (Obviously, adding fuel,
stirring up fire, etc., and closing off air sources, work but are clumsy,
inexact, & slow.)

(Most of my times at this cabin were when I was a kid, & I did not do the
cooking.  Moreover, it was way up in the Rockies, and adjustments had to be
made for lower boiling point, etc. - I was much more aware of these (from
adult conversation) than woodstove-specific issues.)

response 35 of 60:

Apr 30 13:20 UTC 2002

I have recently discovered that an electric stove with do better at bringing
a large pot of water to a boil.  We had gas in the apartment and could never
get a good rolling boil in the spaghetti pot.  We have a very cheap (as in
we needed something to cook on until the kitchen renovations are done to the
point that we can bring the good range in) electric stove.  Spaghetti pot
comes to a rolling boil in about 5 minutes.  I am hoping that the good range
(a 60", double oven Dynasty gas range) will have enough omph to do a proper
boil.  STeve won't give up the dedicated high-temp wok burner.

response 37 of 60:

Apr 30 15:14 UTC 2002

On average electric burners can be turned up hotter than gas burners, but
there are some very high-power gas burners available particularly on
restaurant stoves.  We have pressure-canned so gas ought to work just about
as well, if a bit slower.  Glenda's new gas stove will probably be very fast
at boiling large pots of water.  When does it arrive?