Help me use my induction hob

[dinesaurrawr]

Specifically simmering. We’ve only just had it so not made much but when I’ve made pasta, it boils really well and fast, but when I reduce to simmer it just looks like nothings happening ? So I turn it up abit, nothing, it only starts bubbling again on a high heat which defeats the point of a simmer. Is there something I’m missing ? It does cook, but I can’t visually see when it’s done I have to test the pasta texture. I’m used to gas so it’s blowing my mind 😆

Sometimes you have to have it a bit higher for simmer than you might be used to - mine simmers on about 3. When you say it boils, is it boiling all over? Sometimes it seems to boil at the edges but not in the middle, so it’s not actually boiling, if you see what I mean! You will get used to it - it’s just a matter of trial and error.

Try a different ring or pan? Test it with just water and a thermometer probe in case it is faulty?

Yup. On induction hobs the pan is part of the cooker. Gotta have the right pans.

My mum got me some pans, they seem decent, definitely induction ones lol

I’m not yet confident about the middle temps, either. Does yours have a timer? I’m finding that hugely helpful. I get it to the boil, knock it down a couple, set the timer for 5mins then leave it. That would be pasta. I did broccoli yesterday and 3mins was slightly too long.

I think that it can be trial and error. On my Neff hob, for pasta, once it's boiling I turn it down to 7, no lid.
For potatoes, with a lid, once they come to the boil, if I turn it straight down then it comes straight off the boil. It needs to be about 6 for a few minutes, then can turn it down to 4 for a good simmer.
For things that need a longer simmer, like a bolognese sauce, after a while I will need to turn right down to 2.

I had a reasonably expensive induction pan that didn't work properly on mine, yet a cheap pan that I doubted would work is still going strong years later.

Not so much for something like pasta where most of the panful is just water, but for thick soups and sauces or if you’ve added a lot of cold veg to the water you should stir to equilibrate the temperature throughout the whole lot until it’s boiling evenly before turning down to a simmer, else it can be boiling round the sides and at bottom where it’s really hot but the heat hasn’t yet reached the middle of the pot.

Yes it does have a timer. What do you knock it down to?
It’s stressing me out as I’m doubting myself which never normally with cooking.

Good to know, maybe I should get a couple of different ones

I will try it on 7. How long does it normally take then ?
Do induction hobs cook things faster than gas ?

I think that it's meant to be more responsive, so heating up and cooling down should be quicker than electric, but the same as gas. But once it's simmering, then pasta will take the same amount of time regardless of the hob.

It took nearly a month to get used to mine. Once it reaches boiling point I usually let it boil for around a minute, then six or seven seems to be about right for a simmer,

Getting to the boil is a lot faster than gas on induction using the Boost setting, IME.

If you have more than bring on at a time it reduces the power output to all the rings, so if you’re boiling pasta and cooking a sauce at the same time, it may reduce the power so taking longer.

I have an induction hob. With pasta or boiling anything actually, I find I have to really let it get to the boil and then turn down literally one number at a time until it finds the simmer point itself. Even then, sometimes it has to be watched and turned down (or back up) to get the simmer just right. You will get the hang of it and they're so easy to clean!! 😀

On mine, simmer is 4.5 in decent pans. But I use a high heat to get it boiling first. IKEA do v good induction pans.

Firstly you will master it and (probably) love it once you do. It’s just different. I loved my gas hob and I wasn’t happy when I moved to a house without gas. Now I am used to induction I wouldn’t go back to gas.

In an induction hob heat is generated in the body of the pan itself, the hob generates a current that produces resistance in the pan and that resistance generates heat. The hob doesn’t heat up, the pan does. The heat you feel on the hob is residual heat absorbed back from the pan. There are some good explanations on YouTube if you are interested in that side of it. It’s this that causes the effect where the pot boils and then goes off the boil when you turn it down too soon.

With gas or a conventional electric hob the heat generated by the hob has to permeate the whole pan before the pot will boil. This takes a bit longer but the whole thing will be fully heated when the pot boils…so as soon as it boils you can turn it down and it will slowly reduce to a simmer.

With induction enough resistance is created in the base of the pan to boil the pot quickly but the pan itself won’t be quite hot enough to sustain the boil if you turn it down too soon. Because the heat is all generated in the body of the pan you need to give the pan enough time to get fully heated up so that it sustains the temperature as you reduce the flow of current. How this happens varies from pan to pan but you’ll quickly get a feel for how your pans behave and what you prefer.

When I want to simmer something I bring it to the boil and let it boil for a minute or so, then like @RealChristmasBaby I turn it down a bit at a time. 14 to 12, then 12 to 9 when it looks like boiling again, then down to 7. It takes maybe a couple of minutes total to come down that far. That’s probably where it would end for green veggies as they would be ready. Each time it looks like boiling you just nudge it down a bit.

For a big pan of something like a casserole or chilli it might end up down at 1 or 2. The heat is being retained by the pan and the food and you need progressively less energy added to keep it simmering, especially with heavy based pans that are good at retaining the heat.