For ten days in April, I was in a cottage on Cape Cod's lakeside. It was a dreamy place however, it was only an kitchenette. It couldn't have a real kitchen due to the council code. So forget about the oven. The knives and cups were used to cut butter. But the Duxtop Portable Induction Cooktop was the star of the show. Bern, as I'd come t call it, was my sole partner. The sleek black box provided consistently fast and al dente pasta and fluffy scrambled eggs and crispy. Fresh mushrooms were also served. I however, to my dismay, continued to meet Bern's devotion with skepticism.
When I first used an induction cooktop it was quite frightening. Ok I was having trust issues. It had no flames or dials, unlike my Brooklyn gas stove. I asked, "Bern? You in there?" But it bubbled rapidly after I placed a pot of salt water on top and press Boil. I was intrigued and sat down next to Bern's head. What do you do with your hands? Why aren't you hot?
Cooking with induction, on the other hand is all about faith. Bern and a long background search on Google, won me over. The Duxtop Portable Induction Cooktop could perform almost all the things the way my Brooklyn gas stove could. It also did not have the negative side impacts on my brain, earth-altering fossil fuel emissions or other detrimental cognitive and respiratory adverse effects. There was no risk of burning every dish towel I own. Here are some facts to help you comprehend:
How can induction cooktops function?
Chris Morocco (BA's test kitchen director) says, "I honestly don’t fully understand it." However instead of combusting a gas which heats your pan, induction heats the pan by using magnets. That is, the electromagnetic heating elements under the glass burner's flat surface produce electricity when the coils come in contact with iron or magnetic cookware. The magnetic particles inside the active heating coils stir up the pan which quickly warms it up. This is similar to when your face feels hot because you are so crazy. Unlike gas or electric stoves, which have to first be heated to heat your cookware, the surface of an induction cooktop usually remains cool (and safe!) to touch. The warmth that you feel isn't from the surface. Instead, heat is transferred from hot pots back to cooktops made of glass.