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Electric vs. gas stove

Reb

Scholar
R
Joined
Apr 3, 2002
Messages
112
My wife again brought up the hoary chestnut about food cooking better on gas stoves (flame) than electric (coils). You know: "all the great chefs prefer gas flame to electric coil".
Is there anything to this? Do the heat distribution properties of metal pans change depending on the source of the heat?
What brought it up this morning was a large griddle she had bought a few weeks ago: you know, the type that you place over two burners (coils) at once. We've used it a few times, and I noticed that the circular areas directly over the coils were blackened while the rest of the griddle was the original color. My wife said the pancake batter should poured onto the black spots because that was where the heat was concentrated, allowing the pancakes to cook better. What happened to the heat distribution properties of this heavy iron griddle? I thought wrought iron pans, etc. were supposed to distribute the heat applied evenly over the cooking surface - no hot spots. Is my wife correct that it would work better on a gas stove?

Reb
 
Gas hobs are better because they react quicker. If milk is about to boil over on a gas stove, you can just turn down the gas, but with most electric stoves, you have to lift the pan off the hob.

This is due to the heat capacity of the material that makes up the hob. Many people are confused by the term 'heat capacity' though so when you say 'gas hobs are better because of their lower heat capacity' they think you mean 'gas hobs are better because of their lower heat output'.

ceptimus.
 
I've also found that a faster response to turning up/down the heat occurs for a gas stove. Now that I could regularly on a gas range it is annoying to go back to an electric when I have to.
 
As above: You get an immediate response from a gas flame but have to wait a while for the electric hob to heat up.

This is wastefull. When I cook on electric I turn up the heat full blast to get the hob hot, then turn it down to get the heat I want. Whereas with gas I simply set the flame. Also, as soon as Im done with the gas flame, I can switch it off- I do this with electric as well but then there is still a huge amount of heat being wasted as the hob is still so hot. So basically with gas- I only use what I need. With electric- I waste lots waiting for heatings up and coolings down.

Also its more efficient to use gas directly to heat my food rather than to burn it 500miles away to drive a turbine to drive a generator to push electrons through wires to heat a metal coil to heat my food!
 
That's all well and good, but no one has addressed the supposed avoidance of hot spots by using flame ratther than coil. Is there a scientific basis to this assertion?

Reb
 
I have had both, and I have noticed no appreciable difference as far as cooking on the rangetop.

In the oven is a different matter. I get much more even cooking from my electric oven than I did with gas.

Why did I switch from gas to electric? Very simple. I didn't like having a potential bomb attached to the side of my house. Here's one that went off recently: home explosion

MOULTONBORO - A young child was killed and six other members of her extended family injured when a series of explosions turned a lakeside home into "an incredible inferno" and a pile of rubble Saturday night.

...

Fire marshal's investigator William Clark said the home's propane tank ruptured, and investigators were working to find out if the tank was involved in the initial blast or was damaged and exploded afterward.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for replying, Shemp.

Are there any materials engineers out there who can comment? Is there any scientific basis to the idea that the heat transfer properties of cooking utensils can change depending on the heat source used?

Hmm, maybe this topic isn't sexy enough ... well, I won't go there: that path would be more suited to the TUTTJM forum

Reb
 
I cook a lot and currently have a gas range by choice. The reasons for my choice have been expressed by others - control.
BUT - electric ranges do a much better job in using the oven. An electric oven can get hotter and hold the temp much better than a gas oven. And electric is much more efficient in broiling.
My stove has a 'high-output' burner. This is great for a Wok or sauteing. The increase/decrease in heat is great for those aspects of cooking.
And I do agree that the heat distribution on the burners of a gas stove is much better. I do not get 'hot spots' in a sauce pan or skillet.
Best would be a gas top and electric oven.
BTW I have natural gas coming into the house and I heat the house with it too. No large oil tank takes up space in the basement.
My water heater is gas but I think next time it leaks I'll replace it with an electric one. I tend to think an electric water heater is faster and more efficient.
 
I use gas range + electric convection oven (x2). I used to have a fancy type of electric range that only worked with a special type of pan. You turn the burner on, but it only gets warm when you put the special pan on it. It heats up VERY quickly, and cools down fairly quickly. But, it was extremely hard to clean as the entire thing was sealed off from the top, and there was this soft plastic-type material that scratched REALLY easily all over.

Assuming you have a very thick metal pan, any range will cook in about the same way. Assuming you have very thin, cheap pans, a good electric range will give you FAR more even heating. The coils will heat up roughly the same amount all over. My gas range has a spiral type flame, to give basically the same effect. I don't like cooking on conventional gas ranges with just 6 or 7 holes in a circle. The middle of any large enough pan will get super hot, and the sides will be supercool. While this is great for Wok cooking, it's bad if you are grilling or something like that.

Also, I heartily recommend portable electric griddles. They are usually coated in teflon, and have large wooden handles. You can plug them in anywhere and keep things warm, or you can cook on them. The top of mine removes so that you can replace it (if it gets too scratched) with another teflon griddle. It's great!
 
Electric don't work so good in an ice storm.

Gas you can heat pans of water on the stove, and you'd better crack a window or two as well.(Had a client that sphyxiated himself)

I like gas , it has a quicker response, my friend likes electric it's more consistant.
 
I'm in the "gas range and 2x electric convection oven" crowd myself.

I find that electric ranges heat and cool far too slowly to do some kinds of cooking.

Gas ranges are sometimes of annoyingly small heat capacity, which is bad, but they adjust instantly.

Some new electric ranges using halogens, etc, seem to be quicker, but having tried a modern stove using such, I'm still entirely more comfortable with a good auto-relight gas stove.

As to evenness, I think that depends on the burner design and such. I find the gas stove I have now (unfortunately a JennAire, I'm stuck with downdraft, ecch, and puny, puny burners, thanks to the design of the house, well, unless I want to add a chimney in my kitchen..., basically) quite even and quick to react, if somewhat puny in total capacity. For great-big stuff like mega-pasta boiling I've learned to use 2 burners at once.

For ovens, I have a double convention oven with both "bake" convection (rear element, no radiation) and "roast" convection with upper element heating the oven, as well as the standard "bake" and "broil" settings.

I usually broil outside, though, but gotta get a new grill. Left the last one (no dishonor, it served its time and then some) behind when we moved. Grilling on the Jenn-aire grill is a (sexual expletive deleted) joke.
 
Fade said:
Assuming you have a very thick metal pan, any range will cook in about the same way. Assuming you have very thin, cheap pans, a good electric range will give you FAR more even heating.
Hunh. That's exactly opposite my experience, but then again I had a cheap electric range and a good gas range as my comparisons. There could be a lesson in this. :)

Also, I heartily recommend portable electric griddles. They are usually coated in teflon, and have large wooden handles. You can plug them in anywhere and keep things warm, or you can cook on them. The top of mine removes so that you can replace it (if it gets too scratched) with another teflon griddle. It's great!
Click to expand...
Oh, I miss mine. It died a while ago, the element went open.

It was a bit gutless, though, a US version so it couldn't draw enough power from a 120V line.

But we put a gas burner under it (aluminium bottom) on "low" to give it the boost, and that worked great. Just enough heat to provide the "sustain", and the electric element would then react to the actual demand.

(And, no, the element didn't die under those conditions, it died being used of a generator without any "boost heat"...)

Of course, if you want to boil water, there's those "turbo heaters" you attach to a tank of propane that give you 120,000 BTU (wow, english units again)/hour. room to boil in about 5 minutes for an entire 6 gallons of wort.
 
Fade said:

Assuming you have a very thick metal pan, any range will cook in about the same way. Assuming you have very thin, cheap pans, a good electric range will give you FAR more even heating.
Click to expand...

Not so. On an electric range, heat is only significantly transferred to the pan where the coils actually touch the pan. You can easily demonstrate this to yourself by simply boiling a pan of water and noticing where the first bubbles form.

In addition, most coils are not perfectly flat, and the pan doesn't evenly touch them, making "hot spots". Again, this is easy to demonstrate. However, a massive cooking utensil such as a cast-iron frying pan will mediate this to a great extent.

Gas flames most definitely provide a more even heat than a coil-type electric range. This is not true of more modern ranges, where the entire cooking surface gets hot.
 
Reb said:
Hmm, maybe this topic isn't sexy enough ... well, I won't go there: that path would be more suited to the TUTTJM forum
Click to expand...

Agreed!
 
Gas flames most definitely provide a more even heat than a coil-type electric range. This is not true of more modern ranges, where the entire cooking surface gets hot.
Click to expand...

That's why I said good, not any. Anyway, I found that cheap pans + mediocre gas range means a lot of heat on the outside with nothing in the middle. With a cheap range at least you have an entire coil conducting heat. I've also cooked on a variety of ranges (in two countries) and also at restaurants. I have a lot of experience using all different types.
 
jj said:
I'm in the "gas range and 2x electric convection oven" crowd myself.
....
Click to expand...

So am I... except that the fan of one of the ovens went out, so there remains only one oven with convection.

Why I like a gas cook top more than electric:

1) easier and quicker to control the heat (I like this for things like rice... quick to bring to a boil, and then quick to bring down to a simmer)

2) works when the power goes out

3) great for roasting bell peppers (hold over flame)

4) great for warming and toasting tortillas

5) really great for roasting marshmallows (stick a fork in a marshmallow and roast, yummy --- doesn't quite work on an electric range)

As far as heat distribution goes, if you have something that is lousy at heat conduction... it works better at even heat. Something like cast iron or heavy aluminum. Almost any good HEAVY pan will distribute the heat better... BUT it will be less responsive to changes of flame height. I find I like to cook rice and soups in the lighter steel pots... and meats in the cast iron (which will stay hot for awhile after the flame is turned off).

Also, the particular cooktop we have has 4 gas burners PLUS an electric grill/griddle in the middle. For pancakes you place the griddle over the electric elements in the middle and it has fairly even heat. I've only used the grill feature a couple of times... that is because we prefer to grill with brickets and wood.

By the way... we built this house 10 years ago. It has a gas cooktop, gas heat, gas hot water and a gas dryer. When comparing utility costs with my in-laws who only have gas heat and live across Lake Washington from us (closer to JJ)... we are usually paying less per month for our family of 5, versus their house with 2 residents. When it comes time to replace the water heater, we will stick to gas (I also drain the water heater on occasion, there is a 2' section of hose attached to it so that I can wash out the bottom bit every so often... which reminds me, I need to do that soon).

And to top it off, we have the same gas company... which in today's bill had a nifty graph comparing costs of energy (natural gas was the cheapest). Unfortunately I could not find it online (http://www.pse.com/energy/brochuresonline.html )
 
Supercharts,

I would advise against replacement of your gas water heater with electric.

Having had both types, I know for a fact that gas is considerably cheaper to operate and a much larger tank is required for electric.

Had a gas 40 gallon water heater replaced (5 years ago) by the gas company at a cost of about $550.

This involved simply disconnect and replace the tank.

If replaced with electric, a tank of 80 gallon capacity would be required, along with 240v/30a electric circuit and probable plumbing changes to connect, at a cost of about $300.

Electric heaters take longer to reheat, requiring a larger tank.

Operating costs for a family of four with average usage...

40 gal. Natural Gas---about $420 per year
80 gal. Electric---about $720 per year

Plus, you have hot water when the power goes out for extended periods of time.

I was in the electrical trade for many years and I wouldn't intentionally install electric if gas was already available. :)

edit to add: I live in Connecticut so I would assume cost would be about the same for you.:)
 
There are also whole house tankless gas water heaters that create hot water on demand. While a bit pricey on the front end, the savings on the long term can well make up for the difference.

I'm with the crowd on the stove / oven question. Gas gives a better reaction time on the stove while the oven seems to hold better being eletric.
 
topic drift...

shemp said:

Why did I switch from gas to electric? Very simple. I didn't like having a potential bomb attached to the side of my house. Here's one that went off recently: home explosion

Click to expand...
From reading the article, it sounds more like there was a gas leak, which exploded and started the fire, when then eventually caused the propane tank itself to rupture.

I witnessed something similar a few years back. There was an electrical fire in a vacation home about one hundred yards from the one we were staying in at the time. By the time the fire department has arrived (after driving 25 miles on mountain roads) the fire had spread to another house about 30 feet away. Sitting right between the two houses was one of those big outdoor propane tanks that everyone uses when they're too far from city gas mains. As the fire progressed, every once in a while the pressure relief valve on the tank would open up, sending flames shooting straight up into the surrounding trees with the sound of a jet engine. Eventually the pressure gauge & valves just melted completely off from the heat, and there was a large bulge in one side of the tank the next day where the hot metal had been pushed out. The tank never did explode, however. After seeing that that I'm not so worried about them.
 
BobK said:
Supercharts,

I would advise against replacement of your gas water heater with electric.

Having had both types, I know for a fact that gas is considerably cheaper to operate and a much larger tank is required for electric.

Had a gas 40 gallon water heater replaced (5 years ago) by the gas company at a cost of about $550.

This involved simply disconnect and replace the tank.

If replaced with electric, a tank of 80 gallon capacity would be required, along with 240v/30a electric circuit and probable plumbing changes to connect, at a cost of about $300.

Electric heaters take longer to reheat, requiring a larger tank.

Operating costs for a family of four with average usage...

40 gal. Natural Gas---about $420 per year
80 gal. Electric---about $720 per year

Plus, you have hot water when the power goes out for extended periods of time.

I was in the electrical trade for many years and I wouldn't intentionally install electric if gas was already available. :)

edit to add: I live in Connecticut so I would assume cost would be about the same for you.:)
Click to expand...

Thank you. You have taught me something I didn't know. :)
 
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