Serving Up Science

Forget everything yo thought you knew about cooking.

with gas, there's another possibly superior contender in town, and it's heating up in town, and it's heating up in kitchens everywhere.

All right, so first things first.

I've been cooking with gas stoves for decades.

And it gets the job done.

But gas stoves aren't perfect.

In fact, they're responsible for raising indoor levels of a noxious gas called nitrogen dioxide, which is as pleasant as it sounds.

That's not good for anyone but it's especially problematic for kids.

In fact, a child's risk of asthma from living with a gas stove has been compared by some scientists to be equal to the risk from living with a smoker.

Gas can also pose other safet hazards stemming from exposure to unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide and benzene.

And let's not forget about the environment.

Cooking with gas emit damaging greenhouse gases like methane into the atmosphere, fueling climate change.

So can't we just tur off the flame and call it a day?

Unfortunately no.

scientists estimate that about 76% of methane emissions from gas stoves occur when the stove is off.

And that's because gas connections and fittings to stoves and ga lines are actually responsible for most emissions, a lot more so than cooking on the stove itself.

So emissions are still a problem even when we're not cooking.

(spooky) Emissions.

Emissions.

But fear not my fellow chefs enter induction stoves which use an electromagnetic system to heat cookware without requiring natural gas at all.

The biggest reason induction cooking has been winning over a lot of professional chefs in the industry is because it allows them to set and maintain precise temperatures with speed and accuracy.

And on top of that, induction stoves are generally hard to turn on by accident because they requir the presence of a pan to get hot that makes them less dangerous around children, older family members.

And, well, let's be honest.

Me too.

There are some downsides to induction cooking, Induction cooktops can be pricey, although costs are expecte to go down as demand increases.

A minor detail to keep in mind is that induction requires cookware that attracts a magnet.

But there's a good chance you probably already have some pots and pans that will fit the bill because many of them are, including cast iron skillets.

The biggest challenge, at least from a personal perspective, is that you can't cook when the power goes out.

No electricity means no induction.

But, it's about tradeoffs and a big bonus is that induction cooking means easy cleaning.

The glass ceramic surface on the cooktop only heats up directly under the pot or pan.

So anything that splatters won't cook down into that surface and get caked on.

With all of that in mind, it's not surprising that so many professional chefs have been switching from gas to induction.

Joining me in the kitchen today is Chef Chris Galarza, who's going to tell us more about induction cooking.

Welcome to my kitchen, chef Chris.

Thank you for having me.

can we talk for a minute about efficiency because so much of this has to do with efficiency in the kitchen while we're cooking.

Yeah.

The difference here is that the traditional gas range, we're looking at about 30 to 35% efficient, more effectively what's happening is that it's heating up your space, which now your air conditioner is going to be working.

Now your electricity rates are going to be going up as well.

The way induction works is about 90% efficient.

On the low end, we're talking 85%.

so every dollar you're spending, almost all of it is going into your food.

And are there any downsides?

Oh, of course, like most things.

Right.

The downside being people come up to the equipment for the first time, the training which is really easy to pick up, but it can be intimidating for some folks.

Cooking is all about fundamentals and techniques.

So it matter if you're sauting on a campfire or sauting out this induction range, a saut is a saut, a braise is a braise.

these thing are fundamental to how we cook and don't change based on your fuel source.

The way this works is that there is a coil, its a copper coil.

And as you're sendin electrical current through it, it's creatin what's called an eddy current.

That eddy current will sit about an inch or two above the surface and get th the ferrous molecules in the pan really excited.

And that excitement creates molecular friction that heats the pan up.

Well, we've been talking about induction cooking, but let's cook.

Let's do it.

As a matte of fact I co-opted your freezer.

I hope you don't mind.

I put a pan in there.

Just show the power of induction.

So obviously you can see how frosty it is.

It is.

It's cold.

It is cold.

Right.

So we're going to get a pan hot and put a little oil in here.

Everything that you shouldn't do as a chef.

Right, cold pan, cold oil, we're going to start getting things ready.

So we're going to turn this thing on, get it going.

You can just hear the fan So again, everything that chefs tell you not to do, Cold pan, cold products, cold oil.

But we're going to show how fast this gets hot.

So as you can see, start to see some some bubbling down the end, but the handles are still cold, right?

So you see the sizzling.

It's just a few seconds on that.

So how is it possible?

Like hot and then still ice cold?

Because the only thing getting hot again that eddy current, is only an inch or two above the surface.

So the only thing getting hot is the bottom of the pan.

So everything else is safe.

As a matter of fact, we can put some money underneath.

Oh my goodness.

Just to put my money where our mouth is.

To say how safe this thing is.

It's a good party trick.

So were starting to sear that skin, Right because crispy salmon skin, the best way to have salmon.

Then were going to flip it.

Fi any of them.

Get some color on it.

Finish it in the oven.

Then were going to eat.

So how's that $20 doing?

The 20 perfectly safe.

So the reason it's ho and not burn is because there's no thermal sources of heat.

Right?

That 20 is not.

You can't attract a magnet to it.

Right.

So if I were to take this pan here.

Right.

So induction works as a magnet that's using it to heat everything up.

But remember the bottom is where it matters.

The bottom for it matters.

So let's do a bottom.

Yep.

All right, well, that sound looks great.

You've already got both sides already cooked and then see that little bit of pink in the middle at this point.

That's all you really want.

So let's plate up and let's eat.

I'm excited.

Okay.

Because I'm not worried about it being hot and grab this.

And because we had a pretty skin, we were going to serve it skin side up.

And then just a little bit o chili crunch, because why not?

So what we have here is a bed of rice with some roasted asparagus, pan seared salmon, and some chili crunch for flavor and texture.

Can't wait to try this.

Oh, I love Crunch.

Yeah that skin.

Mmm.

Oh, my gosh.

So good.

Is it really?