Mess Free Cooking - Thank You Faraday

[killingtime]

If you've cooked on a gas hob then you'll know that cleaning can take up a fair amount of time, especially round the gas burners. Plenty of cleaning products for this, but they're not cheap and you have to let them soak in. Just another time consuming hassle.

Enter the induction hob. The hob is essentially as flat panel of boro glass, with induction coils beneath. The flat nature of the hob makes it easier to clean, but the lack of a naked flame means you can just put paper down between the hob and the pan. When you're done cooking, just roll up the paper and recycle. This results in a a 100% clean hob. It's only really men that seem to appreciate this. All the women I've told seem bemused, and prefer gas. Also worth noting that if you set the heat too high, some of the print comes off on the hob if you use newspaper. Easily cleaned off with a green scrubbing pad. You can just use blank paper instead if you have it. I only really use this method when cooking large messy meals, which are weighed out and frozen.

We have Faraday (induction) and Foucault (eddy currents) to thank for this.

[Zero999]

If you've cooked on a gas hob then you'll know that cleaning can take up a fair amount of time, especially round the gas burners. Plenty of cleaning products for this, but they're not cheap and you have to let them soak in. Just another time consuming hassle.

Enter the induction hob. The hob is essentially as flat panel of boro glass, with induction coils beneath. The flat nature of the hob makes it easier to clean, but the lack of a naked flame means you can just put paper down between the hob and the pan. When you're done cooking, just roll up the paper and recycle. This results in a a 100% clean hob. It's only really men that seem to appreciate this. All the women I've told seem bemused, and prefer gas.

Note some councils won't recycle paper if it's fouled with food stains. Fortunately it can be used in the compost heap, for wood fibre to balance out kitchen scraps, which make it too sloppy.

Also worth noting that if you set the heat too high, some of the print comes off on the hob if you use newspaper. Easily cleaned off with a green scrubbing pad. You can just use blank paper instead if you have it. I only really use this method when cooking large messy meals, which are weighed out and frozen.

How about fish and chip wrappers? Often enough of it is not contaminated by grease and could be used for this.

[killingtime]

How about fish and chip wrappers? Often enough of it is not contaminated by grease and could be used for this.

Yep, whatever you were going to throw away anyway, provided it's clean.

[coppercone2]

how about using pizza boxes, their dirty anyway

[Ranayna]

A pizza box is likely too thick.
Either the hob will not be able to detect the pot, and not turn on, or you will lose a lot of power.

But generally this seems like a decent idea, and in hindsight kinda obvious.
I will try a sheet of baking paper the next time i use my new induction hob. That will not have an issue with the heat, and should not leave stains.

[coppice]

If you read through those old newspapers you might discover that Gandhi is dead (for those old enough to get the reference).

[PlainName]

How come the kitchen is in two time zones?

[coppice]

How come the kitchen is in two time zones?

One is cooking lunch while the other cooks dinner.

[tkamiya]

Is it really safe though?  While the induction range itself won't heat up, but the cookware will.  It is possible to heat up iron rod cherry red with industrial equipment that use the same principle.

[T3sl4co1l]

If your pots are glowing red, you've ruined a lot more than just the paper.

Tim

[tszaboo]

Is it really safe though?  While the induction range itself won't heat up, but the cookware will.  It is possible to heat up iron rod cherry red with industrial equipment that use the same principle.

Do you think paper will catch fire at 100 degrees?

[tkamiya]

I've only done this once, but I forgot I had something on stove and left it alone for long time.  Water evaporated and pot warped.  I'm pretty sure it was over 100 degrees C there.  I'm pretty sure there are safety device of some kind built in, but using flammable item like this doesn't seem safe.

By the way, what kind of food is that?  Chili?  Looks yummy.

[tkamiya]

If your pots are glowing red, you've ruined a lot more than just the paper.

Tim

Sir, your meat is well done and beyond as requested!   

[Doctorandus_P]

I've been cooking on induction for about 20+ years and also tried this for some time, but it's been years since I bothered with this.

It turns out  that with induction it does not really matter how dirty the plate is. With a "ceramic" or infra red stove the "glass" plate gets hot enough that dirt will burn into the plate an make it ugly, but this does not happen with induction.

So just about once a month I vacuum the spilled foot items scattered over the plate, then put some water and soap on it for a few hours and wipe it off with a rubber window wiper and it's clean again.

But if you want to go this way. You can make a cloth to size from either kevlar or woven glass fiber and then just wash them every now and then.

[T3sl4co1l]

Glass fiber mat isn't exactly what I'd want in the kitchen; but on the upside, you can clean it by tossing it in the oven on the "clean" cycle!



(That said, a silicone impregnated glass mat would be pretty slick.  As easy to clean as glass(?), more shatter resistant?)

Tim