5 reasons why you should have an induction cooktop

1. Instant heat

When you turn on an induction cooktop, there’s no waiting for it to heat up. It immediately operates at the required temperature. So water in your saucepan boils quicker, or there’s less time to wait for oil in your frypan to reach searing temperature for your steak.

2. Incredible control

Induction cooktops give you precise and immediate control of the temperature so you’re less likely to burn or overcook the food you’re preparing. 

Want to melt chocolate directly in a saucepan instead of the hassle of a bain marie? No problem. Or your steak is cooked but you’re not quite ready to serve it? Turn the heat off or down and because there’s very little residual heat in the pan the cooking process stops.

Samsung even has a cooker that projects an image of flames on your saucepan, for those who prefer a visual representation of how high the heat is.

3. No more burnt-on food to clean off the cooktop 

Induction technology heats the food in the pan directly, not the cooktop itself. So when you’ve finished cooking, the cooktop has very little residual heat and no food splashes are burnt on. Within a very short time you can simply wipe down your cooktop using glass cleaner and it comes up sparkling clean. An occasional refresh with a specialist glass cooktop cleaner gives an added brightness to the top.

4. Get the latest technology

The early induction cooktops had defined heating zones to place pots and pans on. That works fine in most situations, but wasn’t so good for extra large or square pans. Many induction cookers these days have a flexible zone arrangement that can take a wider range of pan shapes and sizes.

5. You can do party tricks

Here’s one that will amaze guests who don’t have their own induction cooktop. While you can easily clean off food splash marks, you can actually go further in keeping the top clean while cooking. Ready to cook a steak? Lay paper towels on the cooktop area you’re going to use. Add oil to a frypan and place the pan on top of the paper towels.Turn the cooking zone up high for frying and add the steak when the pan’s sizzling hot. Because the top itself isn’t heating up, the paper towel can’t catch fire. Once you’ve finished cooking, just throw away the paper towels – with any splatters – into the bin.

Story by: Paul Taylor