Finding the chase and cutting to it

Having heard about induction hobs in 2006, they have been on my radar but not something I’ve considered more than a “when I fit my dream kitchen, I’d like…”

Our recent forays in the garden and making burgers have brought on a different issue though: how can we do the onions etc that we love with only a camp stove when we have loads of energy coming down from the sun?

Induction hobs work by using magnetic currents to generate heat in pans – no pan, no heat.

As such, they are not wasting power generating heat and light which is then conducted and convected to your pan and then your food. This means they can be 85% efficient which is really wow! A truely efficient car or motorbike is only managing 35-40% efficiency and a microwave is about 70% efficient.

But induction hobs are not an easy leap of faith – starting at £255 for a lower range one, it’s a bit of a gamble if you’re not sure that’s the way you want to cook.

And we’ve got our camp stove business case, so part of this year’s bonus went towards a “Tefal everyday induction hob”. At £49.99 for a single hob, it’s a big price for an outdoor piece of kit – but I’m keen to see if it can make a difference to our fuel usuage figures.

I got it yesterday and am using it to cook our carrots, beans and broccoli for our Sunday lunch.

I’ve made sure I have a small pan that will induct (stainless steel in this case) and put in the water and the carrots and wait the normal 15 minutes before I’d normally start to heat the water.

The pan starts to boil less than a minute later, so turn off the hob and wait 7 minutes and repeat the process. Once the water is boiling for real, I set the timer for 8 minutes on the hob.

I add the beans and broccoli and turn the hob down – only that stops the simmering so end up on “Power level 3”. At the proscribed time, the hob beeps and the power stops.

Have to say, I’m impressed – true the halogen I normally use would have been set to level 1 rather than 3 but the speed of boiling is awe inspiring. I also didn’t have any over boiling, the power response is instaneous.

The pan I used was not the “right size” to make use of the “boiling water” mode. My pasta and soup pan is ideal though and the stew mode should make an interesting soup later today; the plan is a butternut soup.

The hob is a chunky piece of kit – a little bigger than I was perhaps expecting but it is ready to use out of the box and the instructions are really straightforward.

What it may mean is we make the change indoors a little earlier than originally planned.