First time with electric cooker - need help choosing new pots.

ripplyuk

I've never actually had a cooker until now. Previously I had a gas hob and a mini oven. I've just had my new cooker installed and decided to try it out today for the first time, with spaghetti bolognese. It didn't go to plan! The cooker has a glass ceramic hob.

I did read the manual and it said things like 'be sure to use flat bottomed pots', which I assumed all pots are. It also advises to use ones with a thick bottom. Mine don't but I thought it'd be fine. The pot of spaghetti would not boil at all, despite trying different rings. Turns out the bottom actually isn't totally flat. It boiled quickly when I changed it to a different pot. The mince ended up burnt to a crisp in the other pot as I was running around doing this. It's now in the bin.

Could anyone advise me on what pots to buy? I've been looking it up but I'm confused by all the terms like 'hard anodised', 'induction' etc. Would stainless steel be better than aluminium or would it scratch the ceramic glass? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

LHW99

I have been using the same pans for nigh on 40 years (oops) and they have coped with gas, radiant rings and glass / ceramic hobs.
Yes, if they are round bottomed, they don't heat quickly, but that's good for whit sauces and custard!

Your problems may be more to do with the change from gas to electric. Gas heats very swiftly, but also cools very fast once its turned off.
Electric rings are different.
You need to turn them up high (often to maximum) for the first few minutes, them progressively turn them lower.

When I am browning mince / oniums, I would put the onions in first with oil at around half maximum (5 on mine), put a lid on and get them to sizzling, then I add the mince, turn the pan down to 3-4 and give it a stir from time to time until its browned (a few minutes). Once the other ingredients (tinned tomatoes / gravy etc) go in, I turn the heat up high until it begins to boil and then back down to 2-3 with lid on and leave it to cook with an occasional stir.

Seems a bit 'faffy' written down, but it gets second nature after a bit. It means that you can turn the heat down just before things are really boiling in the knowledge that the residual heat will do the last bit before simmer.

I have trouble with gas nowadays - I keep turning it up and down, and never find the happy medium!

suki1964

Sounds to me you might have cheap aluminium pots that have become distorted over the years of use

Even though I have stainless steel pans, I work on induction and have found not all pans are equal. A lot of my older pans are getting hot spots


First off, electric is slow to react. If you want to boil something, then bring to a simmer, you often have to lift the pan from the ring as soon as it boils as it takes minutes to get down to simmer - unlike seconds with gas

However the slowness of it can save money as once you get used to it you can time things to be switched off and still cook in the residual heat

With your pans, if you dont want to spend too much, then Ikeas 365 ones are perfectly serviceable. Or pop into TK Maxx and see what they have going

I used Stellar for many many years with no bother. Mid range but very durable

Pollycat

I had my first ceramic hob almost 30 years ago.

Back then, a lot of pans weren't suitable for ceramic so I bought some of the glass Vision pans:
https://www.worldkitchen.co.uk/Visions/Visions-Saucepans/Visions-1L-Saucepan?gclid=CNqpgJ6-6ccCFasEwwodZJ4JPw

Lots of peiople couldn't get on with them - in fact my ex MIL gave me a great saute pan - but I love them and am always on the look-out for spares in charity shops.

culpepper

Our hob is the ceramic kind too.
There will be boil and simmer rings so check you are using the right one for each step. I start with a boil ring for things like stew and then change to the simmer ring once it gets going. I sautee onions etc on the simmer ring because there is more control . Sometimes ,even the simmer ring can be too hot and then I will use 2 of my flat all metal knives as a sort of trivet under the pot with the ring still on so that the intensity is less and things like bolognaise sauce or curry can bubble for a bit longer without catching while I prepare other things.

ripplyuk

I'm definitely missing my gas hob! But I'm sure I'll get used to electric. My pans were really cheap, about £10 for the set, and I've been using them for nearly a decade. I didn't realise the bottoms could actually warp but they aren't totally flat at the bottom anymore. Only the edges are actually touching the cooker surface. Didn't seem to matter with gas. The cooker manual doesn't say anything about boiling or simmer rings. They all seem to be the same.

Is there any types of pans that I need to avoid, in case I scratch the ceramic surface? Or, are they much the same?

Pollycat

ripplyuk wrote: »

I'm definitely missing my gas hob! But I'm sure I'll get used to electric. My pans were really cheap, about £10 for the set, and I've been using them for nearly a decade. I didn't realise the bottoms could actually warp but they aren't totally flat at the bottom anymore. Only the edges are actually touching the cooker surface. Didn't seem to matter with gas. The cooker manual doesn't say anything about boiling or simmer rings. They all seem to be the same.

Is there any types of pans that I need to avoid, in case I scratch the ceramic surface? Or, are they much the same?

As long as they say they are suitable for ceramic hobs they should be fine.

What are you going to use to clean the hob?

There's a thread here about it:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/28312

ripplyuk

I think I've already damaged it. There's some marks on one ring, circular ones, like where the pan was sitting. I think that pan is cast iron because it's much heavier than the others. It also has small raised rings on the bottom which I'm worried has scratched the ceramic.

To start with, I thought it was just from where the water spilled on it and it would wipe off but it hasn't. The manual says to only use washing up liquid on it but I've also tried flash spray. I can't feel any scratches on it but cleaning hasn't removed it. From reading the link, Hob Brite seems popular so maybe I'll try that.

Really hope I haven't damaged it permanently.

Pollycat

ripplyuk wrote: »

I think I've already damaged it. There's some marks on one ring, circular ones, like where the pan was sitting. I think that pan is cast iron because it's much heavier than the others. It also has small raised rings on the bottom which I'm worried has scratched the ceramic.

To start with, I thought it was just from where the water spilled on it and it would wipe off but it hasn't. The manual says to only use washing up liquid on it but I've also tried flash spray. I can't feel any scratches on it but cleaning hasn't removed it. From reading the link, Hob Brite seems popular so maybe I'll try that.

Really hope I haven't damaged it permanently.

I hope its OK too.

I've used hob brite since I had my 'new' ceramic hob 23 years ago.
It wasn't an expensive hob but it still looks like new (apart from a few bits of the outer frame where I think I've been a bit too enthusiastic with the hob brite.