The only time I really didn't cook was during college, and that's mainly because besides not caring, my main house there had an electric range.
One thing that I had truly been dreading was the electric ranges that are very common in this area of Switzerland - I understand that some areas have gas, and that many newer or pricier places have induction. Our current apartment has a glass top electric as will our new place.
Looking for advice from folks who enjoy cooking and have made the switch. Please don't just tell me "you'll get used to it" as I'm hoping not to wreck too many meals along the way! I'm looking for some genuine tips and solutions.
As an example, I can't really imagine doing a French style omelet without gas, needing to see the flame height and being able to adjust the heat quickly. Same thing with wok usage, as I do quite bit of Asian food too.
I do still plan to cook over wood frequently, but that won't be practical daily... so either your own experiences making the switch, or some recommendations of good websites that have solutions for moving to electric.
Don’t know why you’re worried, it’s simply a matter of turning the heat down same as you would with gas or just removing the pan for a little bit. Unless your electric hob is very old they adjust temperatures pretty quickly.
I have to say that even after twenty some years I still very much miss my gas stoves.
Adjustment has meant dropping some dishes from my repertoire, I am sorry to say. I just found that the results on electric made me sad so I no longer make those dishes.
(Ja ja, it's a poor craftsman who blames her tools. But there really is a difference in cooking with gas vs electric.)
What I miss most is cooking with my nicely seasoned cast iron pans.
Life goes on, I've switched from stove top to more oven roasting, I make baked frittatas rather than omelettes, etc. We're not starving but at some level cooking is not quite as much fun.
Oh no.... this truly saddens me. I left my Calphalon pots in Japan, as I knew they'd suffer here, but was still planning on using my cast iron.
I was hoping that there were some improvements, but so far, especially with lowering heat quickly, I've seen little improvement. There's often a huge difference in many cooking situations from adjusting quickly and adjusting instantly.
It depends on whether there is gas in the house. Our house doesn't have gas, so electricity is the only option.
I absolutely detest cooking on electric, but induction is a game-changer and I would never go back to gas. Even if it were in a rental property, and even if it meant paying for it myself, I would change an electric range for an induction one in a heartbeat. You use it every single day, and you can pick up an induction cooktop for under CHF500.
I have a classic electric stove top. It's useless. Ceramic glass is borderline bearable, but the old one, with metal top is simply horrible.
So, I bought a 3500W portable (counter top) induction and now it is sitting on the top of my hob. I now have only one plate, but that one is great. Better or at least on par with all but very best gas stoves. Yes, sadly I cannot use classic wok or char vegetables on it, but mine have a temperature probe and a timer and it can be used for precise slow cooking.
Yeah, you can get cans of butane gas here. If you do a Google search using the term "butane" and then click on "shopping," you'll see what's available. But you can usually find them in the camping products section of stores like OBI or Coop Bau & Hobby. I know that OBI has the Campingaz brand ones (which people often use for their camping cookers).
To upload a photo here on the EF, the way I do it is that first I save the photo to my computer. Then while making the post, I click on the little paper-clip icon up top (above the text box), which then allows me to upload the photo that I want to post. Sometimes I have to re-size it first, though (I use the program "Paint" for that) so that it doesn't appear too large here.