What Type of Pans for a Radiant Cooktop?
Radiant cooktops, also known as glass-ceramic cooktops, feature electric heating elements beneath their smooth glass surfaces. As you switch on each heating element, the energy radiates outward, both into your pan and out to the rest of the cooktop. Radiant cooktops do not have cookware requirements as stringent as those of induction cooktops, although they look similar. However, other concerns must be addressed when selecting proper cookware for them. Does this Spark an idea?
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Sizing
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Proper pan sizing is a special consideration when shopping for appropriate cookware for radiant cooktops, according to Dr. Leona K. Hawks, housing and equipment specialist at the Utah State University Cooperative Extension. Choose cookware that is similar in size to each heating element on your radiant cooktop. If your cookware is too large, radiant cooktops run the risk of cracking due to overheating. If your cookware is too small, as with other conventional styles of cooktop, heating energy will be lost. This will harm neither your cooktop nor your cookware, but will result in slower cooking times and higher electric bills.
Color, Texture and Shape
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Dark cookware with a rougher rather than smoother finish is more absorptive of radiant heat. This can lead to subtle gains in cooking efficiency, but does not mean that you cannot choose other types of cookware for your radiant cooktop. Shape is a much more important consideration. To cook efficiently, your cookware should feature a flat bottom. This will make it easier to ensure that the entire surface of the pan bottom heats evenly. Visually, you can confirm your pans are centered over their heat sources with flat-bottomed pans. This is much less easy with pans that have purposely rounded bottoms. Discard or repair pots and pans that have dented bottoms, as they will not conduct heat evenly into your food.
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Materials
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Since glass-ceramic radiant cooktops work slowly, choose cookware that conducts heat well to make up for this inefficiency. Cookware made of glass or a glass-ceramic blend is a poor conductor of heat. Stainless steel, when it is not sandwiched with more conductive materials, is also a poor conductor of heat. Cast iron is slightly better, but its virtue is that it retains heat well and can therefore help you cook using residual heat after you turn your radiant cooktop off. Copper is the best conductor of heat that is currently used in cooking materials. However, because it can interact badly with some foods, choose cookware that only has copper on the bottom and/or outside, not anywhere that has contact with food. Aluminum is also a good conductor of heat, but it reacts badly with acidic foods, so use it with caution.
Handles
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When selecting cookware for your radiant cooktop, keep in mind that the glass surrounding each heating element will get very hot. Since this is the case, the handles of your cookware may also get very hot. If you use oven mitts or some other means of protecting your hands as a matter of course, this will not matter. However, if you prefer not to use oven mitts because of their bulk, choose cookware with handles that stay cool. If you already have cookware that does not have this feature, kitchen gadget retailers sell stay-cool rubberized handles that can be used on any pot or pan.
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References
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