Ceramic Cooktops, Question for the Chefs of the house!

[Just Dallas]

Removed

[TomC]

With any electric cooktop, your resticted to the powerpole or running the generator.  You better have a quiet generator for those times you don't have 50amp service (if you have a 240vac cooktop).  Batteries with inverter will work for a short amount of time, but for serious cooking, you'll need a power source.

I have a regular Atwood 3 burner propane stove with oven.  The front burner is 9000btu and the two rear are 7500btu.  The oven has a 10,000btu burner.  To duplicate that electrically, that would equate to about 9800 watts worth of power.  I also do not like propane, but I succumbed to it because of the cost of going with the Aqua Hot and electric range (about $10,000 compared to $1,000 for the propane).  One of the ways I kept it as simple and safe it to have the 20 gal frame mounted propane tank directly below both the stove and oven, that are mounted next to each other to keep the propane gas lines to a minimum.  Plus I have an electric solenoid on the gas outlet so when not in use, I simply turn off the gas supply.  As standby I have a single burner electric cooktop and a single propane burner you screw into a 1lb propane tank (good for cooking bacon outdoors). Good Luck, TomC

[ruthi]

My 2 cents---------I have had a ceramic cooktop for about 5 yrs now. I LOVE it. It is so easy to clean. Anything gets burned on, use a flat razor blade on it, and comes right off. I use the cleaner every few uses. I would not like the induction, as I like to use the pans I want to use, not what I HAVE to use. Good luck!

[bevans6]

Thread drift warning- blame it on Dreamscape, and it's his thread anyway...

A hob is a mythical spirit creature that lives in the flame of the hearth in British mythology.  The hearth of the home, where meals were cooked, was called the hob...  In current British language, a hob is any cooktop, but perhaps more often they mean a single burner portable cooktop.  

The induction cooktops we are talking about that are three or four burner are probably most often 240 volt, 40 amp to get all four burners going, and are really for home use.  A pair of single burner 120 volt units could be up to 1800 watts each on individual 20 amp breakers, but more realistically a pair of lower temp 1400 watt units running on 15 amp breakers would be the ticket.

So you have your answer...if you want the best in electric cookery, go for the induction hob!  I like to be able to cook silently while boondocking, so I like the propane.

Brian

Brian

[cody]

Brian, I always wondered about the history of the term 'hob' now expiring minds want to know about 'hob knob' lol, ( now I hate myself, I really do, that was bad even for me, I've reached new depths lol)

[Just Dallas]

Removed

[bevans6]

This time it's Cody's fault:

Word History:  Hobnobbing with our social betters can be a hit-or-miss proposition, a fact that has an etymological justification. The verb hobnob originally meant "to drink together" and occurred as a varying phrase, hob or nob, hob-a-nob, or hob and nob, the first of which is recorded in 1763. This phrasal form reflects the origins of the verb in similar phrases that were used when two people toasted each other. The phrases were probably so used because hob is a variant of hab and nob of nab, which are probably forms of have and its negative. In Middle English, for example, one finds the forms habbe, "to have," and nabbe, "not to have." Hab or nab, or simply hab nab, thus meant "get or lose, hit or miss," and the variant hob-nob also meant "hit or miss." Used in the drinking phrase, hob or nob probably meant "give or take"; from a drinking situation hob nob spread to other forms of chumminess.

Honestly, what did you think it meant?   

[cody]

I'm baffled, humbled and in other words, huh?  And now back to our sponcer lol.

[Dreamscape]

The Max Burton seems pretty popular, good price on eBay too!

I think we'll go with two single 120v HOB's ( or whatever you want to call them ) and drop them in a box of some sort in the countertop.

Although the decision hasn't been made yet, Becky's working!

At least now I know what HOB means, I think!

[DaveG]

I have always thought mine was a dog, so this morning I boiled 2 quarts of water on what I believe is the 1,800 watt 'burner' circle and it took more than 15 minutes to begin to boil, not a rolling boil...not even enough of a boil that you would begin to add your pasta or oatmeal or whatever...and this is with the cookware provided my my local appliance vendor!

I wish I had gas.

[Runcutter]

We've had a ceramic cooktop in the house since we moved in, about 10 years.  I'd much rather have the fine control of gas (I'm the chef), but this is an all-electric neighborhood. 

I'm with Ruthi.  Since I can't have gas (straight line, insert joke here) - I like the ceramic cooktop.  Easy to clean, razor blade on slight angle when necessary, polish every couple of months.  We're still working off the first normal-size bottle of polish.  There's noplace for any spillovers to go (down to the coils, like an old electric).  I don't know about induction, never used it.  I have good cookware, and wouldn't want to have to replace it.  My intention when I bought my cookware was to have it last my lifetime.

Downsides, in my opinion, a little hard to control to get exactly the heat I want, and (as mentioned), cookware must be flat bottomed.  My good 3 quart saucepan just developed a bit of a curve in one plane, I'm going to have to take it out to the workshop to see if I can flatten it.

Arthur     

[Dreamscape]

I think we're getting closer to a decision. It looks like two Max Burton's and two interface disks, so we can use our standard flat bottom cookware. Anybody use these disks?

[Len Silva]

This time it's Cody's fault:

Word History:  Hobnobbing with our social betters can be a hit-or-miss proposition, a fact that has an etymological justification. The verb hobnob originally meant "to drink together" and occurred as a varying phrase, hob or nob, hob-a-nob, or hob and nob, the first of which is recorded in 1763. This phrasal form reflects the origins of the verb in similar phrases that were used when two people toasted each other. The phrases were probably so used because hob is a variant of hab and nob of nab, which are probably forms of have and its negative. In Middle English, for example, one finds the forms habbe, "to have," and nabbe, "not to have." Hab or nab, or simply hab nab, thus meant "get or lose, hit or miss," and the variant hob-nob also meant "hit or miss." Used in the drinking phrase, hob or nob probably meant "give or take"; from a drinking situation hob nob spread to other forms of chumminess.

Honestly, what did you think it meant?   

I think you should move that the to the "Dallas Thread Drift".

Actually, I'm fascinated by word and phrase etymology.   Can you tell me where you found that information.

[bevans6]

I just googled it, and that was one of the first ones I found.  Now I can't find the actual site again!  I thought it was so obtusely written that Cody would appreciate it, so i copied and pasted it!

I like word origins too, actually.  I have a lawyer I work with that often uses words I have to research to know what the heck he is trying to tell me...

Brian

[Ed Hackenbruch]

That is so he can charge you twice as much.