Fire, Good

Saucyman, Gas or Electric? – Flamer

Gas burners emit a heat of 3000ºf (1600 C), about 1000 degrees hotter than traditional coil electric burners. Unfortunately, neither gas nor electric is that efficient – according to the Department of Energy, gas ranges transfer only about 30 - 40% of the energy to the cooking process. Electric burners are about 70% efficient. (The electric-powered induction cooking surfaces are the best of all - using 90% of the consumed energy for cooking. Since induction ranges are infrequent, we will talk about them on another day.)

After accounting for energy efficiency, electricity provides more consistent, cost-effective heat. This fact does little to deter high-end ranges, the ones with 6 burners delivering over 800,000,000 BTUs of flamage. They are the SUVs of the kitchen. People can talk all they want about the 4-wheel drive, hauling capability and safety features but seriously if you drive on flat streets that are well maintained - do you really need something that gets the mileage of a tank? Just as an insane amount of heat doesn’t matter when you microwave stuff most of the time.

Wolf or any other conspicuous appliance, no matter how well made, delivers too much. It is good to know your stove is capable of burning a hole directly into the ozone but how often do you need that much cooking capability at home – I cook all the time and I could get by easily with 2 burners and a teakettle. The one thing these gas ranges provide is an abundance of heat when you need it.

It is called recovery time - it is how quickly your pasta water returns to a boil after the noodles are dropped in or how quickly your wok/stir-fry returns to a hot temperature. This is where gas heat pays dividends; it is the reason the expression is cooking with gas. Because it burns hotter, gas heat quickly restores cooking temperatures to their rightful place – a quick recovery time for potatoes means fries cook in rather than absorb it: Crisp warm fry v. greasy fry.

This ability to heat pans up quickly is only a superpower up to a point, once water is boiling, all gas in the world isn’t going to raise the water above 212º; you are either over heating your pan or that heat is escaping from under the pan and warming the room.

Considering the number one issue facing home cooks is too much heat I would normally say that electric is the way to go, but getting the contents of a pan back to the proper cooking temp can make the difference in a craft where a 5 degree difference can dramatically change the results. Unless you can get an induction cooktop, I vote for gas.