Electric Stoves and cast iron

[Lilou]

I have an electric cooktop too. I much prefer cooking on gas, it's quicker and easier to control the temperature. If I were going to live here forever, I'd change it to gas.

As for the cast iron panini grill - whoa - those are pricey. I use these cast iron "hand grillers". I don't really know what they are called, but here is a photo. Guess we could call them the poor man's panini. LOL

 

[go2]

I prefer to use a gas stove as it affords greater control of temperature. However, the house I live in now has an electric stove which I use with a cast iron skillet. I use it in the morning to fry a couple of slices of apple wood bacon, then I will fry a piece of grass fed sirloin for today's lunch. The pan heats up in a few minutes and then I sear the meat on both sides, which holds in the juices. After I sear the meat on both sides, I turn it once. I have found the meat is more tender if I don't flip it a lot. After I turn the steak I put a pinch of celtic sea salt on the meat and wait a few minutes until it is medium rare and then pour a little black tea into the pan to quickly cool the pan and meat and form a delicious au jus for dipping. I have not used a grill for thirty years, since I discovered the efficiency of cast iron skillets. :)

 

[Guardian]

I have an electric cooktop too. I much prefer cooking on gas, it's quicker and easier to control the temperature. If I were going to live here forever, I'd change it to gas.

Getting gas in the mountains is VERY expensive due to the truck delivery costs, propane is almost almost twice the cost of electricity. :(

As for the cast iron panini grill - whoa - those are pricey. I use these cast iron "hand grillers". I don't really know what they are called, but here is a photo.

Do these get hot enough to cook the top of the meat? Do you set them on top of the bottom cast iron grill to heat up first?

 

[Lilou]

Do these get hot enough to cook the top of the meat? Do you set them on top of the bottom cast iron grill to heat up first?

Yes, set them in the bottom of the cast iron skillet/griddle to heat up. They hold the heat pretty well once they are hot. I have not used them alot for steak, so you may still want to flip the meat at least once during the cook.

I hear you on expense of putting in a gas cooktop. That's mainly why I'm still cooking on electric.

 

[pete02]

Guardian I'm not sure if the price differs according to where you live but I was just on Lowe's website and you can get a brand new electric range for $500. bucks. Even glass top if you want. They all seem to be pretty standard 30" sizes and I'm sure a new up-to-date unit will definitely speed up your cook times.

 

[mcb]

Guardian I'm not sure if the price differs according to where you live but I was just on Lowe's website and you can get a brand new electric range for $500. bucks. Even glass top if you want. They all seem to be pretty standard 30" sizes and I'm sure a new up-to-date unit will definitely speed up your cook times.

My only experience with glass-top burners is while traveling, but I didn't care for them at all. They can be very slow to change temperature when you adjust the setting. When we are traveling and staying for any length of time we look for a place with a full kitchen, so that we aren't dependent upon restaurants for food. These kitchens often have glass-top burners and they nearly always seem to feature aluminum cookware. I'm going to have to start packing my cast iron skillet, I guess. Which will then take forever and a day to heat up on the glass-top burner. I should look for a travel-sized one.

 

[ScottD]

Usually Lowe's stores on Friday evenings set out their dent and scratch specials. I've seen a handful of decent deals but they go fast.

Just to add my two cents on cooking on electric. I use an electric jenn-air glasstop. I have two burners that are glass top and I also have the built in electric grill. I actually use the glass top with a cast iron or grill pan more often than the grill-top. The glass top heats quickly and once the cast iron is hot, it will stay hot.

For cooking meats (steaks) I only flip once. I usually cook by time or visually. My preference is to cook a steak until it starts to bleed through on the top a little, flip and then sear the other side. Flipping it over constantly usually makes the meat tough. Once it's done cooking you have to let meat rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Another trick to cooking meats that I picked up, is if you have a cheaper cut, set it out at room temperate for about an hour and coat it with a glaze of salt. The salt draws out any water so that when you cook it, you're not steaming it. Knock some of the salt off and toss it on to a hot pan of your choice.

 

[Guardian]

Guardian I'm not sure if the price differs according to where you live but I was just on Lowe's website and you can get a brand new electric range for $500. bucks. Even glass top if you want. They all seem to be pretty standard 30" sizes and I'm sure a new up-to-date unit will definitely speed up your cook times.

I think the price varies according to location? The cheapest one I'm seeing is over $600.00 ...I think it might have to do with the cost of shipping to the mountains?

I'm also thinking we might want to get a nice, high end stove that's 2-3 years old rather than a new cheapie. That's usually what I do with appliances and they tend to last longer...and we can get parts on-line easily for name brands.

I'm wondering about the whole "glass top" thing too. "Glass top + cast iron + 18 year old young man" just doesn't sound like a good plan.

Considering some of the banging I've heard come from the kitchen, I'm thinking we'll do better with individual burners like we have now.

Edited to add: Ok, my bad, now I see the cheaper ones ...it's called a "range"

 

[3DStudent]

Edited to add: Ok, my bad, now I see the cheaper ones ...it's called a "range"

Yeah you can get the regular units, which is the stoves on top, and the oven in the middle. And then you can get what is called a "cooktop", which is just a flat panel of burner elements with no oven.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Edited to add: Ok, my bad, now I see the cheaper ones ...it's called a "range"

Yeah you can get the regular units, which is the stoves on top, and the oven in the middle. And then you can get what is called a "cooktop", which is just a flat panel of burner elements with no oven.

I have a glass cooktop, I actually hate it, it's awful to clean. Like cleaning a greasy window. I have been using my mother's heavy old cast-iron skillet and a slightly smaller one I got at Wal-Mart. You have to be really careful with cast-iron on the glasstops. You can't slide them back and forth and must always pick them up to reposition them on the burner or you'll stratch the glass. Also, there is the possibility you can crack the glass if you drop the skillet or set it down too hard. The burners also stay hot for a while after you shut them off, which means you need to wait till it cools off to clean the stove. Also, you can burn yourself if you touch the burner part before it cools down.

They still make cheaper electric ranges with the coil burners which don't require as much "kid glove" handling.

 

[Guardian]

They still make cheaper electric ranges with the coil burners which don't require as much "kid glove" handling.

Yup, and we just got one...it's this model except in black to match the fridge

_http://www.lowes.com/pd_335632-83-JBP23DRWW_4294788366+5003701_4294937087_?productId=3341124&Ns=p_product_brand_name|0||p_product_description|0&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_200%2B400_4294788366%2B5003701_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_brand_name|0||p_product_description|0&facetInfo=$200%20-%20$400

It's got all the basic stuff my roommate wanted (she does most of the cooking) without any of the extra frills. and it's gotten decent reviews for the price.

Even with a new stove, I'm really, REALLY going to miss my grilling machine..I've been dependent on one for at least 15 years
I don't think there's ANYTHING that's quick and easy that isn't going to kill me. :(

 

[pete02]

Congrats Guardian. It looks just like the one I have except mines made by whirlpool and its beige. Actually they're all made by the same company, they just put different labels on them. Either way I'm sure it will speed up your cook time. I hope you and your roommate enjoy! ;)

 

[Mr.Anderson]

I like to start off with a high setting to heat up my iron fast. I also throw meat on (except bacon) to brown it then turn the heat down just before I flip it. I only flip once. I think you get more tender meat that way.

After having the experience of cooking with wood, I hope I never have to do otherwise. It's the best!

 

[Laura]

I like to start off with a high setting to heat up my iron fast. I also throw meat on (except bacon) to brown it then turn the heat down just before I flip it. I only flip once. I think you get more tender meat that way.

After having the experience of cooking with wood, I hope I never have to do otherwise. It's the best!

We just do a lot of our meat on the grill outside. Sometimes, even when it is raining and cold! Just put up the patio umbrella and wear a coat and gloves to cook!

We have both gas and electric cook top: four gas burners and two electric. Then we have a spare glass-top electric stove (apartment size) in the cleaning room next to the kitchen where we also have our freezer. During holidays, I may use the oven in the small one too.

I've found that the electric burners are useful for some things, like maintaining a steady, very low heat, under a pressure cooker, or a very, very high heat under a really big pot of something or other. (With generally 12 to 15 people in residence at any given time, we cook in big batches!)

Having said that, I prefer the gas burners for just about everything else. We have two of the small tanks that we take in and exchange for full ones about once every two months or so. We've talked about setting up a big tank and having the gas delivered, but I really don't have anyplace to put a big tank and I don't like big trucks coming in the driveway and messing stuff up. So we'll just continue to fetch our own cooking gas. The small tanks last well enough even with the volume of cooking we do.

Oh, and we have also cooked on our wood burning stove from time to time.

 

[Guardian]

Our new stove arrived today ...almost two weeks later than promised so I'm getting a 20% discount when I go back to the store with my receipt. What's interesting is that when the Lowes guy started to pull out the old one, it shot out sparks that almost reached the ceiling. In hindsight, I should probably have hit the breaker BEFORE the fireworks display...but neither of us thought of it, because they usually don't do that, you just unplug them..
Once he got it out and looked in the back, his exact words were "This is a fire waiting to happen"

It wasn't just the wires under the burners that had gotten brittle, the wires into the main power supply were totally shot as well. The delivery man also noted that our stove was older than him, he was born in 1986, and the stove was born in 1982.

So a BIG "Thank you" to Matt and Redfox.

If you hadn't pointed out the Teflon problem with my beloved George Foreman Grill, I probably wouldn't have examined and replaced a stove that could have caught fire any day now.

Oh, and as a bonus it has a built in digital timer so I don't have to listen to the VERY ANNOYING "tick, tick, tick" kitchen timer my roommate was using.

:) :) :) :)