A Guide to Induction Cookware

Most kitchen owners will be familiar with the conventional gas and electric cooktop for cooking. These days, more and more kitchens are fitted with induction cooktops as they are energy efficient and safer for homes with young children. If you’re new to induction cooktops and you’re in the market for induction cookware to complement your brand-new cooktop, you have come to the right place.

What is Induction Cooking?

Induction cooking utilises electromagnetic coils that create magnetic friction to produce the heat when in contact with induction cookware. When the induction cookware is moved away, the heat will gradually dissipate because the cooktop is no longer able to create that friction that generates heat.

Why Induction Cooking?

Home and even restaurant owners are now turning to induction cooking for the following reasons:

• Cooking temperature adjusts quickly and with great accuracy. The moment induction cookware meets the induction cooktop, heat gets generated almost instantaneously cutting down on cooking time.
• It is safer, especially with young children around, as the cooktop surface remains cool to the human touch once the cookware is removed.
• Easy to clean. As the surface remains cool to the touch, it is very easy to clean any oil splatters or dirt right after cooking.
• No heat loss. Heat can only be generated and transferred when the induction cookware is placed directly on the induction cooktop. This allows the heat to be concentrated only on the cookware which means no wasted heat on any of the surrounding areas. No heat loss equates to energy efficiency which results in lower electricity bills!

Tips on Finding Induction Cookware

Unlike conventional cooking, induction cooking requires special induction cookware for the electromagnetic coils to transfer the generated heat accordingly.

Generally, all cast iron cookware is induction cooktop ready. However, you can also opt for non-stick or stainless steel options depending on your cooking style and the recipes you plan to whip up.

When switching to induction cooking, the easiest method to find out if your current cookware is compatible with induction cooktops is to take a magnet (this is the best time to put your fridge magnets to good use!) and place it directly at the bottom of the cookware. If the magnet sticks, your cookware is good to go on top of the induction cooktop.

However, if your magnet prefers to stay put on the fridge, here are some induction cookware that you can consider adding to your collection.