Home cook shares surprising takeaways after first time cooking with next-gen stove: 'It is crazy powerful'

Induction cooking is all the epicurean rage these days, it would seem. But it's new for many at-home chefs, so sometimes, during the learning curve, mistakes are made. 

One popcorn enthusiast posted on Reddit about an experience with a new induction burner. 

"I decided to christen it by making popcorn in my brand-new stainless-steel popcorn popper. I started it out on 10, just like I did with our gas stove. The oil was smoking in seconds," the Redditor wrote in the r/inductioncooking subreddit.

"Whoa, it popped so fast and was way too hot. Lots of burned, unpopped kernels. Next time, I'll start the burner a lot lower."

Serious Eats explains that the way induction cooking works is "when you turn an induction burner on, an electric current runs through a metal coil beneath the glass surface, creating an electromagnetic field. This creates atomic-level vibrations in your pan, which causes friction and heats the pan from the inside out."

The burner itself doesn't get hot, only the cookware, as long as it's magnetic. And it gets hot fast.

Switching to induction cooking is both time-efficient and energy-efficient. No heat waste is produced, so people save money on utilities, and food cooks more rapidly than with traditional methods. 

According to Consumer Reports, "Induction stoves are up to 10 percent more energy-efficient than conventional electric smoothtop stoves and about three times more efficient than gas stoves. And compared with gas, they're better for indoor air quality."

Also, Consumer Reports adds, cooking is easier because of the perfectly even distribution of heat, and safer because if there's no cookware on the stove, nothing gets hot. So there's no risk in accidentally turning on a burner.

Comments on the post were good-natured and supportive.

What factor would make you most likely to get an induction stove? Energy savings 💰 Faster cook time ⏱️ Cleaner air when cooking 😷 Government incentives 🇺🇸 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"Yep! And this is how we all learned," wrote one person.

"Once I learned about how bad a natural gas stove top was, I picked up an induction burner ... And I have found that if it's on maximum level, it's producing the heat rate of a commercial gas burner …  it is crazy powerful," said another.

A few people said they only use their induction burners on high when they want to boil water fast. 

"I almost always start the burner out on high…" someone joked. "Also, I'm almost always turning on the stove to boil water, so there's that."

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