An Induction Cooktop in Action
The pot, not the cooktop, is the source of the heat
with Amy Albert
There's a different way to power your cooking that's not gas, and it's not electric: it's called induction. And suddenly, induction is everywhere, as we recently saw at the annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas. This video, taken at the show, shows a Sears Kenmore Elite Induction Cooktop in action. You'll see that though an induction cooktop looks like an electric smoothtop, it's very different.
Induction is different because the pan -- not the cooktop -- is the actual heat source. Here's how it works: When the cooktop is turned on it supplies a magnetic field, and when the bottom of a metal pan comes in contact with this field, heat is created. This means that the pan, not the cooktop, actually supplies the heat, and it's why the egg you'll see in the video is getting cooked in the pan, but not on the cooktop surface.
There's lots more to learn about induction in the August/September 2005 issue of Fine Cooking (#73).
Video: Gary Junken
An Online Extra to Fine Cooking #73
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