cheap IKEA single induction hob (portable) £35+ £4 delivery

[nowty]

Hmmmmmm, am I going to have to eat humble pie.

It fits nicely onto my existing gas hob so nicely under the extractor fan, it hardly makes any noise, its easy to control the heat and very importantly if you move your pan off the induction hob to swirl the oil around it turns back on at same heat level the moment you put the pan back.

Annoyingly (like Stinsy mentioned) it does modulate the power by switching full on and full off which is not inverter friendly, are the any others that don't do this ? But its no worse than SWMBO steam Ironing station, so maybe I have to live with a little peak rate leakage.

I do get the advantage of you can control the heat at low levels and it passed my fried egg test first time. Certainly promising, but it will need more than one fried egg to fully convince me. I shall persevere with my testing.

[Stinsy]

Annoyingly (like Stinsy mentioned) it does modulate the power by switching full on and full off which is not inverter friendly, are the any others that don't do this?

I think that is just a function of the technology.

BTW I employ an IR thermometer to ensure the pan/oil is at the perfect temp for a fried egg.

[Bugtownboy]

BTW I employ an IR thermometer to ensure the pan/oil is at the perfect temp for a fried egg.

C’mon Stinsy, where’s the sport in that

[nowty]

Tried it this evening for a 4 egg, cheese, chicken and red pepper Omelette in a larger pan.

Embarrassingly, as easy and as good as cooking with gas and I have to admit the pan heats up quicker too.

And like Stinsy I also use an IR thermometer.

[Mr Gus]

Well I didn't fry an egg per-se
I did however sous vide some thin pork & pan finished it before putting it sliced, a poached egg, greens & noodles together in a bento box for todays "kiddo" school lunch.

Heat came up really fast to butter brown the pork, (32 cm wok) faster than my portable gas stove & the 2 previous hobs, lifted to crisp the residual edge fat with tongs which was faster to render than normal .. very good so far as i'm always in a hurry to remove a sous vide steak from immersion, drain, pat dry & pan finish it, this adds speed to the process before loss of residual warmth from the steak.
(cooking juices to "monsieur le velcro" the french bulldog)

Will do an oversized proper stir fry shortly (1/2 a pack of kale) & see how it reacts (the tefal wok was good but too small for all the assorted veggies thus the biggest modern one we could find)

Fan noise was minimal (pan sizzle is louder)

I like that you can go back from on level 1 to 9 by pressing the minus button (& so on) & the heat cut out as mentioned by nowty when you lift the pan the magnetic contact breaks, as does the power, impressed.

[Mr Gus]

No time for pictures (apologies)
Meat was from Morrisons.

Cooked at 130 F / 54.4 C (no stress on the local grid as a result I presume)

1 x thick bavette steak (rag end of sirloin) "blue" (sous vide) ..the French would be proud
1 x thick bavette steak medium rare (sous vide)
1 x supermarket rump ..medium, because the 45 mins turned into 3 1/2 hours later (sous vide)

Heat up on the induction to sizzle was 30-40 seconds on level 5 before a paper towel pat dry steak was flung in the wok for a bit of char.
40 seconds each side gave nice finish (maximum)

Wife is very impressed. (she finishes them after I cook em, ..I always produce too much smoke)

Stir fry next time.

Massive time saver potential when bringing a meal together, normally I have time to pat down all the steaks prior to pan acquiring temperature, this time it was one (& only just)

The inverter modulation aspect needs posing to manufacturers for obvious reasons.
Apologies for not having a flir available.

[nowty]

Last night on the induction hob were salmon fillets, really easy to do.



Also I have used it to boil pans of potatoes and vegetables and heats up in a similar time to my large gas burner. So what I have been doing is initially using the induction hob on full power to heat up to boiling pans of potatoes and vegetables, then I transfer them to the gas hob at low heat to simmer.

In that way I reduce the amount of gas I use but I still manage to cook a main meal with several pans with just the single induction hob.

[nowty]

Todays meal was a stress test of my induction hob as I cooked my signature dish of Special Fried Rice in a wok. It required maximum power for the whole cook.

Still as good as gas without the blast of heat on your face.

[Mr Gus]

Do you dry your freshly cooked rice before you fry it?
See here..

https://www.seriouseats.com/perfect-egg-fried-rice

This is one waiting for me to hit in the big wok & see the difference.
For those wondering about the necessity for full heat throughout, that's how it's meant to be on gas as well.

[nowty]

Do you dry your freshly cooked rice before you fry it?
See here..

https://www.seriouseats.com/perfect-egg-fried-rice

This is one waiting for me to hit in the big wok & see the difference.
For those wondering about the necessity for full heat throughout, that's how it's meant to be on gas as well.

I went on a Hot & Spicy cooking course about 10 years ago taught by someone who had spent some time learning the skills in Thailand. At the time you had to buy some of the ingredients from a proper Chinese wholesaler to get the real deal, but I've noticed some of the decent stuff has made it into mainstream supermarkets like Sainsburys in the international isle.

Anyway the secret for a stir fry with rice is to pre-cook the rice and it must be fluffed up and COLD before adding to your stirfry, otherwise it goes stodgy. And the proper way of cooking the rice in the first place is,

1) Use quality basmati, nothing else comes close and NEVER use easy cook rice, it just aint the same.
2) Wash the rice several times to get rid of the excess starch, again to prevent it going stodgy.
3) Never leave the rice to soak, some cook books say do this but the grains just break up and it goes stodgy.
4) Add a reasonable amount of oil (I use walnut oil, healthy and a nice nutty flavour).
5) Add slightly more volume of water than the rice to the rice and heat until boiling, I also add a cardiman, clove, bay leaf and 1 teaspoon of salt per 100g of dry rice.
6) Simmer on very low heat for 15 mins or until the water is absorbed.
7) If your doing rice for a normal meal, leave in the closed pan for 20 mins with heat off (very important), then fluff up the rice under a little heat for another couple of mins, then its done.
8) If your doing a stirfry with the rice, then you must leave it at least an hour or two to cool down before re-cooking it in a wok with your stir fry.