Burners: from pancake burner to triple crown

Today we will talk about the burners. Which burners to choose, how their abilities differ, and whether they differ at all.

Burners or burners?

In terms of practicality, gas burners are more convenient and economical. When the flame is lit, it instantly begins to heat. The regulation of its intensity is clear and very flexible. All of the heat generated by the combustion is transferred to the cookware. Turning off the gas supply means no more heating. It’s very simple and straightforward.

It’s different with electricity. Many people still use the classic iron “pancakes”, their unhurried heating and cooling spoiled the opinion of electric stoves. But modern electric burners increasingly aspire to the near-perfect properties of gas burners.

It is worth paying attention to combined stoves, equipped with both gas burners and electric burners.

If you have gas in your house

The basic rule for using burners is that the diameter of the burner must be equal to or smaller than the diameter of the cookware. The flame should not go beyond the contours of the bottom, let alone go up the walls of the cookware.

The small burner has a diameter of about four centimeters. Some manufacturers give them names, such as “silent flame” with Ariston. Burner is designed for cooking in a small pot: espresso coffee maker, pot, ladle. Low intensity of heating makes it possible to melt butter, chocolate, slowly boil porridge.

On the contrary – a large burner must heat intensely, quickly bringing it to a boil. It’s used for cooking in large pots, a pressure cooker, a bowl of jam, or a wide pancake pan are all appropriate. To make the work of the burner more energetic, some manufacturers equip them with a double or triple row of flames. One burner essentially works “for two or three.”. Heating becomes more powerful and boiling of water or broth is much faster.

Burners with an oval shape look extremely strange. Their trio is installed in a row on the Ariston C 659. These burners are reversible, and can be used in pairs or all three at the same time for roasting on a tray or in a crockpot.

Usually the knob itself is blocked, that is, it becomes impossible to turn it.

A blue light for a delicious dinner and a yellow one for gas

Normal burner operation produces an even flame, blue in color, steady and without pulsation. If the flame changes from blue to yellow and red, the gas is not burning completely. Could be a faulty burner.

When the flame fluctuates when the windows are closed, and it happens at the same time on all burners, the problem is most likely in the gas composition or pressure. Yellow flame of the burner is a signal to call a specialist of Gorgaz.

If you smell gas in the kitchen, you must immediately turn off the burners and turn off the gas supply. Do not turn on electric appliances. You need to ventilate the kitchen and call the emergency gas service.

When pancakes are not the best choice

On electric stoves, a set of burners also most often consists of four. Variations with diameters and different power may vary with each model. Some burners come in four different sizes. Others prefer the classic set: two medium-power, low-power and high-power burners. The use of glass ceramic led to the development of burners with double and even triple loop.

The user can choose the burner with the most suitable diameter. One and the same burner has two or three possible sizes. And the additional heating zone is not always round, as we are used to. Some manufacturers make it oval. The shape of an oval burner is designed for cooking in a duck-bowl or a special pan for fish.

Three types of burners are placed on the enameled plate.

1. Conventional. These are burners, popularly called “pancakes”. They heat up slowly, are capable of overheating and cool down slowly. The inertness of these burners is often used by housewives – they turn them off in advance or heat food on the cooled burners. Despite the ingenuity of users, these burners are uncomfortable. Pancakes are heated by a metal coil inside the burner. Reaches maximum power in about 10 minutes.

2. Express burners. Have more power than the traditional burners, but are no different in their design. Heating to the maximum power burner takes 5-7 minutes. Express burners are marked with a red dot in the middle, so they are easy to distinguish from other burners. There is usually only one such burner on the stove, the others are very common.

3. Automatic. In the central part of the burner is built in a sensor that determines the temperature of the dish. The burner is self-sufficient: when setting the operating mode, the main mode is selected at once, on which the dish will be cooked after boiling. The burner switches to maximum power, brings the food to the boil, and switches to the mode you select. If you remove the cookware from the burner, it will not overheat and therefore will not break. Automatic burners are marked with a white dot in the middle.

Pancake burners are made of cast iron. It is a strong but fragile material. Sharp temperature drops can cause them to crack.

Ceramic glass cooktop has appeared in our homes relatively recently. Owners of such devices appreciated the simplicity, beauty and convenience of glass ceramic. Burners are located under the cooking surface. Cooking is mediated by vitrified clay.

It guides the heat very well vertically, that is, in the direction you want it to heat. And worse horizontally, this means that the space around the burner is heated to a lesser degree. Due to these properties of glass ceramic, the coefficient of usefulness of the panel increases, the heat is not wasted on heating areas that are not involved in cooking.

Ceramic glass cooktops can be built with three types of burners.

1. Regular cooking zones. The same metal spirals are used here, but instead of cast iron, the heat is transferred to the glass-ceramic. That’s why heating is faster. Traditional burners are also very inert, slow to heat up and slow to cool down. Stoves equipped with these burners are the cheapest.

2. Hi-light burners. Heating element is a ribbon heating element with strips that stick tightly together. Heat transfer between burner and cookware is intense – over the entire area of contact. Infinitely variable power control. Maximum power is reached in seconds. Hi-light burners last 10 to 15 years.

3. Halogen burners. They differ in the heating principle. The heating element is a tube filled with dilute halogen vapor. A nichrome coil is embedded in the tube. When electricity is connected, light and infrared waves are emitted. Heating in 1-2 seconds – instantaneous.

The peculiarity of burners are low heat losses and uniform distribution of heat over the whole bottom of the cookware. Cookware stops heating at the same second after being switched off. Have a short service life, about 7-8 years. Halogen burners are the closest to gas burners in terms of their properties.

4. Induction hobs. No heating element as such. Heat energy is generated in the thickness of the base of the pot. To do this, under the glass they place an induction coil unit that emits an electromagnetic field. Radiation penetrates the bottom of the cookware and heats it by resisting the eddy currents.

As can be seen, heat loss with this heating method is minimal. The surface of the stove remains cold or rather it is heated slightly, but by the cooker . To demonstrate this miracle, the manufacturers often put half a frying pan on the panel, breaking an egg. A piece falls on the griddle and starts to fry, while another piece which falls on the surface of the burner remains raw. The surface is easier to keep clean, spilled soup or porridge will not stick to the cold surface and can be cleaned easily.

No dangerous situation can occur, even if a spoon is left on the surface, as a special detector blocks heating when the diameter of objects on the burner is less than 12 cm.

Efficiency of induction is comparable to a gas burner, with all the advantages of ceramic glass. Induction has the widest power range, which varies quite smoothly, as there are a large number of settings 12-14 . Heating power is set very precisely. Addition, reduction of power is immediately reflected in the temperature at the bottom of the pot or pan. Heating to boiling can be called rapid, it is two times faster than on gas.

Minimum power is very useful for steaming food for a long time, an effect achievable only with a steam bath. When you turn off the burner, the heat energy disappears immediately there is residual heat in the bottom of the cookware for a while . Induction burners are economical, consuming several times less energy than other electric burners. Stoves equipped with induction are among the most expensive.