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Best brand for fridge, stove, dishwasher, hood....

tattersall

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We have a ventahood and like it a lot (replaced a defective Best by Broan). It is noisy, but that thing can really suck air.
 

Manton

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Originally Posted by iammatt
I rarely turn my hood on. My Wolf is a Wolf pre-Sub-Zero, and I think they are better than the new ones. Fewer bells and whistles. I'd probably get induction next time, cause it seems cool.

I think you have to have special pans for that.
 

ama

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Originally Posted by Manton
I think you have to have special pans for that.

Most good pans work on induction. Galvanized and aluminum, like All-Clad LTD2, don't though. I have a gas range and a couple standalone induction burners. They are great for stuff like boiling water and applications that require very precise temperature control.
 

itsstillmatt

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Copper doesn't.
frown.gif
 

Manton

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I was told that regular All Clad won't either.

I like gas and would not know how to cook without it.
 

ama

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Originally Posted by iammatt
Copper doesn't.
frown.gif

That is true. But I only have a couple of copper sauciers so it isn't that big a deal for me.
Originally Posted by Manton
I was told that regular All Clad won't either. I like gas and would not know how to cook without it.
Mine does. I have the All-Clad SS line and a few pieces of the new d5 line from William-Sonoma. I use gas at least 85% of the time, but having induction is nice. Le Cruset also works just fine on induction.
 

BP348

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I recently purchased all brand new appliances. Bought all Kenmore and couldn't be happier.

May not be Viking or Sub-zero but Kenmore has always been good for me.

I wish my house had gas, unfortunately in the area I live in it seems like everything is electric.
 

foodguy

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Originally Posted by Douglas
I'm largely inclined to agree with you, but raw power is a big, big deal, is it not?

perhaps there's someone with more of a background in metallurgy out there that can help me out, but as I understand it, the temperature of the pan is determined by the metal it is made from. The amount of BTUs in the burner determines how quickly the pan reaches that temperature. In other words, a 15,000 BTU burner won't get a pan any hotter than a 12,000 BTU burner, but it will get it hot faster. This is convenient (as someone who has spent 15 minutes waiting for a pasta pot to come to the boil) and it does give you more control, but how much that is worth is up to you. The one exception I can think of is if you do a lot of Chinese cooking. I've got a friend who has one of those high-output wokstands and it rocks ... that temperature lag you always get when you add cold vegetables to a hot pan is nonexistent.
 

itsstillmatt

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Originally Posted by foodguy
perhaps there's someone with more of a background in metallurgy out there that can help me out, but as I understand it, the temperature of the pan is determined by the metal it is made from. The amount of BTUs in the burner determines how quickly the pan reaches that temperature. In other words, a 15,000 BTU burner won't get a pan any hotter than a 12,000 BTU burner, but it will get it hot faster. This is convenient (as someone who has spent 15 minutes waiting for a pasta pot to come to the boil) and it does give you more control, but how much that is worth is up to you. The one exception I can think of is if you do a lot of Chinese cooking. I've got a friend who has one of those high-output wokstands and it rocks ... that temperature lag you always get when you add cold vegetables to a hot pan is nonexistent.
This is what I understand as well.
 

Douglas

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I don't have a background in metallurgy necessarily, but I do know a little bit about metals from my business, and I have taken a healthy number of physics classes. No disrespect intended, because you both are extremely knowledgeable about cooking (certainly a lot more knowledgeable than I), but I am fairly certain that you are off the mark here. Ultimately, I suppose it's true that the final temp a pan reaches depends on the metal - an aluminum pan will continue rising in temperature until it reaches its melting point around 1200 degrees F, at which point it will continue absorbing heat energy (latent heat) from your flame without a corresponding rise in temp until it actually begins to melt. Iron won't reach this temperature for another 1,000 degrees or so. But practically speaking, you never come close to either temperature on your stove, so it's irrelevant. And temperature is really only part of the issue - the real issue when cooking is heat. Temperature, to an extent, is a function of heat, but it's the heat that's the core of the issue. As you've alluded, for things like deep frying, chinese food, and anything else where you want a nice strong caramelization on the outside without overdoing it, you need to get as much heat into the food as possible as quickly as possible. And having the initial temp be too high before you put the food in burns the outside before the inside cooks adequately. So as little temp rebound as possible is good, as is pouring all that heat in quickly. In other words, even if you let your wok sit there naked on the burner for 15 minutes on a 12K BTU stove and then tried cooking chinese food, you'd just end up with a smoky, burned mess, and not the crisp but caramelized veggies you were looking for.
 

edmorel

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Originally Posted by Douglas
I don't have a background in metallurgy necessarily, but I do know a little bit about metals from my business, and I have taken a healthy number of physics classes. No disrespect intended, because you both are extremely knowledgeable about cooking (certainly a lot more knowledgeable than I), but I am fairly certain that you are off the mark here.

Ultimately, I suppose it's true that the final temp a pan reaches depends on the metal - an aluminum pan will continue rising in temperature until it reaches its melting point around 1200 degrees F, at which point it will continue absorbing heat energy (latent heat) from your flame without a corresponding rise in temp until it actually begins to melt. Iron won't reach this temperature for another 1,000 degrees or so.

But practically speaking, you never come close to either temperature on your stove, so it's irrelevant. And temperature is really only part of the issue - the real issue when cooking is heat. Temperature, to an extent, is a function of heat, but it's the heat that's the core of the issue.

As you've alluded, for things like deep frying, chinese food, and anything else where you want a nice strong caramelization on the outside without overdoing it, you need to get as much heat into the food as possible as quickly as possible. And having the initial temp be too high before you put the food in burns the outside before the inside cooks adequately. So as little temp rebound as possible is good, as is pouring all that heat in quickly.

In other words, even if you let your wok sit there naked on the burner for 15 minutes on a 12K BTU stove and then tried cooking chinese food, you'd just end up with a smoky, burned mess, and not the crisp but caramelized veggies you were looking for
.



not trolling here, but I really don't know what it is that you are trying to say here nor that you have shown foodguy's thoughts to be wrong. And I am really lost on the bolded part
confused.gif
 

Douglas

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i think foodguy will understand. it's not that complicated. what i am saying is that his point about metal temperature is irrelevant to normal cooking, and that for certain things, just cooking them longer with less heat does not yield the same results as cooking them for shorter periods with greater heat.
 

foodguy

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that's not quite what i was saying. what i was saying was that the effect of higher btus is to let you get to searing temperature more quickly, not to give you a better sear. The other issue is that in most kinds of cooking, the pan is not the final conductor of heat ... it's the cooking medium (water or oil). With water, it's clear ... no matter how many btus you pump into the pan, the temperature is never going to get above 212. with oil, it's not so clear. but most cooking oils have smoking points in the 400-degree range, so effectively you're never going to get the pan much hotter than that. at least that's how it seems to me.
 

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