Induction burner woes

[chiffonodd]

My stove/oven is out of commission while a replacement part is on back order, so I've been using a portable induction burner.

The problem? Induction only heats directly above the coil, which causes dumb **** like fond only forming in a perfect ring:

So browning and carmelizing is annoying. Very uneven, hard to control.

It's also killing me trying to simmer a sauce like a bolognese. It's simmering in that perfect ring above the coil, but the rest of the sauce is just lukewarm! I can stick my finger in the pot no problem. Can't be the right way to cook a sauce for three - four hours.

Is there a workaround? Do i need to toss this thing and get one with a bigger coil, or will it just have the same problem?

Pls assist

 

[btbyrd]

You’ll have similar problems with all of the cheap 1800W units. Max Burton make an “XL” unit with the largest coil I‘ve seen on a 1800W, but your cookware will still be too large and poorly conductive. Induction and cast iron aren’t a great paring.
I‘d get an Iwatani FW75 butane burner (high output… decent surface area) to do your initial browning in a large pot and the move the sauce over to a narrower vessel on induction to simmer for hours. Or move it to a big toaster oveny thing.

 

[chiffonodd]

You’ll have similar problems with all of the cheap 1800W units.

So I feared ...

Induction and cast iron aren’t a great paring.

Yeah I tried doing pancakes with that same induction burner using a 14" cast iron skillet the other day. Wasn't a fun time, let's just leave it at that

I‘d get an Iwatani FW75 butane burner (high output… decent surface area) to do your initial browning in a large pot and the move the sauce over to a narrower vessel on induction to simmer for hours.

Solid advice, I might just do that! Thanks much.

 

[WildBoar]

A cast iron simmer plate might help spread it out.

 

[MarcelNL]

I have the same issue on a proper induction hob (Neff) and your issue may well be a mix of a small coil and imperfect for induction pans...

I've thrown out more than a few pans for having a far too smal heated area (combined with poor internal heat conduction) and find that higher-end pans made for induction really work far better.

 

[Pisau]

Is there a workaround? Do i need to toss this thing and get one with a bigger coil, or will it just have the same problem?

A bigger coil might not help. Mine has fairly large (at least 200mm) diameter coils divided into two. The smaller coil is nested inside the larger one. The latter won't heat up on the lowest power for simmering, so I use a SimmerMat. It is rather slippery for stirring, but it works as advertised. I also have an iwatani for really tricky low simmer like tamagoyaki, but I generally cbb.

 

[Helicon]

A larger coil wouldn't be enough to compensate for the shortcomings of cast iron as a conductor. The Max Burton XL model that @btbyrd mentioned is probably the best inexpensive PIC available in the US, but even it struggles with cast iron – enameled or otherwise. The issue here is cookware/cooktop mismatch. If you want to be able to use induction effectively, you'll need to find yourself some thicker disc-based cookware such as Fissler or Paderno, or hybrid cookware such as Lagostina or Cristel.

 

[coxhaus]

Sounds kind like we are getting to the point where we are going to need different pans for induction and gas maybe even electric.

 

[chiffonodd]

A larger coil wouldn't be enough to compensate for the shortcomings of cast iron as a conductor. The Max Burton XL model that @btbyrd mentioned is probably the best inexpensive PIC available in the US, but even it struggles with cast iron – enameled or otherwise. The issue here is cookware/cooktop mismatch. If you want to be able to use induction effectively, you'll need to find yourself some thicker disc-based cookware such as Fissler or Paderno, or hybrid cookware such as Lagostina or Cristel.

Yeah I've got a vollrath ~11" skillet that's basically a stainless pan welded to a thick ass aluminum disc, seems to work much better. Annoying about the cast iron as i love the LC dutch oven