Induction Cooking: Join the Resistance

These cooktops work by heating not the element under a pan, but rather the pan itself. Anney and Lauren explore the electromagnetic science and history of induction cooking.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to Sabor production of iHeart Radio. I'm
Annie Reese and I'm more and welcome um, and today
we have an episode for you about induction cooking. Yes,
which was spoiled a couple of episodes. Yes, as promised,
um and uh and as inspired by the deep dialogue
that wound up going on amongst you fair listeners, UM

(00:32):
through our listener mail sections, which is lovely and we
adore it. Yes, and we have some follow up actually
so it continues on maybe this will add some fuel
some heat. Yes, very exciting. UM. I was. I don't
have too much experience with induction in my life in

(00:55):
my circle, but I am going to talk about it
a bit more later. But my relatives on my mom's
side are like family divided over it, okay for what
they prefer, and they all get pretty intense about it.
And I'm always kind of like, yeah, I don't think
I've ever used an induction burner, but I'm real, I'm

(01:17):
real now, I'm like, I'm like, should I just get
a little a little countertop one boil some water? Right
only you're on the saber, do we get really? Yes? Yes,

(01:40):
I think you should. I want to live vicariously through you. Um,
and you did give me a little a teaser of
what's coming, and you told me that there's going to
be some discussion of electro magnetism. So that's exciting. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
this is stuff that I haven't delved into since since
my tech stuff days. One of our fellow podcasts here
around I Heart, which is hosted by Jonathan Strickland. And

(02:04):
in fact, the first thing that I did when I
started doing this outline was dig back through my notes
and I found I found uh an outline for an
episode about food science from the year twenty and yeah.
I was like, well, I can basically just say that
because that was a pretty good paragraph. It's always nice

(02:28):
when it works out that way, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
and I can probably say it much better into a
microphone now. I do not look up, do not look
up my tech stuff podcasting days. I was not good
at podcasting. I'm sure you were great, but also I
respect is very kind of you. M Um, okay, well

(02:55):
you can see your cast Iron episode because that's kind
of where the listener may yeah uh started. We haven't
done one on microwaves, have No, we haven't been on
our list for a long time and I keep going
on tired and I don't want to Yeah. Um, also

(03:18):
I got burned. Oh no pun intended sorry from a
is either from a how Stuff Works era YouTube video
about how microwaves are not dangerous and like the YouTube
comments were so angry. They were like, no, they are
terribly dangerous. How dare you? And I was like, well,

(03:41):
I dare because of science and they were like quiet woman,
sounds like you. That sounds exactly like YouTube comments. Uh yeah, yeah,
people have showing opinions on my coaves. I feel like
we have talked like around them a lot um. I've
shared all my stories about my dangerous microwave experimentation, but

(04:03):
that was on me. That was user error, not the microwave.
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, and we're gonna talk around them.
We'll continue the trend and talk around them a little
bit and here. But yeah, definitely definitely a future episode.
Yes that we should have a whole like whole column
on our spreadsheet. That's like, will this one be contentious

(04:28):
if it's not a column? Um, it's definitely something I
think about, Like there is a mental note, yes me
as well, me as well? Okay, well I just feel
like there are some other probably relevant episodes to this
one and they're not coming to me, but you know,
maybe they will as we go through the outline. Sure, absolutely,
But in the meantime, I guess that brings us to

(04:50):
our question induction cooking. What is it? Well, Um, Induction
cooking is a method of cooking that uses induction technology
to heat not not a cook top element itself, but
rather the pan that you have placed on that cooktop
elements surface. You are cutting out the middleman of having

(05:14):
to create heat and then transfer it to a pan
because you're creating the heat in the material of the pan. Um.
And this works best with iron or steel pans, like
to the point that an induction cooke top pretty much
won't heat up things that are made of other materials
at all. Uh, like a like aluminum or pyrex or

(05:35):
your hand. Um. And this sounds like magic, but it
is just science, which, to be fair, is like pretty
magical when you think about it. That's very magic school.
Best of you. I love it, oh Man. Yeah, Yeah,
that's like that's life goals right there anyways. Um. Okay,

(05:58):
but so w t A UM which here stands for
works tell friend. Um. Sorry, um, I'm lupi this morning.
UM Induction technology works by UM using an electromagnet and
also the dual magnetic properties and electrical resistance properties of

(06:19):
iron and steel. You're running an alternating current through an
electromagnet to create an alternating magnetic field, which induces induction induces, yes,
an electrical current in the material of the pan because
it's ferromagnetic. But iron and steel are so completely crap

(06:40):
at conducting electricity that instead it creates heat, like almost instantly. UM.
Lower current will create less heat, a higher current will
create more, and you can use the controls on the
induction element to turn it up or down. A tempered
glass surface protects the element UM the same way on
some like conventional electric cook tops. And that was a lot, so,

(07:07):
so let's let's break it down a little bit, okay. UM.
I find it useful to h to think about light
bulbs when I'm thinking about electric current flow and resistance.
Uh so, And an incandescent light bulb on a cord
is a great example of both of those things because
you've got current flowing from a wall socket or or
a battery like smooth and easy through the wire in

(07:30):
that cord, but then the current hits the bulb, which
contains a different kind of wire that resists flow like
all heck, and as a result, it gives off visible
light and heat. So so that's a simple example of
how you can harness the flow and the resistance of
a current in different materials. All Right. In an induction

(07:53):
cook top, we're using electromagnetics UM, and an electromagnet is
just a type of magnet in which create the magnetic
field by introducing electric current to the device. UM. So
you can turn the magnet on and off, and you
can make the magnetic field weaker or stronger with the
amount of current that you apply. UM. In the case

(08:16):
of an induction cooktop element, your electromagnet is probably a
spiral of tightly coiled copper cable or wire. UM. You
turn the element on and it sends an alternating current
through the cable, which creates an alternating magnetic field above
the cable UM, which is at the surface of the
cook top. So when you put something that is not

(08:37):
magnetic in that field on that cooktop, nothing happens. UM,
Like you could toss a stack of paper on there,
put your big silly hands like right on it, and
you won't feel any heat because there isn't any unless
your wolverine is is adamantium para magnetic this week, I
can never keep track. That's that's a good question. That's

(08:58):
a good question. Oh, to investigate, to investigate, Okay. Anyway, Um,
when you when you put something that is faromagnetic into
that magnetic field on the top surface, the field induces
an electrical current in the material of of that pharomagnetic

(09:22):
material that pan um And because the field is alternating,
the current in the pan flows or kind of swirls
like an eddy or rather it tries to, but the
metal resists it, and thus it creates heat. Yeah. Yeah,
that's pretty cool. That's like harnessing something that doesn't work, right. Yeah. Oh,

(09:45):
that's it's always my favorite thing. I'm like, I'm like,
oh yeah, yeah, yeah, this works because it doesn't end
a job there. But yes, this means that you cannot
use every pan on an induction cook top to check
if one will work. If you're not sure what it's
made of. Just take a normal fridge magnet and try
to stick it to the bottom of the pan. If

(10:05):
it sticks, your gold If it falls off, you're out
of luck. But secondary question why I don't know this
is this is where I start to go kind of
nope about about all of this. I was telling Annie
before we started, like like my grip on electricity, Like

(10:28):
I like, after a certain point, I'm like, there's electrons
and then wizards. I'm not sure. I don't know. Um,
but okay, Pharaoh. Magnetic materials are susceptible to magnetic fields
very basically because their electrons are unbalanced, Like any given
atom in a fair magnetic material will have an up

(10:51):
spin or a down spin, and thus, in certain circumstances
can behave like a magnet. We're a food show, ostensibly. Um.
Some some pros of induction cooking are that it's faster,
it's more energy efficient, cleanup is easy. You know you've

(11:13):
got that glass surface, um, and you won't burn yourself
on the hot surface. Although do note that, UM, if
you've heat it a pan on an induction surface, like
the glass can get warm due to heat transfer from
the pan. Yeah. Um. Some cons include that it's just
a different technology that you have to get used to. UM.

(11:34):
It's it's it is faster, um, and it can have
like a buzz or vibration or fan noise to it.
Um though using heavier pans can reduce that. And right,
you can't use certain pans or or like a like
a digital thermometer with it because science science. That's the
end of the Okay, the digital thermometer, that that makes sense,

(11:58):
but that's interesting. Um yeah, yeah, you have to break
out your your good old dial analog thermometer if you're
gonna test something in the pan, because the magnetic field
can mess with it. Yeah. I have to tell you
I don't have one of these, but I probably later tonight.
I'm just gonna be sticking magnets to my pants. I
love magnets, right, They're so cool. WHOA, what about the

(12:25):
nutrition don't eat cooking technology? I feel like we always
try to find an all. I always try to find
an exception because I'm just that type of persons. Like
the iron Giant. He feels like he was eating that
kind of stuff. Okay, yeah, sure sure. Um Or I

(12:49):
guess if you accidentally eat part of like the wood
chips that you smoke something on. I don't I don't
recommend that I don't don't eat. Don't eat wood chips. Um,
I always appreciate you putting up with my childish and
quite frankly ridiculous questions. But I mean we already talked

(13:12):
about adam antium, so I was just trying to think
all the possibilities. Hey, no stone unturned. That's that's our motto,
unless it becomes too scientific. In the stone left as
we're like a good job Stone, You're doing all the
work here is We're gonna leave you alone, live in

(13:33):
your best life, and we appreciate it. We do have
some numbers for you, yes, um. So, the global market
for induction cook tops was worth about eighteen billion dollars
as and growing um, especially as fuel expenses rise and
with legislation in places like say California moving away from

(13:57):
new gas stove installations, it is expected that more people
and more businesses will adopt induction over gas cooktops over time.
Speaking of it's estimated that gas cooktops are able to
convert about thirty eight percent of their energy into heat
in the food in the pan. Um electric can convert

(14:19):
about and induction can convert over. So wow, yeah uh
and yeah. As the American induction cooking market has been
growing by about twenty year after year However, I found
like I found a couple of conflicting numbers around this.
Yeah yeah, I saw a few different different ones too.

(14:39):
I think it's how they classify things, but also who knows,
it could be any number, any number of reasons. Another
number I found suggested that as of nineteen, only one
percent of American cooktops were induction, though the number goes
up to fift when it comes to built in cooktops.
So another number I found claims that induction cooking accounts

(15:03):
for about eight percent of the market when it comes
to cooktops and ranges. But most things I saw did
suggest that it is rising. It is going up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It has been lower here than throughout most of the
rest of the world. Um, but it is on the rise,
on the rise, a rising star, and it's you know,

(15:23):
been a rising star for not too long, but perhaps
a bit longer than you might think. Yeah, yeah, And
we are going to get into the history as soon
as we get back from a quick break for a
word for our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,

(15:45):
thank you, And we're back with a solid because a
lot of times when you're trying to kind of trace
the history of something the articles that are super helpful,
and I'm very god that they exist that have done
a lot of the work already. Start at like all
of the ancestors in the very beginning. UM, so if

(16:08):
you're thinking about cooking stuff, that's a long time. Yes. Yeah,
we figured out how to heat things up in order
to eat them. We did. We did since at least
ancient Egypt and ancient Room, our ancestors have been using
essentially early versions of stone or brick style upons, and

(16:29):
I feel like we've talked about that a number of
times on this show. UM some quick historical beats after
that in count Rumford, who was a person we have
talked about before. UM often gets the credit for introducing
one of the most popular and readily adopted versions of
the cast iron stove. Again see that episode for more

(16:52):
about that whole thing. Um, it had a lot going
on for it. With just a single flame, the user
could control the temperature of several pots independently and simultaneously
without interfering with room temperature. Which right now, Lauren and I,
it's very hot. It's so hot in our recording studios. Yeah, yeah,
it's okay, it's all past. It's all for the podcast

(17:16):
on Induction Heating cooking. Um, however, this cast iron stove
was huge and it wasn't accessible for everyone. Um. Meanwhile,
the first known use of gas and kitchens in order
to cook goes back to at least eighteen o two.
It was several decades before gas ovens were commercially produced,

(17:37):
but once they were, they were quite quickly adopted. People
particularly appreciated that they were easier in terms of temperature
control and maintenance. Electric stoves followed soon after the widespread
introduction of electricity in homes, which makes sense. Yeah, yeah,
um and okay, so this whole electric revolution happened thanks

(17:58):
to discoveries in a electromagnetics that occurred throughout the eighteen hundreds.
It started. It all started with the observation of an
electric current going through a wire moving the needle of
a compass that was sitting nearby. Yeah right, um, yeah,
so that was that was Hans Christian Earstead and other

(18:21):
him and other scientists and mathematicians. Um, a whole bunch
of a whole bunch of really brilliant humans. William Sturgeon,
Andre Marie Ampere, Joseph Henry, Michael Faraday, Samuel Morris, James
Clerk Maxwell, and Heinrich Hurts UM. Across the decades they
were all working with this wacky new field uh sorry, UM,

(18:42):
field of field of study UM that was connecting magnetism
to electricity UM. Basically the idea that there are two
parts of the same phenomenon and giving rise to the
realization that light and heat are both types of electromagnetic
waves um a, along with microwaves and radio waves and

(19:02):
all kinds of things, and that therefore you can send
current and signals long distances along conducive materials, and further
that you can use a resistive material to create light
or heat. Huh uh m hmmm. And that brings us
back to induction cooking. Many sources claim that induction cooking

(19:25):
was first introduced at the nineteen thirty three Chicago World's Fair,
though that is at odds with a lot of other
things I read as per usual. UM. Perhaps they mean
introduced on a larger scale. That's what I I think, UM,
But whatever the case, the first patents for induction cooking
started popping up in the early twentieth century, and interestingly,

(19:46):
these early designs largely resemble the products that we have today.
Still up until the nineteen seventies, this technology was often
used by companies to show off their technical futuristic prowess
like look what we can do or or in an
industrial sense, in an industrial environment, let's talk about microwaves

(20:06):
as promised. Yes, okay, well, as we said, future episode,
but briefly in engineer Percy LeBaron Spencer was researching microwave
producing magnatrons and he got a bit of an inspiration
in the form of a melted candy bar. Yeah. Uh,
this was a light bulb moment for him, and he
continued his experimentation until he came to the conclusion that

(20:29):
microwave radiation could cook food more quickly than traditional heat
application techniques. In less than a decade, the company Spencer
worked for, Raytheonic Corporation, launched their very first commercial microwave
oven and then the first domestic version in nineteen seven.
Because it was costly, uh, and there was a lot
of misinformation about the safety of them, it took over

(20:50):
a decade before they became the commonplace item that we
know today, but as Lauren mentioned, still still a lot
of questions and concerns about them. There there are and
I encourage people to ask questions indeed, and then listen
to the answers also indeed. Um. Also in the seventies,

(21:14):
the research and Development Center for Westinghouse Electric Corporation to
introduced America's first modern induction stoves um and they were
the standalone single burners called the cool Top Induction Range,
first displayed at a National Association of home Builders in
nineteen seventy one. The developers expanded on this idea with
new improved products, but they were quite expensive at the time.

(21:36):
In the mid nineteen eighties, sears Kin more of you
know the Sears catalog fame, started offering a free standing
oven our stove with four induction cooking services. There were
still some kinks to work out though, noise issues, low power,
and unreliable functionality, so development continued, not just in the
U S but in Europe and Asia as well. In

(21:58):
two thousand nine, Panasonic came up with an all metal
induction cooker, and since the mid two thousands, induction stovetops
have been widely available. And yet uh, they weren't adopted
as readily as analysts first predicted. It seemed people like
to stick with what they know. Um. Yeah, On top
of that, they don't work with all cookware, though they

(22:18):
do work with most common ones. They can be expensive,
but generally not outrageously so the marketing hasn't been great. Um.
They look a lot like electric models that don't work
particularly well or some people have bad experiences with them.
Of course, reluctance to pick up a new technology, and
this is this is sort of what I've seen play
out with my family that I mentioned at the top.

(22:39):
They have are arguments about like what heats better, the
materials you can use, how to clean it, and just
kind of there is certainly a block that's like I
just don't want to learn something new. This works. I
like it, Okay, I I do get that. I I'm
in a con tinual, long running argument with one of

(23:02):
my roommates about um gas stovetops versus electric stovetops, because
I'm like, you can she is a die hard gas
stovetop human um, and she's like, I can't use an
electric cooktop. I'll burn everything I try to cook on it.
And I'm like, are you paying attention to what you're cooking?

(23:24):
Mm hmmm, yeah. And that's probably not the most like
like compassionate question to ask, and this is why it continues. Yeah, yeah,
we've we've we've we've gone through one move together and
like looked at a whole bunch of houses and that
was definitely like like one of the contention points. Yeah,

(23:46):
I have a friend. We have a similar argument because
he claims that it tastes better if you cook it
over gas and he can control the temperature better. I'm like,
I'm terrified I'm gonna burn myself or set the house.
But it's just you know, if i'd like grown up
with gas, I probably I wouldn't feel that way. So yeah,
I I do. I do prefer gas to electric, um

(24:07):
conventional electric. But but because I do feel like you
can control the temperature a little bit better. But but
you can also just move the pan off of the
element if you need to. True, if you're not paying
attention to what you're cooking, then while are you cooking,
it's a very dangerous prospect. I feel like this is
turning into an intervention. For your goodness, it's okay, it's

(24:31):
all right, um uh. And and there is there is
I will say, like all kinds of R and D
happening in the field to to try to convince people
that induction cookware is good. Um, like my my, my
favorite development happened around I think Samsung was the first
company to do this. They put out UH, an induction

(24:54):
cooktop surface that had l e ed s um in
the surf us to to simulate like blue gas flames
around the edges of your pots and pans when the
element is on, and they'll coordinate like how high the
flames that the flames go coordinates to how hot you
have the burner turned on. So wow, So it looks

(25:19):
pretty sleek like and and you know, and good right,
like like it's good to have a visual reference. That's true.
That's true. Um, I love it. Humans are so funny.
I won't buy it unless I's got blue flames that
I can otherwise, how do I know what's working? Or

(25:39):
like in a movie, like like when they have to
prove that an air vent is on and so they
have little ribbons like fastened too, and I'm always like,
is that really the only thing we go? Okay far
as the technology is gone in that room? Ribbons? Like
who are these people tying ribbons to all of their

(26:00):
air events? Suspicious ones? Anyway, I'm sure we'll have like
a revisit on this one and some new technologies to
talk about. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I I do. I
do love doing these tech episodes that um it makes
me nostalgic for my tech stuff and forward thinking days
and getting to getting to write about that kind of stuff.

(26:22):
Yeah yeah, um they are They are always interesting and
and I love listeners. The response we usually get from
them is pretty great. We've already gotten this like shread going,
so hopefully it'll just get bigger and bigger. Yeah yeah,
tell tell us if I'm wrong, or if my roommate's wrong,

(26:43):
or if induction is the best of all of them.
Please do that. And speaking of we do have some
listener mail for you. We do, and we're going to
get into that as soon as we get back from
one more quick break for a word from our sponsors.

(27:05):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with man Cool. There was like a lot
of finger guns involved in that one. Probably too many
finger guns. I don't know. I think it was an

(27:27):
appropriate number. I think we're definitely experts on how to
be cool, so oh yeah, oh absolutely, I will trust
your judgment. Finger guns are always cool, right, Oh, sure
Taylor route. When I was young, my aunt, uncle, grandparents,

(27:48):
and cousins moved from Los Angeles area to Phoenix. Every summer.
My parents would put me on a plane to see them,
and when the last two weeks of summer vacation came,
I would drive with my extended family to San Diego
to meet back up with my parents from extended family trip.
Besides needing someone to commiserate that Phoenix in the summer
is not a fun time, it reminded me that we
would pass through a town called date Land on our

(28:10):
way from Phoenix to San Diego. There aren't a lot
of things to do or see on that drive, so
we would make it a point to stop at date
Land for a bathroom break and snacks, which of course
were date shakes. Date Land is a small town in
Arizona close at the border with California, with a date
farm and all things date. Though it really is mostly
a tourist rest stop area, it is known for their

(28:32):
date shakes, but still it's a whole town for dates.
This all started when I was around three or four
years old, and I remember being very confused whenever we
would get off. Having grown up around Disneyland. I thought
that anything that ended in the land would of course
have rides and oversized animal costume always game for our milkshake.
I was quickly over my confusion, and it happily became

(28:55):
a family tradition. Thank you for reminding me of all
the times my cousins and I went running it through
the date palms as her grandparents tried to wrestle us
back into the car. Date shakes, of course in hand.
My husband and I currently live in San Diego, and
if I ever make the drive to Phoenix by myself,
I have to check in with my family that I
have passed through Dateland, so they know what my e

(29:15):
t A will be. I will also pay my animals
with food names tax with a fixture of my Australian
cattle dog mix Tucker. Tucker in Australia is slank for
food and he will eat pretty much anything. He and
my son are working on becoming Scooby and Shaggy. They
work together, Tucker supporting my son as he walks to
the counters where my son pulls down food. They do

(29:39):
always share their spoils and I'm usually laughing too hard
to get mad at these Cuti's side note. My favorite
line from Robin hood Men Tits is when the Sheriff
of Nottingham asked made Marian is she'd like a date
and he jokes about it being a next Friday. When
she accepts, ah that share of of Nottingham. I love

(30:03):
this date Land, date Land. Both of us were just
like lost in a revel for a second, imagining the
wonders of date Land. Yeah, I'm trying to think if
I've ever been to a place like that. I don't
believe I have, um, but I'm in. I'm intrigued and
these date shakes sound good to me. Yeah, oh yeah,

(30:26):
yeah yeah, I've never had a date shake, and now
now I am super intrigued. Also, man, I love an
Australian cattle doog. Those guys are such sweeties, just such dirty,
beautiful sweeties. Yes, Kelsey wrote, I am sad. I wanted
to share a specific mom joke with you. It is
a knock knock and delightfully grown inducing. It involved one

(30:50):
sad cold bean that wanted to come in. Unfortunately I
cannot locate the drawing and joking question anyway. To cheer
myself up, I have attached a couple of pictures of
other jokes for context. My child is homeschooled, but the
program we use allows for one day a week interaction day.
On those days away from home, he brings a lunch,
and every lunch he gets a hand drawn joke. He

(31:12):
has a shoebox full of these. I've included just a
small sample. May these silly jokes bring you a smile.
If they don't, my sincere apologies for this entirely self
serving email. Oh no, oh yes, the drawings are spectacular.
They are and they and they range, they range in

(31:37):
in subject matter and and pun level. I think I
think the one that's the most Annie Reese out of
the bunch, uh, goes um. What's the fastest type of pizza? Pepperoni? Yeah,

(31:58):
because it involves like running and also pizza. Uh. There's
also a picture of just Jam in space called space Jam. Yeah. Yeah,
that's also high quality. It's a good one. There's a
pretty really there's a really good drawing of Pikachu in here. Yeah,
Oh my goodness, I like that. What do you call

(32:20):
an undead hot dog? Up for a further And then
there's a Darth Vader one that I just read and
then laughed and we took a break so that I
could laugh some more. Um. The punchline is this is
too vaded. There's one word in question. Yeah, I think
it's why does Darth want a new suit? Or maybe saber?

(32:41):
It's a yeah, but his is too His is too evaded. Yeah.
I love it. And there's like a lot of these
and we would go through them all, but then who
knows how long this would be. But I also just
want to mention it's very sweet. They're all signed with
the heart and then them all uh yeah, yes. Um.

(33:03):
Thanks to both of those listeners for writing in. If
you can write to us, If you can write to us,
you can, no question about it is hello at savior
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(33:24):
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