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Gas

33 (80.5%)

Electricity.

8 (19.5%)

Total Members Voted: 39

[Bentley]

Always curious.  I hate cooking with gas!  And that is what I have.

And if you choose gas, would you tell me how you simmer something, without burning it, with a constant heat source?

[hughver]

Just turn the flame down low. 

[bregent]

We've got electric now but I prefer gas - it heats up so much faster. Newer gas cooktops usually have one burner dedicated to slow/simmering. It either has a smaller flame and/or uses a thermostat to sense the temp and turn the burner on and off.

[Canadian John]

 Gas here. If the heat is too high w/ the flame as low as it will go, switch to a smaller burner..I find that food cooked in a gas oven gas oven tastes better than electric... Although not related to the question of

heat control, I rate the taste of the food cooked from a low-electric, gas next, then charcoal and at the top, wood.

[Bentley]

I have a very small burner, you cant simmer for long periods with items that will burn with a constant heat source.  And if you know how please let me know.  But saying using a smaller flame or a smaller burner, does not work in my experience.  You need a pulsating heat source like electricity!

Why do you think chefs simmer on a flat top?  So they can move the item being simmer to lower heat areas!

Newer gas cooktops usually have one burner dedicated to slow/simmering...or uses a thermostat to sense the temp and turn the burner on and off.

This makes sense, but they did not have this 5 years ago!  Or at least they did not in my price range!

[bregent]

>This makes sense, but they did not have this 5 years ago!  Or at least they did not in my price range!

Yeah, they're not cheap. Our friends have one on their range - I think it's a Thermador.

Have you tried a diffuser?  https://www.amazon.com/Diffuser-Stove-Electric-Flame-Simmer/dp/B07664Z2MN

[yorkdude]

I have a very small burner, you cant simmer for long periods with items that will burn with a constant heat source.  And if you know how please let me know.  But saying using a smaller flame or a smaller burner, does not work in my experience.  You need a pulsating heat source like electricity!

Why do you think chefs simmer on a flat top?  So they can move the item being simmer to lower heat areas!

Newer gas cooktops usually have one burner dedicated to slow/simmering...or uses a thermostat to sense the temp and turn the burner on and off.

This makes sense, but they did not have this 5 years ago!  Or at least they did not in my price range!

Try removing the control knob for the smallest size burner, in the center of the knob shaft you should see a very small straight slot screw, that should allow you to further turn down that flame. They are usually on every burner.
We just got a new gas range and I had to adjust all of them, simmers perfectly now.

[LowSlowJoe]

I have only cooked on a electric heating element stove a few times, I never got the hang of it.   With gas, I can look at the burner and get a pretty good idea of how hot it's going to get the pan.  At this point in time, I prefer gas.

  I said in another thread, I do have a small induction cooktop ( single burner, portable , 1500 watts).    I love it for simmering things, and that was the original reason I got it.  At that time, I had a DCS Gas Range, with big cast iron burners and it was virtually impossible to simmer anything on that stovetop.  DCS was a new company when I bought my stove, it was about half the price of other stoves of similar quality/build, and I had just built a new house, so that was my splurge on my kitchen.

   Well , after a house flood a few years back, my DCS range was not working correctly, having had replacement policy on my belongings,  I was able to replace it with a Thermador gas range, with their 'star burners'.   I can simmer on my Thermador, but the only way you can, is because it turns the burner on and off on the 'simmer' settings.   The burner will turn off, then a few seconds later, it will turn on again , it uses piezoelectric igniters to start the gas up each time it turns on. It's kind of amazing how quickly it ignites, and works.  However, I'm still not truly comfortable leaving it run like that for a long period of time, particularly if I'm not standing right near it, to try and 'catch' it if it should malfunction.     

   So, even though I have a Gas stove that can actually cook at a simmer, I still use a induction cook surface to simmer on most of the time.

   I forget who has it, but one of the high end gas range makers, had a burner that basically had two rings, it would run both for high BTU cooking, but would only run one small inner ring for lower temperatures.  Not sure exactly how well that works, but it seemed intriguing at least.

   For me, I've really grown to love induction cooking for low temperatures.  I'm not sure I'd want to switch to nothing but induction for cooking on a stove top, but it actually is really interesting to cook on.

[Bentley]

Never seen a diffuser for a gas range, will have to look into it.  I still think with constant heat it would not solve my problem, but it is worth a try.  Thank you, and all for the responses!

[bregent]

Never seen a diffuser for a gas range, will have to look into it.  I still think with constant heat it would not solve my problem, but it is worth a try.  Thank you, and all for the responses!

Yeah, they work pretty good - something like this:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07664Z2MN

[hughver]

I've never had a problem simmering but I bought one of those anyway, looks like a good idea.   

[Kristin Meredith]

An additional problem for us is that we don't cook on gas, which is what is piped into most residential kitchens which use gas for stove tops. We cook on propane. We even had to buy appliances that were special for propane and not gas  At the time, I was advised that propane cooks hotter than gas.  I truly despise it.  I wish I had an induction cook top.

[pmillen]

Yep, propane burns hotter than natural gas.  I think that's the heart of your problem. 

As an aside:  Methane, 1 carbon atom per molecule
                   Ethane, 2 carbon atoms per molecule
                   Propane, 3 carbon atoms per molecule
                   Butane, 4 carbon atoms per molecule
                   And on and on...

Each one burns hotter than the previous but requires more oxygen to completely burn.

[BigDave83]

I use propane also, all I ever cooked on. I have a 6 burner Sunfire stove I can cook on it but others seem to have issues trying to simmer on it.  Not sure I would like an electric stove. I had a small induction burner that I gave away, I am thinking of buying a larger one. I did like it for when I made candy.

[Bobitis]

I've never cooked with gas other than camping, bbq, or search and rescue. My home stove is electric. It's glass top, and has burners that regulate heat by probe. In that, I mean that the burners fluctuate on and off to maintain a consistent temp.

I understand that there are millions of gas appliances in use daily, but it still scares me.