If it’s good enough for professional chefs, it’s good enough for me.
Photo by Cooker King on Unsplash
Jeffrey Clos is a participant in the Amazon Associates LLC associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. There are some links within this article to the described product.
Call it watching too many cooking shows, call it an impulse buy, or call me crazy. The fact is I have wanted an induction burner for quite some time. Don’t get me wrong, I like my stove, but we recently went from gas to electric, and there is a sizeable learning curve.
Crux Induction Burner (media by JC)
Just before the new year, Amazon had a $60 deal on a Crux Induction Burner, and I snapped it up. It ended up costing me a bit more when you account for the cookware I ended up purchasing. It turns out most of our pots and pans are not compatible with induction burners. I ended up buying a new stone frying pan, followed by a Gotham Steel 10-piece Pot and Pan special. To be clear, the unit will alert you if you are using incompatible pots or pans.
So what pushed me to buy this little wonder? Several things persuaded me this was the way to go. I like the size and portability. This alone was a huge factor because I can move this to any part of my house. We entertain on our main floor and in our basement bar area. I like the idea of moving this to the place we will be. I also like storing this away in our cabinet when we aren’t using it.
This brings me to the next reason I like this burner. I turn it on and see rapid results. I love the fact it heats up as fast as it does. I can boil water super fast. I recently did a stirfry in the pan, and it performed admirably. I see why chefs love using an induction burner, as these little marvels are extremely precise with the temperature.
Quick Facts: Gas Stoves transfer roughly 40% heat energy to the food it is cooking compare to over 70% when using an electric stove. Factor in an induction burner and this number improves to 90%.
This brings me to the precision of the burner. In addition to unique cooking modes within the menu (fry, soup, milk, reheat, simmer and keep warm), it also has nine power levels, 200–1800w, and ten temperature levels 140–465F. I have used the fry, simmer and keep warm options, which are pretty accurate. (Simmer seems a bit powerful)
Let’s not shortchange the ease of clean-up as it has never been any simpler with just a single burner with a flat surface to wipe down. Once it is cool to the touch, it is ready to be stored away until needed.
Earlier I mentioned portability as I envision taking this induction cooker on camping trips. My initial thought was to use my Tacklife Battery to power it, but it isn’t anywhere near the energy needed to run this at the maximum 1800W. Given the power level is adjustable, I will dial it down to 200W to see what I can accomplish. Worst case scenario, I will have to use a nearby outlet or a more powerful generator.
In just the short amount of time since owning this, I have used this burner alone to cook several dishes without turning on my stove once. Don’t get me wrong; we still use the stove as we often have several finicky mouths to feed. Sometimes one or two dishes just don’t cut it. Could a dual induction burner be in my future? Too soon to say!
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