electric stove- need tips

JaniceM

JaniceM

Well-known Member
Location
still lost between two shores..
New apartment is my first experience with an electric stove.
It's the style that has coil-type burners on the top.
I'm having some difficulty. As I'm accustomed to gas stoves where you can adjust the burners whenever necessary, I can't figure out how to use this.
So far, I've been regularly messing up with my stovetop coffee pot, and my one attempt at scrambled eggs. :(
Tips would be appreciated..
 

Keep the settings low, and as the element gets hotter, slightly increase the setting. Unless you want to BOIL water, stay away from the maximum setting. Perhaps take a look on the internet, and do a search for the name, and model number of the stove you have, to download the user's manual, so you can read up about it ? The stove should have an information panel on the back, with the model number and the name of the company that made it. Good luck! JimB.
 
I've always had the coil burners on my stove until this summer's move. I now have the glass top and can't get used to that type, either.
One tip for the coils, lower temps usually heat the smaller inside coils, medium heat sometimes alternates the coils outward, and as @jimintoronto said, only put on high for quick boiling temps, and stand by the stove. It doesn't take long for your pot to boil over!
 
Do you have the new style coil burners on your electric stove, or the older type? ...my electric stove is the older version, so I don't have any info. on the new ones.
Here's a video....

 
JustBonee said:
I tend to find 'new and improved' anything seems to be annoying in general...
hope you can get it all figured out with practice.
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I agree!!! Like Andy Warhol said in one of his books, new and improved may be the former but isn't usually the latter!

But although I know electric stoves have been popular in this part of the country for multiple generations, I'd only used gas stoves before now.
 
Kika said:
I will follow this discussion closely. I have only had gas stoves. In January I will move to Pa, where I will have a glass top electric stove.

I love to cook and bake, and the thought of not having a gas stove is producing a little anxiety for me.
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Mine has coils, but a neighbor who moved moved into an apartment that had a glass-top electric stove. It drove him batty- same situation as I'm in.
 
Chet said:
Assuming you know how to adjust the heat, it's just a matter of trial and error until you will remember when you get it right. I never had gas and I don't trust it cuz I'm not a fan of explosions.
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Not knowing how to adjust the heat is part of it.
It's mostly a matter of trying to cook something that begins by bringing it to a boil, then lowering the heat. Cannot figure this out for anything.
 
My burner goes from 1 (low) to 9 (high). I very seldom use 9, unless I'm bringing water to a boil. Once it's boiling, I turn it down.

If browning and cooking meat, I have it on 5 (medium).

For anything delicate or that might burn (like eggs or butter), 4 is the maximum, but you have to keep an eye on it. Or, start on 4 and then turn it down to 2.

For simmering or any kind of slow cooking, try 1. You might have to tweak a bit to get it just right.

Sometimes that isn't even low enough. You might have to raise the pan slightly off the burner. I've used a wire coat hanger, but you can buy a purpose-made thingy called a diffuser.
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I think your problem is that you're used to being able to turn the heat DOWN immediately. Whereas an electric element takes longer to cool down. For most purposes, it might help to not start any higher than medium. Also, sometimes (e.g., if the butter starts to burn), you just have to remove the pan from the heat and wait.

I hope that helps.
 
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JaniceM said:
Not knowing how to adjust the heat is part of it.
It's mostly a matter of trying to cook something that begins by bringing it to a boil, then lowering the heat. Cannot figure this out for anything.
Click to expand...
You can have 2 burners going. When the pot begins to boil on the high heat, move the pot to the other burner, which you have already preset to a low heat.

Or, as mentioned above, remove the pot from the burner until it's cooled down enough.
 
Chet said:
Assuming you know how to adjust the heat, it's just a matter of trial and error until you will remember when you get it right. I never had gas and I don't trust it cuz I'm not a fan of explosions.
Click to expand...
Exactly, remember the San Bruno, CA explosion? We were just out of San Francisco that evening and by the time we got home we could still see the smoke 45 miles away. I haven't used gas since the '60s and hopefully never will have to. After a few trial and errors I know where to turn the knob for the temperature I want.
 
NorthernLight said:
You can have 2 burners going. When the pot begins to boil on the high heat, move the pot to the other burner, which you have already preset to a low heat.

Or, as mentioned above, remove the pot from the burner until it's cooled down enough.
Click to expand...
I've been trying that first option. Maybe with a little more practice it can be effective.

I've also tried the second approach, but with coffee it hasn't worked.
 
My wife and I have always had an electric stove. It does the job and seems safer than gas. Some comments …

* I use a folding battery powered thermometer (Thermapen) to test stove top pan heat before adding food. Very useful device for a lot of reasons.
* We seldom use the oven, and then only for large jobs. Smaller items like chicken pot pies, fish sticks, or a quiche, are more efficiently heated (and browned) with a counter top plug in Breville Oven.
* On the plus side of gas, if you live in an area subject to frequent power failures, that electric stove isn‘t of much use to make the morning cup of coffee, so you might want to go with gas, or get a camp stove for emergencies.
 
Yup, the apartment has electric. Unless I need to boil water I cook everything on the 5 setting or lower. Well, I don’t really cook I warm stuff up, like canned beans. I do make eggs. Turn burner to five, let the pan heat a minute or less, drop eggs in, turn heat down to 3/4.

Since the coil burners hold the heat after they are turned off, make sure you remove the pan from the hot coil. Honestly, I mostly microwave 😊
 
Kika said:
I will follow this discussion closely. I have only had gas stoves. In January I will move to Pa, where I will have a glass top electric stove.

I love to cook and bake, and the thought of not having a gas stove is producing a little anxiety for me.
Click to expand...

My opinion ....sorry
Maybe glass top electric stoves are different now, and have improved, but I had one years ago, and for the life of me, I HATED it! .. the burners never got hot enough. I remember having to use corning ware to cook everything with, and it was never right.
I couldn't wait to get rid of it!
 
Aneeda72 said:
Yup, the apartment has electric. Unless I need to boil water I cook everything on the 5 setting or lower. Well, I don’t really cook I warm stuff up, like canned beans. I do make eggs. Turn burner to five, let the pan heat a minute or less, drop eggs in, turn heat down to 3/4.

Since the coil burners hold the heat after they are turned off, make sure you remove the pan from the hot coil. Honestly, I mostly microwave 😊
Click to expand...

Yay for the microwave! 😀
 
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