Difference with gas and electric stove cooking Chulent?

amother

Sat, Apr 06 2024, 7:26 pm

I was away for Shabbos and used an electric stove to make my Chulent. It didn’t seem to cook as well as when I left it on a low flame over Shabbos. Seems like the water didn’t absorb as much as I hoped. I cook it for a few hours before Shabbos then keep on low flame the whole Shabbos. On the electric stovetop it just wasn’t the same. Is it just me?

amother

Periwinkle

Sat, Apr 06 2024, 9:49 pm

Following

Considering an electric stove for pesach, so curious how cooking works on it in general- since you can’t gauge flame size.

amother

Black

Sat, Apr 06 2024, 10:03 pm

amother OP wrote:

It's definitely not as strong as a gas flame. You'd need to set the electric one higher.

amother

Sat, Apr 06 2024, 10:13 pm

amother Black wrote:

It's definitely not as strong as a gas flame. You'd need to set the electric one higher.

I set it on second low and with a gas flame that would be high but good to know!

amother

NeonGreen

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 6:58 am

Electric actually excel at certain things like keeping a slow steady heat

There is a learning curve but once you adjust you will appreciate the steadiness of the lower heat that is possible.

amother

Eggshell

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 7:44 am

It's not so much of a difference between gas and electric as it is between different stoves. You have to "know" your stove to figure out which is the best setting for each use. Every time I moved I went through this process, even when it was from one electric to another electric.

amother

NeonOrange

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 8:58 am

I agree that it's the stove. The buggest learning curve for me is remembering that the electric burner isn't off when you turn it off, so you have to take the pot off.

amother

Steel

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 10:34 am

amother NeonOrange wrote:

I agree that it's the stove. The buggest learning curve for me is remembering that the electric burner isn't off when you turn it off, so you have to take the pot off.

What do you mean it's not off when you turn it off? When it's off, it's off. The burner may retain heat after it's off, but that's the same with almost any stove.

Amarante

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 10:46 am

amother Steel wrote:

What do you mean it's not off when you turn it off? When it's off, it's off. The burner may retain heat after it's off, but that's the same with almost any stove.

In general when you turn off a gas burner - especially if it is on a relatively high flame, most of the heat is gone - especially the direct heat. There might be minimal heat retention but that dissipates relatively quickly.

When you cook with electric especially if you are sautéing something, if you turn off the burner, the burner itself will take a while to cool down.

That is why most experienced cooks slide the pot off somewhat. It's hard to explain but I have electric and so I will slide a sautéed dish off and then give it a stir so that the surface that might still be a bit on the electric burner gets cooled down.

It's not hard and it becomes instinctive. I grew up with gas and had to learn to cook because my building doesn't have gas.

Also there have been "impartial" studies in terms of whether gas or electric is better and the answer is they both have different strengths and one is not "better" than the other.

Of course the ideal is induction which is far better than the standard smooth top electric and even better than gas.