ottawa foodies

Hi guys.

Just signed up. I need some advice from any other induction stove owners out there.

I bought my Samsung FTQ307 back in October of 2010 (I spent 4 months in Japan during 2010 and fell in love with my induction burner I had in my apartment) but have had problems with it. Samsung decided to make the largest burner pretty big and needs a minimum 9" bottom pan to work. After months of it not properly detecting the 12" pan that came with the stove, I determined that the magnetic sensor in it needs either a large enough pan or sufficiently magnetic bottom for it to work correctly. e.g. a 12" pan can have a bottom as small as 8". The typical complaint with this stove is the induction pan they give you with it isn't magnetic enough. If you put it on the burner, turn it on, remove the pan, then put it back it doesn't detect anymore. If you're cooking and do this, the H (hot surface) is displayed and I can't get it working with the pan until it cools off.

I've had Samsung in. They claim it's the pan. I tested it with my cast iron 8" pan it the stove works fine!

So, if anyone out there has any advice on how to find a pan (or set) with a sufficently magnetic bottom, it would be much appreciated. Clearly not all induction pans are equal, (as are the stoves) and there doesn't seem to be a measure for how magnetic the bottoms are. I've spent an evening at Home Outfitters, Home Sense, Canadian Tire, and Costco without luck. (mainly due to the need for a pan that's as close to 9" on the bottom as possible + induction)

Thanks in advance!

-the garlicman

Forum - Induction cooktops

Already read that post. It discusses cooktops and the usual complaints about pots and pans.

I was hoping that since we're all in Ottawa, someone could advise on who carries decent induction pots/pans, or share their experience with the brand they purchased.

Circulon is the brand that ships with my Samsung model and their 12" isn't suitable.

Sorry, I did not pay attention to that previous thread - just pointed you in that direction since you did not mention you'd already seen it.

Actually I got some induction pots in Chinatown for doing hot pot. It says they are for induction cooktops. They were thin metal and they were not magnetic. But they work! Water boils real fast in them. Actually as long as an a current can be induced in them, they don't have to be magnetic. Copper and aluminium are not magnetic, but copper wiring and aluminium wiring is used to make transformer coils, which means magnetic fields can induce currents in them.

The wiki below seems to contradict this, but my pots do work, and a magnet won't stick to them. I guess reality trumps wiki . . . or is it the other way around? :-)

en.wikipedia.org

I use a nice lagostina set along with a henckels set which I got for free when I bought my cooktop. All work fine on the 36" miele. Do your pans pass the "magnet test" ?

All my pots and pans pass the magnet test, but that only means they're magnetic. The Samsung large burner is fickle. To completely cover the inner ring you need a 9" base pan, where the entire base is magnetic. I looked at tons of expensive 12" pans that were induction, but only for an inner circle, so the entire base wasn't magnetic. It would be fine for a small burner, but a 12" pan with a 7" inner steel circle takes up a lot of room where a smaller pan is supposed to go.

That being said, an 8" cast iron pan worked fine with the large burner, seeing that it had more magnetic metal in it than the Circulon 12" pan I have.

I'm convinced that Henckels will do. I could only test a 9" (they carried no 12") but the entire thing was steel with a ceramic coating. I'm afraid to check the price though.

I have Cuisinox-- both the "elite" and "gourmet" lines, and they are great with my induction top. The "gourmet" line has a particularly broad product line (have my eye on the couscousier)--they also have some of the few, large induction-capable stockpots that I could find.

The elite line is heavier and it conducts heat up the sides of the pot better--it is more expensive. However, the handles on the saucepans are too slender in my book--I will be buying the gourmet line in the future.

I have one induction-capable pan from another manufacturer that does not work well. It gets detected but it doesn't heat up well at all.

I thought I would post a follow up for others. Hendrix's near the Ottawa Citizen building off Iris has great prices (compatibly) on the Henckels cookware. I bought their 12.5" and 9" pans and they work awesome. The Henckel pans are all steel (except for the ceramic non-stick coating) so the heat transfers all the way up. I thought my induction stove was impressive before. With these Henckels pans I can honestly say heat generation is at least TWICE as fast, hotter and most percise! The Henckel pans are worth the money, hands down.

I'm very happy now.

I picked up a stainless steel 5 stack steamer set, and water boils very quickly in them on my induction cooktop, but, again, the pot is not magnetic.