Help please! Cooking disasters due to new stovetop...

[mamaeffie]

So, we just moved into a pretty and perfect new house, yay!!!

But it has an electric stove top :sigh I've only ever cooked with a gas stove, so this is totally new and weird and I'm burning things. I'm a good cook, darn it! This isn't fun :lol

Help a sister out with some tips or advice or gentle hugs?

[illinoismommy]

I am living with my first electric too and its super annoying.

When you turn it down, move the pan to an empty burner for a minute while it cools since it cools down soooo much slower...

[Proverbs31]

I almost never use high, except for bringing water to a boil. (on my stove, 8 is the highest setting except for "high".)

If a recipe says to sautee on high, 4 (i.e., slightly less than half of the burner's max heat setting) is about the highest that actually works for me without being too hot.

Frying eggs works best around 1.5. Pancakes I might crank it up to a 2, but usually have to turn it down to 1.5 partway through or they start to scorch. Sauteeing veggies is usually around 2-3. Cooking meat is usually 2-4.

I've cooked for years, on both gas and electric (actually prefer electric for safety reasons). So I don't *think* I'm an incompetent cook. :giggle I'm still very puzzled as to why the burner's heat range is labeled in such a way that all my cooking is done somewhere between low-barely medium. :shrug3

[The Tickle Momster]

Get a gas stove? :shifty :duck

:hug Seriously though, turn the heat off a few minutes before your food is done cooking. The burners stay hot longer. Get the little metal rings to put between the pan and the burner, so your pan is not directly on it. Stir more.

I get it. I grew up with gas. Moved out and had electric. Hated it. Bought a gas stove after a few years.

[Sparrow]

I hate electric too! Just do what the others said. It'll get taking used to. I want gas but we don't even have a gas hookup!!

[mamaeffie]

Thanks! Getting a gas stove is out :( we are renting and it's those old school built in things... I love the aesthetic, but not so much the cooking haha ok well, I'm hoping practice will help! And I will look into the little metal rings!

[Katigre]

I hate electric too! Just do what the others said. It'll get taking used to. I want gas but we don't even have a gas hookup!!
Our new house had an electric stove and electric dryer. So so so bad. Fil ran gas lines for us from the hookup in the basement up to the kitchen and over to the laundry.

We're waiting to buy a fancy double oven gas stove, but I am a thousand times happier to have a gas dryer again!

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[Missus E]

I am living with my first electric too and its super annoying.

When you turn it down, move the pan to an empty burner for a minute while it cools since it cools down soooo much slower...

Yep, this! That's what I do. I have an electric stove too and I hate it. It stays technically "on" for a good three or four minutes after you turn it off. It gets to be habit after a while to relocate your pan as soon as you're done. I still think I'm a better cook with a gas stove but eventually it becomes automatic to compensate for the stupid thing.

Just keep in mind that it's not just when you turn it off that it stays hot for ages, but when you turn it from high to medium or low, I think it's way slower to cool off then, too. If it's a sensitive recipe (especially anything involving boiling milk...yeesh) I'll usually remove it from the heat for a minute or two to give the burner a chance to catch up when I turn the heat down.

[Maedchen]

Don't use the rings if you have a ceramic top stove. You could damage the glass.

I went from gas to electric about 34 yrs ago. I could not cook rice for the life of me. I learned when my 20 min were up to put it on a cool eye and not leave it sitting.. I won't confess to how many pots I ruined before that epiphany. Now I just cut the eye off about 5 min before it is supposed to be done and leave it sitting for the rest of the cooking time. (I do this with my veggies also)