Induction

As part of the new kitchen we've bought an electric ceramic hob. With our green electricity from Ecotricity this is far more environmentally friendly than using gas (And it would have to be bottled gas as there's no mains gas in the village). But it's not an ordinary ceramic hob, we've decided to splash out on an induction hob, albeit courtesy of a John Lewis special offer.

Induction hobs are supposed to be extremely efficient, as the electromagnetic current they create in ferrous pans heats the contents up directly, rather than the pan, resulting in a very efficient and controllable heat source.

We finally had chance to give our De Dietrich hob it's first use yesterday it proved to be a resounding success, once we'd tracked down the right pans to use - not only is it very efficient, boiling water faster than a kettle, but the heat is amazingly controllable without any of the delay in dissipating heat I've experienced on conventional ceramic hobs. Okay, so it looks like we can't use our old frying pan as it is made from some non-ferrous alloys, but that's a small price to pay for an amazingly responsive and energy efficient means of cooking.