技能在烹饪中起着重要的作用，但这并不是唯一成为伟大烹饪的东西。您选择的成分，所遵循的食谱以及使用的锅炉和锅也会影响您的烹饪，这些食谱总是会有所不同。但是，您的厨房中的一个常数，您的灶具呢？让我们看一下三种最常见的灶具技术 - 煤气，电动和归纳，以了解它们的运作方式以及每个人的利弊。

Go under the hood:View our infographics to see up close howdual-fuel ranges,对流烤箱， 和induction cooktopswork.

How do gas cooktops work?

燃气炉燃烧器由连接到主气管连接的小气阀的燃烧器组件组成。当您转动旋钮时，进气门会打开，气体流过文丘里管，这是一个宽阔的管道，中间变窄。气体通过宽末端之一进入，当它进入狭窄的截面时，其压力会增加。在该部分中有一个小空洞，管道再次扩大，当气体移入该部分时，压力释放，将氧气吸入气孔。氧气与气体混合，使其可燃。然后，氧气混合物流入燃烧器。

The burner is simply a hollow metal disk with holes punctured through its perimeter. A gas pilot light or electric pilot sits to one side of the burner and sends a small flame or spark to ignite the oxygen-gas mixture as it flows through the holes in the burner. By turning the knob to a higher heat setting, you increase the flow of gas and air, and the flame gets larger.

Gas burners can work with either natural gas or propane. Both are hydrocarbon fuels, and their hydrogen content makes the gas flame appear blue. A yellow or orange flame indicates an excess of oxygen and a slightly cooler temperature. The orange color comes from unburned carbon. It’s natural for the tips of the flames on a gas burner to appear yellow-orange where the flame is cooler, but if the entire flame appears yellow, the ratio of gas to oxygen is too low, and the gas burner or intake valve may be clogged and need cleaning. A red flame is cooler still and typically causes soot (unburned carbon) to appear on the bottoms of pans.

优点Gas burners can change temperature instantly, moving from high to low heat with the turn of a knob. Gas is also the only stovetop technology that provides an easily controllable open flame for roasting peppers, browning tortillas, or stir-frying in a traditional rounded-bottom wok.

缺点Gas is the least e‚ffcient fuel source at heat transference; up to 60 percent of the heat generated by a gas burner can escape into the air instead of going in the pan. Also, not all utility companies supply natural gas, although you can have propane regularly delivered to a tank on your property. By volume, propane contains about 2-1/2 times the usable energy of natural gas, so less propane is needed to produce the same amount of heat as natural gas. But since propane flows at a different pressure, you can’t use it with a cooktop made for natural gas, unless you convert the cooktop for propane use. Converting the cooktop will reduce its BTU output (the unit that measures gas energy content), and a poor conversion or installation can also lower BTUs.

How do electric cooktops work?

电动燃烧器通常是线圈样式：金属中的电线的扁平螺旋形，当对照旋钮打开时会加热，从而触发电力流入电线。您可以看到燃烧器发光中电流的强度。（欧洲风格的电动燃烧器的建造类似，除了将电线嵌入固体金属磁盘中。）在光滑的电动炉灶中，线圈放在一张覆盖灶具的热暖玻璃陶瓷材料下。电线以相同的方式加热，将热量辐射到玻璃中，从而将其辐射到锅底和锅中。卤素电炉灶相似，除了加热元件是玻璃下方的卤素灯泡的环，而不是电线。

优点Electric burners are flat, so the heat from the burner—whether coil-style or smooth top—comes in contact with the bottom of the pan. Therefore, it conducts most of its energy (about 75 percent) directly into the pan, rather than radiating it into the air as a gas flame would. Smooth tops and sealed European-style burners also have the advantage of being easy to clean. Another plus for smooth glass-ceramic cooktops: They don’t get nearly as hot as the pots and pans, so there’s less danger of burning yourself on the stovetop, and spills are less likely to burn on the cooktop’s surface.

缺点Poor heat control is the biggest knock against electric cooktops; the heating elements simply respond more slowly than those on gas or induction cooktops (more on those in a minute). To overcome this deficiency, you can set two burners at different temperatures if you know you’re going to need instantaneous control. For example, bring rice to a boil over high heat on one burner, and when you want to immediately reduce the heat to a simmer, simply move the pan to the second burner on lower heat.

还有其他一些特定于光滑的缺点。玻璃陶瓷表面是一个不良的热导体，因此比金属顶电炉更慢地将热量转移到平底锅中。Also, glass-ceramic cooktops scratch easily, so if you’re in the habit of sliding and shaking pans on your burners, you’ll have to change your ways when working on a smooth-top range if you want to keep it looking good.

How do induction cooktops work?

With induction technology, heat is generated in the pan itself, not in the heating element. Induction cooktops are powered by electricity, but the “element” that rests beneath the ceramic or glass surface functions like a powerful magnet, which generates a magnetic field. When you put a large piece of magnetic metal, such as a cast-iron skillet, into that field, the electrons in the pan try to align with the magnet in the cooktop. But the cooktop magnet alternates its poles, causing the pan’s electrons to move at such a rapid rate that the electrical current induces the pan to generate heat, which it does very quickly. You control the amount of heat produced in the pan with a knob on the cooktop that increases or reduces the strength of the magnetic field.

优点感应灶具即使在非常低的温度下也提供瞬时和精确的热控制。与气体不同，诱导是极其热量的“ fficient”。由于锅本身会产生热量，因此大部分（约85％）留在锅中，烹饪食物比燃气燃烧器快一些，并且比电动燃烧器快得多。如果您是新手的归纳，您可能会发现盆子早日沸腾，所以请密切注意。空气中的热量相对较少，这意味着感应灶具不会像燃气或电动炉一样加热您的厨房，这是夏季或拥挤的厨房的优势。另外，炉灶本身保持凉爽，这是一个不错的安全奖金。如果将磁盘放在感应元件的一半上，则该元素的另一半会保持触摸。

缺点And that brings us to the biggest disadvantage of induction: You have to use cookware that’s high in iron. That includes cast iron—whether enameled or not—and high-iron stainless steel. Pure copper, aluminum, glass, earthenware, stoneware, and some low-iron stainless steel cookware won’t work. (To test your cookware, hold a magnet to the bottom. If the magnet sticks, the cookware will work on an induction cooktop.) Also, the pan must make direct contact with the cooktop on an induction unit, so flat-bottom sauté pans and woks work well, but not rounded-bottom woks or old, warped cookware.

Another potential drawback to an induction cooktop is that you can’t use it to roast a pepper or toast tortillas. Also, the cooktop may become scratched from vigorous pan shaking. And some lower-quality cookware with loose-fitting handles, lightweight lids, uneven bottoms, or poorly clad layers of metal can vibrate so much in the high-frequency oscillation of the cooktop’s magnetic field that they actually generate noise.