Worried about giving up gas? These Toronto chefs say induction stoves are ‘a game changer’

Like many professional chefs, John Horne thought cooking on gas was the only way to go.

Then he went to work in France and discovered induction stoves, which use magnets to heat pots and pans directly, and he's never looked back.

I'm very pro-induction," he said. It's a big game changer in the kitchen."

Now, more than a decade later, he proselytizes for the cooking technology, which he says is faster, more powerful, safer and easier to clean.

I think we're going to see induction take off," he said. It'll blow your mind how fast it will boil a pot of water."

The executive chef of some of Toronto's top restaurants, including Canoe, Auberge du Pommier, Biff's and Liberty Commons, Horne says he understands why some people might be hesitant to switch away from gas, which continues to be the most popular stove for serious cooks.

It's a very primal thing, cooking over flames and seeing the fire."

But Horne wants everyone to know that induction can do just about everything gas can do - only better. While much of the heat from a gas burner is wasted, escaping into the air and heating up the kitchen, Horne says when you're cooking on the magnet, all that energy goes straight into the pot.

You turn it on and it's instant. It's very, very fast. One hundred per cent of the energy goes straight into the pot because it's the magnets reacting with the iron ore in the pan creating the energy - and away you go."

Horne is one of a growing wave of professional chefs making the switch to induction, from celebrity chef Joel Robuchon to 2015 best chef in the world" Pierre Gagnaire. Now, home cooks are giving these appliances a look, their interest sparked earlier this year, when the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission suggested that it could ban gas stoves because of the toxic gases they release.

For decades, research has linked gas stoves with an increased likelihood of children developing asthma. But the latest research was picked up by cable-news shows and set off a political firestorm in the U.S., with prominent Republican politicians telling voters that the government was going to seize their gas stoves.

While the White House was forced to release a statement saying there was no such plan, the controversy rekindled interest in induction, a technology that uses electricity but is far more powerful and efficient than a standard electric coil stove.

People concerned with air quality in their homes have started lively discussions online about induction, where they were joined by climate activists, who view the technology as a way to get people off natural gas - a potent greenhouse gas that causes far more atmospheric heating than carbon dioxide.

While getting rid of gas will undoubtedly improve air quality and reduce emissions, many home chefs who've cooked on gas for years worry whether they will still be able to cook their favourite dishes on induction.

Former city councillor Mike Layton recently made the switch from gas to induction, and he doesn't regret a thing.

I love to cook - I mean love to cook - at home. And we got the gas stove because that's just what you got," he said. I was under the assumption that if you had anything else but a gas stove, it was inferior. But after using it - like within the first week - I realized just how wrong I was."

Frankly, we weren't planning on switching our stove out," he said. But from a health standpoint, from a climate standpoint, and frankly, from a financial standpoint, it made sense for us."

Layton, a lifelong environmentalist, has two young children, both of whom have asthma. His family was also paying $30 per month for using $1.50 in natural gas to run their stove (the rest was delivery fees), making the decision even easier.

He says finding a new induction stove was easy, as they're available at all the big retailers at prices comparable to a new gas stove.

His only regret? He had to give up his copper pots, which aren't compatible with induction stoves that need steel or iron pans to work with the magnets.

This is something Chef Horne also warns people about.

You have to make sure the pots work properly on your induction or you're not going to have fun with it," he said. If you go cheap on the pots, you'll hate it."

Any pot a magnet sticks to will work on induction. But Horne recommends buying pans made to be compatible with induction stoves, like the enamelled cast iron made by Le Creuset.

Horne moved during the pandemic and one of the first things he did in his new house was install an induction stove. He also has young children, and says he feels more comfortable cooking with them knowing they won't get burned because the induction stove doesn't heat up.

You can actually touch the glass of the induction stove and the glass is not hot. You could stick a piece of paper in between your pot and the burner and that piece of paper will not catch fire," he said.

Horne says he used this fact to great effect when he invited diners back into the kitchen at Canoe to check out the induction stoves. He'd ask them for a $50 bill, put it under a pot and watch their faces as he cranked up the stove to boil water.

I don't know if that still works now that the bills are plastic," he said with a laugh.

Julie Hyde, chef at 20 Victoria, which was recently included in the Michelin Guide of best restaurants in Toronto, is also a fan of induction.

The beauty of induction is that it's easier to keep clean," she said. Gas has a tendency, because of the gas flow, to kick grease up into the air, and you notice that you start to get a little film buildup on all your surfaces. Whereas with induction it all kind of lands right around you and all you have to do is wipe it off."

Hyde, who cooked on induction for several years at Maison Lameloise, a three-star Michelin eatery that is considered one of the best places to eat in the world, says people who use gas should not be afraid of switching to induction.

Obviously things take a little bit of getting used to, but I don't think the cooking will drastically change, if that's what people are concerned about."