Gas or electric? Which is better for cooking? It’s worth noting up front that when it comes to your stoves you can use Propane if you cannot be connected to the underground gas lines. Why bother though, isn’t an electric stove good enough to cook on? Why for example would a family in Manchester, CT pay to change their stove from electric to propane?
Propane and gas have a lot of major advantages over electric stoves. The first is of course that Propane stoves turn on and off instantly. You don’t have to worry about waiting for the burner to heat up enough to be able to cook, or that when you turn the burner off it will keep cooking the bottom of the pan. There’s also a minor safety aspect to this in that once a burner is off nothing that falls on it will catch alight.
Gas provides a quick even high heat. The only advantage of an electric burner is that it does a controlled low heat better. The flip side is that it’s is very hard to take an electrical burner and drop the heat down to that low controlled heat. The best technique there is to actually use two burners. If you’re wondering where this would come up, cooking rice is a classic example. You want to get the water to boil, and then add the rice, up to a boil again then low heat. But if you’re cooking rice on an electrical burner you want to use two burners because the high heat of the first burner will persist too long and potentially burn the rice to the bottom. There are reasons besides cooking to use Propane. But one final point: If you ever watch The Food Network, or any other show with professional chef’s, you’ll notice none of them use electric burners for cooking. It’s because they’ve found that gas and Propane cook much better than electric.
If the gas company won’t connect you to their system then it’s time to consider having a Propane company set you up properly. Propane works just as well as natural gas and can be used anywhere. Whereas the gas company can only equip you if you’re within reach of their system. The installation for a gas system might be expensive too if you’re paying them to move and install all of the necessary pipes etc. A Propane system will be much cheaper to install, and Propane does have other uses once you have the tank installed.
After “Snowtober” in Connecticut, especially for those who lost power with Irene, a lot of residents of Manchester, CT and further east in the state are thinking of installing generators. It is worth noting that a generator can run (very well) on Propane, it reduces the amount of types of fuels you need to keep around. It’s a small point to keep in mind, but the other thing to keep in mind in regards to electrical loss is if your stove runs off of Propane you don’t lose the ability to cook if Connecticut gets unlucky again with weather.
Whether you want to be a better home chef or are looking for an alternate way to power or heat a home Propane has many uses for an interested home owner. If it’s a route you choose to pursue you want to have good people on your side. If you live in Manchester, CT want a free estimate you can contact Business Name in Vernon, CT at Phone No.