Posting this here because I figure it’s relevant to cooking and the decisions we make about our food and our health. I was kind of hoping for a gas stove in my new apartment (I’d only ever had gas stoves) despite being a huge environmentalist because I’d always been told you can’t get “those good sears” on electric - now that I have an electric stove, I’m here to say that’s bullshit, with the right pots and pans, it can do anything a gas stove can, without the risks.
Reading about this study really opened my eyes to how lucky I am to not be stuck with another gas stove. If anyone here has the means to switch to electric but has been on the fence about it, I hope this can help with that decision.
Some highlights from the article:
“A new Stanford-led analysis finds that a single gas cooktop burner on high or a gas oven set to 350 degrees Fahrenheit can raise indoor levels of the carcinogen benzene above those in secondhand tobacco smoke. Benzene also drifts throughout a home and lingers for hours in home air, according to the paper published June 15 in Environmental Science & Technology.”
“Previous studies focused on leaks from stoves when they are off, and did not directly measure resulting benzene concentrations. The researchers found gas and propane burners and ovens emitted 10 to 50 times more benzene than electric stoves. Induction cooktops emitted no detectable benzene whatsoever.”
“A previous Stanford-led study showed that gas-burning stoves inside U.S. homes leak methane with a climate impact comparable to the carbon dioxide emissions from about 500,000 gasoline-powered cars. They also expose users to pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, which can trigger respiratory diseases. A 2013 meta-analysis concluded that children who live in homes with gas stoves had a 42% greater risk of asthma than children living in homes without gas stoves, and a 2022 analysis calculated that 12.7% of childhood asthma in the U.S. is attributable to gas stoves.”
I do a lot of high heat cooking on a wok. Unfortunately, that’s not possible on an electric stove
Is the heat the problem, or the shape of the wok? This video has some advice for using a wok on glass-top electric. If it’s the heat concern, then my experience is that, while you have less control over the exact heat than on gas, you can still get to VERY high heat - I accidentally charred my minced garlic to a crisp in 30 seconds the first time I used the stove (quick boil is seriously HOT, even on low heat settings). I switched to using stainless steel pans for most things because they hold a lot of heat, and I’m way too weak for cast iron, but it seems like cast iron is great on electric too.