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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/28/the-chefs-turning-down-the-heat-by-switching-from-gas-to-electric>
"Leaping flames, searing heat, copious sweat and scorchingly inventive swearing
– restaurant kitchens are never a place for the faint-hearted, but this summer
they have been sweltering in successive heatwaves to a dangerous degree.
Some restaurants, cafes and bakeries in the UK grew so hot that they were
forced to close, or reduce their hours, for the safety of their staff. There is
still no maximum working temperature, despite calls from the TUC, and tens of
thousands of kitchen staff are thought to have carried on working in
“furnace-like” conditions.
Now a number of chefs are calling for one route to cooling kitchens that may be
deeply unpopular with some of their colleagues. Swapping gas hobs for electric
induction cooking can reduce temperatures by as much as 10C, as induction
cookers only heat the food in the pans. They are more efficient, can reduce
costs, are safer as they avoid the harmful pollutants emitted by gas cookers,
and make it easier for air conditioning to work in crowded kitchen
environments. But up to now many chefs have been reluctant to make the change.
“There is that sense of theatre with fire and flames,” says Jeremy Pang, a
third-generation Chinese chef in London and founder of the School of Wok. “It
feels quite traditional and exciting. But we have found that we can get just as
high temperatures, and just as good cooking, with electric.”
The secret to traditional Chinese cookery lies in the “wok hei” – literally,
the breath of the wok, meaning the smoke and heat that the chef must master, to
give all ingredients the right degree of scorching and flavour. Pang was
worried that this would be harder to achieve with electric, but soon found that
he could reach temperatures of 350-400C, and in an easily controllable fashion.
“We use carbon steel with oil, and you can still get that actual smoke and
flavour that you would with gas,” he said. “Gas cookers are incredibly good
equipment, but you get so much heat off them, it’s a huge problem.”
A report from the Global Cooksafe Coalition found that restaurants could save
thousands of pounds on their energy bills alone from making the switch. One
gastropub was able to cut its energy use by almost two-thirds, saving £9,000 on
bills. The cost of the retrofit would be repaid within three years, and the pub
was likely to save £65,000 over 10 years, the report found.
Ellen Chew, founder of the Rasa Sayang restaurant in London’s Chinatown, found
an unexpected benefit: chefs no longer had to shout. Turbo gas burners raise a
racket, but induction hobs are silent. “The whole atmosphere and environment is
different now, it’s super quiet,” she told the
Guardian. “Some chefs are
difficult to convince to move away from gas, but when you show them the
difference, it’s a gamechanger.”
Switching can also benefit the climate: the pub’s carbon emissions also fell by
about two-thirds.
For Chantelle Nicholson, who stipulated electric hobs in place of gas when
opening her Apricity restaurant in Mayfair in 2022, cleaning and safety are
also key. Induction hobs are quicker and easier to clean, which is popular with
staff. “I used to have burn marks all up my arms from scrubbing gas hobs,”
Nicholson told the
Guardian. “And when anything goes wrong with the gas, it’s
a total nightmare to get it fixed. Induction is controllable and really
reliable.”
She was also concerned about studies showing that gas cookers emit harmful
pollutants and have been linked to asthma. “To me, electric is clearly the way
forward,” she said."
Via Christoph S.
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*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
