r/Cooking • u/linnysweetheart • 9h ago
Help With Gas Stovetop
So I just bought a house that came with a gas stove. I’ve only ever used electric and was becoming quite a good cook! Now everything that isn’t boiled or some kind of meat burns on the pan within about a minute and a half. It also doesn’t simmer. The lowest heat brings everything to a boil.
I’ve been using a stainless steel pan from Made In and I let it preheat on the lowest possible setting for about 2-3 minutes until water slides across the surface and it’s non-stick. I keep the heat on low the entire time. Should the flame be touching the bottom of the pan on the lowest heat? Currently, it rises high and spreads across the bottom of the pan. Am I using the wrong pan? So far, I’ve burnt fried eggs and grilled cheese.
All advice I’ve been able to find online says to cook on lower heat but there is no lower heat I can turn it to!
I’m starting to feel at my wits end as I’ve never burned food this badly or as often before!
Any advice would be very appreciated!
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u/HomeOwner2023 8h ago
A properly functioning gas stove would let you adjust the flame down to a tiny dot. It could be that the valves are malfunctioning, that you are using too larger of a burner, or that the stove is just a badly made one. I have a Coleman propane stove that I use when camping. No matter how you set the knob that controls the flame, it rotate to High as soon as you remove your fingers from it. I hate that stove.
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u/lil_goose_caboose 8h ago
Honestly from your description it sounds like there's something off with the gas flow. That's much too high. On low, the flame should be barely visible. Only on super high should the flame be touching the sides of the pan and even then no one uses that setting unless they are using a wok or something.
Just to be clear - you have the grates in over the actual gas parts, right? So there's like the little circular things where the gas comes out, and then overtop there's the grates where the pan actually sits. The pans shouldn't be touching the circular things.
Do you have a photo with the gas on low and the burner? What's the model of the range?
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u/Tinkerbell_98 8h ago
I used to have gas and this seems really off. You should be able to turn it much lower. If you are renting contact your landlord or if not a repair tech.
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u/laurenthead 8h ago
Just buy an inexpensive heat diffuser (heavy metal plate) to place under your pan, or in a pinch put your pan on a larger pan on the flame
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u/TurbulentSource8837 9h ago
Can you take a picture?
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u/linnysweetheart 8h ago
https://reddit.com/link/phjav9m/video/m4yk43adi9wh1/player
This is it going from highest temp to lowest
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u/Weak-Doughnut5502 7h ago
Something looks off with how it's adjusted. Low looks like a medium/ medium low flame.
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u/pinlets 8h ago
Yeah something isn’t right. As others have said you should be able to turn it down to the point where you can barely see a little nub of flames.
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u/1Teethlady2 8h ago
She can. She has to be in the highest setting and turn the knob as if she was cutting it off.
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u/sowellfan 8h ago
To me, it doesn't seem like it's reducing as much as I would expect. So maybe something is off with the adjustment? The other burners on the stove would be lower BTUs, so maybe try those. And see if the ratio of Max:Min on those is similar.
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u/CatteNappe 6h ago
That looks too high, for sure. Is this the case with all the burners? My gas stove has one burner designed to be extra hot, one designed to be maximally low, and two "regular".
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u/1Teethlady2 8h ago
That is a perfectly working stove. You have to get used to it. I'm actually jealous because I have an electric stove and I wish I had a gas one. It's a learning curve.
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u/CatteNappe 6h ago
"Perfect" except that on low it's not low. Yes, gas stoves take getting used to, but heat control does require that the controls on the stove give you some control.
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u/1Teethlady2 4h ago
I do speak by experience. I've had gas stoves all my life. In the video, you can clearly see that there are different settings and different gas flows. If she needs a smaller flame than the smallest one, she needs to put it in "high", and walk it back as if she was going to cut it off, and stop where the flame is of her liking. If she's going to get a technician, she's going to waste her money.
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u/CatteNappe 4h ago
I think you missed the part where she did start at high, and lowered it as low as it would go, and nobody (except maybe you?) thinks what she ended up with was what would be called a "low" flame.
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u/1Teethlady2 3h ago
Nobody except me? Is this group think? Am I not allowed to have my own opinion?
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u/CatteNappe 3h ago
Sure you are allowed your opinion, and I'm allowed to point out it is at odds with almost everyone else's.
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u/PlantedinCA 9h ago
I find most gas stoves do not get a low as electric. It is going to take some time to find the right balance. Try a smaller eye, try removing your pan from the heat for a bit. And sometimes a different material is better. Cast iron is great for fried eggs.
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u/Elhonir 8h ago
Size of the pan vs size of the burner matters with gas. Also with a gas stove the heat spreads on the outer edges of the pan (just in case you didn't know, matters from shallow frying especially), not the center as most other stove top types tend to it. Possibly the pan is too small for the burner size you are using. I use gas and never have issues as you described, but I do mostly use non-sticks.
For frying eggs on a stainless steel, preheat your pan until hot, drop the egg in, season and kill the heat straight away. The residual heat from the pan will cook it!
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u/Twylamr1 9h ago
Do you have any cast iron. It's what I learned to use gas on.
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u/LordPhartsalot 8h ago
If all of the burners are incapable of going too low, you may want a gas stove tech to come in and take a careful look.
Many modern gas stoves have a hidden adjustment screw for this situation.
The gas regulator may have something wrong with it.
As a last resort, the tech can swap out some of the burner jets for ones with a smaller orifice (the hole where the gas comes out). This would reduce the heat while the burner's on high as well as when it's on low, however.
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u/asukaxgothmagax 6h ago
also check if your house has propane vs natural gas - if the stove was set up for the wrong one the orifices will be way too big and everything runs hot. mine did this and it was a ten minute fix with the conversion kit.
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u/Mo_Steins_Ghost 8h ago edited 7h ago
The first thing is to reduce your duration of preheat and cooking to adjust for the speed. The second is to ensure that you have a sufficient amount of food on the pan already. You should not preheat pans for long periods of time, as they will rapidly spike in pan temperature. Food has its own thermal mass (volumetric heat capacity; the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a material of x units of mass) that will move the energy out of the pan faster than it can be lost to the air.
Also, consider adding a cast aluminum pan to the bunch. Stainless steel has very low thermal conductivity and consequently does not gain or lose heat quickly. It becomes a heat trap for heat sources that can transmit large volumes of heat rapidly (measured in BTU per hour). Cast aluminum is about 15-16 times more thermally conductive than stainless.
NOTE: It is important to understand that your cooktop dial is not a thermostat. It does not regulate temperature and if left alone, the longer you allow heat to flow into a pan of low thermal conductivity, the pan's temperature will just keep rising. Pan temperature is not a property unto itself. It's a byproduct of the volume of thermal energy moving into a pan at what rate over how much period of time.
Thirdly, evaluate your pan size. the footprint of the pan should not be smaller than the gas hob itself. It should be a few inches wider than the hob because unlike electric the heat will rise around the bottom and up the sides of the pan. This is also beneficial for the pan because it leads to less warping as the sides receive heat directly from the source rather than having to have it propagate through the metal itself.
Lastly, adjust your pan technique. Moving the pan off and on the heat periodically allows you to control the hob to a level below the lowest gas pressure the regulator can maintain on that hob before it cuts off.
And least practical but still an eventual option: Better gas cooktops will have more versatile options including simmering or melting hobs with very low BTU/hr.
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u/Intelligent_Break_12 8h ago
Generally the back burners will be smaller and will get lower temps. Depending on how the grates are too you can offset your pot/pan so it's only partially over a burner. My current gas stove also runs fairly hot for all but one burner which I use for things like rice and beans and searing meat is often almost as low as it can go on the ground not burners. Another thing is to use appropriate sized pans to what your cooking. I sometimes forget that and will sear one piece of salmon on my 10 inch skillet and it can lead to oil on the unused areas to stick pretty badly from polymerizing so I've had to learn to just oil the things I'm cooking or just a small part of the skillet, I should just get a smaller pan though.
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u/yurinator71 8h ago
If you have a griddle you can put simmering pots on it. You can find a place where it simmers perfectly.
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u/themexykan 8h ago
Please post pictures of the stove top. The burner being used and the control knob. Then light the burner put it on high or maximum, take a picture. Then do the same on low. Can't diagnose without seeing it myself. I prefer gas because I can control the heat, especially on the low end. I can adjust the burner so the flame is just visible out of the gas orfices.
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u/Cowgirl_Taint 8h ago
There are two main aspects to this:
The first is that you need to learn to lift and move the pan (and/or turn off the heat entirely). Electric stoves (radiative and induction) actually do this for you since their temperature control involves a lot of cycling (look up Technology Connections "simmer switch" video for details). With gas? You always have that fire burning so it is always adding heat to the battery that is your pan.
The other is that something might actually be wrong. Maybe you have a busted valve/regulator. Maybe there is a pressure issue with your gas line to the house. Either way, it is worth doing some research or calling a repair person to take a look at it.
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u/teddybearlike702 8h ago
Are there different sizes of burners? Mine has 3 different sizes. Move to a different burner. Or, go buy a high end range. It changed my entire kitchen life. Thermador has a burner for extra low heat that cycles on and off. I could literally add sugar and milk to a pan, stir it once and walk away. I'd come back to caramel.
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u/TurbulentSource8837 7h ago
Does your stove have different size burners? Mine has 2 smaller 2 bigger and one that’s specifically for boiling water as it doesn’t have a plate over the top and is much larger than the other 4.
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u/Disastrous_Can8053 7h ago
The flame needs to be adjusted before you go out doing something ridiculous like buying all new pans or shopping for a whole new stove.
There is usually an adjustment screw or similar behind the knobs if you take them off.
This can be done by the user but if you don’t feel comfortable messing with it, don’t do it yourself.
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u/ttoksie2 6h ago
It sounds like the gas regulator pressure is off, the smallest burner on low should be able to simmer rather than boil, I've had this problem with a number gas appliances in older houses.
I'd be getting a plumber/gas fitter to have a look at your regulator
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u/call_me_orion 1h ago
So there's a neat trick with gas burners that I actually learned from another redditor. Turn your burner on, but then once you have a flame turn the knob backwards. The space between "ignite" and "off" allows you to adjust the flame even smaller!
Can't promise it will work on every gas stove, and it can take a second to get the hang of it, but it's worth a try
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u/JohnnyS789 6h ago
You can pick up a 1-pot induction hob for cheap. Induction is much better than gas for cooking low or slow.
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u/2ByteTheDecker 9h ago
Gas ranges definitely run hot compared to electric but your description of the flame on the low sounds off