Forum: cooking.stackexchange.com
Tags: <gas><electric-stoves>
Title: Does using Electric stove vs Gas stove have any difference in food taste?
Question: Does it make any difference in taste when you use Gas stove and Electric Stove?AFAIK, it doesn't but some people I know (amateur cooks) say that it does make a difference in taste.   Enlighten me on this one please?

Answers:
sents: text: The simple answer is: no, heat is heat, it should taste the same.
text: Reality is slightly more complicated than that.
text: In reality, a cook learns how to cook well by instinct with his stove.
text: When he changes to a stove with a different behavior, his instinct is suddenly wrong, but he probably does not know it.
text: So he cooks as usual.
text: But because the stove works differently, he should have changed the setting and time he uses.
text: So, a stove change alone can cause food to taste worse - not because the stove is worse, but because the cook's skill is lacking.
text: Also, an electric stove (especially an old fashioned one with iron hobs) cannot do some things a gas stove can, such as a very quick change in temperature.
text: If the food absolutely requires this, it can turn out worse on the electric stove.
text: But a good cook should be able to work around that.
text: So, the more complete statement should be: There is no difference in taste between cooking on electric or gas stove, if the cook knows how to compensate for the difference in heating speed .
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/4638/rumtscho
score: 16
sents: text: There is no difference in food taste when cooking using gas or electric.
text: Gas burns pretty cleanly
text: so is not going to leave a flavor residue you could detect.
text: Cooking over flame as in a barbecue or a pot over a campfire does change the flavor because of the smoke, that's the only case I can think of where the heat source can change the flavor of the food.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/19707/GdD
score: 3
sents: text: No Only when smokes is added by the cooking method does it effect the taste.
text: The only real reason why gas is preferred over conventional stoves is that you can control the temperature of a gas stove much more accurately.
text: Gas mark 1, 2 and are a much more universally accepted temperature gauge
text: then what is the case with conventional stoves that may all be different in the temperatures they give at there various marks.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/18910/Neil Meyer
score: 1
sents: text: I think there might be a maybe?
text: I find that there is of course differences in responsiveness between gas and electric.
text: Gas is much quicker to respond in temperature, either raising it or lowering it.
text: Electric is much less responsive.
text: I'll take a gas range over an electric one any day of the week.
text: But here is my maybe...
text: if you were to actually cook food directly with the actual heat of a gas or electric stove, there might be a difference.
text: I would say that the heat from gas has more water vapor.
text: If you put a clear heat proof glass container a little above a gas flame you will see some vapor on it.
text: I would say this is lacking in electric, it is a dry heat.
text: I will frequently cook/reheat both corn and flour tortillas or charring veggies, directly on the gas hob and also directly on those old fashioned electric coils.
text: I would say that there is a difference, as the electric coil heated tortilla has less moisture and a bit more crispy.
text: And ones heated on gas is warm, but not as crispy.
text: With the coils, you can place food directly on the coiled surface, which will cook differently.
text: The gas flame needs that little bit of space between it and foods you cooking, or else it is extinguished.
text: Or perhaps it's just me, but this difference only exists when you cook food directly with the heat from either gas or electric.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/43997/JG sd
score: 1
sents: text: If you compare a high quality electrical stove vs. a gas stove - from my personal experience, there is no difference.
text: But, if you're talking about cheap electrical stoves, those heat and cool very slowly and might cause food to over\under cook.
text: Personally, I always prefer the good old gas stove.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/44047/Lizozom
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
While there is a difference in responsiveness that could affect the taste, the cook should compensate for this when preparing the food and the actual methods of heating should make no difference. A difference will only be tasted if smoke is added with the cooking method.
Technically there is no difference in taste caused by cooking on electric or gas. However, a difference may result from the cook's skills and experience with one method rather than the other. Moreover, as gas is more responsive, this could affect the finall taste of the food.