Big gas burner

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

FatBear

Assistant Cook
Joined
Dec 29, 2014
Messages
13
Location
Escondido, CA
Hi Everyone.
We are starting to plan a kitchen remodel and this gives me the chance to fix a problem that has been bugging me for years.

I have an 11" round cast iron griddle. One of its chief uses is making omelets. The problem is that it is really difficult to get the whole surface to a uniform temperature and keep it there. Impossible, really. It is bigger that the largest burner on our electric stove so the center is always much hotter than the rim.

We will be switching to a gas cook top and so I am hoping to find one with a large diameter burner which can cook at a low temperature. I've seen a super high BTU burner with a large fire ring, but I don't want high heat. I want low, even heat spread around the edge of the griddle.

I have also seen heat spreaders, but I have no idea how well they work or if they will be tippy and make the eggs run to one side of the pan.

I am pretty old, but have had only a few occasions to cook on gas cook tops, so any suggestions anyone can offer will be very welcome.

Thanks!
 
Hi FatBear, and welcome to Discuss Cooking.

Congratulations on getting a new gas range, and I'm sure you'll be pleased with it. I've cooked with gas most of my long life, and only for a short period had to put up with an electric cook top. As far as your 11" CI griddle, I think it's really unusual to be using it for omelets, but a regular gas flame burner should be able to give you reasonably even heat. Frankly, a non stick skillet dedicated for just omelets is my best friend.
 
Last edited:
It would have to be one "Big Gas Burner" for an 11" pan.:angel:
 
Hi FatBear, and welcome to Discuss Cooking.

Congratulations on getting a new gas range, and I'm sure you'll be pleased with it. I've cooked with gas most of my long life, and only for a short period had to put up with an electric cook top. As far as your 11" CI griddle, I think it's really unusual to be using it for omelets, but a regular gas flame burner should be able to give you reasonably even heat. Frankly, a non stick skillet dedicated for just omelets is my best friend.

Actually not as unusual as you might think. I've watched omelet bars make them on a flat steel griddle surface. They just pour out a little oil, a ladle of egg (looks to be maybe 2 eggs), while that's starting to cook they push up the edges to keep it about 8 inches in diameter, they add whatever filling the guest wants, then fold twice and serve. While it's not a classic omelet that's sort of chopped and shaken while cooking (sort of like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time), the ones I had most recently in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe were excellent. I plan to try it with my CI griddle that goes on the oblong center burner on my gas range.
 
Last edited:
It would have to be one "Big Gas Burner" for an 11" pan.:angel:
Exactly my problem. Surely there is one. I also have a 14" deep sided frying pan and the bottom of that one is about the same diameter. (The sides curve up and outwards. I sure wish I had two of these!)
 
Actually not as unusual as you might think. I've watched omelet bars make them on a flat steel griddle surface. They just pour out a little oil, a ladle of egg (looks to be maybe 2 eggs),
That's about what I do, but I use the whole pan, not just an 8" circle. Two eggs make a nice, uniform wrapper for my fillings. It is just challenging to get them cooked all the way to the edges without overcooking the center. I succeed once in a while, but not as often as I'd like.

While it's not a classic omelet that's sort of chopped and shaken while cooking
I am a creative cook. That means I do things my own way. :)

(sort of like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time)
I can actually do that. I just never thought of doing it with eggs. Seems very messy...
 
I usually place my large CI griddle over 2 burners.

I have a 14" nonstick frying pan that I do that with. Now that I have the center burner, I may be able to span 3 burners with it. I did that with my roasting pan on Christmas when making the au jus for my rib roast. :chef:
 
I usually place my large CI griddle over 2 burners.

My 14" Lodge CI "pizza pan" sits nicely over one burner and I get pretty even heating.

Our stove has a "bridge" burner, but if I need to get a CI pan super hot, I use the jet cooker (I use for crawfish boils) outside.
 
We're on the economy program here. No space for large grills and such and it seems pretty extravagant using two burners for one 11" pan. Maybe I'll have to make my own burner. (I have tools and know how to use them.) Do they make modular gas ranges or cook tops? Maybe that's how I need to go.
 
You're designing your kitchen around one 11" griddle?
No, of course not. As I said, it just occurred to me that this might be a chance to fix one thing that's really been bugging me. Plus the griddle and the large frying pan are the two pans I use most, so it is worth putting a bit of work into solving this problem.

I'm not a glamour chef, but I cook almost every meal we eat in this kitchen and function is important to me. I like to have a few well made and effective tools rather than a different one for every possible thing I might ever want to cook (or make - I have also designed and built everything from houses to a computer that went up in the shuttle.)

And we do not have a huge kitchen, so storing lots of pots and pans is not going to be an option.
 
Rather than designing a stove top to accommodate one utensil, consider a different utensil that will work with a "normal" stove.

Given you are on an economy program, a rectangular CI griddle that fits over two burners might be a less expensive and acceptable solution.
 
I have a Jenn-Air gas range and one of the burners works rather counter-intuitively. It has two rings and you get the lowest settings when both are on low heat. I use it with one of my Dutch ovens, which probably is about 11 inches in diameter.

Unlike an electric cooktop, when you use a gas cooktop, the flame spreads out under the pan and heats a larger pan more evenly. Ask your appliance vendor about this.
 
I have a Jenn-Air gas range and one of the burners works rather counter-intuitively. It has two rings and you get the lowest settings when both are on low heat
Thank you. That is interesting. What model is your range so I can figure out what cook top might have the same kind of burner.

Unlike an electric cooktop, when you use a gas cooktop, the flame spreads out under the pan and heats a larger pan more evenly. Ask your appliance vendor about this.
I wondered about this, but wasn't sure how much spreading and evening to expect. I'll ask about it. Maybe I'll take my pan in and some eggs and see if they'll demonstrate. :shock:
 
It seems to me that an 11" CI griddle should heat pretty well on a gas burner if allowed some time to preheat. Cast iron holds heat well, so once preheated, it shouldn't be that hard to keep a good temperature for something as fast cooking as eggs. When I use the grilling side on my griddle/grill pan, I preheat it for 10-15 minutes before I cook anything on it. Of course I want that to be quite hot, hotter than I would want the griddle for eggs.
 
Regardless of brand, most any 30 to 36 inch cooktops or ranges these days come with large enough main burners that can easily handle your 11" griddle. 11" is not that big (no jokes please...:LOL:) and the flames will distribute evenly for even cooking.
 
Last edited:
I like to cook my eggs on a pretty cool pan so they don't brown and get that icky taste. And I also like the cheese to melt onto them before I fold it over. I like my cheese. Eggs are just there to contain the cheese and other fillings.
 
I think we've got this covered for now. It has been useful. Remember: I've almost never cooked on gas before. And I'm getting to be an old codger by now. I'm from Oregon where electric is probably still more common than gas because it's cheaper here than the rest of the country.
I will still be looking for a large diameter gas ring, but I won't fixate too much on it. I think I'll also ask around and see if anyone I know has a gas range who will let me do a test.
Thank you all for your input.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom