The popularity of electric cookers remains at an all-time high although gas cookers are also very widespread. In the United States, many apartment complexes and homes come with pre-installed electric cookers which consists of 4 electrical coils or elements and an in-built oven. This enables the cook to prepare different meals at the same time for maximum efficiency.
Electric cookers have their share of advantages. The first and obvious one is that they are easy to operate. There are no manuals needed to operate an electric cooker as the functionality is pretty straight-forward. This is one of the reasons that companies like General Electric generally prefer to mass-produce and mass-install electric cooker in housing units and complexes.
Electric cookers are also considered safer than gas cookers when it comes to public housing. This is because the risk of fires stemming from an electric cooker malfunction is lower than that of a gas cooker. While the potential still exists especially where someone forgets oily food on the stove or in the oven, the risks are lower than when dealing with, say, a gas leak and someone lighting a match. One downside of this is that when the electric coils found on the electric cooker stove are hot, they sometimes do not appear to be so and there is a danger that one's hand can come into contact with the hot coil causing serious burns. This is unlike the flame of the gas cooker which is clearly visible and therefore conspicuous enough for someone to avoid it.
There are different types of electric cookers:
Rice cookers
Rice cookers are one type of electric cookers. When refering to electric cookers, there is a tendency to associate the term with the convenctional cookers we see and use in everyday kitchens around the world. But rice cookers also fall under electric cookers. These are round compact cookers which contain of an electrical device attached to an electrical outlet via a cord and a metallic pot where the rice is measured. They also have a timer and a lid where the rice is trapped and steamed to perfection. Rice cookers are extremely safe and rarely cause any problems. They can also be operated easily by anyone regardless of their level of culinary expertise.
Freestanding cookers
These are perhaps the ones we are accustomed to the most. These electric cookers are more prevalent in homes and apartments. They usually contain a number, usually four, coil elements which may or may not be covered. In-built inside the cooker is an oven which has the capability to bake and also to broil food. Innovations made to the freestanding cooker have included the magnetic induction cooker which works by means of a current which is induced only when there is a metallic object, in this case the cooking pot is placed on the coil surface which is usually covered. The magnetic induction cooker does not respond to non-metallic objects being placed on it for instance your hand, or glass for that matter.
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