Gregory Morrow wrote:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining/08curi.html
> The heavy copper and the light aluminum pans produced evenly toasted heat
> maps. The stainless-clad aluminum did pretty well, too. But the cast-iron
> pan scorched a small area, and the pattern was familiar. For years I made
> risotto every week or two in my favorite enameled cast-iron pot, and always
> found a solid brown ring of stuck rice grains right above the flame.
>
> Still, I was surprised, because I'd always heard and thought that cast iron
> was a slow but even conductor. I wondered if it would perform better if I
> heated it more gradually over a low flame, or on an electric heating coil,
> which would contact more of the pan bottom than the gas flame. I was wrong.
> The low flame caused even browning over a small area at the center of the
> pan, and none elsewhere. The electric burner gave a pattern much like the
> flame's.
>
> When I spot-checked the cast iron with my thermometer, there was a
> consistent 100-degree difference between the pan center and an inch from the
> edge. That's easily enough to make the difference between browning and
> scorching. My cast-iron pan makes a much better potato galette in even oven
> heat.

I created my own answer to hot spots; it's *very* effective.

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.re...6a72a626d5308c

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.re...f681d44c65f424

Here's a picture for the non-thread readers:

http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...=hot_plate.jpg

It's 150x200x6 mm of solid copper (6x9 x 1/4" for imperialists)

BugBear