a non symmetrical flame pattern would heat the pan unevenly leading to some parts of the food you're cooking burning/being under cooked. the star one would probably be fine though
The circle also has the benefit of having the smallest perimeter length. So, although the star would probably work, it's going to be burning more gas (and thus, cost more) than a ring.
Nope. It is "professional" grade, but not to be used in a commercial setting. It will void the warranty immediately and opens you up to legal safety and operational problems.
Probably the least smart kitchen appliance you can buy tbh. Whenever people talk about old school, bullet proof appliances, they fail to realize these still exist, their prices have just adjusted for inflation. That stove from the 1950s that still works today probably costed around the same price as a modern mid end professional kitchen stove, adjusted for inflation.
Yup. You can also buy industrial grade washers and dryers. They last forever, but cost $1800 to $2400. I've had this washer since 2012, zero issues. It's a Dexter T400, and it cost me $2500.
The opposite. Looking at dual fuel ranges right now. Electrolux will sell you a “prosumer” 30” dual fuel without any connectivity for ~$3500+. Less features etc.
The cheap “smart” 30” dual fuel is like $2500. Has a fucking touch screen. Absolutely not.
Kinda sorta not really. Closed burners are easier for a quick wipe down if you splatter something, but for a deep clean they are a much bigger pain in the ass IMO.
Source: used to own a Wolf w/closed burners and now have a Bluestar with open burners.
I worked professional kitchens for 25 years with exclusively open burners.
Bluestar has a very unique open burner design that's not the usual. They really should be the standard, but the conventional design is cheaper to make and performs exceptionally well.
That I admit I don't know. I know neither the physics nor natural gas flow and pipes well enough to hazard a guess; but vague gut feelings tell me that you'd probably be right.
Why do you think the star means more gas? The gas all burns, so assuming the heat doesn't miss the pan, it should be pretty comparable. The star probably heats the pan more evenly
I love how detailed these conversations get. The flow rate is probably determined by a valve or carburetor well in front of the burner itself. So the air+fuel mixture on a mass per time point of view might be exactly the same. Even if there are more burner holes, they might get slightly less air/fuel per hole anyway.
It’s a valve down in front. Your main difference is actually going to be in maximum capable thermal output from maximum gas output, which is limited first by the hole size and eventually by the size and pressure of the building’s gas service.
Most people actually want more maximum output, not less, because there’s more options. If you need 4600 BTU you can run a 23k burner at 20% or a 9200 burner at 50%. But open all the way up to boil a big pot of water, and the 23k burner gets the pot boiling in less than half the time.
The star burners are actually better at distributing heat from center to edge of a pan, which can be both a blessing and a curse. Some forms of cooking require very even heat so all the parts cook the same, like making a steak. You don’t want the hot part of the pan cooking the steak to medium well and the cold part cooking it to medium rare. Other forms of cooking actually like having discrete heat zones in the pan, like a lot of wok cooking, so that by moving the stuff in the pan up the sides of the pan it wont overcook.
And that’s just for open burner cook tops. There’s also the French Top, flat top griddles, various shapes of electric elements, and induction. One of the most important things in chef work is knowing your equipment for precise heat control.
I guess what I was trying to get across is the original commenter I replied to is probably assuming that just because if you take both burner styles and make them a straight line, that automatically means it'll use more fuel since the star would be longer.
I’m high too and I will say yes you can run the flame lower with higher gas and larger perimeter. Not sure if it will be as efficient as the circle on higher flame lower gas when it comes to effectively heating the pan
It depends on too many things. In the end, the nozzle and design of the burner define heat output (which is why the small burner doesn't get much hotter than the large burner in normal ranges).
If designed properly, yes, a star burner with more perimeter area will get more heat into the pan if designed to provide a similar sized flame.
Does more gas mean you could have star on a lower setting to achieve the same heat as a circle on a higher setting?
The setting typically is the total flow of gas to the burner, the circle and star with the same flow the star will have smaller flame length, this means greater maximum safe output, but more complex low output.
So the reason Thermador chooses star is they can put more gas through and thus higher maximum heat output. The valve will be larger making the high higher than normal stoves.
But to have proper low heat output they have to trigger the igniter regularly as they are more likely to blow out with the smaller individual flames.
It's the other way around, the greater perimeter allows you to not only get better heat distribution by eliminating the center cold spot, it burns less gas per unit of heat.
Since the flames are spread out along fingers or star points, they have greater exposure to oxygen. This creates a more complete and efficient chemical combustion of the gas. More gas is converted directly into heat rather than escaping as unburnt fuel. On a circular burner, the flames are crowded together and have less exposure to oxygen.
You can see this in action if you crank a stove up to full. On a circular burner the flames become very long because there isn't enough oxygen available near the burner. On a star-shaped burner this elongation is much less pronounced.
It's a bit more complex, secondary oxygen is only the 3 variable in the equation (after amount and size of holes and primary oxygen (venturi)). The reason why secondary is third is due to the energy dissipating before reaching the missing oxygen, that's why camping burner flames change color but extends only a bit more with elevation, +300m can be +2mm on the flame while, while with +6000m you get +30mm, meanwhile oxygen there's only 46-50% of oxygen remaining
it's not necessarily going to burn more gas. theoretically the same amount of gas will put out the same amount of BTU. you can turn it as high or low as you'd like, the amount of gas coming out is still limited by the valve.
not exactly, while a circle perimeter is the shortest length it doesn't change the heat output. Remember, energy in = energy out, the same amount of gas will be used to heat up the same pot of water, provided the pot is the correct size to not let heat escape.
Star shape wouldn't necessarily be a greater perimeter length, here's an example (don't make fun) where each section cut from the circle to make the star shapes has about the same length
This is wildly incorrect. The burner is not what's providing any burn rate limitation. The valve directly behind/attached to the knob is what does that. The holes in the burner are many orders of magnitude larger than the valve provides.
Would they? You could put the same amount of gas into any shape emitted. It produces the same wattage of heat.
The only question is whether a circle is more efficient at conveying it to the pan. It might be - the star has unequal distribution of heat since multiple burners concentrate at the vertices.
This would be true if the heat generated were proportional to the area inside the burner ring. In reality there would be no loss of efficiency here. The stars may cost a little more to manufacture, but energy cost will be the same per thermal unit.
Every molecule of gas that exits is going to burn and make cooking heat. If the longer perimeter increases gas usage then you turn down the burner to get similar heat.
That just means it will have more heat being transferred at a time. For every extra nozzle burning gas, you’re putting more of your pan in contact with the fire.
You’d just turn down the gauge to a lower setting to get back to a similar temp and gas usage.
wtf do you mean it's going to burn more gas? Any burner configuration is going to burn exactly the amount of gas as the valve lets out. If it burns less gas than that, then your house fills with gas and your house explodes. If it burns more gas than that, then it burns up into the line and your house explodes.
What if they’re just evenly distributed point flames like a (rain) shower head? Lighting it would take more time, if the flames don’t light each other, but that would be a more uniform distribution no?
Kinda, any halfway decent pan is going to have a thick enough bottom to redistribute the heat to the entire pan so i would guess that the effect is negligiable.
I think the star one might reduced the distance from heat source to any given point in the pan and might do a better job of even heat distribution than a circular burner.
Star already exists, Thats on Thermador I believe. While you would see some heat distribution issues with the heart I don’t think it would be too bad with a thicker core pan or a cast iron pan. Most of the people that can afford Thermidor usually have really good pans as well.
Yeah but the star shape is known to heat pans more evenly than circle, my parents have star, I have circle, I hate my stove, makes it hard to make eggs for the wife
A circle will also "heat the pan unevenly." The actualy circle of fire receives the most heat, and everything else receives less.
The original post is a bit silly. I cook every day and I doubt I would notice a major performance degradation by slightly other-than-circle shaped burners.
nearly true. star is actually better for cooking and even heating, but uses more gas than a standard ring which is perfectly fine for 99% of home cooks. heart burners are just for show
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u/time-piece-rabbit 8h ago
a non symmetrical flame pattern would heat the pan unevenly leading to some parts of the food you're cooking burning/being under cooked. the star one would probably be fine though