<p>I’ve only had access to electric for 15 years. I think with any stove you have to experiment. Not so much for boiling an egg, but re: the pancakes, my different frying pans require different heat. One does pancakes best right smack in the middle of “Med”; another is better just to the left of the “M” in “Med High”. She’ll figure it out. We all did.</p>
<p>The more important lesson here is that pancakes are a comprehensively horrible food from a nutrition standpoint. Two eggs over easy, three slices of bacon, and whole wheat toast with butter is much better breakfast nutritionally than pancakes.</p>
<p>I’ve never had a gas stove. So, joining the eggs and pancake chorus, my methods are…</p>
<p>eggs: put them in a pot of cold water, cover. turn burner on high and set the timer to 20 mins. Midway through the time, when boiling makes the lid rattle, turn the heat down to medium-high. Let cool in the water after cooking.</p>
<p>pancakes: the first batch is always trash. on the second batch, let the bubbles pop and the edges become dry. Flip. Peek underneath until they’re as golden brown as you like.</p>
<p>For pancakes, I use an electric griddle preheated to 350 degrees (though I haven’t found it matters much exactly what the heat is–anything in the medium to high range should work). The advantage to the griddle is that I can make 6-8 pancakes at one time. I turn the griddle on to preheat while I mix up the ingredients. </p>
<p>Pancakes are a perfectly healthy food if made with whole wheat flour and without sugar. I often substitute nonfat yogurt for the milk, in which case use baking soda rather than baking powder for the leavening. You can throw in some wheat germ too.</p>
<p>If they’re not turning out, perhaps the batter is the wrong consistency. There is a lot of wiggle room, but a slightly thinner batter will make a flatter pancake that will cook through more evenly.</p>
<p>The stove is apartment quality and her pans are a set from Ross that was pretty cheap. I haven’t seen them but I know they are not heavy duty. For her with the pancakes it could have been any number of factors, stove, pan or batter. She is absolutely clueless in the kitchen. She was only attempting the pancakes since a friend had left a bag of TJ’s mix at her house. She doesn’t usually eat pancakes. Interested Dad no need to worry she has an above average knowledge of nutrition. She doesn’t always practice what she knows but she is trying.
Going to give her some of the egg tips and encourage her to keep trying.Use multiple burners set on different temps and to start on medium for most things and adjust as needed. The problem for her is she doesn’t know what when needed is. The other day she called me to ask what was a simmer. We might have to skype some cooking lessons.</p>
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<p>The pans are a big problem. Even expert cooks can’t get consistently good results from lightweight pans, and a beginner doesn’t stand a chance. Cheap electric stoves never heat evenly so it’s important to have good cookware to help even out the heat, so I think you have a great opportunity for a very useful Christmas gift.</p>
<p>As far as boiling eggs goes, the following method is foolproof: Place eggs in pan with cold water reaching about an inch above the tops of the eggs. Bring the water to a boil, remove the pan from the heat, cover and let the eggs sit in the water for 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I also would suggest either Joy of Cooking or one of the Cooks Illustrated basic recipe books which explain why certain methods of cooking work and what type of equipment is necessary to achieve the desired results.</p>