Conduction

Conduction is a basic cooking method in which two objects at different temperatures touch one another. Molecules of the hotter object collide with the molecules of the cooler object, transferring heat to the cooler object. As the cooler object molecules heat up and gain energy, they in turn vibrate other nearby molecules, transferring heat to them, and so on. Because solid objects are more dense than liquid or air, conductive heat transfer is faster than convection and radiation.

One common example of conduction is the resistive heating elements on electric stoves. Electric stove elements heat up and transfer heat to any pots or pans and into food mostly via conduction. The heat that a steak absorbs from the grate on a grill is also conduction at work.