Electric cooking apparatus

1. A cooking system, comprising:

a cooking plate having a continuous cooking surface;

a heating element assembly disposed beneath the cooking surface and comprising a flexible heating element compressively coupled with the cooking plate via a flexible compression plate, the flexible compression plate being configured to compressively couple the flexible heating element to the heating surface to maintain contact between the flexible heating element and the cooking plate as the cooking surface changes shape due to thermal expansion and/or thermal contraction, the flexible compression plate being formed at least in part from metal and having a thickness less than a thickness of the cooking plate;

a temperature controller for varying a temperature of the cooking surface; and

a base that supports the cooking plate on an underlying surface.

2. The cooking system of claim 1 , wherein the base includes a pedestal coupled to the cooking plate.

3. The cooking system of claim 1 , wherein the cooking plate has a first upward convexity at a first, lower temperature and a second upward convexity at a second, higher temperature, and wherein the first upward convexity is less convex than the second upward convexity.

4. The cooking system of claim 1 , wherein the flexible heating element comprises a mica heating element.

5. A portable cooking system comprising:

a cooking plate having a continuous cooking surface with a cooking surface profile that varies in convexity responsive to heating and/or cooling of the cooking plate;

a heating element assembly disposed beneath the cooking surface, the heating element assembly comprising:

a flexible compression plate, and

a flexible heating element disposed between the flexible compression plate and the cooking plate; and

a plurality of connectors joining the heating element assembly to the cooking plate so that the flexible heating element is compressively retained against a heating surface of the cooking plate by the flexible compression plate as the cooking surface profile varies, the heating surface being disposed on an opposite side of the cooking plate as the cooking surface.

6. The portable cooking system of claim 5 , wherein the heating element assembly comprises a mica heating element.

7. The portable cooking system of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of connectors comprise a plurality of posts extending downward from a heating surface of the cooking plate in a direction normal to the heating surface, the heating surface being disposed on an opposite side of the cooking plate as the cooking surface.

8. The portable cooking system of claim 5 , wherein the heating element assembly further comprises one or more insulating sheets and a heat shield.

9. The portable cooking system of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of posts extend through complementary holes formed in the flexible compression plate to form a plurality of post-hole pairs for aligning the flexible compression plate to the cooking plate, and wherein, for each post-hole pair, a smallest dimension of a complementary hole is at least one-half of an inch in diameter and a largest dimension of the post is less than one-eighth of an inch in diameter.

10. The portable cooking system of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of posts are welded to the heating surface.

11. The portable cooking system of claim 5 , wherein the flexible compression plate is formed at least in part from metal, and wherein a thermal mass of the flexible compression plate is less than a thermal mass of the cooking plate so that more heat is transferred to the cooking plate than to the flexible compression plate.

12. The portable cooking system of claim 11 , wherein the flexible compression plate has a thickness that is less than a thickness of the cooking plate.

13. The portable cooking system of claim 12 , wherein the cooking plate has a thickness of between three-sixteenths of an inch and one-quarter of an inch thick, and wherein the flexible compression plate has a thickness of between 0.02 inch and 0.125 inch.

14. A portable cooking system, comprising:

a cooking plate having a continuous cooking surface with a cooking surface profile that varies in convexity responsive to heating and/or cooling of the cooking plate;

a heating element assembly disposed beneath the cooking surface, the heating element assembly comprising:

a flexible metal compression plate, and

a mica heating element disposed between the flexible metal compression plate and the cooking plate;

a plurality of posts joining the heating element assembly to the cooking plate so that the mica heating element is compressively retained against a heating surface of the cooking plate by the flexible metal compression plate as the cooking surface profile varies, the heating surface being disposed on an opposite side of the cooking plate as the cooking surface;

a temperature controller for varying a temperature of the cooking surface; and

a base that supports the cooking plate on an underlying surface, the base comprising a drip pan located beneath the cooking surface.

15. The portable cooking system of claim 14 , wherein the cooking plate has a first upward convexity at a first, lower temperature and a second upward convexity at a second, higher temperature, and wherein the first upward convexity is less convex than the second upward convexity.

16. The portable cooking system of claim 15 , wherein a thermal mass of the flexible metal compression plate is less than a thermal mass of the cooking plate so that more heat is transferred to the cooking plate than to the flexible metal compression plate.