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The Teflon Toxin

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Re: The Teflon Toxin

#41

Post by ectoplasm »

raverbashing wrote: post #32
pjc50 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the EU approach (REACH: http://echa.europa.eu/regulations/reach ). It's pretty burdensome, and somewhat unevenly applied (lead has been phased out of solder, but not of batteries). The "verify your product is not dangerous" has had strange effects, as people selling hand-knitted stuffed toys in tiny quantities have to work out how to handle CE marking requirements. This kind of regulation sets an effective mi…

> This kind of regulation sets an effective minimum size on businesses. Exactly. I find it funny how the biggest proponents of regulation are also those who oppose big companies as well Because regulations are a very nice way of eliminating the (smaller) competition

There's no reason the government can't level the playing field by subsidizing the fixed overhead portion of meeting the regulations. They don't, and it's stupid - ever tried to buy or sell farm fresh eggs? - but there's no reason they can't.

Re: The Teflon Toxin

#42

Post by [deleted] »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #37
thezilch wrote: post #9

I've never understood the gravity of Teflon pans. I can never seem to keep them non-stick, whether it be because of using too high of heat or somehow scratch the damn thing. So, I got cast irons. It's trivial to keep them seasoned and thus non-stick, and they can take the beating of very high heat -- searing meats -- and any metal utensils or rough substances.

For casual home cooks I'd recommend hard anodized aluminum. It's an excellent non-stick surface, easily hand washable, non-toxic, fairly durable, and low cost. Really as long as you aren't constantly gouging it with metal things then it'll hold up for years and years. Cast iron is great too though, don't get me wrong.

[deleted]

Re: The Teflon Toxin

#43

Post by gambiting »

Question - I use these pans: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Circulon-Infinite-Hard-Anodised-Skil...

They are non-stick. But are they covered with Teflon? I honestly don't know. They are oven safe up to 240C, I can put them in the dishwasher...they are seriously the most durable pans I've ever used, unlike normal Tefal Teflon covered pans which scratch easily. Does anyone know?

Re: The Teflon Toxin

#44

Post by aembleton »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #37
thezilch wrote: post #9

I've never understood the gravity of Teflon pans. I can never seem to keep them non-stick, whether it be because of using too high of heat or somehow scratch the damn thing. So, I got cast irons. It's trivial to keep them seasoned and thus non-stick, and they can take the beating of very high heat -- searing meats -- and any metal utensils or rough substances.

For casual home cooks I'd recommend hard anodized aluminum. It's an excellent non-stick surface, easily hand washable, non-toxic, fairly durable, and low cost. Really as long as you aren't constantly gouging it with metal things then it'll hold up for years and years. Cast iron is great too though, don't get me wrong.

I bought this set: http://www.costco.com/Circulon%C2%AE-Premier-Professional-Ha...

Not only does the hard anodized surface work well, the lids have small holes where the spout of the pan is so that you don't need to use a colander.

Re: The Teflon Toxin

#45

Post by pjc50 »

weland wrote: post #33
pjc50 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the EU approach (REACH: http://echa.europa.eu/regulations/reach ). It's pretty burdensome, and somewhat unevenly applied (lead has been phased out of solder, but not of batteries). The "verify your product is not dangerous" has had strange effects, as people selling hand-knitted stuffed toys in tiny quantities have to work out how to handle CE marking requirements. This kind of regulation sets an effective mi…

Some of the unevenness is for occasionally non-obvious, but valid reasons. It's done in RoHS, too, for instance: lead is banned out of solder, but still allowed for some equipment, such as radiation shields for imaging machines. The reason being that lead-free solder can still be used effectively. Lead-free radiation shields -- not so much. The aim is to reduce the usage of hazardous substances to those cases where t…

CE marking requirements are also reasonably easy to work out.

This depends very much on the product (first challenge: identify your product category in the regulations!). Electronics and especially radio transmitters have more confusing requirements. It helps that there isn't really any spot-checking: if you just write "CE" on the product and sell a few hundred units, and it doesn't actually kill anyone, you'll probably be fine.

Re: The Teflon Toxin

#46

Post by aembleton »

gambiting wrote: post #43

Question - I use these pans: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Circulon-Infinite-Hard-Anodised-Skil... They are non-stick. But are they covered with Teflon? I honestly don't know. They are oven safe up to 240C, I can put them in the dishwasher...they are seriously the most durable pans I've ever used, unlike normal Tefal Teflon covered pans which scratch easily. Does anyone know?

These are Hard Anodized pans, and they don't use Teflon. I've got this set of Circulon pans from Costco [1]; absolutely no problems and my friends have been equally impressed with the non-stick properties. You can especially see it when making something like scrambled eggs where the egg just doesn't stick.

[1]: http://www.costco.com/Circulon%C2%AE-Premier-Professional-Ha...

Re: The Teflon Toxin

#47

Post by CodeWriter23 »

sanoli wrote: post #10
thezilch wrote: post #9

I've never understood the gravity of Teflon pans. I can never seem to keep them non-stick, whether it be because of using too high of heat or somehow scratch the damn thing. So, I got cast irons. It's trivial to keep them seasoned and thus non-stick, and they can take the beating of very high heat -- searing meats -- and any metal utensils or rough substances.

How do you keep them seasoned? I tried a couple of times, but couldn't get it right. Could you give me some tips?

We use bacon fat or avocado oil. For cleaning, we use a Lodge plastic scraper if needed. And we never use soap. We wash our cast iron with about 2TBSP of kosher salt. Just dry on the pan, maybe a few drops of water, rub with a paper towel. Removes all the food debris while protecting the seasoning. Rinse the salt out with some water then dry or deglaze immediately.

Re: The Teflon Toxin

#49

Post by LukeB_UK »

acd wrote: post #48

You can make superhydrophobic surfaces with laser etching that affects the nano structure of the metal. Thus if you take a strong metal and laser etch it there is no need for potentially dangerous Teflon coating. https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/superhydrophobic-metals...

Except doing that on a large scale would be super expensive.

Re: The Teflon Toxin

#50

Post by wiz21c »

CodeWriter23 wrote: post #47
sanoli wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you keep them seasoned? I tried a couple of times, but couldn't get it right. Could you give me some tips?

We use bacon fat or avocado oil. For cleaning, we use a Lodge plastic scraper if needed. And we never use soap. We wash our cast iron with about 2TBSP of kosher salt. Just dry on the pan, maybe a few drops of water, rub with a paper towel. Removes all the food debris while protecting the seasoning. Rinse the salt out with some water then dry or deglaze immediately.

I doubt that. I do more or less as you do but, after that process, if I take a clean towel and rub it against the "clean" surface, it invariably comes back with a distinct brown color. That brown color doesn't look like "clean" to me, it's more like burnt oil... I'd expect my towel to be 100% clean if that "seasoning" was working as advertised...
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