Cast iron pans are cheap, will outlive you, and work nearly as well with enough seasoning / butter :)
Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
31–40 of 412 posts
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why take the risk for a minor convenience? Get stainless steel cookware and you’ll quickly learn how to avoid sticking by controlling temperature.
I can't do the temperature control thing so I use ceramic cookware for things like eggs mostly.
Can you recommend a brand?
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't do the temperature control thing so I use ceramic cookware for things like eggs mostly.
Can you recommend a brand?
They're not cheap but I can recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SS34H3K?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_...
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#34They're finding PFAS in everything now. https://www.consumerreports.org/bottled-water/pfas-in-bottle... https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7gban/rainwater-everywhere-... https://www.dcourier.com/news/2022/aug/11/prescott-valley-sh...
Notably, PFAS are in the food supply chain to a significant and non transparent degree.
Those compostable fiber salad bowls are up to 25% PFAS.
The extruders that make your dried pasta and other machine parts that make other processed foods are coated with PFAS.
The paper that your sandwich is packed in is coated with PFAS.
The paper straw that replaced your plastic one, to save the turtles...is coated with PFAS. Did you really think a cardboard straw could hold up for more than a few seconds in a cup of liquid without some type of coating??
That's the food supply. Don't get me started on everything else. The device you are touching right now, your cell phone screen, is coated with PFAS.
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#35Cast iron pans are cheap, will outlive you, and work nearly as well with enough seasoning / butter :)
Yup. Chefs rarely use nonstick cookware outside of baking or specifically making omelettes. For the majority of their uses, it's either stainless, cast iron, or enameled cast iron.
Non-stick got its foothold when the feds went on their "fat is bad for you" kick. They took all the fat out and added sugar to products to fix the texture.
Proteins stick to steel when the steel isn't sufficiently hot before food is placed on it. If you toss a bead of water into a pan and it doesn't dance along the surface in the Leidenfrost effect, your pan isn't hot enough.
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#36The usual line that I've heard on nonstick pans is that the leaking process happens at very high temperatures. In general one shouldn't use very high heat on a non-stick pan & certainly not an _empty_ non-stick pan.
David Chang's podcast has an interesting episode on this specific topic, though he brings on a domain expert who definitely has a lot of bias (but expertise nonetheless).
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7joCX2xx4GU50myfbtVm44?si=4...
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#37Cast iron pans are cheap, will outlive you, and work nearly as well with enough seasoning / butter :)
If you spend the time sanding them down to glass-smoothness before seasoning them, you won't need that much fat -- although fat is tasty.
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why take the risk for a minor convenience? Get stainless steel cookware and you’ll quickly learn how to avoid sticking by controlling temperature.
Not really. And I say this as someone who owns and frequently cooks with stainless steel, cast iron, and non-stick, I have for decades and also worked in a professional kitchen at one point. Some things are always better in stainless or cast iron... I tend towards meats in cast iron and veggies in stainless, though it really depends. Other things are easiest in nonstick, but can be learned in stainless, like eggs sun…
You can get a nice carbon steel or cast iron pan nonstick enough to do things like classical omelets through seasoning alone. (Though the shape of cast iron generally makes it impractical in that particular example.) All the French old timers did. But they need to only be used for that and most home cooks aren't willing to have a pan they only use for one thing. Also, most home cooks-- even the ones that really think they do-- just don't have the kind of pan/utensil handling and heat management experience to make that happen because it's super fussy. Even thin light fishes can be totally fine with enough fat. I wouldn't consider making a sole meuniere in a nonstick pan because you can't build a fond... but most home cooks won't use that much fat either. I never worked in a professional kitchen that used nonstick for anything other than eggs, and they were ONLY used for eggs, and most of the cooks brought their own egg pans when they needed them. All the fish went into regular aluminum skillets or carbon steel pans. At the temperatures required to cook eggs, there's like zero danger using a modern teflon coated pan. It's the people cranking those pans up to smoking temperatures that you have to worry about. That shit is nasty.
Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#39Re: Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
#40Cast iron pans are cheap, will outlive you, and work nearly as well with enough seasoning / butter :)
Cast iron is also very heavy, and hard to clean if you get anything stuck to it. You can’t really soak or wash it with soap/water without re-seasoning it or it’ll rust.
It has its upsides if you put in the work. I’ve given up and opted for mid-range non-stick (coated steel and/or copper, not anodized aluminum) or high end stainless.