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Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

theatlantic.com

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Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#601

Post by bayindirh »

dfxm12 wrote: post #484

From gidmkhealthnerd, a scientific fact-checker: Counterpoint: this seems to be the crusade of a single researcher - I don't find the data personally convincing and am still using my black spatula for cooking. https://www.threads.net/@gidmkhealthnerd/post/DBxbQERykRx?hl...

It's important to understand that coloring plastics change their characteristics, though (I'll add the link if I can find it again).

Also, plastics have quality grades from "that's good stuff" to "this thing smells funny in a bad way". We have some IKEA food tweezers which use black plastic molded on steel prongs. It's stamped with "+150 degrees C" and the black is hazy, like it's colored with a dye or pigment, and plastic is hard like bakelite.

OTOH, I have used other "black" spatulas which are uniform in color, but neither as sturdy, nor smell neutral.

We have silicone counterparts to these items too. They're more rubbery, but they have hard plastic spines inside so, they don't flex.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#602

Post by NoGravitas »

foobarian wrote: post #417
crispyambulance wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A properly seasoned cast iron pan can be non-stick but the temperature has to be right, you need shortening, and you can't just put any amount of food in it at any temperature. Stainless is can do the job too, but temperature and shortening is even more important. There's a much tighter window of temperature that it works at. You do the "water drop test" to determine that it's ready. See youtube for an infinity of vi…

I use cast iron for everything I possibly can, but there is one use case I still need non-stick pans for: frying eggs. The only way to get them to not stick in even the best seasoned cast iron pan is copious amounts of oil, which seems like it's probably worse than a few molecules of PTFE derivates.

Really? I fry eggs in a cast iron pan almost every day, with just a little cooking spray or wipe of oil (like, put a little oil in, wipe it out with a paper towel, painting the whole surface with oil in the process). I mean, it's not no oil, but it's far from copious amounts.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#603

Post by DiggyJohnson »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #468
SoftTalker wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just don't use plastic for cooking.

How do you find a non-Teflon waffle iron?

I mean this in jest but this is the least compelling unironic retort that I can imagine here. How important are waffles in your diet?

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#604

Post by yadaeno »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #512
MrSkelter wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The precautionary principle plus what we know about heating plastic makes your reticence seem churlish. There are easy, safe alternatives in wood, metal and silicone. There’s no need to risk it.

"Should I risk this?" is the wrong question in life. The burden of proof, as it were, is on those who are alleging a risk. I'm not gonna go through life worrying about every little thing just because it might be a problem. That goes double because people are constantly finding new things to worry about, most of which amount to nothing in the end.

Obesity 5% to 42%, Alzheimer’s 0% to 33% in the last century.

I think there’s a balance between being neurotic and being blissfully ignorant, but given the high level health data in the west it’s probably time to be more neurotic.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#605

Post by potato3732842 »

timeon wrote: post #550
snowwrestler wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s kind of funny to watch the following conversations both recur regularly here on HN: - The replication crisis means most science is bad and we should be extremely skeptical of scientific consensus. - This one single scientific paper changes everything and you are negligent if you don’t immediately change your life based on it.

It would be funny if it was done by same people but are we sure it is the case? Is 'HN' homogeneous crowd?

At some point a behavior or pattern becomes so reliable or so frequent that it's a valid criticism of the community as a whole.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#606

Post by hollerith »

tonymet wrote: post #600

A minor concern that will discourage families from cooking at home and maintaining a healthy diet

If the family is thinking rationally, it will notice that restaurants have less of an incentive to get rid of black plastic cooking utensils than they themselves do -- and will react by tending to eat out less.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#607

Post by bloopernova »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #477
RandomThoughts3 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Straws are useless. Plates and ustensiles can be provided by and cleaned at the place you eat. Takeout containers don’t take more space than the non reusable container you will have to carry back anyway. They can also be provided by your place of work if you generally go for take out for lunch. Reusable tissue bags take no space or paper bags can be used for a cost. Napkins and tissues are not made of plastics. So, y…

I just want to be able to buy ketchup or mayonnaise in glass at the grocery store. But apparently that's not enough, you want me to bring my own container and have the grocer fill it up from the 55 gallon condiment drum?

I want a mobile service that steam cleans the glass bottles and refills them with the product of your choice. Hand soap, ketchup, etc etc.

This used to be done in the UK with milk delivery, the empty bottles were exchanged for clean, full ones. They even used electric vehicles!

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#608

Post by bell-cot »

afh1 wrote: post #589
bell-cot wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The non-stick pans that release all sorts of concerning-at-even-1ppb fluorine compounds?

What do you cook on?

Stainless steel on the stovetop. Glass in the microwave. A mix of those in the oven. Occasionally well-seasoned cast iron.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#609

Post by Dalewyn »

azemetre wrote: post #548
0_____0 wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seasoning isn't that precious either. I accidentally left my cast iron on the stove and burned off most of the seasoning, took it as an opportunity to smooth out the surface with sandpaper, gave it a couple of coats of canola and put it back into service. Within a couple of days it was basically where it was before. I also do 70% of my cooking in that pan!

I've been cooking exclusively with Le Creuset cast iron pans. I use to care about seasoning and never using soap to clean but I've gotten way more relaxed as of late. I still take care of the pans and "season them" when it looks pretty bare, but I haven't really noticed much of a difference between seasoned and nonseasoned as an amateur chef. I make up for the lack of seasoning by using more butter or oil. The true r…

>never using soap to clean

That doesn't sound (and isn't) healthy.

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