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We Tested Nonstick Cookware: Coatings Don't Need to Look Worn to Shed Particles

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Re: We Tested Nonstick Cookware: Coatings Don't Need to Look Worn to Shed Particles

#31

Post by sodapopcan »

petronic wrote: post #21
bloke_zero wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carbon steel is amazing - durable self repairing non-stick surface that after the inital seasoning is trivial to maintain: wash the pan with a brush when its still hot without any detergent - cleans in seconds. Cast iron is good too but takes longer to heat the pan. You only have to look in any professional kitchen - they don't use non-stick pans.

My current favorite pan is the best of all worlds - stainless clad outer layer, aluminum internal layer for efficiency in spreading heat and a carbon steel interior to develop non-stick seasoning with use. Strata makes them, they're priced competitively with standard carbon steel pans. Chris Young turned me onto them in his video about a $4,200 silver frying pan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdORIBH3R88

I feel stainless steel is the simplest, most versatile option that lasts forever. I've never actually tried carbon steel, though. I've had cast iron in the past but I just don't get the hype. They're heavy and require a lot of maintenance. I'm not saying they are bad, of course, it's whatever floats your boat!

Re: We Tested Nonstick Cookware: Coatings Don't Need to Look Worn to Shed Particles

#34

Post by kccqzy »

breakyerself wrote: post #29

I don't have any nonstick. It's not that hard to cook anything or to clean stainless or cast iron. For cast iron/carbon steel 99% of the time I run it under water and rub it with my hand and it comes clean in 30 seconds. Rarely I use some soap. Stainless comes clean easiest right after you use it. Especially if you pour a little water on it while it's still hot. I do occasionally use an SOS on stainless. There's noth…

I no longer have any nonstick or cast iron. I almost never manage to clean my cast iron pan in 30 seconds; it’s more like 3–4 minutes. Stainless steel is all I use now. It goes in the dishwasher, so literally two seconds to put it in and two seconds to remove it when the dishwasher is done.

Re: We Tested Nonstick Cookware: Coatings Don't Need to Look Worn to Shed Particles

#35

Post by bluedino »

breakyerself wrote: post #29

I don't have any nonstick. It's not that hard to cook anything or to clean stainless or cast iron. For cast iron/carbon steel 99% of the time I run it under water and rub it with my hand and it comes clean in 30 seconds. Rarely I use some soap. Stainless comes clean easiest right after you use it. Especially if you pour a little water on it while it's still hot. I do occasionally use an SOS on stainless. There's noth…

It's much easier with non-stick and I'm not the only one that cooks in my house.

Re: We Tested Nonstick Cookware: Coatings Don't Need to Look Worn to Shed Particles

#36

Post by Cider9986 »

cdemer wrote: post #2

I’m the founder of RTINGS.com. A few notes about this investigation: - For each piece of cookware, we purchased and tested three separate units - Before taking the “new” measurement, each unit was washed three times with dish soap and rinsed with isopropyl alcohol - Oil blanks and uncoated cookware were included as controls - We did not chemically identify the particles that were released - This investigation measure…

Appreciated your VPN testing. Organizations like yours improve my life every time I'm going to buy something.

Re: We Tested Nonstick Cookware: Coatings Don't Need to Look Worn to Shed Particles

#37

Post by snowe2010 »

datadrivenangel wrote: post #32

Isn't Teflon (PTFE) inert biologically? (the precursor PFOAS are nasty forever chemicals that people should go to jail over dumping them in water, but once they're inert they're inert)

Supposedly, yes, but other studies have shown that teflon pans continue to off gas after construction for a long time so it’s not just PTFE you have to worry about, but PFOA as well. And in addition, purchasing Teflon pans increases the amount of these chemicals making it into the soil and water streams so it doesn’t really matter how inert they are when they make it into your food, since you’re consuming them other ways and also destroying the environment at the same time!

Re: We Tested Nonstick Cookware: Coatings Don't Need to Look Worn to Shed Particles

#39

Post by clickety_clack »

breakyerself wrote: post #29

I don't have any nonstick. It's not that hard to cook anything or to clean stainless or cast iron. For cast iron/carbon steel 99% of the time I run it under water and rub it with my hand and it comes clean in 30 seconds. Rarely I use some soap. Stainless comes clean easiest right after you use it. Especially if you pour a little water on it while it's still hot. I do occasionally use an SOS on stainless. There's noth…

I use all stainless steel now too. When I first got a stainless steel frying pan (a good thick one with some kind of impressive layering system that I’ve long forgotten about) I just assumed that things would stick to it, but I’ve never had any problems that didn’t come off with at most a basic sponge and moderate effort. Mostly food just rinses right off. I’ve had that pan for something like 15 years now. As far as I can tell, non-stick is just a ploy to get people to keep buying new pans as it wears off.

Re: We Tested Nonstick Cookware: Coatings Don't Need to Look Worn to Shed Particles

#40

Post by this_user »

datadrivenangel wrote: post #32

Isn't Teflon (PTFE) inert biologically? (the precursor PFOAS are nasty forever chemicals that people should go to jail over dumping them in water, but once they're inert they're inert)

They are, which is why this pearl clutching over particles from cookware is a bit silly.
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