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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

#821

Post by CalRobert »

mtalantikite wrote: post #394
CalRobert wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I stopped using non-stick cookware in favour of carbon steel and haven't missed it.

My carbon steel pans are essentially non-stick and a fraction of the weight of my cast iron ones. They're cheaper than their stainless All-Clad counterparts. They're a pleasure to cook with. Sure, you can get a cheap non-stick pan that may or may not give you cancer, but why? I'm in my 40s and since I can remember thought it made no sense to cook with plastic anything. My parents still cook with the same wooden spoon…

I spent some time fiddling with seasoning, etc. but at this point I just cook like normal, use a bit more oil with eggs (still not much), and keep steel wool handy. Some people decry steel wool but for me it works great and the pan is a delight.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#822

Post by CalRobert »

jrmg wrote: post #413
CalRobert wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but this is pretty low hanging fruit. Moving to only metal and wood spatulas, cooking spoons, etc. has been a pretty cheap and easy switch. I would love to ALSO see regulation, but in the meantime I can at least improve things for myself.

Those are either going to (metal) scratch my non-stick pans, which I’m also told (on scant evidence I believe) causes cancer, or they’re (wood) going to be inflexible and hard to wash (can’t dishwasher them), which is inconvenient.

Well, I stopped using non-stick years ago (though I have a waffle iron which I suppose has a non stick coating) and haven't missed it.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#823

Post by xmodem »

Kon-Peki wrote: post #507
xmodem wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a disability which makes hand-washing cookware impractical, regardless of how "easy" it is for a "normal" person.

After you have finished cooking and have transferred the food to the plates or serving dishes or wherever (and your cookware is still hot!), add some cooking wine or tomato juice (anything that is a bit acidic) and deglaze the cookware. You can use the result or discard it, but the end result is cookware that is far, far easier to clean. Some other options include getting a spouse that will do it for you, or to use t…

> Some other options include getting a spouse that will do it for you

Listen to yourself man. Get a spouse because you can't personally wash cookware by hand? If you make decisions in your own life how you're suggesting I should then I shudder to think what a horror show it must be.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#824

Post by FirmwareBurner »

MengerSponge wrote: post #807
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with the Tritan one instead?

Tritan is still plastic. It's BPA free, but there are lots of other estrogenic compounds in the world.

What issues does Tritan have? Tritan is used in the medical industry for passing blood and other fluids safely without contamination.

HN seems to have huge unfounded FUD around anything plastic related even when there's no scientific evidence.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#825

Post by crispyambulance »

foobarian wrote: post #787
azinman2 wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m guessing your cast iron pan isn’t polished. If it is, you can get it to be non stick. Stainless steel also works very well. You just need to preheat it to get the Leidenfrost effect.

I did actually polish this one, and to be fair it works mostly OK in that I'm not scraping the eggs off with a metal spatula, but it still sticks enough to be annoying, and for a teflon pot to be a measurably superior solution. I haven't played much with preheating though, I'll have to try that - thanks for the suggestion :-)

I think you will be surprised how well stainless works when it has thin layer of fresh oil and preheated to the right temperature such that it passes the "dancing drop" test.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#826

Post by tomcam »

pjgalbraith wrote: post #87
tomcam wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh! Very grateful for the correction. I do feel that’s a third-degree burn waiting to happen. Are you saying heat the pain to high, then put on the oil? Doesn’t that splash painfully?

Nope since the oil is cold and will take a bit to heat (it doesn't act like water does due to the higher temperature it can handle). For reference it is how wok cooking is done and they use extremely hot pans/burners. If you're using gas switch off the heat for a second.

Damn I love HN. Thanks for clarifying and basically reading my mind. Have bern choosing my next cooktop for the big honking wok burner.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#827

Post by FirmwareBurner »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #264
amiantos wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They make a glass aeropress that comes with a stainless steel cap now.

The number of times that I've dropped a Aeropress makes that impractical for me.

Same. Cleaning up the hot water and coffee grounds slurry off the counter top or floor early in the morning is already a huge pain in my assholes, I don't want to add glass shards in the mix.

Or the thought of pressing too hard on a glass AeroPress, having it tip over and shatter, slicing through my arm. Would be the silliest way to go out.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#828

Post by [deleted] »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #747
tolciho wrote: post #731

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Old folks, with a fine case of white matter decline. Distracted folks, because the baby just threw up. Sick folks, whose processing power is a bit covided. Young folks doing stupid things, possibly on a video dare.

To quote Chris Rock: if you're old and you die in an accident, you died of old age, not "that specific accident". If your mind's going, and that makes you do something that'll kill you, your mind going is what killed you.

[deleted]

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#829

Post by mossTechnician »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #747
tolciho wrote: post #731

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Old folks, with a fine case of white matter decline. Distracted folks, because the baby just threw up. Sick folks, whose processing power is a bit covided. Young folks doing stupid things, possibly on a video dare.

To quote Chris Rock: if you're old and you die in an accident, you died of old age, not "that specific accident". If your mind's going, and that makes you do something that'll kill you, your mind going is what killed you.

And for distracted folks in the same example, it's what... The baby?

If a company knowingly uses a toxic chemical, it shouldn't be everybody else's fault they did that.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#830

Post by nickthegreek »

kylebenzle wrote: post #538
nickthegreek wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is directly related to the topic. You cant have an indepth discussion about why we use these type of utensils without a discussion of non-stick as one of hte main reasons we use them is they don't scratch nonstick. Or you can collapse the thread and move on to the discussion you are interested in, or just downvote. But complaining that one of the current points of discussion doesnt do it for ya is a pretty lame…

What about silicon or wood utensils? Are you saying we have to use black plastic utensils because of non-stick pans?

If you read the words I wrote and came to that conclusion, work on your reading comprehension.
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