… the pans are likely not “nontoxic” some independent testing and research suggests. Nor are they even “ceramic” – at least not in the way the public broadly thinks of ceramics. Now, regulators are investigating some of the pan sellers’ claims.
Really need regulatory action on this. People have no idea.
They were also shitty pans. Just stick with cast iron or stainless steel.
I got a couple of carbon steel pans. The upkeep is similar to cast iron but much lighter / easier to handle. I reach for it 90% of the time.
Yeah I would get one if they didn’t cost a million dollars and I didn’t already have too many pans.
They cost practically nothing when you consider that you can’t ever wear one out.
Cast iron and stainless steel also basically never wear out. My cast iron pan is over 100 years old.
Ss pans can’t stay seasoned, though. You have to redo it every time you cook. Carbon steel allows for some non stick build up.
Yeah you don’t season stainless steel. You have to heat it up enough to make use of the Leidenfrost effect if you want true non-stickability. It just depends on how you use it.
Cast iron is better in the way it gets it’s non-stickability from its seasoning. Which is why I use it more often than my stainless steel if that’s important in what I’m cooking.
Totally would love a carbon steel btw. I know they’re like a blessed child between a cast iron and a stainless steel. Plz send me one for free por favor.
You can’t cook with the Leidenfrost effect though… no heat will conduct into the food!
The point of oils or melted fat when cooking is partially to increase the conduction of heat into the food.
Bonus for carbon pans over stainless steel is that carbon pans hold their seasoning better than ss. You can’t really keep ss pans seasoned. They have to be re-coated every time before using. Outside of “looking pretty” there’s no reason to own ss pans over carbon. Cast iron stays seasoned best, of course, but they’re heavy as shit.
I prefer cast aluminum cookware. Handles high-heat, can’t rust, cleans super easily, and almost definitely accelerates my inevitable Alzheimer’s.
All of this early research, led to suspicion that aluminium from various sources, such as cookware, foods, vaccines and even water, could be linked to Alzheimer’s. However, through continued investigation, research has disproved this early evidence, and aluminium hasn’t since been found to be a direct cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
– https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/news/aluminium-and-alzheimers/
studies have failed to confirm any role for aluminum in causing Alzheimer’s. Almost all scientists today focus on other areas of research, and most experts believe aluminum does not pose any threat.
– https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-alzheimers/causes-and-risk-factors
I probably already read that and forgot because of the aluminum
Does anyone have a source saying that ingesting cast iron seasoning (burnt fat) is ok?
I just want to make sure I’m not just picking my flavor of cancer. I assume burnt food is better than PFAS (not forever)
Good luck finding an article on point for this sort of thing. I looked for a bit to try to find something to link here, but couldn’t find anything that directly addressed cooking oil polymers. I just wanted to say that you won’t necessarily be eating burnt fat. Seasoning cast iron/carbon steel isn’t necessarily about burning fat onto the surface of the pan, since what you’re trying to do is create a polymerized layer of cooking oil on the surface of the pan. Polymerization can occur well below the smoke point of an oil, you just apply heat to speed up the process. Applying too much heat can actually be counterproductive, since the polymer will carbonize, but you’ll probably never reach this point unintentionally without leaving a pan on the burner unattended. Under normal cooking conditions, any heat degradation of the polymer layer will be made up for with the fresh cooking oil that you’ve used, refreshing the seasoning. If you’re going to use cast iron or carbon steel, you should thoroughly clean any burnt on bits after cooking with dish soap. Modern dish soaps don’t have lye, so you won’t be doing any damage to the seasoning and you’ll only be left with polymerized oil, not burnt fat.
If you do decide to do more research and find something on point, please do share! I wasn’t able to find anything that explicitly pointed towards it being unhealthy, and I’m alright with making a somewhat informed assumption of the risk.
Just use stainless steel and carbon steel if you are worried about that, I honestly use my stainless pans 70% of the time, carbon steel like 20% and my cast iron is that last 10% when cast iron is actually beneficial
So… the crispy bits that result from the Maillard Reaction (the TASTY crispy bits!) may be a known problem because it produces acrylamide.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24875401/
“Based on the evidence of acrylamide carcinogenicity in animals, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified acrylamide as a group 2A carcinogen for humans.”
“The companies won’t tell the public what else is in the pans, and their formulas are shielded by confidential business information laws, making it very difficult to verify their claims.”
I’d think the answer to this should be super simple… Investigators go to the factory and demand the Material Safety Data Sheets.
They don’t have an MSDS? Shut that shit down.
Virtually all my cookware is enameled cast iron since I found the Le Creuset outlet store and 30% to 60% off deals. :) I do have a seasoned carbon steel wok and full ceramic bakeware though!
I had a blue diamond frying pan that claimed to be non-stick and much tougher than teflon. It claimed to have a “ceramic” coating, but I looked into it and it was just some kind of resin. Stuff stuck to it and it chipped and peeled just like teflon. It might have been a little tougher, but you sure as hell couldn’t use stainless steel utensils on it like it claimed on the packaging.
The only cookware I’ll use from now on is stainless steel or triply. Easy to clean, can use any utensils on it, and it’s non-stick enough if you grease it. Plus you can cook at any temperature! Which is the whole point of a frying pan!
How did teflon frying pans even come into existence in the first place? Frying is done at high temperature, and teflon peels at high temperature! It defeats the entire purpose! Every teflon pan I’ve ever used has peeled and left awful cancer-causing debris in my food. Every other person I’ve ever seen using a teflon pan has had the same problem. It’s like big cancer has a monopoly on teflon pans and has brainwashed the public into wanting to buy the damn things.
Just a random point: the actual coating (teflon) is completely non-toxic. The manufacturing process of teflon is the cause of a large amount of PFOAs in nature/food chain. The pan has no PFOAs most likely after the first cooking session, or likely before (unless the factory just completely brazenly does not even wash it once)
Teflon kills birds when heated. I wouldn’t call that non toxic. Lots only knows what the fumes are doing to humans.
The peeling teflon is inert and way too big to be absorbed your body. It just passes through without causing harm, cancer or otherwise.
Teflon has it’s uses for some dishes like fish and omelettes, but it’s true that they are essentially disposable trash.
You only need 4 kinds of pans
- stainless steel or stainless clad aluminum
- cast iron
- enameled cast iron
- carbon steel
sooooo… is my Stanley Tucci Greenpan pan gonna kill me? article didn’t divulge the saucy details
The only three kinds of metal pots, pans, and skillets that will ever enter my kitchen: Cast Iron, Carbon Steel, and Stainless Steel. And pure too, not clad or coated in anything, not finished with anything other than a basic seed oil seasoning.
Stainless steel and cast iron is the way
I’ve retired the last of the non-stick cookware I had. It’s all iron, cast and stamped, and stainless now.
The reason I haven’t bought an instant pot or airfryer is that I haven’t found non plastic coated ones.
Finding a non teflon coated aluminium pot with a heat capturing coil for lightweight hiking is impossible last I looked.
Just removing teflon from stuff is a huge pain too, it’s dangerous to burn it off, I might try and sand blast the Teflon off the one I have. I have to research how bad that is, probably makes way too much toxic microparticles. But it really shouldn’t be so hard to find food appliances and cookware not coated in this crap.
There are great alternatives to Jetboil and other heat exchanger systems. Some systems are also cheaper and much lighter. I highly recommend checking out Gearskeptic’s Backpacking Stove Efficiency series.
I don’t know how people can stand cast iron pans. I know they’re supposed to be great for cooking but I always feel like you can never really get them all the way clean.
A high quality cast iron pan is smoother and easier to clean out.
But if you want the best no muss no fuss option, go with carbon steel. It’s pretty easy to season, high quality pans and skillets come pre-seasoned and ready to go right out of the box.
Sooo… this is as close to a product recommendation as you can get on The Guardian without reverting to ads.
The Xtrema ceramic pans seem really enticing.
The problem will go away when the current administration further cuts consumer protections and health oversight.
Hexclad just sent us their sign up for their class action lawsuit. Yeah it was PTFE all along. And when you rub PTFE and any kind of spatula, you’re getting PTFE in your food.
