5 ms·

In my experience, Teflon will always be scratched. Yes, in theory you could "use it correctly", but nobody ever does. So it's better to simply not have them.

danlugo92 6y ago
Whats a good alternative? The ceramic ones?
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  Enamel Ceramic Cast iron Stainless steel In that order, in my opinion.
  - rblatz 6y ago
    You left out the two I’ve been considering, hard anodized and high carbon steel. Any reason why?
    - forgotmypw17 6y ago
      I just wrote down what I could remember and have experience with. I don't buy frying pans, so I take what I can get.
    - phoenixfangor 6y ago
      We've switched to carbon steel from cast iron; while it's easy to warp the carbon steel (and we have), it still works fairly well on our electric range. The seasoning is just as good as cast iron. A heavier high carbon steel pan might avoid the warping issue, but ours are all pretty thin.
- petertodd 6y ago
  Personally I just use cheap and simple solid stainless steel cookware, and scrub aggressively. Chainmail scrubbers work well for really baked on stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Knapp-Made-CM-Scrubber-Stainless/dp/B0087UYR1S https://www.amazon.com/Knapp-Made-CM-Scrubber-Stainless/dp/B... I used to have teflon cookware. It's great in theory. But in practice, I find indestructible stuff that you don't have to baby works much better for me. Of course, if you don't have much upper body strength, other approaches may work better.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    In my experience, anything plant-based comes off readily with just a good soak, unless it's been burned on to blackness.
  - rjsw 6y ago
    Traditional cooking techniques [1] make use of the browned bits anyway, you don't get this as much with non stick cookware. I don't find stainless steel pans too hard to clean. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deglazing_(cooking) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deglazing_(cooking)
    - petertodd 6y ago
      I remember how the first time I tried to make beef stew it tasted terrible. Then I tried browning the meat first...
  - datavirtue 6y ago
    I have used cast iron for decades. Never once had to scrub them.
    - fuzzer37 6y ago
      Hot water in a hot/warm pan has always worked for me to keep them clean.
- voqv 6y ago
  Stainless steel for most things (can't make eggs/pancakes though, they'll stick). Preheat the pan before using. After cooking, warm up some water in it and scrap away the stuck bits with a wooden spoon (or make a pan sauce). Cast Iron or High-Carbon steel for steaks, eggs/pancakes, stir-fries (wok). You will have to maintain a non-stick seasoning and that has a learning curve, most people don't get it right at first. Make sure to always dry them as they can rust. You can look at enamel or copper if you have the $$$.
- goatinaboat 6y ago
  Traditional skillet
- tristor 6y ago
  It may be difficult to get to happen in your relationship, because at least for me, my partner is insistent on using non-stick pans. If you have to have non-stick, ceramic or hard anodized are much healthier than teflon, although they aren't as non-stick so require some adjustments to cooking style. The best things to use are cast-iron and cladded stainless steel. With both, you heat the pan more slowly to reach your appropriate temperature (you're looking for leidenfrost) and then you add oil, and cook. If you use healthy oils and heat before adding the oil, cast-iron is effectively non-stick once a seasoning develops and cladded stainless steel won't stick except with specific foods (eggs). But this is definitely a different methodology for cooking than most people are familiar with. The other benefit of using non-teflon pans is you can use all types of utensils.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    Just want to share what I learned from personal experience: Don't give up on winning over your partner's mind. It may take a little while, and you have to be patient, diplomatic, and gentle. People are resistant to change. But it is not hopeless, and it is worth it in the end, because their health is at stake.
- com2kid 6y ago
  Ceramic pans will always fail after a short bit of time. Cook's Illustrated has yet to find one that can pass their durability tests. That said I wish they'd test the Granitestone Pro as other reviewers have said the Granitestone holds up better than other ceramic pans.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    I use two ceramic pans which are still as good as when I got them 10-15 years ago from a brand called ecosafe. Not all from the set made it, one got ruined by overheating. Stainless is durable, but I suspect there are issues with chemical reactions between the food and bare metal. I think that enamel is the best, being inert and durable, and old technology, though you also don,t want to drop or overheat it. Cast iron is also good, just unwieldy and difficult to clean if you,re cooking meat, eggs, cheese, basically animal proteins.
    - com2kid 6y ago
      > one got ruined by overheating. My primary use case is high heat wok cooking. A lot of ceramic woks exist, they just don't last long!
- jonplackett 6y ago
  Ceramic are OK, but nowhere near the non-stickiness of teflon. Some pans are the first couple of times you use them but lose it real quick. Carbon steal is my daily pan now (lighter than iron skillet - it's what chefs usually use). Once you get a good coating of fat built up it's pretty decent non-stickiness, but you have to take a lot more care of it. I wish teflon was more healthy because it's damn good for cooking with, especially scrambled eggs.
gruez 6y ago
>Teflon will always be scratched AFAIK this is a non-issue because teflon is inert in its finished form. It's only an health risk during manufacturing and when it's heated too high.
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  Sorry, but your knowledge is incorrect. Teflon breaks down and leeches into food at commonly encountered cooking temperatures.
  - gruez 6y ago
    claiming it "leeches into food" is a stretch. Wikipedia says even after reaching 500F it sublimates to fluorocarbon gases. I wouldn't want to be near it, but it's not exactly leeching into the food either. It's also unclear whether the fluorocarbon gases have the same effects on the human body as PFOA.
    - forgotmypw17 6y ago
      If you want to gamble with your health while the jury is still, technically, out, I can't stop you... > At normal cooking temperatures, PTFE-coated cookware releases various gases and chemicals that present mild to severe toxicity. > Only few studies describe the toxicity of PTFE but without solid conclusions. > There are some reports where PFOA was detected in the gas phase released from the cooking utensils under normal cooking temperatures. > Due to toxicity concerns, PFOA has been replaced with other chemicals such as GenX, but these new alternatives are also suspected to have similar toxicity. > The toxicity and fate of ingested PTFE coatings are also not understood. Source: PTFE-coated non-stick cookware and toxicity concerns: a perspective Muhammad Sajid 1, Muhammad Ilyas 2 PMID: 28913736 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-0095-y https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28913736/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28913736/
      - gruez 6y ago
        > At normal cooking temperatures, PTFE-coated cookware releases various gases and chemicals that present mild to severe toxicity. I don't think it means what you think it means. Reading further into the paper, it says >At normal use conditions [< 230 °C], total emissions of PFCAs were 4.75 ng per hour Which seems absolutely tiny. If spread out the emissions across the hour (because the 4.75 ng figure was cumulative emissions), the exposure to the cook would be in the parts per trillion range.

danlugo92 6y ago

Whats a good alternative? The ceramic ones?

forgotmypw17 6y ago
Enamel Ceramic Cast iron Stainless steel In that order, in my opinion.
- rblatz 6y ago
  You left out the two I’ve been considering, hard anodized and high carbon steel. Any reason why?
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    I just wrote down what I could remember and have experience with. I don't buy frying pans, so I take what I can get.
  - phoenixfangor 6y ago
    We've switched to carbon steel from cast iron; while it's easy to warp the carbon steel (and we have), it still works fairly well on our electric range. The seasoning is just as good as cast iron. A heavier high carbon steel pan might avoid the warping issue, but ours are all pretty thin.
petertodd 6y ago
Personally I just use cheap and simple solid stainless steel cookware, and scrub aggressively. Chainmail scrubbers work well for really baked on stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Knapp-Made-CM-Scrubber-Stainless/dp/B0087UYR1S https://www.amazon.com/Knapp-Made-CM-Scrubber-Stainless/dp/B... I used to have teflon cookware. It's great in theory. But in practice, I find indestructible stuff that you don't have to baby works much better for me. Of course, if you don't have much upper body strength, other approaches may work better.
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  In my experience, anything plant-based comes off readily with just a good soak, unless it's been burned on to blackness.
- rjsw 6y ago
  Traditional cooking techniques [1] make use of the browned bits anyway, you don't get this as much with non stick cookware. I don't find stainless steel pans too hard to clean. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deglazing_(cooking) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deglazing_(cooking)
  - petertodd 6y ago
    I remember how the first time I tried to make beef stew it tasted terrible. Then I tried browning the meat first...
- datavirtue 6y ago
  I have used cast iron for decades. Never once had to scrub them.
  - fuzzer37 6y ago
    Hot water in a hot/warm pan has always worked for me to keep them clean.
voqv 6y ago
Stainless steel for most things (can't make eggs/pancakes though, they'll stick). Preheat the pan before using. After cooking, warm up some water in it and scrap away the stuck bits with a wooden spoon (or make a pan sauce). Cast Iron or High-Carbon steel for steaks, eggs/pancakes, stir-fries (wok). You will have to maintain a non-stick seasoning and that has a learning curve, most people don't get it right at first. Make sure to always dry them as they can rust. You can look at enamel or copper if you have the $$$.
goatinaboat 6y ago
Traditional skillet
tristor 6y ago
It may be difficult to get to happen in your relationship, because at least for me, my partner is insistent on using non-stick pans. If you have to have non-stick, ceramic or hard anodized are much healthier than teflon, although they aren't as non-stick so require some adjustments to cooking style. The best things to use are cast-iron and cladded stainless steel. With both, you heat the pan more slowly to reach your appropriate temperature (you're looking for leidenfrost) and then you add oil, and cook. If you use healthy oils and heat before adding the oil, cast-iron is effectively non-stick once a seasoning develops and cladded stainless steel won't stick except with specific foods (eggs). But this is definitely a different methodology for cooking than most people are familiar with. The other benefit of using non-teflon pans is you can use all types of utensils.
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  Just want to share what I learned from personal experience: Don't give up on winning over your partner's mind. It may take a little while, and you have to be patient, diplomatic, and gentle. People are resistant to change. But it is not hopeless, and it is worth it in the end, because their health is at stake.
com2kid 6y ago
Ceramic pans will always fail after a short bit of time. Cook's Illustrated has yet to find one that can pass their durability tests. That said I wish they'd test the Granitestone Pro as other reviewers have said the Granitestone holds up better than other ceramic pans.
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  I use two ceramic pans which are still as good as when I got them 10-15 years ago from a brand called ecosafe. Not all from the set made it, one got ruined by overheating. Stainless is durable, but I suspect there are issues with chemical reactions between the food and bare metal. I think that enamel is the best, being inert and durable, and old technology, though you also don,t want to drop or overheat it. Cast iron is also good, just unwieldy and difficult to clean if you,re cooking meat, eggs, cheese, basically animal proteins.
  - com2kid 6y ago
    > one got ruined by overheating. My primary use case is high heat wok cooking. A lot of ceramic woks exist, they just don't last long!
jonplackett 6y ago
Ceramic are OK, but nowhere near the non-stickiness of teflon. Some pans are the first couple of times you use them but lose it real quick. Carbon steal is my daily pan now (lighter than iron skillet - it's what chefs usually use). Once you get a good coating of fat built up it's pretty decent non-stickiness, but you have to take a lot more care of it. I wish teflon was more healthy because it's damn good for cooking with, especially scrambled eggs.

gruez 6y ago

>Teflon will always be scratched AFAIK this is a non-issue because teflon is inert in its finished form. It's only an health risk during manufacturing and when it's heated too high.

forgotmypw17 6y ago
Sorry, but your knowledge is incorrect. Teflon breaks down and leeches into food at commonly encountered cooking temperatures.
- gruez 6y ago
  claiming it "leeches into food" is a stretch. Wikipedia says even after reaching 500F it sublimates to fluorocarbon gases. I wouldn't want to be near it, but it's not exactly leeching into the food either. It's also unclear whether the fluorocarbon gases have the same effects on the human body as PFOA.
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    If you want to gamble with your health while the jury is still, technically, out, I can't stop you... > At normal cooking temperatures, PTFE-coated cookware releases various gases and chemicals that present mild to severe toxicity. > Only few studies describe the toxicity of PTFE but without solid conclusions. > There are some reports where PFOA was detected in the gas phase released from the cooking utensils under normal cooking temperatures. > Due to toxicity concerns, PFOA has been replaced with other chemicals such as GenX, but these new alternatives are also suspected to have similar toxicity. > The toxicity and fate of ingested PTFE coatings are also not understood. Source: PTFE-coated non-stick cookware and toxicity concerns: a perspective Muhammad Sajid 1, Muhammad Ilyas 2 PMID: 28913736 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-0095-y https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28913736/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28913736/
    - gruez 6y ago
      > At normal cooking temperatures, PTFE-coated cookware releases various gases and chemicals that present mild to severe toxicity. I don't think it means what you think it means. Reading further into the paper, it says >At normal use conditions [< 230 °C], total emissions of PFCAs were 4.75 ng per hour Which seems absolutely tiny. If spread out the emissions across the hour (because the 4.75 ng figure was cumulative emissions), the exposure to the cook would be in the parts per trillion range.