4 ms·

Better solution ? Let's take one example. Teflon coated cookware. As an alternative there are cooking sprays, butter, oils, or stiring the contents of the pan

Better solution ? Let's take one example. Teflon coated cookware. As an alternative there are cooking sprays, butter, oils, or stiring the contents of the pan more frequently. In this case it's not a nessacity but a convenience. Why don't we start by restricting the use of PFAS to those products in which there are no alternatives and are a nessacity.

p1necone 4y ago
In my experience non stick pans are pretty awful, basically anything else is a better alternative. You can't get them hot enough to sear a steak properly without damaging the non stick coating, and the non stick coating is oleophobic which means that oil pools rather than spreading out so you can't get proper browning on anything even if you do cook it at an appropriate temp. Seasoned cast iron and carbon steel will be non stick without either of those downsides, and even regular stainless steel is perfectly fine as long as you let it heat up properly before using it.
- cityofdelusion 4y ago
  I love my cast iron, stainless, and carbon steel pans, but calling them nonstick is a stretch. In fact, their stickiness is pretty much their valuable property in getting good browning on food. You can definitely cook delicate fish and scrambled eggs on say, cast iron, but you will either be scraping hard during clean up or using an absurd amount of oil to cook. I don't mind it myself, but its clear why nonstick is popular.
  - haswell 4y ago
    A high quality, well seasoned cast iron pan will allow you to fry an egg while said egg slides around the pan as if nonstick. Not every pan is capable of this, and meticulous care is required to keep it in shape, but I became a believer in non stick cast iron when I first met a pan that could do it. I had used plenty of "stickier" cast iron pans before and my perspective shifted a bit.
    - snovv_crash 4y ago
      Cast iron is useless for food with starch, eg. hash browns. The starch absorbs the seasoning and you end up with an unseasoned pan with burnt pieces stuck everywhere.
      - haswell 4y ago
        This is why an assortment of pans is critical. I have cast iron for sticky things, and cast iron for other things. And seasoning is a never ending task.
  - Reason077 4y ago
    I season my stainless steel pan with a few drops of oil, rubbed on with a paper towel. Very rarely do I have problems with anything sticking to it. If I'm searing a steak or something at high heat, sure, it's going to leave some burnt-on marks, but if you add water and leave it simmering on minimum heat with a bit of baking soda for 15 minutes, pretty much anything will wipe off with no effort.
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  I agree. I used nonstick pans for a long time. But once the coating starts to degrade, they're worse than decent-quality traditional cookware. Because food starts to stick, but you still can't use metal utensils to scrape it off. Now I just use stainless-steel or (rarely) cast iron, and I'm much happier. And it's even cheaper, long-term. A decent stainless-steel pan costs $50-$200 USD, but lasts approximately forever. Whereas a decent non-stick equivalent costs $30-$50, but needs replacement every few years even if I'm careful with it.
  - Reason077 4y ago
    IKEA make a fantastic stainless steel[1] pan called "SENSUELL". Best pan I ever bought! Heavy indestructible construction, heats evenly, retains heat, cleans easily, can be placed under the grill, looks good, etc. The price has gone up recently, but it's still great value IMO! [1] actually, like many high-end pans, it uses a 3-ply construction with an aluminium layer between two steel layers
- adrianN 4y ago
  Nonstick pans are not meant for searing steaks. They're meant for making things like creamy scrambled eggs that are difficult to get right on cast iron.
SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago
Ceramic cookware is also PFA free, and while it isn’t 100% as good as Teflon for nonstick purposes, it’s about 95% as good for roughly the same price. It’s not all that much convenience you give up anyway. My home is PFA free for cookware (indoors, at least) simply by virtue of owning birds because PFA is toxic to birds. I have to use the pressure cooker and air fryer outside but the ceramic pans I use indoors do just fine and aren’t too much harder to clean vs Teflon pans. I think the only noticeable pain where my ceramic pans clearly lose to Teflon is eggs - eggs want to cling to basically anything and Teflon is just really good at not having things cling to it. Otherwise it’s almost always just as easy to clean the ceramic pans as it is to clean the Teflon ones.

p1necone 4y ago

In my experience non stick pans are pretty awful, basically anything else is a better alternative. You can't get them hot enough to sear a steak properly without damaging the non stick coating, and the non stick coating is oleophobic which means that oil pools rather than spreading out so you can't get proper browning on anything even if you do cook it at an appropriate temp. Seasoned cast iron and carbon steel will be non stick without either of those downsides, and even regular stainless steel is perfectly fine as long as you let it heat up properly before using it.

cityofdelusion 4y ago
I love my cast iron, stainless, and carbon steel pans, but calling them nonstick is a stretch. In fact, their stickiness is pretty much their valuable property in getting good browning on food. You can definitely cook delicate fish and scrambled eggs on say, cast iron, but you will either be scraping hard during clean up or using an absurd amount of oil to cook. I don't mind it myself, but its clear why nonstick is popular.
- haswell 4y ago
  A high quality, well seasoned cast iron pan will allow you to fry an egg while said egg slides around the pan as if nonstick. Not every pan is capable of this, and meticulous care is required to keep it in shape, but I became a believer in non stick cast iron when I first met a pan that could do it. I had used plenty of "stickier" cast iron pans before and my perspective shifted a bit.
  - snovv_crash 4y ago
    Cast iron is useless for food with starch, eg. hash browns. The starch absorbs the seasoning and you end up with an unseasoned pan with burnt pieces stuck everywhere.
    - haswell 4y ago
      This is why an assortment of pans is critical. I have cast iron for sticky things, and cast iron for other things. And seasoning is a never ending task.
- Reason077 4y ago
  I season my stainless steel pan with a few drops of oil, rubbed on with a paper towel. Very rarely do I have problems with anything sticking to it. If I'm searing a steak or something at high heat, sure, it's going to leave some burnt-on marks, but if you add water and leave it simmering on minimum heat with a bit of baking soda for 15 minutes, pretty much anything will wipe off with no effort.
CoastalCoder 4y ago
I agree. I used nonstick pans for a long time. But once the coating starts to degrade, they're worse than decent-quality traditional cookware. Because food starts to stick, but you still can't use metal utensils to scrape it off. Now I just use stainless-steel or (rarely) cast iron, and I'm much happier. And it's even cheaper, long-term. A decent stainless-steel pan costs $50-$200 USD, but lasts approximately forever. Whereas a decent non-stick equivalent costs $30-$50, but needs replacement every few years even if I'm careful with it.
- Reason077 4y ago
  IKEA make a fantastic stainless steel[1] pan called "SENSUELL". Best pan I ever bought! Heavy indestructible construction, heats evenly, retains heat, cleans easily, can be placed under the grill, looks good, etc. The price has gone up recently, but it's still great value IMO! [1] actually, like many high-end pans, it uses a 3-ply construction with an aluminium layer between two steel layers
adrianN 4y ago
Nonstick pans are not meant for searing steaks. They're meant for making things like creamy scrambled eggs that are difficult to get right on cast iron.

SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago

Ceramic cookware is also PFA free, and while it isn’t 100% as good as Teflon for nonstick purposes, it’s about 95% as good for roughly the same price. It’s not all that much convenience you give up anyway. My home is PFA free for cookware (indoors, at least) simply by virtue of owning birds because PFA is toxic to birds. I have to use the pressure cooker and air fryer outside but the ceramic pans I use indoors do just fine and aren’t too much harder to clean vs Teflon pans. I think the only noticeable pain where my ceramic pans clearly lose to Teflon is eggs - eggs want to cling to basically anything and Teflon is just really good at not having things cling to it. Otherwise it’s almost always just as easy to clean the ceramic pans as it is to clean the Teflon ones.