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by lupinglade 1888 days ago
They cook the best too - a good carbon steel pan is worth its weight in gold. Non-stick is utter garbage in comparison - and you're cooking on plastic and eating pieces of the coating.

Food cooked on carbon steel or iron tastes so much better.
2 comments
RcouF1uZ4gsC 1888 days ago
> and you're cooking on plastic and eating pieces of the coating.

And with cast iron, you are cooking in random organic polymers and eating them. The patina of cast iron pans is random organic chemicals.

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lupinglade 1888 days ago
I've not seen our cast iron or carbon steel pans flaking off into food like I have seen with Teflon. I doubt there is much of anything harmful coming off during cooking -- not any more harmful than the cooked food itself likely.
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gxnxcxcx 1888 days ago
I too see a lot of sensible awareness towards PFAS, but often wonder how many (if any) good ol' PAHs get thrown into your food from the fat seasoning of non-coated pans.
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float4 1888 days ago
> and you're cooking on plastic and eating pieces of the coating

There are actually ceramic non-stick pans, in which case you'd be eating sand if I understand the concept correctly.

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lupinglade 1888 days ago
Non-stick pans do not last. The ceramic coating option is terrible and everything will stick to it with a vengeance within about 6-8 months or so if you use it regularly - our experience with Cuisinart.
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wander_homer 1888 days ago
We got two ceramic coated pans 6 years ago and they're almost as good as new even though we used one of them for almost every cooked meal and the other like at least once every week. They're a pleasure to work with and I wouldn't want to miss them.
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genericone 1888 days ago
Non-stick pans require a bit of care as well. The trick is to ensure no sudden temperature changes to the pan, which will differentially expand/contract the cooking surface. Differential expansion/contraction between the top and bottom surface will crack the non-stick coating in no time ( think expansion cracks in concrete and sidewalks ).

What that usually comes down to is to let your non-stick pan cool to room temperature before you run water over it, even if you like seeing all that steam. Also, you weren't expecting to sear meat with your nonstick anyway so don't slap a massive cold slab of meat on your unoiled non-stick either.

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