[codysoyland]

For those looking for an alternative, carbon steel pans are stamped or spun from steel sheets and are seasoned like cast iron, but are typically thinner and have longer handles. These have been a game changer for my home cooking and I never heard of them until recently. I highly recommend getting a small one for your morning eggs. De Buyer is a popular high quality brand.

[sudosysgen]

The seasoning of pans is also a cancer risk in some cases. The seasoning is basically a polymer you're bodging together from random organic chemicals in your food.

[andrekandre]

yea.... its a shame cause i love cooking in my cast-iron wok....

one alternative i use is to heat the oil but not to smoking (also use an oil with a high smoke point) on low heat for a couple mins, swirling around, then dump the heated oil, then cook on a low heat from there... its quite non-stick and it reduces the oil content in the food and hopefully reduces carcinogen risk as well...

another thing is to just use water (plus maybe a small trickle of oil) as a non-stick agent (though its hard to reproduce a lot of recipes this way) for fish/meats and vegetables if you can get away with it

[surfpel]

Health issues aside, speaking as someone who uses only carbon steel and stainless steel cookware, I still wouldn’t recommend it for most people. It’s a lot of work just to maintain and learn how to work with these pans.

That being said, I love how much more forgiving, durable, and long lasting these pans are compared to Teflon coated pans and I’ll never go back.

[hackerlight]

I'm a novice and find it easy to maintain. There's no need to clean it extremely well between cooks, just with tap water and your fingernail. Some small amount of leftover seasoning is okay.