I've recently tossed all my coated pans (my favourite were the Anolon, but those too shed) and moved to stainless steel, save for a cast iron and carbon steel pan.
In the journey here the best I could find was a Hestan nanobond pan, which unfortunately laminated and has shown some pits after few months of use. They refunded me but titaniums isn't yet where stainless steel is.
Now I'm using a mix of Demeyere, De Buyer, and Made In.
It takes a bit of time to get used cooking in them without a ton of fat.
Look up Leidenfrost effect on youtube and you'll learn pretty quickly how to use stainless steel and do not let anything stick even fish.
Thanks! I’m getting into cooking and have basic teflon pans (Rachel ray pans given to us by my MIL) and I’m looking to get nice ones and be done with it
Thank you for doing this. The conclusion from the text is:
> For consumers who wish to minimize potential exposure to PTFE coating particles, the simplest approach may be to treat nonstick cookware as a specialized tool rather than a default choice. Instead, reach for uncoated cookware, such as stainless steel, cast iron, carbon steel, or glass, whenever practical.
If we follow that advice: For which type of food/dishes does it make sense to use nonstick cookware?
I think the advice is to avoid using it as a daily driver. If you only have nonstick and carbon steel pans, you might not want to cook something acidic in the carbon steel as it will kill the seasoning. If you have nonstick and stainless steel, you can use the SS for that.
On the otherhand, cooking eggs in nonstick might be easier/require less fat than working with stainless steel.
Nonstick also generally has a lower rated max temp, so avoid using it in the broiler...
All this is to say, it's a trade-off for convenience. With the right technique, or if you want to spend time to rebuild seasoning, you can pretty much use whatever pans you want to cook whatever you want. These types of non-stick pans are relatively new in the world of cooking.
Anything that's high in protein, and you don't want to brown appreciably or use much fat. So mostly french omelette and pancakes. The upside is that these also require basically no tool manipulation in the pan and are low heat anyway and probably not something you're daily driving.
I used to switch coated (teflon, ceramic, other fancy gadgets) pans every 1-2 years after eventually wearing them out. This seems so wasteful! I wish somebody had given me the following advice earlier: get 1-2 good uncoated steel pans. They build up a coating from cooking oils that works just as well. I've had mine for over 12 years now, and it's pristine and just a joy to use. I will probably never need another one.
If you're looking to switch, difficulty around cooking technique for stainless steel, carbon steel & cast iron is overblown. Same with seasoning/cleaning the latter two. Trust me, if I can figure it out, you can too.
Carbon steel is amazing - durable self repairing non-stick surface that after the inital seasoning is trivial to maintain: wash the pan with a brush when its still hot without any detergent - cleans in seconds.
Cast iron is good too but takes longer to heat the pan.
You only have to look in any professional kitchen - they don't use non-stick pans.
Thank you for these tests!
I've recently tossed all my coated pans (my favourite were the Anolon, but those too shed) and moved to stainless steel, save for a cast iron and carbon steel pan.
In the journey here the best I could find was a Hestan nanobond pan, which unfortunately laminated and has shown some pits after few months of use. They refunded me but titaniums isn't yet where stainless steel is.
Now I'm using a mix of Demeyere, De Buyer, and Made In.
It takes a bit of time to get used cooking in them without a ton of fat.
Look up Leidenfrost effect on youtube and you'll learn pretty quickly how to use stainless steel and do not let anything stick even fish.
Thanks! I’m getting into cooking and have basic teflon pans (Rachel ray pans given to us by my MIL) and I’m looking to get nice ones and be done with it
> Leidenfrost effect
Okay for a steak, not great for eggs!
I’m the founder of RTINGS.com. A few notes about this investigation:
- For each piece of cookware, we purchased and tested three separate units
- Before taking the “new” measurement, each unit was washed three times with dish soap and rinsed with isopropyl alcohol
- Oil blanks and uncoated cookware were included as controls
- We did not chemically identify the particles that were released
- This investigation measured particle release, not toxicity or health risk
Thank you for doing this. The conclusion from the text is:
> For consumers who wish to minimize potential exposure to PTFE coating particles, the simplest approach may be to treat nonstick cookware as a specialized tool rather than a default choice. Instead, reach for uncoated cookware, such as stainless steel, cast iron, carbon steel, or glass, whenever practical.
If we follow that advice: For which type of food/dishes does it make sense to use nonstick cookware?
I think the advice is to avoid using it as a daily driver. If you only have nonstick and carbon steel pans, you might not want to cook something acidic in the carbon steel as it will kill the seasoning. If you have nonstick and stainless steel, you can use the SS for that.
On the otherhand, cooking eggs in nonstick might be easier/require less fat than working with stainless steel.
Nonstick also generally has a lower rated max temp, so avoid using it in the broiler...
All this is to say, it's a trade-off for convenience. With the right technique, or if you want to spend time to rebuild seasoning, you can pretty much use whatever pans you want to cook whatever you want. These types of non-stick pans are relatively new in the world of cooking.
Anything that's high in protein, and you don't want to brown appreciably or use much fat. So mostly french omelette and pancakes. The upside is that these also require basically no tool manipulation in the pan and are low heat anyway and probably not something you're daily driving.
I used to switch coated (teflon, ceramic, other fancy gadgets) pans every 1-2 years after eventually wearing them out. This seems so wasteful! I wish somebody had given me the following advice earlier: get 1-2 good uncoated steel pans. They build up a coating from cooking oils that works just as well. I've had mine for over 12 years now, and it's pristine and just a joy to use. I will probably never need another one.
PTFE is not the only way to get "nonstick" cookware.
The amount of stickiness perceived is 99% a skill / procedural issue.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OFaFgg4P6QI
If you're looking to switch, difficulty around cooking technique for stainless steel, carbon steel & cast iron is overblown. Same with seasoning/cleaning the latter two. Trust me, if I can figure it out, you can too.
Carbon steel is amazing - durable self repairing non-stick surface that after the inital seasoning is trivial to maintain: wash the pan with a brush when its still hot without any detergent - cleans in seconds.
Cast iron is good too but takes longer to heat the pan.
You only have to look in any professional kitchen - they don't use non-stick pans.