Picture by cybrgrlAs we're constantly undergoing efforts to eliminate toxic substances from our lives and generally do what's good for our family and the planet, the latest thing to come under our scrutiny has been Teflon.
The news about Teflon (despite what the manufacturers and the Environmental Protection Agency say), it's not good. And like so many health hazards, it's especially bad for anybody who wants to have a baby someday.
The story on nonstick cookware in our household is actually an interesting one. When Matt and I met, he roundly criticized it as crap for inferior cooks (or something like that). We went pan-shopping together and ended up with a set from Chefmate that we think is stainless steel, and hope isn't aluminum (hello, Alzheimer's!). The pans also stuck like a mofo, especially since I had grown up indoctrinated with the (false) belief that nonstick pans were a boon to your health because you could cook with a minimum of--gasp--butter or oil. So while Matt was away for the summer, I slipped out to Wal-Mart and bought the absolute cheapest nonstick pan I could find (and have probably been eating flakes of it ever since), which I hid in the cupboard and only used to scramble my eggs when he wasn't around.
Eventually I came clean (moving in together will tend to force the issue), and he eventually came around to my way of thinking. We both enjoyed the ability to slip 'n slide a fried egg onto a plate and wash the pan with minimal effort. But recently, we decided together that our recently acquired knowledge about bioaccumulation and the fact that we'd like to have a family soon meant that we should probably kick the nonstick pans to the curb.
So what now?
We'd already tried stainless steel (or aluminum...) and found it wanting. Matt had two cast-iron pans he'd rescued from his parents' camping gear--one of which he'd actually tried to get rid of awhile back, but I stayed his hand. How the tables had turned. Anyway, cast iron it was. Apparently, iron leaches into your food too, just like Teflon, only it's good for you, not deadly. They've also been around a long time. And you can pick them up cheap (or free) at garage sales, on Craigslist, Freecycle, etc...
For the most part, we've been really happy. They saute onions and mushrooms like a dream, and we can even make pancakes with plenty of butter (which is how we like them anyway). But there has been some trial and error involved, and there's a lot of conflicting advice out there. Some people say only wash with water, others swear a little soap won't hurt. Then there are those who say that actually, heating a little oil in the pan is the best way to get rid of sticky remnants, that using too much water can lead to rusting. Realizing that cooking fats aren't the demon we were taught they were (that in fact, they form crucial building blocks for the brain and body, but more on that later) has helped a lot, too.
We've found the latter advice to be most helpful. Eggs, particularly, stick like crazy no matter what we do. Boiling water in the pan doesn't seem to help much to get them off, but gently simmering a little oil seems to loosen them up. We also keep around a greasy old rag (well, it wasn't greasy to begin with) to wipe out the pan for cleanup. And that's it! We've also recently come across the advice that cast iron pans should first be preheated for 3-5 minutes, then the cooking fat added and allowed to completely liquify, and then and only then should the food be added. We're going to give that a try tomorrow morning and see if it makes a difference.
All in all, not as easy as nonstick, but we're sleeping better at night.
The news about Teflon (despite what the manufacturers and the Environmental Protection Agency say), it's not good. And like so many health hazards, it's especially bad for anybody who wants to have a baby someday.
The story on nonstick cookware in our household is actually an interesting one. When Matt and I met, he roundly criticized it as crap for inferior cooks (or something like that). We went pan-shopping together and ended up with a set from Chefmate that we think is stainless steel, and hope isn't aluminum (hello, Alzheimer's!). The pans also stuck like a mofo, especially since I had grown up indoctrinated with the (false) belief that nonstick pans were a boon to your health because you could cook with a minimum of--gasp--butter or oil. So while Matt was away for the summer, I slipped out to Wal-Mart and bought the absolute cheapest nonstick pan I could find (and have probably been eating flakes of it ever since), which I hid in the cupboard and only used to scramble my eggs when he wasn't around.
Eventually I came clean (moving in together will tend to force the issue), and he eventually came around to my way of thinking. We both enjoyed the ability to slip 'n slide a fried egg onto a plate and wash the pan with minimal effort. But recently, we decided together that our recently acquired knowledge about bioaccumulation and the fact that we'd like to have a family soon meant that we should probably kick the nonstick pans to the curb.
So what now?
We'd already tried stainless steel (or aluminum...) and found it wanting. Matt had two cast-iron pans he'd rescued from his parents' camping gear--one of which he'd actually tried to get rid of awhile back, but I stayed his hand. How the tables had turned. Anyway, cast iron it was. Apparently, iron leaches into your food too, just like Teflon, only it's good for you, not deadly. They've also been around a long time. And you can pick them up cheap (or free) at garage sales, on Craigslist, Freecycle, etc...
For the most part, we've been really happy. They saute onions and mushrooms like a dream, and we can even make pancakes with plenty of butter (which is how we like them anyway). But there has been some trial and error involved, and there's a lot of conflicting advice out there. Some people say only wash with water, others swear a little soap won't hurt. Then there are those who say that actually, heating a little oil in the pan is the best way to get rid of sticky remnants, that using too much water can lead to rusting. Realizing that cooking fats aren't the demon we were taught they were (that in fact, they form crucial building blocks for the brain and body, but more on that later) has helped a lot, too.
We've found the latter advice to be most helpful. Eggs, particularly, stick like crazy no matter what we do. Boiling water in the pan doesn't seem to help much to get them off, but gently simmering a little oil seems to loosen them up. We also keep around a greasy old rag (well, it wasn't greasy to begin with) to wipe out the pan for cleanup. And that's it! We've also recently come across the advice that cast iron pans should first be preheated for 3-5 minutes, then the cooking fat added and allowed to completely liquify, and then and only then should the food be added. We're going to give that a try tomorrow morning and see if it makes a difference.
All in all, not as easy as nonstick, but we're sleeping better at night.
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