Why is teflon bad?
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Because Teflon is produced from nasty, yucky chemicals that vaporize at high heat and get into the air and your food. The vapors from Teflon cookware being used at normal cooking temperatures are toxic to birds. Here are some links I found through google:
http://www.protectingourhealth.org/p...NYT-teflon.htm
http://www.fourwinds10.com/news/06-h...-cookware.html
http://www.ewg.org/reports/toxicteflon/es.php
Quite frankly, I wouldn't use Teflon coated cookware if you paid me. It kills birds, so it can't be good for people.
Sorry.
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It's a total bummer.
http://www.protectingourhealth.org/p...NYT-teflon.htm
http://www.fourwinds10.com/news/06-h...-cookware.html
http://www.ewg.org/reports/toxicteflon/es.php
Quite frankly, I wouldn't use Teflon coated cookware if you paid me. It kills birds, so it can't be good for people.
Sorry.
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Brandi
Yeah, Teflon stinks...sorry
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I like some of the non-stick Teflon alternatives that are out there though. I have a set of iodized aluminum pans. They heat well, don't leach chemicals, are non-stick, and are easy to clean. I cannot wash them in the dishwasher, or use metal tools on them (don't want to scratch them) but otherwise they work well.
I REALLY like cast iron though. Harder to take care of and keep seasoned (especially when DH washes them with soap
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: ) and they are heavy, but they are best for even heating and provide trace amounts of elemental iron to our diets. And if seasoned well, are non-stick.
Just some other options for you...good luck!
I REALLY like cast iron though. Harder to take care of and keep seasoned (especially when DH washes them with soap
Just some other options for you...good luck!
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I have also been phasing out the teflon, and have finally replaced it all with some stainless steel (which I am still kinda not sure about) and a few enamel coated ones....but mostly glass/pyrex..I got a great 3 piece pot set with lids, and a large frying pan all at thrift stores for a few dollars a piece. the handles are cool to the touch, which is nice.
I also do what I read a long time ago in that 'healthy life kitchen' book about making anythiung non-stick by simply heating the pan up first, then adding oil, then the food...and it really doesnt stick any worse than the teflon did...
edited to add: I also have a few cast iron pieces that are new, but I havent 'seasoned' them yet, so dont exactly know how that will go...what do I 'scour' with? I have copper scour pads, do I use those? also, I see alot of cast iron at thrift, but it always looks so dirty and gritty...but thats how its SUPPOSED to look, right?? I should be grabbing some of those up, right?
I also do what I read a long time ago in that 'healthy life kitchen' book about making anythiung non-stick by simply heating the pan up first, then adding oil, then the food...and it really doesnt stick any worse than the teflon did...
edited to add: I also have a few cast iron pieces that are new, but I havent 'seasoned' them yet, so dont exactly know how that will go...what do I 'scour' with? I have copper scour pads, do I use those? also, I see alot of cast iron at thrift, but it always looks so dirty and gritty...but thats how its SUPPOSED to look, right?? I should be grabbing some of those up, right?
i wanted to add that goats, who eat everything as you might have heard, will not eat anything cooked in Teflon. And my mom's friend left a teflon-coated pan on the stove and forgot about it... her canary died, and luckily she was not harmed (the friend). My partner's mom keeps sending us teflon pans, and I keep throwing them into the shelves in the porch that I don't use.
MelMel (and anyone else who might be interested
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)- The best way to season a cast iron pan (according to Lynne Rosetto Casper of The Splendid Table on NPR with me paraphrasing her instructions):
Scour the pan to remove any rust, grit, etc. (so yes, you can buy those ugly ones from the thrift store...they will clean up well). Dry with a kitchen cloth/paper towel. Heat your stove to low heat and completely dry the pan. Turn your oven on to 350 F. Using a non-flavored oil (like Canola or Soy oil...not olive or butter) coat the entire inner surface of the pan...don't have it "dripping", but use a healthy amount. Place in the oven and forget about it for about 1/2 hour. After about a 1/2 hour take it out and wipe the exceess oil off the surface. Do this process 2 or 3 more times. You want to allow the oil to infuse the surface of the pan. Take the pan out and let the pan cool. Wipe off any more excess oil and store the pan (preferable not stacked against one another). I suggest do a bunch at once, so you don't waste energy "cooking" pans in the oven.
Once you have "seasoned" it, you can use it without worry about food sticking. if you want quicker method, my mother simply dries the pan on the stove, then lets it cool a little and applies the oil. I find it takes a couple of times cooking with it for it to truely be non-stick this way, but sometimes I don't want to commit to spending the time to do it the "right" way. It's up to you
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To clean you pan after use, do not use any soap or scouring tools on it!!! Use a dish cloth or sponge to get most of the debri off of it. Then use course salt (or any kind really...my mother uses kosher salt) with your washing cloth (wring it out first) to "scour" the pan to get the rest of the food off of it. Rinse the salt off and dry it on the stove over low heat and re-apply a thin coat of non-flavored oil and store. If you use soap it will detroy your "seasoning" and you will have to start over (which can be done, but IMO is a pain).
So, go out and buy where ya see 'em...they will usually clean up pretty well, and many old ones are actually valuable (depends on the age and the size of the pan...theirs a whole collectors market for cast iron pans).
Scour the pan to remove any rust, grit, etc. (so yes, you can buy those ugly ones from the thrift store...they will clean up well). Dry with a kitchen cloth/paper towel. Heat your stove to low heat and completely dry the pan. Turn your oven on to 350 F. Using a non-flavored oil (like Canola or Soy oil...not olive or butter) coat the entire inner surface of the pan...don't have it "dripping", but use a healthy amount. Place in the oven and forget about it for about 1/2 hour. After about a 1/2 hour take it out and wipe the exceess oil off the surface. Do this process 2 or 3 more times. You want to allow the oil to infuse the surface of the pan. Take the pan out and let the pan cool. Wipe off any more excess oil and store the pan (preferable not stacked against one another). I suggest do a bunch at once, so you don't waste energy "cooking" pans in the oven.
Once you have "seasoned" it, you can use it without worry about food sticking. if you want quicker method, my mother simply dries the pan on the stove, then lets it cool a little and applies the oil. I find it takes a couple of times cooking with it for it to truely be non-stick this way, but sometimes I don't want to commit to spending the time to do it the "right" way. It's up to you
To clean you pan after use, do not use any soap or scouring tools on it!!! Use a dish cloth or sponge to get most of the debri off of it. Then use course salt (or any kind really...my mother uses kosher salt) with your washing cloth (wring it out first) to "scour" the pan to get the rest of the food off of it. Rinse the salt off and dry it on the stove over low heat and re-apply a thin coat of non-flavored oil and store. If you use soap it will detroy your "seasoning" and you will have to start over (which can be done, but IMO is a pain).
So, go out and buy where ya see 'em...they will usually clean up pretty well, and many old ones are actually valuable (depends on the age and the size of the pan...theirs a whole collectors market for cast iron pans).
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I've been phasing out my teflon. The last thing got is cookie sheets. What are alternatives and where do I find non-coated cookie sheets?
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I'm a Pampered Chef consultant...so of course I'm biased, but I will NEVER go back to cooking with anything else but stoneware. For cookies, brownies, roasts, chicken breast, etc...they are awesome. They turn you into a gourmet chef because everything cooks evenly!
Also, about the cookware...Pampered Chef (and I'm sure you could find it elsewhere) coats their pans with DuPont Autograph®...which I've been "told" does not have the same nastiness as Teflon. If anyone knows differently, please let me know.
Anyway...just wanted to put in my 2 cents
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sara
Also, about the cookware...Pampered Chef (and I'm sure you could find it elsewhere) coats their pans with DuPont Autograph®...which I've been "told" does not have the same nastiness as Teflon. If anyone knows differently, please let me know.
Anyway...just wanted to put in my 2 cents
sara
According to Dupont's website, "Dupont Autograph" is top of the line teflon. Maybe it's harder to scratch, but sounds like it'd still kill my birds.
Stoneware is a good idea though, at least for the oven. Never seen anything I can use on the stove top though.
Stoneware is a good idea though, at least for the oven. Never seen anything I can use on the stove top though.
Here's what we use. For cookie sheets, we either use stainless steel, or aluminum with parchment paper on it or with a Silpat liner on it. I know, there doesn't seem to be any information out there about the silicone bakeware or liners, but I really like mine. Plus, I smell *no* odor when it's cooking and it seems like a better alternative than teflon. Also, parchment paper will make any baking pan non-stick. For other than cookies, just greese the pan, put the parchment paper, cut to fit, in the bottom, greese it, flour the pan, and you're set to go. This is what I do when I make brownies or cakes (*very* rare for me). I don't know if they sell non-stick pie pans, but there's no reason for them. Pie crust has so much butter in it that it never sticks. I use the glass pie pans (for that matter, I use glass whenever possible).
For muffins, we just use regular stainless steel muffin tins. To keep them to from sticking, I just oil them well. You could use the paper liners, but I find that I lose more of the muffin to those than I do to the pan (I usually lose very little if any to the pan). If you're *really* concerned, you could use little glass custard cups instead of the muffin tin. Or you could use the silicone muffin pans, but again, I haven't seen anything one or the other about their safety.
For bread machines, I just don't have an answer. We love our bread machine, and just turn a blind eye to the fact that the pan is non-stick. Not the best plan, I know, but there you have it (oops! I just revealed that we're human!
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). The best thing to do with a bread machine is to let the machine make the dough and then bake the bread yourself in your own pans (the stoneware pans are great!) or on a pizza stone (for baguettes and rolls and such). This is better for you (the non-stick pan doesn't heat up to a high temp. when it's just making the dough), and the bread is usually better.
I haven't been able to find an angel food cake pan that isn't non-stick, either. It makes me crazy, too, because ds loves angel food cake. If anyone has a source for them, please tell.
For frying pans or saute pans we use cast iron. For saucepans and pots, we use glass. Although we do have a very large stock pot made of stainless steel. You just can't get a huge stock pot made of glass. I think you could probably get one that's enamel-coated iron, but those are expensive (and heavy). Beware that the cheaper enamel-coated pans aren't usually iron, and aluminum will leach through the enamel coating. There are varying sizes of cast iron pots out there, too. We got one for my grandpa to replace his old aluminum pot for making jam, and he loves it!
Our tea kettle is enamel-coated iron (at least I'm pretty sure it's iron).
Well, those are all the options I can think of.
For muffins, we just use regular stainless steel muffin tins. To keep them to from sticking, I just oil them well. You could use the paper liners, but I find that I lose more of the muffin to those than I do to the pan (I usually lose very little if any to the pan). If you're *really* concerned, you could use little glass custard cups instead of the muffin tin. Or you could use the silicone muffin pans, but again, I haven't seen anything one or the other about their safety.
For bread machines, I just don't have an answer. We love our bread machine, and just turn a blind eye to the fact that the pan is non-stick. Not the best plan, I know, but there you have it (oops! I just revealed that we're human!
I haven't been able to find an angel food cake pan that isn't non-stick, either. It makes me crazy, too, because ds loves angel food cake. If anyone has a source for them, please tell.
For frying pans or saute pans we use cast iron. For saucepans and pots, we use glass. Although we do have a very large stock pot made of stainless steel. You just can't get a huge stock pot made of glass. I think you could probably get one that's enamel-coated iron, but those are expensive (and heavy). Beware that the cheaper enamel-coated pans aren't usually iron, and aluminum will leach through the enamel coating. There are varying sizes of cast iron pots out there, too. We got one for my grandpa to replace his old aluminum pot for making jam, and he loves it!
Our tea kettle is enamel-coated iron (at least I'm pretty sure it's iron).
Well, those are all the options I can think of.
Thanks for this thread! It finally convinced dh to get some cast iron! I've been trying to get rid of the teflon for 6 years now, but he loves his teflon!
SO, we got a huge skillet, a small skillet, and my favorite - a pot w/a lid - all cast iron. I seasoned them all 3 times. I made slow cooking oatmeal in the pot this morning, and the oatmeal did not stick! It was wonderful stirring oatmeal without worrying about the teflon scraping when I stirred! I always worried before.
I love my huge skillet too. Made Asian stir fry in it tonight. Awesome!!!!!!!!
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Now I just need some stainless steel muffin tins and other things and I'm good for all my baking and cooking.
I threw out a whole mess of bakeware and pans/pots this morning. What a waste, but what a relief to be done w/them!
No more teflon ever again!
BTW, I have heard that Dupont also makes spandex and that they are quite environmentally unfriendly (lobbying in Washinington, etc). Although it is difficult to find clothing without spandex these days, maybe we should think about trying to boycott their products altogether for the sake of not only our health, but the planet's too.
Happy baking to all!
aitara
SO, we got a huge skillet, a small skillet, and my favorite - a pot w/a lid - all cast iron. I seasoned them all 3 times. I made slow cooking oatmeal in the pot this morning, and the oatmeal did not stick! It was wonderful stirring oatmeal without worrying about the teflon scraping when I stirred! I always worried before.
I love my huge skillet too. Made Asian stir fry in it tonight. Awesome!!!!!!!!
Now I just need some stainless steel muffin tins and other things and I'm good for all my baking and cooking.
I threw out a whole mess of bakeware and pans/pots this morning. What a waste, but what a relief to be done w/them!
No more teflon ever again!
BTW, I have heard that Dupont also makes spandex and that they are quite environmentally unfriendly (lobbying in Washinington, etc). Although it is difficult to find clothing without spandex these days, maybe we should think about trying to boycott their products altogether for the sake of not only our health, but the planet's too.
Happy baking to all!
aitara
I did it!
I actually returned my whole teflon set to CostCo for a full refund
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and got a stainless set w/copper on the bases.
Does price matter?
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:
Now, to learn about stainless. ANd, I'm still using my big 'ole cast iron skillet. But, oh man, how do you drain grease out of that thing? It's WAY too heavy!
I actually returned my whole teflon set to CostCo for a full refund
Does price matter?
Now, to learn about stainless. ANd, I'm still using my big 'ole cast iron skillet. But, oh man, how do you drain grease out of that thing? It's WAY too heavy!
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Brandi
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That's great Busymommy! I need to find some of that stainless stuff. My mom used to scoop the grease from cast iron skillets with a spoon after it cooled, too.
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This will show your cookware's reactivity with food.
Bring to a boil about 2 cups of water together with about a tablespoon or more of baking soda. Let it boil for a minute or so... take a spoonful...cool it a bit and taste. It should taste like nothing more than baking soda water. Anything else means stuff is leaching into your food.
The result of this taste test with my teflon pan was totally disgusting. Gross. Made me want to yak.
Food for thought, yes?
Bring to a boil about 2 cups of water together with about a tablespoon or more of baking soda. Let it boil for a minute or so... take a spoonful...cool it a bit and taste. It should taste like nothing more than baking soda water. Anything else means stuff is leaching into your food.
The result of this taste test with my teflon pan was totally disgusting. Gross. Made me want to yak.
Food for thought, yes?
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I have one of the nice new crock pots with the white non-stick (ceramic?) lift out pan. It always makes my food taste bad. No one else in the family minds it- but the food honestly tastes metallic and weird and nothing like in my stainless soup pot. I love to use the crock but am wondering abou the safety of the inner pan.
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