Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid.
In 2018, Turner published one of the earliest papers positing that black plastic products were likely regularly being made from recycled electronic waste. The clue was the plastic’s concerning levels of flame retardants. In some cases, the mix of chemicals matched the profile of those commonly found in computer and television housing, many of which are treated with flame retardants to prevent them from catching fire.
Do yourself a favour and start using proper cast iron or stainless steel frying pans as well. You gotta learn how to use them, but it’s a whole different level. I’m never going back to non-stick.
To get started with a new pan:
- Pour a bit of oil in it
- Dry it ALL up with a paper towel
- Heat up to high temperature, let cool.
- Repeat three times or so. This creates a coating of hardened oil.
Never, ever, wash with soap. If you do by accident, repeat the above process to coat the pan again. (just don’t scrub too violently with soap - I’m being outdated with my advice here)
When cooking:
- Heat up pan
- Add oil
- Add things into pan only when hot
- Use water or wine to deglaze when things get a little stuck. That’s where you get deliciousness from - it’s a feature, not a bug.
I use an old cast iron that’s a bit rugged in the bottom for pancakes. It’s the most amazing thing ever. I found it in the trash one day. The cast iron allows me to use a steel spatula when it needs to be thin, otherwise I use wood.
I thought this is only something done to cast iron. Should you do this with stainless steel pots too?!
Generally you don’t need to worry much about pots. If you have a problem of things sticking in them while cooking I guess it would work though. I have a coated cast iron pot for proper cooking, so I rarely use my stainless steel one for other things than boiling stuff. No need to season them for that.
It needs to be done to stainless steel frying pans. If you go for a stainless steel frying pan you probably want to get a five-ply one, which means that there are two layers of (usually) aluminium inside the pan helping with heat distribution. Once you have that it’s a great alternative to cast iron - I find it easier to deglaze because the surface is shiny. But in its own right heat distribution in stainless steel is not good enough to make for a good pan, and a good stainless steel frying pan comes with a bit of a learning curve.
I guess it’s the same thing with carbon steel as well, but I have no experience with that.
You can wash these pans with soap, you just shouldn’t abrade them. Soap isn’t going to remove the molecular bonding unless you’re scrubbing the hell out of it.
Also, Teflon’s a no go but I was under the impression ceramic is ok. Is anything wrong with that coating for cooking?
I was under the impression ceramic is ok. Is anything wrong with that coating for cooking?
Only that you shouldn’t expect it to actually be non-stick, LOL. Personally, I don’t see the point of it and consider it inferior to cast iron, carbon steel, enameled cast iron, or stainless-clad aluminum.
Ceramic loses its’ non-stick properties quite fast, cause the coating gets micro-cracked.
I’m on year four of using a ceramic pan to cook scrambled eggs in butter at least 4 days a week and it is still pretty slick.
Is it other foods like acidic tomato sauces that mess with the coating?
Thanks - apparently modern soap is much milder on the seasoning, so it’s not really a problem any more. I’ve never thought to question the advice that was passed down the generations. :)
Nothing wrong with ceramic from a food safety perspective. I love it in my cast iron pot, not sure I would go for it in a frying pan.
I wash my cast iron with dish soap after every use and I can still slide eggs around in the pan. Definitely agree, though. I only have 1 non-stick pan that I almost never use. Stainless steel and cast iron are really the only 2 types that you need
Enameled cast iron (which IMO is different enough from regular cast iron to be a separate category) is a nice choice for dutch ovens.
A new cast iron pan should be washed with soap and water. They’re usually coated with something you don’t want to be eating to keep them from rusting from the factory to your home. You scrub that off and then season it.
Huh, good to know - I’ve only ever used old ones. They always clean off pretty easy with just water and a firm dish brush.
After Googling a bit, it turns out dish soaps were much more powerful in the past, which is why old people always say not to use dish soap in a pan. Newer soaps are generally milder and won’t damage the seasoning. It never occurred to me to question it. Thanks!
I’ll probably keep going without soap though, but it’s nice to know I can be a little less fanatic about it. :)
flame removedants
facepalm. Censorship absurdity.
Part of the reason why I reject “retard” as an “ablest slur” you’re just outright not allowed to say. When we don’t censor idiot, stupid, moron, etc. I’m going to live to se the term “intellectually alternative” become unspeakable.
One of my favorites of these was “salsmurfer.” On a multitool collector forum, the autocensor was set to replace bad words with “smurf.” So there was a lot of “What the smurf was Gerber thinking?” One of the banned words was “twat.” Something that multitool users are often concerned about is whether an expensive steel tool will survive service in maritime environments or indeed when used while diving in the ocean. An English teacher will tell you that “salt water” is two words, but what do they know?
“Will a skeletool rust if exposed to salsmurfer?”
Like when I type ******* it just shows up as stars to you, but I see my password?
This is the way that Lemmy as a whole has filtered words implemented, just not every instance filters the same words (or at all in some cases?)
No, it is not how Lemmy as a whole has filtered words or it would be filtered everywhere.
Whaaaaat the fuck?
I had no fucking idea of this. I’ve been seen “removed” used more and more on the last months and I just thought people speak weird online nowadays.
My lemmy.lm instance has been censoring content that I see without me knowing it?
Fuck this shit, I’m going to look for another instance right now. One that treats me like an adult who wants to see what other people type so I can decide MYSELF if someone is an asshole for using certain language
Ah, the Scunthorpe problem.
Plastic and food shouldn’t mix.
We fucked up real bad. Gonna be a long road to fix this shit.
Food and two different metals at once (that also touch each other) shouldn’t either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyrj-CYC5I8
Basically, electrochemistry happens and the metal breaks down, seeping into the food. This is problematic for aluminum.
Food should never touch anything artificial. If it hasn’t been levitating since the day it was hand harvested from old growth forest, it’s basically pure poison.
I had this happen when I made a tomato-based dish in a cast iron pan, covered it with foil, and then stored it in the fridge. The aluminum was electroplated to the top of the food, and the pan had iron pits in the bottom.
Yes, I know I was bad for doing that to a cast iron pan. I was young and foolish.
I don’t blame you, very few people know this and it’s not intuitive. With plastic items, everyone learns early that they don’t take heat well. Arguably, it’s not much of a problem anymore since every metal container and silverware is stainless steel and basically only aluminum foil remains. At least now you know why coins make that smell in a sweaty hand.
This is very specific since he even build up a little rice tower pressing up against the foil.
Well, you need wet food, metal and another metal all touching each other for this to happen. I’ve seen my sister make the mistake IRL so it certainly does.
The new thing is PFAS in the food chain. We’re fucking it up faster than we’re fixing it. Almost like profit motivation was a bad idea.
I always wonder if these sorts of dire warnings are real or just a marketing ploy.
I only use wooden spoons, spatulas and cutting boards myself. And fire retardants are obviously damaging to health, so throwing out black plastic is a good idea. But I don’t think the article gives any good reason to avoid plastic in general. “Potentially harmful plastic compounds” sounds a lot like “compounds with zero evidence of being dangerous but they sound scary”. Happy to be proven wrong though.
