Non-stick cookware with no fluorocarbons or perfluorocarbons

[thollandpe]

I recently got to see Heather Henrikson from the Harvard Sustainability Initiative speak, specifically about the dangers of fluorinated and perfluorinated chemicals in building materials, flame retardants and stain-resistant coatings. Nasty stuff and the health risks are many, and the problem of groundwater contamination by PFOA and PFOS is daunting.

Choosing a Chemical Flame-Retardant Free Campus - Center for Environmental Health | Center for Environmental Health

And yet I still fry eggs in a teflon-coated pan. I'd like to stop.

What's a decent non-stick pan with a stable, ceramic coating?

Thanks in advance, TH

PS If you're going to recommend seasoned cast iron, please stop. I have one of those and it does not work for how I cook eggs.

[guido]

Quite a dilemma. For the same reason, I tried a mid-range ceramic pan with the intent of using it for eggs. It worked well for about 5 uses. Was adequate for about 5-7 more uses. After that it stuck like hell...

I went back to teflon for eggs but try to use stainless, cast iron or aluminum for nearly everything else. Good luck!

[funcrusher]

scanpan

About

[Ras72]

Why use a non-stick pan to begin with? Not trying to be snooty but after using SS for years, I don't see the need for non-stick.

[thollandpe]

Why use a non-stick pan to begin with? Not trying to be snooty but after using SS for years, I don't see the need for non-stick.

I'm not the only cook in the house. Stainless has not done well in the past.

scanpan

About

Encouraging that it's so temperature and wear resistant. But it's still Teflon on a ceramic substrate. They don't use PFOA is their process, but isn't it used to make the Teflon?

Suspicious that this might be part of the game, like when long-chain fluorochemicals (C8 = eight fluorinated carbon atoms) are banned, the manufacturers replace it with C6 = six fluorinated carbon atoms. It's not that C6 isn't toxic, it's just going to take a while to get the body of evidence that it takes to ban that too. That is not a nice game, and it's why Harvard's School of Public Health recommends ditching whole classes of chemicals, rather than the whack-a-mole game of banning C8, then C6, etc.

Do you think Scanpan is good enough?

TH

PS C6, C8 and See No Evil

[funcrusher]

I'm not the only cook in the house. Stainless has not done well in the past.



Encouraging that it's so temperature and wear resistant. But it's still Teflon on a ceramic substrate. They don't use PFOA is their process, but isn't it used to make the Teflon?

Suspicious that this might be part of the game, like when long-chain fluorochemicals (C8 = eight fluorinated carbon atoms) are banned, the manufacturers replace it with C6 = six fluorinated carbon atoms. It's not that C6 isn't toxic, it's just going to take a while to get the body of evidence that it takes to ban that too. That is not a nice game, and it's why Harvard's School of Public Health recommends ditching whole classes of chemicals, rather than the whack-a-mole game of banning C8, then C6, etc.

Do you think Scanpan is good enough?

TH

PS C6, C8 and See No Evil

my chemistry fails me, but the woman who recommended to us is super anal about such things...she doesn't even have a microwave oven in her house!

the pan itself has held up nicely (we're on our second cuz my MIL decided to turn on the wrong burner torching an empty pan)

[dgaddis]

Have you tried carbon steel pans?

[nick k]

Dustin, speaking of tossing food about, I like the 11 7/8” size but it’s way heavier (about 4.5 lbs) than my All-Clad stainless or aluminum anything. That’s just a little lighter than my old cast iron. Do you have any of the smaller sizes and if so, how is the weight?

[dgaddis]

Dustin, speaking of tossing food about, I like the 11 7/8” size but it’s way heavier (about 4.5 lbs) than my All-Clad stainless or aluminum anything. That’s just a little lighter than my old cast iron. Do you have any of the smaller sizes and if so, how is the weight?

Haha, yeah I’ve got the same size pan, and it is heavy! The day after making those fajitas in that pic? My arm was sore. I’m not entirely ashamed by that....

I also have a smaller one (8” maybe?) and it’s way easier to handle.

[giordana93]

you can get thinner/lighter carbon steel pans but they are more prone to warping and being wobbly/not flat.
the only teflon pan I have is a little 6" one of fairly good quality (an old t-fal) but when it finally dies it will be replaced with a carbon steel or small cast iron or stainless. teflon is ok if you don't overheat and still on the learning curve of technique but it is utterly ridiculous to spend much money on one compared to the indestructible metals listed above. a little butter/oil on a properly preheated pan goes a long way and there are better places in your diet to save those 30 calories.... (epecially now that fat is good again in diets)s

[Cookietruck]

^ yep
I have a DeBuyer mineral B that is 28cm, looking on their site, it is 3mm thickness. really heavy for holding it with one hand and plating with the other.
Just got a DeBuyer La Lyonnaise pan 20 or 24cm, I forget now, it's only 1mm thick and...thinner than I think I prefer after cooking with it some. It heats up super fast though!! It's mostly flat though so that's nice.

I think I should've gotten a DeBuyer Force Blue at 2mm thick.

LA LYONNAISE round frying pan | de Buyer

[dgaddis]

I mentioned earlier that I've got a Misen non-stick pan that we really like. I see they're now doing some carbon steel pans as well, same shape as the non-stick (which is good) but in carbon steel - The Misen Carbon Steel Pan by Misen — Kickstarter

Not terribly expensive, but they are more expensive than the Matfer Bourgeat pans I already have. One thing I really like about the Matfer Bourgeat pans is the handle is welded on - there's no rivets, which makes cleaning it much easier.

The Misen pans are a smidge lighter than the MB pans, but not by much (~0.1lbs). I like that they're including the silicone handle cover...that's one issue I've found with my pans is the handle gets hot, especially when you choke up on it (which you need to do quite often with the larger and heavier pan). I'm actually going to order a similar handle cover for mine, Amazon has one made by Lodge that apparently fits.

I got my MB pans here, FWIW, their pricing was a bit better than Amazon when I last checked :: Carbon Steel Frying Pans | Carbon Steel Fry Pans