These same PFAS are a component of fire fighting foams. Devil and the deep.

I agree about non-stick cookware. Something that helps is to spray or wipe with a little olive oil after use. Helps prevent the teflon wear off into your food.

PhewL

Everything I use, aside from a cast iron wok & a frying pan for steak, is the ceramic coated stuff.
Unbelievably non-stick, but safe with metal utensils and no TFE.
They were reasonably priced too.

New trend of "ceramic" cookware. I know it states PFAs free, but i also know there are all kinds of ways to juggle numbers and statements to have things say what you desire... not necessarily what is actual truth.

I do the cast iron whenever possible.... washed, wiped clean, and seasoned with a little olive oil after each use. But using cast iron is getting a little rough with my arthritis and the weight of the skillets, for example.

Last edited Mon Jan 13, 2025, 11:21 AM - Edit history (1)

cast-iron pan. Yeah, it takes more elbow grease and scrubbing time--as well as a bit more healthy oils to cook, but...

That said, like microplastics, it appears the horse is well out of that barn and I'm not sure any of us can remain unimpacted.

Not sure why you'd even have questions about it.
It's not logical to have a nonstick surface added to a nonstick surface.
And adding the PFAS to the ceramic couldn't work because there is no means to get mixing and the polymerization couldn't take place at the ceramic maleability temperature.
Your concerns are misplaced.

I'm dealing with the final detail and days leading up to Mom's funeral. Chemistry is about the last thing on my mind (lol). But I've never cooked on the surface and I am needing new pots and pans. I like the non-stick, and love my cast iron. But arthritis and general weakness makes using those hard these days. Was thinking the ceramic, if truly non-stick, would be a lot easier for an old lady to handle.

And like someone above said, the horse is already out of the gate as far as PFAs and microplastics are concerned. They might as well be written as part of our DNA, IMO. We'll probably be passing them on for generations.

They clean so easy, it's amazing. Makes non-stick look like velcro!
Also, our stuff has either hardwood or ceramic coated handles so they're oven safe.
Another bonus: our 3 sauce pans were $64. For all 3. The three frying pans (different brand) were only $50 something.
So, you don't have to pay an arm & a leg to get ceramic coated cookware.
One last note on the chemistry: it is literally impossible to mix fluorocarbon polymers with the ceramic coating because of how each process works. So, unless some chemist figures out how to defy the laws of physics, you'll be safe on the PFAS issue with ceramic.

having struggled over the years with various types of "non-stick" ones that never seemed to last more than a couple of years, if that, no matter how careful you were with them, and their performance was never brilliant. We use them a lot for stovetop dishes like our versions of paella, goulash/paprikash, bolognese sauce, curries etc., as well as normal frying.

Now we're wondering why it took us so long to find out about them.

Nothing sticks, even if you accidentally burn food in them (as happened in a failed attempt at multitasking a week or two ago, from which the pan emerged apparently unscathed), you can get away with using the bare minimum of oil if you want, and they wipe clean unbelievably easily after at most a minimum of soaking.

Obvious precautions include avoiding scraping away with metal utensils or metal washing-up scrubbies, but that applies to any non-stick coating.

The coating's just ceramic - a technology that's been round for eons, so there's no need for any chemical additives.

I can't speak for their longevity yet, but the pans we bought were surprisingly cheap anyway.

I'll definitely check into adding a pan or two each month until my old teflon are dispatched completely. I use olive oil almost exclusively around here for both the health benefits and the seasoning of the pans. Love the fact your pan came out of the multitask A-OK. That's good news for hubby who tries to cook every great once in a while (smile).

no seasoning necessary and other than eggs, I haven't had a problem with food sticking. Youtube is great for teaching how to properly use cookware.

... clad or bonded underneath for conduction. But not aluminum because that can melt. It did that on a friend who left one on a stove with only water in it. He discovered it, moved it and got molten aluminum on his shoe and foot and burned the wood parquet floor.

Stainless steel is great for me for frying pans or pots. I spray with hot water, soak if I can, scrub with a copper frilly pad / metallic "cloth" pad / tough plastic scrubber. Then I scrub and "polish" with a fine steel wool pad like Jet or S.O.S. Wash w dishes for all over clean. The result can be a little bit mirror-like and free of anodization stains.

I find cast iron requires some extra care to keep spotless but simultaneously seasoned. Likewise nonstick requires care and also has of course the burden of hard-to-research-but-a-bit-scary chemicals. Nonstick prevents the use of elbow grease and requires one to be mindful while cleaning. (Mindfulness good in general.)

With stainless steel and the pads I can wind it up and get it done and get a little muscle strength exercise without worrying about the force being applied. I don't have to fret if it isn't mirror-like or has those zero height super-thin stains resistant to soap and a bit rainbow coloured due to diffraction effects. I think they are analogous to "anodized metal" jewelry.

Keeps them nice and shiny.

When you know how to cook with them and maintain their 'seasoning' - they clean up fine. Even if you
get your temps too high and burn off the seasoning, you can clean the mess up by boiling water in the
skillet and re-seasoning. You don't have to baby them and they stick less than stainless.

Just invested in a cast iron dutch oven, which I've wanted for years. Absolutely loved making my chili in it. Like I said, it's just a little on the too heavy side for me to easily use anymore. Arthritis in the hands will get all of us at some point... we mouse and KB too much!