Alright Hexbearians, enlighten me: what kind of cookware is actually safe to use long term?
Ceramic? Stainless steel? What should I get? I'm getting a lot of mixed answers and "AI" bullshit from trying to research it myself.
Stainless steel or cast iron or carbon steel
For the hob/burner: Stainless steel is pretty versatile and you can put it in the dishwasher. I also have a cast iron that I use for things like eggs that need a bit of 'non-stick'. You have to hand wash it though and take care not to damage the seasoning.
For the oven: Stainless steel or pyrex if you want something that retains heat. Some people love their enameled cast iron but that stuff is so expensive that I've never bothered with it.
Additional notes on cast iron care: There are a lot of guys out there for whom caring for their cast iron pans is their entire identity. They buy special oils and have their little routines for caressing their special little cast iron baby and you should pay no attention to any of them.
You have to hand wash it though and take care not to damage the seasoning.
Honestly, I feel like pots and pans should all be hand washed. Maybe I'm crazy lol.
You also don't have to take all that much care to not damage the seasoning. All that weird advice comes from the days when soap had lye in it. Don't soak it though obviously.
I dunno I think with stainless steel it's probably better for the pan to put it through the dishwasher than going at it with a scourer. Using the dishwasher also saves water over hand-washing, somewhat counterintuitively
Not damaging the seasoning isn't that hard. Just use soap and a cloth. Re-seasoning is also super easy
I upbear all a' this. Though enamaled cast iron isn't too bad if you avoid all the stupid expensive brands, I can get pans ~$25 per. An often untold beauty of cast iron and steel pans is they both actually provide you nutrients - Cooking in cast iron meaningfully increases your iron intake, and steel gives you some iron and other trace metals you actually need.
I do about 90% of my cooking in two cast iron pans, and fully agree with your last point. I was very hesitant after all the chatter about upkeep, but in 3 years since changing to cast iron, I've only ever done one thing - handwash and dry it. Never seasoned it, nothin'.
I fry stuff, cook stews in 'em, tomato, omelettes, pancakes, scrape the fuck out of 'em, wash with mild soap when needed. These pans do everything for me, and all I do is keep 'em dry. The pan is still great at non-stick, no rust, works perfectly. I'm sure it must have its place, but from my perspective, seasoning is a scam.
My cast iron pan routine can be entirely summed as "After cooking, wash it by hand for 5-10 seconds with a chainmail scourer, then leave on the hob to dry with residual heat."
I do season once in a blue moon (as in, I rub in a tiny bit of sunflower oil before heating the pan) but only when necessary. And it is possible to fuck up the seasoning in my experience, but the nice thing about cast iron is that you can always fix it pretty easily. And to be honest the easiest way to fuck them up is by following one of those insane reddit seasoning routines lol. If you fry with plenty of oil at least some of the time, there shouldn't be a problem.
Gun
Enameled cast iron, Stainless steel pans with no coatings with stainless steel cooking utensils
Enameled cast iron pots have lasted literal centuries with daily use.
Stainless steel is p good too.
Cast iron pan and creuset enameled cast iron pot
Stainless steel: Leaches small amounts of heavy metals (chrome and nickel, though apparently the chrome is the more worrying one). Probably fine given the amounts. Lasts a long time. Can warp if heated unevenly, the handle can break off etc, but rather durable compared to other stuff.
Chromeless "stainless" steel: Still contains nickel. IKEA sells this for example. It's not really stainless, mine rusted. Do not recommend.
Cast iron or carbon steel (like a wok): No heavy metals (well, there shouldn't be, apparently heavy metals have been found in one manufacturer's steel at least). A black patina (called "seasoning") of polymerized fat/iron forms on the surface. Some of this goes back into your food. I have never seen a suggestion that this is a health concern but I also have never heard of anybody actually looking at that either. Best used for frying, not so good for liquids, especially acidic ones, which break down the seasoning. Cast iron especially is notoriously long-lived, the steel ones are more delicate: the seasoning doesn't stick as well and so they rust more easily and they can warp.
PTFE (aka Teflon): Polymers made from fluorine, often called "forever chemicals" since they don't break down. Breaks off from the pan surface and goes into your food. Since the final PTFE on the pan is fairly long-chain, it probably passes through your intestine w/o entering the bloodstream or reacting to anything. More concerning about these is their environmental impact, since these are manufactured from short-chain precursors that can go into all the organs and cause issues, and the factories seem to have already poisoned like most of the water supply and now they're literally everywhere. Also those pans don't last long and need to be replaced every couple of years.
Ceramic non-stick: Probably the way they work (manufacturer's secret or something) is by leaching silicone particles into your food. Nobody seems especially worried about this but also they're new, so I'm not sure anybody has looked at what that does exactly. Parchment paper is also lined with silicone and I guess that's been going on for a while, so who knows. Also nobody knows what exactly is in the ceramic, but let's assume they're like looking to not put any heavy metals into that. The main problem with these is that they suck, they basically turn from non-stick to rather sticky immediately. Too hot? No longer non-stick. Wrong oil? No longer non-stick. Use a couple of times? No longer non-stick. Teflon at least lasts like 2-5 years. These thing's lifetime is measured in weeks or months. I guess it could be used for boiling liquid where you don't care about non-stick.
Enameled steel or enameled cast-iron: This is basically a type of glass surface on top of the metal. Old ones from your grandma may contain heavy metals, new ones shouldn't. Rather non-reactive, so it shouldn't get into your food too much anyway. Can chip and so eating a broken off piece of glass is a potential health concern I guess. Apart from chipping, may break when dropped. Can also rust wherever the metal is exposed.
Straight aluminum or anodized aluminum w/o Teflon: This is sometimes used for sheet pans, for really large stock pots and for lightweight camping gear. Very sticky, so unsuitable for frying pans. It's a light metal that is naturally in the soil and veggies. Unlike heavy metals, the body will flush it out. We know it is dangerous (nerve damage) at very high doses, but low level exposure seems to have no ill effects.
I thought parchment paper used PFAS too? Or maybe it depends on the brand?
By what I've read/remember (grain of salt and all), all or almost all parchment papers use silicone these days, but PFAS parchment used to be a thing.
Edit: Wikipedia says:
To get its non-stick properties, baking paper is either treated with a “quilon" (a solution of chromium(iii) in an acidic alcohol to modify the cellulose) or cellulose coated with silicone.
There's actually a lot of research around cast iron seasoning and it's been found to provide a measurable increase in iron consumption. Which is good, most people are iron deficient.
That's a good point about the iron. But I would like somebody to go and say: Old rancid fats, half burned and fused with iron and other fats, are not a health concern, or at least not in those quantities. Haven't seen anyone even discuss this topic.
I can easily see how it might not be an issue, given the amount of rancid fats and burned stuff we all consume, but it would be nice to have this confirmed.
Thanks for the great overview.
Just keep away from non-stick materials if you're worried pretty much. For pans I have two cast iron ones and a stainless steel one, they work for pretty much everything. I have a large enameled pot for large stews, a couple of glass and metal trays for the oven and otherwise just aluminium pots for things that aren't fried (and also popcorn). I used to do the teflon and non stick ones pans for a while as my partner insisted it was necessary but I got tired of having to chuck the pan after a couple of years as it started peeling off into the food. The only non-stick one we have now is a rice cooker.
Also, the old wisdom about how you can't use washing up liquid for cast iron is bunk, the modern stuff works just fine (it is something that has stuck around from when there used to be lye in the washing up liquid).
Want to add that I have no idea how bad Teflon is for your health (seems not great to have bits of plastic into your food just going by gut feeling, but who knows) but the reason I switched away from it is because I got tired of buying a new frying pan every two years. It feels like such a monumental waste of materials just to avoid the inconvenience of having to learn how to use a normal frying pan
I primarily use stainless steel and I have two enameled cast iron as backups (just because they have to be hand washed while the steel can go in the dishwasher). They're all great and should be regularly used by my great-grandchildren.
I've heard that nonstick is only dangerous if you cook at high heat, as in > 500°F / 260°C
It can also come off by being scraped by metal cooking utensils
It’s very benign in that form though. It’s really the gaseous forms of it that are toxic when breathed, and the liquid precursor chemicals used in manufacturing which get into our water supply that we have to worry about
I always thought that steel and cast iron were fine. They're metals that your body can process easily enough (not heavy metals).
I read enough that even Teflon is safe, normal conditions aren't going to leech into your food.
I'm too lazy atm to do any googling, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
Carbon steel is pretty cost effective and durable
Steel and glass
i think the spoon is pretty harmless ..
Glass and ceramics are the most likely to break. Good quality cookware glass like PYREX (all caps, lower case is junk from a quality and materials standpoint but okay for food storage in fridge) will still stand up to an impressive amount as but it is a danger. Metal can last a long, long, long time when properly cared for and not abused.