tuesday eats: what fry pans should we be using?
* This post has been updated. See below.
Following the toxic audit on my apartment that I wrote about on Sunday, two rather big things. I have to move out of my apartment. And I’ve tossed my frying pans.
I’m moving because my bedroom is on top of the fuse room for the entire block. I’ve always thought this was a bonus – my room is nice and warm in winter. Nicole the building biologist asked if I have immune problems because the crazy, schizophrenic magnetic field action in my room would be wreaking havoc, she’d imagine. Boy do I ever – I have auto-immune disease, and it’s taking an eternity to heal. “How long have you been living here?” Four years. “How long you had auto-immune disease?”. Three and a half years. Ahhhh….
I’m not a dramatic over-reactor. But I can’t ignore this.
But to the pans. Non-stick pans are coated in Teflon, which is what makes them slippery. Oh, how I’ve loved Teflon in the past! The way it cooks eggs. And nuts. No mess. No oil. Problem is that a chemical that’s released when you heat up Teflon is leaching into everyone’s blood stream and is making us sick – cancer, birth defects, HORMONE DISRUPTION and high cholesterol (ironically, given non-stick saves on cooking oils) are the oft-cited effects.
Studies are going back and forth. For a full discussion, read Slow Death by Rubber Duck. They go through the arguments and come out categorically telling everyone to get rid of non-stick pans.
Also, know this:
* manufacturers are nervous and are voluntarily phasing the stuff out. A few years back DuPont, which makes polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin, which is what Teflon was called when it first popped up as a laboratory accident back in 1938, reached a $US16.5 million settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency; apparently the company knew all along that Teflon was bad for us.
DuPont has promised to eliminate another chemcial – PFOA – from all Teflon products by 2015. When heating a Teflon pan up to a very high temperature – which is what we tend to do to cook, say, a steak – PFOA is released into the environment. 2015 is too late for those of us with pans in our cupboard, but.
3M have voluntariily taken PFOS out of their products. One can only guess it because they think there might be issues!?
* Teflon is EVERYWHERE. It’s seeped into the blood of 98% of Americans. It doesn’t breakdown. Our stomach acids can’t get rid of it. It’s a slippery little sucker.
* Manufacturers advise you don’t keep pet birds near where you cook with Teflon. It kills them.
* In a strange twist, smoking in the presence of Teflon is VERY toxic – particles decompose in a ciggie, causing polymer fume fever. Very wrong. In so many ways.
How to Kick Non-Stick:
* Marian Burros, the food writer for the New York Times, got rid of her Teflon pans. She tested dozens of pans by making a trillion omelettes, and she wrote that the black enamel frying pan made by Le Creuset was as good as Teflon and even managed to cook eggs that didn’t stick.
* The Slow Death boys say this:
- buy a pan with a solid base
- black cast iron skillet is best, but don’t cook too many tomatoes or high-acid stuff on them
- to avoid food sticking – heat to a high temp before putting food on, use enough oil and use a plastic spatula, not metal.
What do you cook with? What works? What brands do you love? I’m going to go out shopping later this week….
Reader Meg contacted Scanpan to ask for the deal on their stuff (thanks Meg!!). Very useful info. This was their reply:
"As stated below PFOA and PTFE did exist at the beginning of the manufacturing process on products manufactured prior to 2007 in the Classic and Scanpan 2001+ ranges however these chemicals were filtered out by the end of the production process. After the coating of the non stick compound (PTFE) the products were cured in an oven by a set time and temperature. During this curing process all fumes were burnt off and filtered out. As to Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid – I have no information on this chemical being present in the Scanpan cookware. I’ll email Denmark for a response on PFOS."
Honestly, I just use a little more oil or butter on my metal pans. I have been for years. And I swear nothing bad has come of it. I won’t buy anything non-stick. I’ve heard such pans come with a warning label abroad. I don’t know if that’s true, but even the rumor is enough for me.
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I hear iron skillets are really good too but they are little heavy. Good luck finding what you need! xoxo
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Long before the debate on Teflon, I discovered the pleasures of cooking with cast iron. My mom always used a heavy black skillet and taught me how to make it nearly non-stick. I’ve had a set of Crueset for nearly fifteen years and others that have been handed down. They last nearly forever, wear well, and save energy (retain heat longer and more evenly).
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It was an uncanny ‘coincidence’ when Sarah and I had a chat at the beginning of the audit of her home that I too was diagnosed with a mild form of Graves disease (a type of hyperthyroid disease) which a reproductive immunologist informed me was the likely cause of my 10 miscarriages. As a result of relocating to another bedroom and following a course of treatment to suppress my immune system (which essentially meant spending hours on a drip every 3 weeks in the chemo ward with the cancer paitents for the duration of my pregnancy), I successfully gave birth to my twins.
In hindsight, with no familial history, I couldnt help but notice that my health (and that of my husband) took a dramative turn when we moved into our first home. It was several years later that I noticed that we were sleeping on the other side of the meter box. Automimune disease and exposure to high magnetic fields have long been debated amongst scientists since the realisation that in 1979 two researchers Wertheimer and Leeper noticed that children who were exposed to 4mG or higher as a result of a nearby high voltage transmission line had a doubling in the incidence of childhood leakaemia. Only recently an article came out on the relationship between thyroid disease, mobile phones and EMFs.Its a coincidence we can no longer ignore. Until the evidence can prove that these frequencies are safe, we need to implement precautionary measures; when it comes to EMFs, this means DISTANCE, DISTANCE, DISTANCE. Keep at appliances at least 1.5 metres away from where you spend time including your bed.
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re: frying pans – I chucked out my Teflon pan a few months ago because it was scratched and scary. I went to my local kitchen shop with the intention of buying a cast iron pan but stumbled upon ceramic frying pans, which the saleslady highly recommended. They’re great – need no ‘curing’ and you can clean them with soap. Also they have all the non-stick qualities of Teflon without the possibility of scratching/chemical scariness. Based on my google trawling it looks like ceramic pans are safe. Has anyone heard otherwise?
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hmm our meter box is on the wall where the head of our bed goes
( We have no other bedroom option either … what to do?
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What about those devices that you can buy that are meant to absorb radiation? Do they work?
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I’ll cast another vote for cast-iron pans! I bought a Lodge cast-iron frypan and a big Dutch and am absolutely in love with them. Not as exxy as Le Creuset and you don’t have to fuss about getting the enamelled surface stained either. Can’t recommend them highly enough.
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holy crap…i’m going to live in a tent
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I’m a fan of both the cast iron Le Creuset and professional-quality, thick-bottomed stainless steel pans. Best place to buy the latter is at a restaurant kitchen supply shop — much cheaper there and you can choose the sizes that you’ll actually use, rather than being stuck with a whole set.
With regard to a couple of your other home detox issues:
Pyrex food storage containers are fantastic. I tossed all of my plastic containers ahead of trying to conceive back in 2006 and replaced with Pyrex. Still using those same Pyrex containers today. They’ve been frozen, baked, microwaved, steamed and put through the dishwasher hundreds of times and remain in perfect condition. Upgrading from plastic to Pyrex can seem a little pricey at the time but, long-term, it’s a cost-effective option.
Eden organic canned beans and legumes are BPA free and have been since 1999, well before BPA became a widely publicized concern. Costs the company an extra 15c (US) per can and at least $500,000 annually to use the BPA-free cans but they chose to go with the safest available option. As an Aussie ex-pat living in the US these past 18 months, I can buy Eden for $2.39 per can. My recollection is that Eden beans may be a little more expensive in Australia. But what I always factored into the cost was the fact that having a can handy on those lazy can’t-be-bothered-to-cook-nights was what kept me in the kitchen and out of a restaurant.
Because the beans aren’t salted (just cooked with kelp) they can seem a little plain but it’s easy to perk them up. Drain, rinse well, drain again, toss with some umeboshi vinegar (typically I use about 1tsp per can). Best if you do this the night before you want to use them but even a half-hour in the umeboshi vinegar makes the world of difference. You can’t taste the umeboshi when you eat the beans. It just gives them more of a savory, umami quality.
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I use ceramic coated pans by Iittala, most of my dinner and glass ware is from Iittala, super handy and pretty to look at…My mom has been replacing her pans with Green Pans and has some le creuset pots as well…all of them are great alternatives for teflon… Here’s the link to the Iittala pans http://www.iittala.com/web/Iittalaweb.nsf/en/products_cooking_tools
Love, Jules
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Hi Sarah, just discovered your blog – and love it. So great that “are you ready” post further down. And this one – well, my best pan is an old iron pan. It’s perfect for frying potatoes, eggs or pancakes without any sticking, and it ads tny quantities of iron to the food – which is healty – highly recommend it! Good luck with finding a new apparement – the energy of summer helps!
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@julie …. HAHA! It feels like that, sometimes, doesn’t it? Thankfully with people like Sarah opening our eyes to these issues, perhaps we can all become a little healthier and stronger. Thinking of the 1.5m rule besides bed, that gets me because I love my light beside the bed to read with! And the electric blanket! Not to mention the ipod I listen to to get to sleep (audio books) and the phone that’s charging beside me with an alarm. OH DEAR … perhaps I need to consider all of these things? Xx
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I have been reading about this for a while – particularly as I have a 7 month old daughter. I’ve got a great cook book for mothers who consider these sorts of things, and there is a chapter at the beginning about cooking and storage (she also won’t recommend using microwaves for ANYTHING) and is v.hesitant about non-stick pans also. It’s called The best recipes for Babies & Toddles by Renee Elliott.
I am considering getting a set of the Esstele pans – does anyone have any tips on these? As far as I know they are stainless steel with a copper base.
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What about Scanpan? They say this on their website in their FAQs… i’m confused, should I bin my very expensive scanpans?
I raise exotic birds and have heard that fumes from Teflon will kill them. Is this true ?
We have heard of this before. In the scanpan manufacturing process, the non-stick compound is actually imbedded into the material that makes up the cooking surface, unlike cheaper cookware where the Teflon coats the Aluminum base. The only way that fumes will be released from this material will be if the non-stick compound actually breaks down from excessive heat. (e.g. the pan is left empty on full flame for extended periods). If used within its normal operational boundaries, no damage should result. Obviously we cannot warrant that no damage will arise but have no reported cases of this happening. In fact since 2007, Scanpan GreenTEK is made with no PFOA, the primary harmful components for exotic birds. Once should be aware that the fumes from burning margarine are more intense than that from cookware and may cause more damage to exotic birds.
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Hi Sarah, I have a stainless steel thick bottomed fry pan which is fantastic. I thought it would be a nightmare to clean, however I have been happily proven wrong! I would love to get some le crueset in the kitchen kit one day, so I’ll just keep saving. Happy frypan shopping
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I am sorry to hear about your auto-immune disease (new reader to your blog). I hope the move makes a difference! Interesting piece.
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Shit, I just don’t know where to start.
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Hi Sarah,
I’ve used cast Iron for years. They hold heat just great and once seasoned which is key, things don’t stick. I even have a cast iron wok.
My pots are stainless with double thick bottoms.
I’ve known about energy fields in houses for decades. No bed against walls with outside power meters. Don’t live next to a sub station. Just look at the high rate of cancer with power linesmen.
-T
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Thank goodness I was thinking the other day about how we don’t have enough frying pans. Now I have an excuse to go out and buy some even before we get married next year (was trying to hold out to put them on the wedding list). But now I’m Teflon terrified!
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Go the Scan Pan! I have a couple of pieces and the investment is worth it – I use them every day and they are are a joy to cook with
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ok – just read what someone else wrote about Scan Pan. Now I’m reconsidering…
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Can anyone clear up the ScanPan mystery?
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Gee Sarah, it’s like your Blog (and Sunday articles- the first and sometimes only thing i read in the paper) is written specifically for me!
My ‘non-stick tormeting teflon pan’ just became ‘sticky’ and rusty! So now I too have embarked on the new pan shop- looking at Green pan and thanks Julie for the ‘Littala’ recommendation.
And house radiation and fuse boxes! We are looking at moving as our current house is damp, the main trigger i think, for my daughter and I being sick with congested chests and noses all Winter! Anyone got some evidence of damp and illnesses? Of course it has been a very very wet winter so i am sure there are a lot of Sydney sufferers too.
So one house we are considering has a fuse box under one of the bedrooms in the rumpus room- is this going to be a problem? The bed wont be right over it and a few metres away from floor to floor. Then i am thinking- the box is inthe rumpus room where we will be sometimes……Ahhhh!!!!
I’ll join you in then tent Julie!
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I use Green Pans by Todd English and sold on HSN. They are fabulous and are now the only pans i use.
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re: SCAN PAN.
I have been emailing them in the last few days to clarify, as I was a huge fan of theirs.
I just received this email this morning from a Scan Pan representative in Sydney:
“As stated below PFOA and PTFE did exist at the beginning of the manufacturing process on products manufactured prior to 2007 in the Classic and Scanpan 2001+ ranges however these chemicals were filtered out by the end of the production process. After the coating of the non stick compound (PTFE) the products were cured in an oven by a set time and temperature. During this curing process all fumes were burnt off and filtered out.
As to Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid – I have no information on this chemical being present in the Scanpan cookware. I’ll email Denmark for a response on PFOS.”
I have also just bought the Slow Death by Rubber Duck. There was a brilliant interview with the author by Margaret Throsby on ABC Radio National recently.
In short, I think I will be ditching my Scan Pan and looking for something else.
Does anyone know where to buy the Green Pans?
Meg
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I recently purchased the Nutrimax Kitchen Nutrition system. This product is absolutely amazing & cooks quickly with NO oils & very little water. Have a look at the website which will explain a lot about it. I have no association with this company other than for being a very happy customer.
This product is made of T304 Surgical Stainless Steel & uses very little electricity or gas to operate it. I am just starting to see the savings this system will be making for me.
Do yourself a favour & have a look – http://www.nutrimax.com.au
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I also have the Nutrimax cookware,I think it is the best cookware on the market cause it’s stainless steel but still non stick. There are videos on http://www.nutrimax.com.a
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My experience with scanpan is that you have to replace it constantly. Any cookware with that black coating that comes off eventually has to be bad for you. The problem with stainless steel is I’m always using oil.
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RE: Teflon, many businesses will tell you Teflon is safe – however, consider that most cookware sold is covered in Teflon… there is very much a vested interest here.
Teflon is certainly dangerous to birds. If you have pet birds, do not use Teflon. If you happen to be distracted from your cooking and allow the Teflon to overheat, with many brands this will injure or kill your pet birds. Don’t take the risk.
Also, when Teflon begins being scratched, it exposes most often aluminium directly to your food. Scratched Teflon cookware should be thrown out. They say the small flakes of Teflon are safe to eat, however I wouldn’t risk it.
Stainless steel isn’t the perfect answer as many people think – steel is made stainless by adding Cromium, around 10% if I remember right, which leeches into our food. They say this is typically in levels safe for human consumption.
A good easy read is available here: http://www.traditionalnutrition.org/Learn/bakeware.pdf
Most of all, remember that you need to balance your safety with convenience. Don’t go freaking out, just do some research and make your own personal decision about what is an acceptable level of risk for you and your family. Even driving a car involves a level of risk and you still drive, right? Be informed – not scared – and make an informed decision about what is acceptable for you.
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Your best course of action is to be as far away as possible from all the metal and chemically concocted cookware discussed in parts 1 and 2 of this article. The only exception would be the stainless steel which is not as problematic as cookware made from Teflon, aluminum or plastic for example. Although be sure never to store you food in any type of cookware (particularly acidic types such as tomato/citrus based dishes, sauces or dressings)- always choose glass which will not leach chemicals.
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