If you ARE getting rid of a PFAS-coated pan, here's what the experts I spoke to suggested: -Option 1 (best): find a metal recycling facility near you that will take it, or see if the company you bought the pan from has a mail-back recycling program. -Option 2 (also fine): just toss it in the trash. While PFAS in landfills IS a problem, it's mostly unbound PFAS (like what's in industrial waste) that causes contamination; 99% of the PFAS in a pan is bound up in a polymeric form that basically *won't* break down, so it's unlikely to get into the nearby groundwater and cause problems.

@Vexcenot

8 ай бұрын

i dont feel comfortable throwing away something that expensive and mailing back insnt an option i have either

@christiancarles3738

8 ай бұрын

For anybody wondering how not using PFAS pans reduce the amount of PFAS in the environnement if the pan itself doesn't release PFAS : the problem is not the pan itself, it's the industrial process to create the pan. That's where industrial waste of non-polymeric PFAS are mainly dumped in our environnement. I don't think trowing away an perfectly fine pan is a good thing given how low the contamination is. Keep using your teflon pans for now, but when it's done (and it will, teflon plans are not long-lasting) don't buy a new one !

@DidierLoiseau

8 ай бұрын

I don’t understand, the video basically says that it’s ok to continue using them (2:49, 3:48). We should probably not buy new ones (4:23), but why throwing away the ones we already have?

@raraavis7782

8 ай бұрын

​@@DidierLoiseau Judging from the comments, a lot of people seem to have misunderstood that part. Of course, you should continue to use your perfectly good pan, till it starts showing wear and tear. Then you throw it away and get a cast iron pan, instead. I've seen people do pretty impressive stuff with steel pans, too btw. It's worth checking out some stuff and seeing, what different cooking channels recommend. But yeah...the point was to stop demand for new pans, not to throw away still usable old ones.

@TonksMoriarty

8 ай бұрын

Don't throw out a perfectly good pan. You're adding to the recycling problem and consuming more materials when you have a perfectly good pan.

Please don't throw away your pans if they're still working well. Just make sure you're not buying new PFAS pans. That will quell demand while not wasting your perfectly functional cookware.

@adil080_

8 ай бұрын

yeah i wanted to say that

@joetilman7227

8 ай бұрын

Should we even be "throwing them away" - are there avenues of disposal that won't be preserving the PFASs in clay-lined landfills that pump their leachate to city sewers? I guess that begs the further question: do city sewers treat/remove PFASs?

@johnkeefer8760

8 ай бұрын

I think that viewers should not throw them away. Although it would be good for Minute Food to stop using them as it will encourage viewers not to use them in the future

@lordgarth1

8 ай бұрын

The PTFE on the finished product isn’t the same as the ones used to make it and are fine if you keep using it or wasting it by filling a landfill.

@insom_anim

8 ай бұрын

Plus, throwing them away contributes to more PFAS in landfills and in the environment.

Loved these videos! So well done!

@arenomusic

8 ай бұрын

CRAZY that people can draw moving images now

@primenumberbuster404

8 ай бұрын

Love you guys. You guys have contributed to lot of knowledge reserve of the young generation and for the new upcomming generation.

@shreyanshupanda1219

8 ай бұрын

Is this one john or hank? Probably hank but signing it off with a name would have been nice.

@GaymerJenn

8 ай бұрын

​@@shreyanshupanda1219If it's not signed, it's usually Hank, because John always signs his comments. 😂

@vlogbrotherdave

8 ай бұрын

I felt the same way! SIgned up with Defend Our Health and completed their action alerts right afterwards :)

It needs to be screamed and shouted that if we want to actually reduce PFAS in our enviroment and in our bodies it MUST come from government regulation. Putting the weight on the consumer is how we got into this mess in the first place, and is EXACTLY what companies want you to do. If you want to see change you need to vote.

@ali.___..mrlegendman

8 ай бұрын

Yeeeesssss exactly i was about to write a comment about that too!

@thabookwyrm

8 ай бұрын

If every single person who watched this video replaced their Teflon pan with a safer alternative, we would have accomplished nothing. The corporations that are largely responsible for this problem will continue happily dumping PFAS into our water and air until we literally force them to stop.

@gosteiefavoritei1

7 ай бұрын

One shouldn't just vote, they should also try to pressure the leaders they elected for these kinds of changes

@danilooliveira6580

7 ай бұрын

not to mention that non-stick pans are not the problem, the problem is the manufacturing process. so even if the world unite to make Teflon pans extinct, companies will just use the Teflon for something else to not lose the market, they may even re-brand it and make us buy more PFAS products without realizing. government regulation is the ONLY way to go.

@CamaradaArdi

7 ай бұрын

Talking like voting did something lol

Ditched my non-sticks years ago and never regretted it. Cast iron and carbon steel pans last a lifetime. Multiple lifetimes actually. I have a good pan from the 1950's.

@skie6282

8 ай бұрын

I used cast iron and non stick oans until i had enough of them wearing down in 1 year and no real info in what the non stick was. Got carbon steel and its amazing. Its takes some care but if theres ever a stick issue, heat it and oil it and its good. The more use the better it becomes as well and it will be that way forever.

@godnyx117

8 ай бұрын

@@skie6282 Yeah, I don't know about carbon steel but cast iron can fuck of with that weight...

@henkbarnard1553

8 ай бұрын

I am using my grandmothers cast iron frying pan.

@ArsonBeanTanks

8 ай бұрын

​@godnyx117 yeah that's my issue with cast iron. I literally can't lift mine! I've never owned a carbon steel pan. Are they lighter?

@davidzhang8764

8 ай бұрын

Cast iron is thick because of its brittleness. Carbon steel on the other hand is very malleable and you can get very thin ones. Take a look at Chinese woks. They are typically made from carbon steel and they are HUGE, yet light enough for a chef to easily manipulate it.

If youre not ready to switch to cast iron and steel pans due to the higher maintenance/price requirement (at least thats what I heard), consider fully ceramic /stone pans. A ceramic-coated pan (the inside is steel/some kinda iron) in my house only lasted 3 years before the coating started peeling off, but my fully ceramic pan lasted 10 years before showing signs of coating. If you're in Asia, the Korean ceramic is generally the best price-quality wise. If you wanna jump into cast iron and steel, the no-soap tradition started because back then soap ingredients were more abrasive than current soaps. So you can actually safely take soap to your cast iron provided it's not soap from the cold war.

@ChaoticNeutralMatt

8 ай бұрын

Good to know!

@xant8344

8 ай бұрын

Cast iron is very inexpensive.

@shaunreich

8 ай бұрын

How about options for electric stove tops? I recall there being certain restrictions on that, where certain types would heat too unevenly and crack the stove top because of that

@arandomidea9010

8 ай бұрын

Enameled cast iron is also an option (and my favorite).

@gaviswayze9696

8 ай бұрын

Damn, you mean I have to stop buying my dish soap from my Cold War-era Army Surplus Store?

I've known PFAS as a problem for years, but the levels in the environment are much worse than we really understand day to day. Wife and I were looking for our first house and found suspiciously great prices near Aberdeen. Lo and behold, the upstream weapons testing facility has serious contamination issues that spread throughout the nearby waterways. "Easy enough, we filter the water with reverse osmosis!" Not so fast... Individuals can do that (it works as advertised too), but it creates a whole new supply chain of production and waste that only adds to other problems and relocates that PFAS to landfills (disposal of filter membranes). Add to that more plastic and the chemicals necessary to make those filters (I wouldn't be surprised if some of that manufacturing requires PFAS coated products either)... And yeah, this just isn't a viable long term option. Eliminating PFAS from as much of the manufacturing world as possible is going to take massive changes. Reduced consumer use will definitely help, not just for Teflon pans, but also any PFAS coated product. Hell, reusable pizza boxes may well need to become a thing (see cardboard recycling and grease on top of PFAS). But that's just the tip of the consumer iceberg. Making sure that municipal water supplies are clean and accessible to reduce the need for filtering and cleaning is a huge thing too. I've come to love my carbon steel pan, but I'm on the lookout for more ways to change what's both in my home now and what comes in later.

@skie6282

8 ай бұрын

I recently found out steam distilati9n removes alot and some claims the most pfas from water. And supposedly you can have it installed on a home water system? Either way, steam water is pure

@brianwelch1579

8 ай бұрын

I'm curious why you think a substantial amount of PFAS gets 'stuck' in the RO membrane and not exhausted in the waste stream?

@DariusBaktash

8 ай бұрын

​@@brianwelch1579 To start, I've linked a good "quick" article (I encourage folks to do a lot more research than that, but it's a reasonable intro point in the process). Essentially, the inherent nature of RO water filters (and all water filters for that matter) is that it has to catch some significant quantity of material in the various substrates in order to keep it from passing through the full system. Waste water flowing from these systems will contain a significant concentration of material, but at some point water saturation in this environment will occur, and material will be left out. This is why you have to change filters out, things actual get caught in them. Backflushing can maintain filter capabilities for longer, but eventually what's left behind will contain some notable quantity of anything you've been removing from your water system. More to the point, regardless of whether PFAS is left in filter substrates or something else, to date there are no easily accessible, well proven consumer grade filters that are entirely made from biodegradable materials. The system I use has plastic components throughout the majority of it despite some coconut filters in a couple stages. That's more junk in the environment and interacting with the water I drink (note that although HDPE and PET-G are generally safe enough for consumer applications, no plastic is "good" plastic in comparison to less reactive and environmentally better alternatives). Not ideal to say the least. I also dislike the fact that almost every consumer grade water filter system worth its [removal of] salt also ignores how important fluoride is for dental health (Ironically, a rare fluorine compound that's reasonable for us to interact with/ consume). Equity in affordability of functional water filtration (as well as how many such households end up far too near waste facilities that are dumping those same contaminants back into their water) is also another major topic. That, however, is bigger and more complex discussion than I think KZread comment sections can handle (on average anyway). But going back to your question on "PFAS being left in the wastewater"...I'm sure there's a significant quantity that's also sent into whatever sewage or septic services that exist. For municipal sewage, hopefully that gets filtered out by their waste treatment facilities, but for folks like me (on septic) that's quite literally recycling the problem back into the environment. My kids will have to deal with that contamination, the next owners, and whomever else comes by. Better that it's removed as fully as possible than that we presume all cases will somehow resolve from broad waste treatment systems that many regions of the world simply don't have. nicholas.duke.edu/news/not-all-home-drinking-water-filters-completely-remove-toxic-pfas

@Lemonz1989

8 ай бұрын

@@skie6282 Steam distillation is extremely energy intensive. If everyone started doing that, we would probably double or tripple our national energy use.

@jiahaotan696

8 ай бұрын

Isn't it 'fun' that nowadays to even live a normal life one must put so much effort into researching and learning about all these dangerous chemicals in our environment released by the rest of our fellow humans?

I just bought a steel frying pan. Cheap and a joy to cook in. I’m in love! The care I put into the pan is part of the fun.

@DenysBuryi

8 ай бұрын

Had a same experience for the last year. Taking care of things like cast iron cookware is it's own beautiful ritual.

@lonestarr1490

8 ай бұрын

@@DenysBuryi On par with sharpening and taking care of a really good knife.

@flyingmolamola

5 ай бұрын

I got a couple stainless steel pans, a bit more work to cook with, but by using the Leidenfrost effect, they are fairly non stick. But I’m gonna pick up a carbon steel one too.

Great video! ... except for the part about throwing away the pans now. Maybe that was a bit tongue in cheek? There wasn't a huge connection drawn between use of these pans and how much PFAS actually gets into your body (does the teflon being in a polymerized form have any effect on chronic exposure?). Regardless, encouraging people to throw their pans away now and replace them may reduce demand for teflon, but it increases demand for other consumer products, which probably isn't good. Let the stuff wear out and replace it then.

@fran6b

8 ай бұрын

100 % agree

@Pfhorrest

8 ай бұрын

I came down here to say much the same thing, so I'll just second you as well, and actually go even further: throwing away Teflon pans you already have *doesn't* do anything to reduce demand for them, it *only* increases demand for other products you'll replace them with. So yeah, don't throw away a pan you already have that's perfectly fine to own and use, but problematic to manufacture; just don't buy any new ones. Heck, it's still better overall to buy a new-to-you used Teflon pan than a newly-manufactured alternative (just because it's generally better to reuse things than to dispose of them and make new ones).

@maximilianosalvador9559

8 ай бұрын

THIS, don't buy any new ones, but use the stuff you already have as long as it lasts!

@magentamonster

8 ай бұрын

No. Teflon causes pollution and poisoning just by heating a Teflon pan. It's not safe to use Teflon pans, so it's better to buy a new non-Teflon pan than to reuse a Teflon pan.

@reddragonflyxx657

8 ай бұрын

​@@magentamonster Just don't heat it past normal cooking temperatures. Teflon has a decently high temperature limit (most cooking oils are smoking, and it's similar to the point where cast iron seasoning, ceramic nonstick coatings, and enameled pans have issues too), so a small amount of care when preheating and keeping food (water-containing) in the pan while cooking works.

I’ve got a couple of Teflon pans that are just about on their last legs… I was planning on swapping to carbon steel or cast iron as a replacement anyway, but this definitely helps to reinforce that

I like how she points out that environmental pfas comes from landfills and then proceeds to explain why we should “throw away” our pfas pans…. Also im fairly certain metal recycling facilities just throw the pfas pans in a crucible to melt them down… therefore burning the pfas into the atmosphere…

@martinum4

7 ай бұрын

Luckily here in the EU we have Emission targets for Metal melting facilitys in regards to emitted dust

@DraconianEmpath

7 ай бұрын

yeah I thought that was a bit odd myself... incidentally, if you get pfas hot enough they do break down into benign chemicals. not sure if a crucible gets up to that temperature though.

@cactustactics

7 ай бұрын

The manufacturer waste in landfills is apparently much more likely to leach out into groundwater, because it's not a coating on a pan, so I think that's why she highlighted it there. Either way PFAS non-stick pans are inherently disposable (the coating only lasts a few years at most, depending on how it's used) so they're getting thrown away at some point in the near future anyway

@mnxs

3 ай бұрын

​@@DraconianEmpathvarious irons and steels melt at temps between ~1100 and ~1600 deg C (or ~2000 to ~2900 deg F). I don't think there exist any (fluoro-)organic molecule that could survive that, they're usually completely decomposed at temps half that

Fine so perhaps the message isn’t to trash your pan but not to replace it with another. I eat a lot of eggs and that’s pretty much the only thing I use my nonstick pan for. When it’s old and worn I’ll get a carbon steel pan for eggs (my cast iron is far to large for this).

@eroraf8637

8 ай бұрын

Funny thing about that: my nonstick pans are on their last legs, lots of bare metal showing, but a little bit of extra fat and temperature management practically eliminates sticking. I just scrambled some eggs, and nothing really stuck at all. Cold fat into hot pan is all you need.

@tylisirn

8 ай бұрын

@@eroraf8637 Your non-stick pan *should* be replaced when it gets to that point, not because it's starting to stick, but because it's now shedding pieces of its coating into your food. What you replace it with, well, that's the topic of the video.

Very nice to hear that the coatings dying isn't horrifyingly dangerous, that's been spooking me for a while, especially with family who use metal on em sometimes and/or keep using really old pans.

I switched to cast iron and carbon steel for my cooking, and my carbon steel has been better for non-stickiness than any non-stick pan I've ever owned. The cast iron isn't half bad either. And if they ever start sticking, I can reseason them and it's good as new. Highly recommend

@shaunreich

8 ай бұрын

I've never heard of "carbon steel pans". Got a link? Also, are those good with electric stove tops? Definitely interested in the least sticky ones because that's such a frustration

@birbsdigital

8 ай бұрын

​@@shaunreichminutefood actually made a video about them 7 months ago, u should go watch it if u want to learn more about them.

@Eldin_00

8 ай бұрын

@@shaunreich Carbon Steel pans have been popular in professional kitchens for a few decades at least (probably a lot longer), but it's only in the last decade or so that I've started seeing them (other than carbon steel woks) marketed to consumers, and I still don't see many of them outside of stores that specialize in kitchen supplies. But a well seasoned carbon steel pan will give a pretty good non-stick experience, and they work fine on gas, electric, or induction cooktops and are oven safe.

@CharleneCTX

8 ай бұрын

@@shaunreich Carbon steel pans are great. And lighter than cast iron. Tons of videos about them on YT.

@hedgehog3180

8 ай бұрын

I'm guessing it's just a brand name but "carbon steel" is such a weirdly redundant name, like steel is literally defined by its carbon content, usually between 1-2%.

I am someone who has not used a single "non stick" pan. I've only ever used stainless steel or cast iron. And one cast iron pan I'm using at the moment was made in the late 1800s so like you said properly taken care of the can last basically forever.

For those that want a coating still but dont want teflon- check out enameled pans. Function like cast iron, dishwasher safe, less heavy then cast iron. It's basically a thin glass coating in the pan. The downsides of them are higher up front price (40 bucks for a new one generally), they retain heat less well then cast iron due to less weight, and if the coating is pierced you cant reseason it like cast iron. Otherwise works really well.

@markcamenzind224

8 ай бұрын

My favorite thing about my enameled pan is that it’s an off-white coating, so I can quickly see where/when Maillard browning starts, ends, and burning starts in the pan.

I really like my ceramic-lined steel pan as an alternative to teflon pans.

@katarh

8 ай бұрын

Same. They do eventually fail, but they're not nearly as sensitive to accidental scrapes the way teflon pans are. It also doesn't flake off; it develops more like a chip instead. I've got a set from Green pans. So far, I've had them for about ten years, and only had to replace a single one and that was because a room mate didn't know and used a fork in it. T_T For higher heat applications, good old cast iron is best anyway. Make a batch of bacon in it once every few months and it's good to go.

@axeavier

8 ай бұрын

carbon steel is nice though, unlike steel, it can become nonstick

@SMCwasTaken

8 ай бұрын

And you ain't going to put strong acids

@Yamaazaka

2 ай бұрын

Ceramic can contain bad stuff too.

After we got Dewey the Parakeet, I stopped using our nonstick pans. The frying pan was easy, but finding baking pans that don't have a nonstick coating was harder. Virtually EVERY metal baking pan has a nonstick coating. I finally settled on some silicone pans that have an embedded metal edge for stability. These work great and are nonstick without the toxic chemicals.

@raraavis7782

8 ай бұрын

If you ever need additional ones...look for 'vintage' ones. Plenty of stuff from 'before teflon' times is still around. And often, you can get it really cheap at estate sales or second hand stores or such. People often kept it as decoration or for sentimental reasons, even if they didn't use it anymore.n

@nikilragav

8 ай бұрын

ooh where did you find silicone pans?

@Techydad

8 ай бұрын

@@nikilragav I got some silicone baking trays at Walmart, though there are other places that carry similar things. The key is to make sure there's a metal edge. The thing that I never liked about silicone was that the entire baking tray would be floppy. I was always scared that it would bend and spill whatever I was baking all over my oven. The metal edge gives it rigidity while the silicone is essentially non-stick.

@nikilragav

8 ай бұрын

@@Techydad have you seen any for stovetop? I think stovetop actually gets hotter, but it might exceed the max temp range for silicone.

@Techydad

8 ай бұрын

@@nikilragav I haven't seen that. I think that silicone tends to max out around 450°F. I have silicone mats (which I use instead of parchment paper or aluminum foil), but I can't use them if the oven temperature is too high. I think a stovetop would quickly get way too hot for silicone. (A quick googling says that a small electric stove coil gets to 500-600°F. So way too hot.)

If you currently have a Teflon pan, getting rid of it doesn't reduce demand and actually contributes to waste. The best way to reduce waste and avoid contributing to demand for PFAS is to use your Teflon pan for as long as possible before replacing it with something else. To delay putting that Teflon into the environment for as long as possible, consider using a non-Teflon pan for most things and only use a Teflon pan when cooking things that are particularly prone to sticking.

@Eclyptical

7 ай бұрын

It's actually much safer for the environment for you to throw your pan away while the PFAS are still bound together than to continue using the pan and releasing the PFAS as gas.

@allanjmcpherson

7 ай бұрын

@@Eclyptical does that account for the greenhouse gasses emitted as part of the production and transportation of the pan?

@cactustactics

7 ай бұрын

@@allanjmcpherson which pan, the replacement one you'll be buying at some point anyway? The (other) problem with Teflon pans is that they're basically disposable in the first place, if you buy one it'll need to be thrown away within a few years You're right that it's ok to keep using it ~while it's fine~, or maybe someone else can make use of it, but you shouldn't worry about ditching it 'early' - so long as you're not replacing it with another disposable one. Trying to use the pan longer for environmental reasons doesn't actually gain you anything (except less time with your better future pan) and it can potentially lead to people using one way past its safe lifespan, which is what the other comment was getting at I think

@allanjmcpherson

7 ай бұрын

@@cactustactics okay, but that's not what I said. I said you shouldn't just throw out a perfectly good pan.

@cactustactics

7 ай бұрын

@@allanjmcpherson you said you should use it for "as long as possible", and often for non-stick pan owners that can mean when it's scratched up or barely has any coating left. And your response to the other comment (which is what I was replying to really) was pushing back on the idea of buying a new pan at all. I think most non-stick owners tend to use them as their main frying pan, so encouraging them to avoid replacing one (especially with environmental appeals) could possibly be harmful to them ~and~ the environment. I just wanted to add a bit of context and tell people it's better to be safe - these things are already disposable waste anyway, just don't buy another one of them. I get where you're coming from environmentally but I don't think it really holds up here - and your example of holding onto a pan for occasional use is good, but then you argue against buying a replacement main pan for some reason? I know you have good intentions but I just don't think it's the right message to be sending people, especially around a thing they're already bad at judging It sucks but the real environmental cost was created when you bought a throwaway pan in the first place - it doesn't really matter exactly when it gets thrown away, just don't add to the damage by trying to be "environmental" and using it past its safe lifespan, that's all. You're not really making things any worse by getting rid of it early, so long as you're not just replacing it with another one. It's not like scrapping a perfectly good modern ICE car to buy a new EV or anything, y'know?

I'm really sorry about your friends' birds. I felt that deeply. Luckly most parrot owners know not to let your bird go anywhere near the kitchen while you're cooking, but if you go buy a small bird at the pet store, rarely they'll warn you about it. Thank you for spreading awareness!

@magentamonster

7 ай бұрын

Much safer for bird owners to just not use PFAS. All the people saying reuse your Teflon pan, maybe people without birds could do it, but it's not worth the risk if you have a bird.

I switched to cast iron + stainless steel combo ~8 years ago. Have not missed Teflon.

I love this channel!! The information is great and it's delivered in such a concise, fun way. GREAT animations too!

Minutefood; "Guys Teflons are bad!" Also Minutefood; *draws the derpiest and cute looking molecules ever

@mopman9264

4 ай бұрын

And draws throwing away those pans even though that does nothing to help no-one.

wait, how does throwing away your pan help with demand? I have both stick and non-stick pans. But throwing out my (edit:) "non" sticky ones wouldn't change demand. Only when they're up for replacement.

@turquoise7817

8 ай бұрын

increasing demand for non non-stick pans is a kind of ways of reducing demand, i guess? but yeah the bigger change would be made moving away from them rather than trashing them outright

thank you for the bird clarification 👍

Yay! It's been almost 20 years since I stopped using teflon coated pans. Granted, it took me until my 30's until I did stop. They just didn't perform well over time, and that became more obvious the more time I spent cooking. Now we know all the other stuff as well. Thanks for the video! edit: Now I'm thrilled my carbon steel and cast iron cookware are better than when I bought them, 20 odd years ago.

Teflon kills, ceramic kills, steel kills, iron kills, mud kills, surgical steel kills my wallet. LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!!!! I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!

such an adorable channel and explaining style. I love this

Firefighter here, feels like pissing on a wildfire when PFAs are literally in our gear that gets super heated

I've been done with Teflon pans since I had my first one. As soon as I bought a stainless steel pan, I learned how to spot season and rarely ever had to deal with sticking

Didnt know about the PFAS problem. Thank you for the information and giving good alternatives.

I came here straight from the Minute earth video. Scary, but informative! Y'all keep up the good work! ❤🙏

I'm with you 100%. Although I haven't sent my Teflon pan to the landfill, it sees use only a handful of times in the course of a year. I love my seasoned cast iron, and have enameled cast iron for those that are acidic or need to simmer in the oven.

I'm here to offer a slightly more neutral perspective from a cooking standpoint: my old faithful nonstick works as advertised and has been doing so for a good number of years. My carbon steel egg frying pan and wok actually stick quite often (despite me being a pretty good home cook and taking the effort to baby them) - might be that I use too high heat on them and burn off the plasticised oil coating. I think nonstick definitely has a niche and ideally as little people using as possible, but the way forward is to know your tools and to use as little as possible and keep things out of landfills and waste piles.

@markcamenzind224

8 ай бұрын

If you’re a home cook, wouldn’t it be unlikely that you’d burn off the plasticized/polymerized coating if that’s what is used in HIGH heat wok cooking? I don’t think we see those heat rates/temps in home cooking, yet the woks turn out fine for the comparatively higher heat usage than what we see.

@daaara

7 ай бұрын

@@markcamenzind224 counterintuitively, electric cooktops can get the pan surface much hotter than gas (gas tends to create a column of hot air all around the pan, while electric heats the pan bottom pretty much exclusively, which is efficient, but can get get the bottom of the pan very hot very quick). I'm not a wok user, but I have damaged the seasoning on my carbon steel frying pan by overheating it before. It turns into dark gray ash and comes off. :(

Thanks so much!

I'm glad that I've learned to cook on cast iron fairly early in my life. Now I prefer a well seasoned iron cookware more than any nonstick pans

I've pretty much stopped using teflon pans, and am trying to reduce the usage of plastic, too.

Love your videos, long time watcher. I loved the cute design of the PFAS this episode! XD

I'll keep using my Teflon pan since those health risks are minimal to minor, but I will be getting a different type of pan when I'm finished with it

Thanks for raising awareness to this. Yeah, the PFAS family is turning out to be a very pesky problem in our land and water, it's probably not good and I'm trying not to use teflon and other related chemicals anymore

This is a good topic, thank you

I used to use non-stick pans and have switched to stainless steel, and I'm SO HAPPY with my new cookware. I both had concerns about the environmental and manufacturing impact of the chemicals. Workers exposed in factories face much higher risk factors than the end use. But also... I just keep fricking burning the things. Mostly when boiling water and getting distracted. What's that smell? Poison! I was done with exposing myself to chemicals, and done with having to make emergency store trips to replace my pots and pans. Is stainless steel more expensive? Per pan, yes. But it's cheaper than having to rebuy my pans over and over again.

That's neat and all, but most of the environmental pfas contamination comes from firefighting foams, at least here in central europe. Which is a bit more touchy of a subject than pans. And then there are also textiles, plumbing equipment, medical devices, coatings/paints, etc. Getting rid of pans is an insignificant gesture at best when most pfas don't ever reach the consumer.

I've been slowly switching to cast iron and stainless steel, along with the occasional ceramic pan (which is only nonstick for a year or two). Switching to induction has helped speed that along as the older non-sticks we had didn't work with the new stove.

I'm glad I came across this video before buying a new pan, as the one I have is in desperate need for replacement and I planned on buying another Teflon frying pan. I'll be looking into the cast iron and carbon steel ones instead. Thanks for the info! 👍

I got into carbon steel a few months ago because of you. Incredible difference! Never looking back. Love my Carbons now!

@MinuteFood

8 ай бұрын

LOVE this!!

I am using cast iron pots and pans. Also high quality stainless steel. I cook on an induction cook top.

I'm gonna be honest, I can't do that no matter how much it hurts the environment or myself. I tried regular pans, and oven trays, and the grime and grossness is just too much for my OCD-ridden brain. I need my pans to be nice and smooth and clean and a single color all the way through and I need to be able to run my fingers over them without feeling grime and that just doesn't happen no natter how much I season them. It's just too much for me. Every time I use the non-coated oven tray I spend a while scrubbing it extremely hard with steel wool until it just feels clean and completely 100% grease-free. I just can't give up Teflon, sorry.

@MinuteFood

8 ай бұрын

I'd give ceramic nonstick a try if I were you!

@ericvilas

8 ай бұрын

​@@MinuteFoodinteresting idea, might give it a shot when my current pan fails

@830jkl

8 ай бұрын

I second minute food’s recommendation about getting ceramic. I made eggs over medium in one at a friends house (1st time using one) & it was really cool.

@_WhyIsEveryHandleTaken.

7 ай бұрын

Alot of pets cant stand ptfe, I hope you dont plan on getting a bird or something

This might sound snarky, but it's meant genuinely: Any pan can become super slippery for a fried egg if you use sufficient amounts of fat. Conversely, eggs can stick effortlessly to a dry, new teflon pan. So the main factors for food stickage (aside from food type) are cooking temperature and the amount of lubrication in relation to the pan surface.

Great videos. As a chemical physicist, I had the same interrogations as David, and was struggling to find news coverage with an explanation of why these inert chemicals are a health hazard. I also like Kate's measured approach to Teflon pans. But, while there are alternatives to PFAS in pans, what about everything else? Like, I'd be curious how you make a durable, lightweight rain jacket without fluoropolymers.

@markaja2

8 ай бұрын

PFAs are chemical analogs to medium chain triglycerides. Do you have any input on whether MCT consumption would accelerate the recovery process from PFA? Or at least as an immediate remedy to limit acute PFA absorption?

I gave up on non-stick pans a long time ago. It was just too frustrating dealing with them when they started failing.

Thanks for the video. Would also like to ask, what's with granite/marble non stick coating? They're pretty trendy locally, would be great to gather some additional information about them.

My parents preached the good word of teflon to my brother and I, and I've just used these pans, that were given to me, for literally decades not really thinking about it. Well, I finally got tired of the cleaning of nonstick pans and bought a stainless steel pan and I'm loving it! I can throw anything at it and it just works! I know there can be more cleaning, and I guess I see where my parents came from now, but just knowing the difference means so much, and I totally prefer being able to use metal tools on my pan.

I use stainless steel and cast iron, or enameled cast iron. You can have a non-stick cast iron skillet. Use some butter or ghee. Works every time.

Science marches forward, and we all gotta learn and adapt! Looks like my next pan set is going to be cast iron!

@cactustactics

7 ай бұрын

Not disagreeing or anything, but it's funny to see "science marches forward!" with a rejection of a modern material over a proven tech used for at least a thousand years. I mean you're not wrong! But it goes to show modern advancements (like non-stick coatings) aren't always about what's good, sometimes it's more about someone making some money You could have a look at carbon steel too - cast iron is usually heavy, takes a long time to heat up, and doesn't respond to heat changes very quickly. That's often a plus - it can get real hot, and cooks very evenly because the heat has time to spread, and doesn't lose that heat to the food too quickly so you get great browning! But if you want something similar that acts more like a typical non-stick pan, carbon steel might be a better bet. Something to look into anyway!

I ended up getting an "Orgreenic" frying pan when it made the "As-Ignored-On-TV" pile at Walmart after my previous Teflon frying pan began flaking. I looked and it's one of the ceramic pans, albeit one of the earlier ones. I barely use a frying pan, so I'm not a good measure for durability, but it does have good...let's call it "shelf life". I went through, I believe 2 Teflon pans over the same amount of time I've had the Orgreenic one. It does stick a little bit, but so does Teflon coated, both before and since the PFOA ban and I honestly can't tell a significant difference. I definitely do not support switching to cast iron or carbon steel, though. They are fine if maintained properly, but most of the people who say they're not a problem to maintain don't maintain them properly.

Note, actively ditching your still useable pan right now for reasons other than, for example, protecting your pet birds may not be the optimal thing to do, particularly if it's new and undamaged. If you're planning on replacing it with a new pan this will result in resource use that could have waited a while for no actual environmental gain (The manufacturing chemicals have already happened and you'll get rid of the pan and replace it at some point). Especially if going for cast iron but in all cases, try picking up a second hand one or one stuck in the back of an antique store before buying new.

This was a great video. Thank you! I enjoyed the alternative pans portion of the video. :D

If you can tolerate the weight of cast iron it's a really good alternative that is pretty affordable since you can probably find an old used one for cheap. But my hypermobile joints doesn't handle the weight well so I prefer carbon steel for non/low stick purposes and stainless steel for cooking where some sticking is good. I struggled a bit with starting the seasoning of my carbon steel wok, because I could not get the sides hot enough on my glass ceramic stove because there's almost no contact patch between the curved sides and the perfectly flat stovetop (and the bamboo handle doesn't seem removable, so I don't want to put it in the oven), but I remembered that I have a Trangia alcohol stove, which made heating all the sides of it easy. You need to make it so hot that it get "rainbow colours" the first time and then add a thin layer of vegetable oil a few times. So if you only have an electric stove, borrow a grill/barbeque or gas or spirit burner to do the initial seasoning (one that you can use outdoors is preferable so you don't have to fill the kitchen with fumes). After the initial seasoning, it's sufficient to heat it until it starts to faintly smoke before adding oil before cooking. And wash it gently without steel wool immediately after use and then put it back on the stove on max heat until dry. Occasionally wipe a tiny drop of oil on the cooking surface once dry and then as soon as it's smoking turn the heat off and let it slowly cool down on hot stove. Wipe off any remaining unpolymerized oil before storing.

I'd love a follow-up video on the science (and how-to) of seasoning cast iron and carbon fiber pans!

@crash.override

8 ай бұрын

Per Adam Ragusea, there's little public scientific literature on the topic. The limited existing knowledge is largely trade secrets, or conflicting folk-knowledge. "Great thesis topic for some Materials Science grad student"

Love you content. Thank you

thank you for this video. I have not heard of pfas before. I have been using pans that are pfoa free but the manufacture does not state what the coating is. I have therefore emailed them for clarification

nitrided steel would be the best material for a pan IMO. the treatment makes the steel scratch resistant and slightly corrosion resistant and oil sticks to it better. you use it like a regular steel pan but it's just a bit better and lower maintenance.

Wow, fluid animation!

My family has a full set of ceramic pans and have had them for years. With how much we use them it's amazing that the surfaces of them still look hreat

As an Ithkuilist, every video makes us spend a decent bit of time translating

Ceramic pans work by releasing a little bit of silicone oil when they get hot. This is why, no matter how much you baby it, ceramic pans will always lose their non-stick property. That silicone oil is what gets into your food, and it no small quantity. So far, the research on the toxicity of silicone oil is still insufficient. As for Teflon, so long as you keep the heat low and use only SILICONE utensils (wood can be too harsh) you should be fine. I have Teflon pans that I've been using for years, and the only damage to the coating is on the OUTside because I banged them against something. The coating on the inside is completely unscratched. I also use carbon steel, but the versatility and ease of use with Teflon is hard to beat.

@ChaoticNeutralMatt

8 ай бұрын

Fair

Great video!

I've had mild teflon flu before. I work in a plant that makes PTFE seals for the automotive industry and we had an oven catch fire. Normally the ovens should contain the toxins (PTFE becomes toxic I believe somewhere around 700 degrees Fahrenheit) but we opened it to put out the fire not realizing the mistake we made. Afterwards we made sure that ovens were not opened in the event of fires, which we've had since. Not fun stuff to deal with but I've definitely eliminated all teflon pans from my house.

@830jkl

8 ай бұрын

Sorry to hear that & glad you’re okay.

I had to update my pans because we went induction and went to cast iron I don't regret it they work great . I get the feeling we went to Fancy Teflon and aluminium because it was new and hip. But a good cast iron is really good and not that expensive.

Throwing away Teflon pans seems to have similar problems to plastic recycling when tackling plastic waste in that the main contributor is industry, which is out of our hands, but we still drive ourselves to do it because we feel like it's accomplishing something, when in reality there are other things we can do that have better outcomes. Prolonging the life-cycle of a an existing household product is going to be better on the long run, and in this case it would mean sticking (heh) with your Teflon pan for as long as it still works. That saves on the carbon produced and water consumed in manufacturing the new ceramic pan, and it might even save on PFAS too, depending on whether they are used in the manufacturing of the ceramic pan.

i got a nice Ceramic pan for xmas and i LOVE it, its so good to cook with and its easy to clean, its so good its my next xmas wish to get more cookware like it ^^

I must say it has been weird for me to scroll through this comment section not seeing anyone that has a different opinion. Great videos online disproving these worries.

So what is ceramic coating made out of? I always was a bit skeptical of them as what makes the ceramic nonstick, is it similar to glaze?

Great video as always. But how about non-stick coatings that are PFAS-free like ILAG? I've been using pans with ILAG coatings for quite some time and they are on par with convenience of use and even more durable compared to Teflon ones I used before.

What do you think about the added calories from oil needed when switching from Teflon pans? Have you found it to be material?

As a chef for 30 years, at home I use cast iron, exclusively. I use them for eggs to fish and everything in between. As long as you understand how to season and use them they are great. I practically never have a sticking problem. Unless my mother-in-law cleans them.

I'm using DeBuyer steel pans now for years. I never go back. I started because I was sick and tired of teflon pans to deteriorate and needed replacement every year. Not because of PFAS.

Stainless steel pans are easer to handle than the cast iron and carbon pans. Very happy to have one in my kitchen.

A good, smooth stainless steel pan and a oil tamper/spreader when used at higher temperatures makes for an amazing and cheap non-stick solution. I often make crêpes with this method, with absolutely 0 problem with sticking, plus the crêpes come out nicer and fluffier. Carbon steel is of course better but it is higher maintenance and more expensive.

In my experience, PTFE doesn't do its job properly. I currently use Teflon pans, but will switch to steel whenever they get too worn out.

I'll consider getting ceramic non-stick pans but I absolutely hate cast-iron and refused to use it ever again

A more sensible approach probably is to keep your current teflon pan until it's ready to be discarded anyways. You already bought it, so actually use it. Just don't get a new one afterwards I've been using a ceramic pan for a while now, but I love my cast iron too. Absolutely love the stainless steel one though

Great show. I learned so much about non-sticks. Thanks. Can you also deep dive to ziploc bags? How bad is it for health/environment? Is it really designed for single uses? How freezer bags are different to sandwich bags? Does cold hardiness also mean heat resistance? What's the best method to keep things in fresh? Are known-brands using different material to knock-off store brands?

Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) pans are also available, and as far as I can tell, PEEK is also used in some medical implants so I'd imagine is much safer? I can't find any information saying otherwise.

We were taught, years ago, that the pan should never be heated empty. Enough water or oil will limit the temperature of the pan to around the boiling point.

Switched to ceramic coated anodized aluminum about a year ago and will never look back!!! Better at being non-stick than Teflon. Oven safe (metal handles ftw). Scratch resistant.... and you can get ceramic anodized steel too if you have an induction stove.

I use stainless steel and its stickiness is not a bug, it is a feature. I also have Teflon non-stick pans (two identical) that I used for pancake making, but I stopped doing that. Those non-stick pans are quite crappy when using on induction stove, the heat is generated on the inside. My previous Teflon pans that I used on gas were lighter (no iron plate for induction needed) and the flame warmed up the outside of the pan quicker than the inside, giving my pancakes a lovely crunchy outer rim. On induction not only does this crunchy ring not form, but the outer part of the pan is noticeably colder than the central part, so the pancake burns in the middle while not fully cooking on the perimeter, making up for horrible pancakes that are nowhere near as tasty. This is the main reason I stopped doing pancakes since I got an induction stove top. And this also limited the use of my Teflon pans practically to zero. For every other cooking I use a stainless steel pan.

Cooking without having to always think of avoiding overheating the pan's coating is just more enjoyable - and I've had great experience with some well seasoned cst iron pans that are the better part of a century old. And will last another few generations.

Glad I’ve never used non-stick cookware! I bought several cast-iron skillets and pots back when I was in college. They were what my Cajun grandmother cooked with so I figured they were the best. When I moved in with my boyfriend, he had a huge set of old stainless steel and aluminum pots and pans that he got from his mother years earlier. In the 25 years since then, I’ve just never bought anything else. Of course, I’ve had type 1 diabetes since I was a kid, I have a degenerative neurological disorder, and I was diagnosed with my first cancer earlier this year, so I don’t think avoiding Teflon has had a huge impact on my health…

As a bird owner I’ve been done with Teflon for a while now and I don’t really ever miss it. Hard anodized aluminum, cast iron, carbon steel, and ceramic pans cover pretty much all of the bases for me at this point.

Hi. You forgot stainless steel. Is tricky to work with at first but is very good. No need to seasoned.

Yeah I ditched teflon a long time ago, switched to ceramic for the most part.

The personal compromise I've made is owning 2 PFAS pans which I use for especially sticky foods like fried eggs. For everything else, I use ceramic, stainless steel, or carbon steel. I'm also trying to avoid buying new rain gear and make the stuff I already own last (since waterproof clothing is literally coated in PFAS). What we really need is regulation, though.

@ian3580

2 ай бұрын

Lots of raingear is PFAS free.....and has been trending that way for a while.

Yes.

All of my pans are replaced with cast iron and carbon steel pans about ayear ago, thanks to you. I'm still not able to cook an egg in them like you show in the video but still good enough. Their non-stickiness level also makes it too easy to clean them.

@MinuteFood

8 ай бұрын

LOVE this! Thanks!

@Mallchad

8 ай бұрын

She looks like she's using quite a lot of oil to coat the pan. Egg cooks fast so if you pre-heat the pan to a fairly high temperature and use a lot of hot oil you might be able to benefit from the leidenfrost effect. I always pre-heat my pan these days. makes such a difference... I usually prefer to drown my egg in oil these days though

@lanternofthegreen

8 ай бұрын

@@Mallchad Thanks, I’ll try that.

My ceramic pots and pans have a thicker, white, ceramic layer which I'm pretty sure is just typical ceramic/porcelain. They're over 10 years old and haven't chipped or failed (maybe a tiny bit around the lid on one of the bigger pots, but nowhere near the cooking surface). Not sure if that's a different type than the "ceramic-like" ones you showed here. The outside is still metal on mine I'm pretty sure. I've also seen a number of "metal utensil safe" high-carbon non-stick pans and woks around (usually with silly names like DiamondTech), which basically are carbon steel except they say they're safe for the dishwasher and they often have some layers of aluminium on the bottom for heat conductivity. They definitely are related, as they come pre-seasoned and have that noticeable "bronze" colour when they're mid-extra-seasoning. That second kind is definitely my favourite for a frying pan because it gets such a good crust. But I really like my ceramic ones too. And for the soup pot I think the ceramic one is definitely the way to go.

My mother growing up, would never ever purchased nonstick pans. She said these chemicals are probably going to cause cancer. “Is it gonna get into the food and they’re gonna make our health worse, just use some oil to cook and infest in a good spatula to cook eggs.”

@mopman9264

4 ай бұрын

And the video says she's wrong.

You can 'season' any metal stove top and oven cookware, not just cast iron and carbon steel. The 'seasoning' is a polymerized layer of cooking oil, and this will build up on aluminum and SS cooking utensils over time, just like Cast Iron and C Steel.

Very interesting, in one video you convinced me to continue to use my non stick pans, but not buy any more of them.