Is there even any healthy cookware ?

[Flint]

I've done quite some research on coockware and I must say at this stage the healthiest version might be cooking your meat on a wooden stick over a campfire.

More seriously though, the following options seems to be healthiest:

1. Stainless steel
2. Iron cast
3. Ceramic

Now, the problem is:

1. For stainless steel, it could leech nickel and/or chromium into your food. How big of a risk is that ? How would I select a stainless steel which doesn't do that ?
2. For iron cast there are two points.
   1. Pure iron cast does leech a little bit of iron, which you want to avoid the surplus of.
   2. Enameled, is it even safe in your experience ? I've read that it can leech lead into your food, so I'm very scared about that one, altough for certains brands it's mentionned that it's only in the exterior because of the paint (e.g. Le creuset)
3. For Ceramic and porcelain it depends because some of their paint seems not to be okay as well.

Hence, how did you, ladies and gentlemen, find cookware that was completely free of undesirable side effects ?  Any tips ?

[Michael569]

With this level of toxin obsession you're gonna end up with anxieties over every meal soon. Take a step back and re-evaluate. Your pan ain't gonna kill you. Teflon im 2022 is not the same Teflon in 2013 (or whenever PFOA was banned)

Just pick one and start enjoying your meals without the worry. All that worry is doing more damage to your brain than any potential teeny tiny leakage...just saying. 

We can't be perfect all the time. 

[Flint]

14 hours ago, Michael569 said:

With this level of toxin obsession you're gonna end up with anxieties over every meal soon. Take a step back and re-evaluate. Your pan ain't gonna kill you. Teflon im 2022 is not the same Teflon in 2013 (or whenever PFOA was banned)

Just pick one and start enjoying your meals without the worry. All that worry is doing more damage to your brain than any potential teeny tiny leakage...just saying. 

We can't be perfect all the time. 

I'm not talking about teflon. We can exclude teflon out of the box, there is nothing to obsess about.

If your pan is leeching lead into your food, I believe it's rather a big problem, don't you think ? Perhaps we should investigate that ?

My goal is not becoming absolutely neurotic about it but finding the healthiest solution. Yes, I'm pushing it a bit but I'd rather be certain about lead and other major issues.

[Yarco]

Anything without a non-stick coating is probably fine. Personally I'd probably go with cast iron.

Full hypocrisy disclosure: I use Gotham Steel pans which supposedly use a ceramic coating called Ti-Cerama. They are kinda shit, stuff sticks to them and I'm pretty sure using them on high temps has burned the coating off in spots so now I might be getting aluminum in my food lol. I also have some old Teflon pans that I still use from time to time.

Be careful also if you're using plastic spoons, tongs, and stuff. I constantly catch little pieces of black plastic flaking off my cooking spoons and spatulas, I'm definitely ingesting a non-zero amount of it. You probably want to use wooden or bamboo utensils (without poisonous lacquer/varnish applied.) Or if you're using plastic, at least don't let it sit in boiling water or on anything hot for long enough that small amounts start to melt into your food.

[Carl-Richard]

22 hours ago, Flint said:

Hence, how did you, ladies and gentlemen, find cookware that was completely free of undesirable side effects ?  Any tips ?

Raw vegan? 

[mojsterr]

22 hours ago, Flint said:

I've done quite some research on coockware and I must say at this stage the healthiest version might be cooking your meat on a wooden stick over a campfire.

That smoke wth its toxins will kill you, be careful.

[Flint]

1 hour ago, Yarco said:

Be careful also if you're using plastic spoons, tongs, and stuff. I constantly catch little pieces of black plastic flaking off my cooking spoons and spatulas, I'm definitely ingesting a non-zero amount of it.

I mean at this point given how much you seem to love it you might as well sprinke it in your salads

47 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

Raw vegan? 

Actually

[Leo Gura]

Get all stainless steel. That is the best you can get and it lasts forever too.

Once you learn to cook on SS you will facepalm that you ever used any of that cheap coated crapware.

[OmAhHungVajraGuru]

Claypot

[mojsterr]

16 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Get all stainless steel. That is the best you can get and it lasts forever too.

Once you learn to cook on SS you will facepalm that you ever used any of that cheap coated crapware.

I'm searching for cookware now. Is Carbon Steel the same?

[BirdNerd]

10 hours ago, mojsterr said:

I'm searching for cookware now. Is Carbon Steel the same?

Carbon steel is the least harmful choice. Cast iron is also good but it is bulkier than carbon steel. Stainless steel is a lot healthier than toxic nonstick but it still leeches Nickel and Chromium. I'm not sold on high grade stainless steel being super dangerous. I would go with any of the 3.

[Flint]

On 16/3/2022 at 4:15 PM, Leo Gura said:

Get all stainless steel. That is the best you can get and it lasts forever too.

Once you learn to cook on SS you will facepalm that you ever used any of that cheap coated crapware.

But what about Nickel and Chromium ? It's not lead of course, but should we still detox and/or be careful about those ?

On 17/3/2022 at 9:14 AM, mojsterr said:

I'm searching for cookware now. Is Carbon Steel the same?

Carbon steel is annoying because you need to season it so stainless steel is usually more convenient.

[mojsterr]

By seasoning you mean everytime before I make food or once a month, or?

I never had good cookware that needed seasoning.

[mojsterr]

I just found a channel about Woks, since I'll be buying one eventually and this guy explains seasoning. I didn't know that meant burning the oil onto the pan.

 

So, isn't that unhealthy? I've googled a bit and some say that its carcinogenic and some say it's ok. So, which one?

 

The seasoning process is this:

 

 

He mentiones Canola oil as the best one for seasoning, but I'm staying away from that one. Is just any oil good, in your opinion?

Edited April 2, 2022 by mojsterr

[mojsterr]

And this is how he cleans his stainless steel wok. I've seen @Leo Gura say he leaves his in water for a few hours if burnt, but this is a lot quicker:

 

[Flint]

On 2/4/2022 at 0:24 PM, mojsterr said:

I just found a channel about Woks, since I'll be buying one eventually and this guy explains seasoning. I didn't know that meant burning the oil onto the pan.

 

So, isn't that unhealthy? I've googled a bit and some say that its carcinogenic and some say it's ok. So, which one?

 

The seasoning process is this:

 

 

He mentiones Canola oil as the best one for seasoning, but I'm staying away from that one. Is just any oil good, in your opinion?

I would go for a stainless steel wok. I'll still need to investigate about detoxing chromium and nickel though.

[mojsterr]

13 hours ago, Flint said:

I would go for a stainless steel wok. I'll still need to investigate about detoxing chromium and nickel though.

BRO! I bought it! 

I'm so happy. It's a totally different experience from the non-stick. Meat has a lot better taste, thanks to the Maillard reaction.

But I'm still learning how to cook other stuff, like a bunch of vegetables at once. For now everything burns in the end and I haven't figured it out yet. But I'm really happy I made the transition.