The French National Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a bill aimed at restricting the manufacture and sale of products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals.” The MPs, backed by the government, voted to exclude kitchen utensils from the scope of the text.
Thanks to an intense lobbying push, manufacturers of frying pans and saucepans — including the SEB group, which owns Tefal — are exempt from this ban under the proposed law penned by French Green MPs.
Majority groups initially tried to delay the ban on kitchen utensils until 2030 — a timetable refused by the French Green MPs who instead suggested an exemption until 2026.
Stoneware ftw. Couldn’t pay me to go back to Teflon.
Cast iron FTW. Seasoning makes it non-stick, and it’s so much easier to clean compared to other cookware, not to mention it holds a fuckton of heat to give everything a nice sear, and I can put it in the oven.
I’ve never used stone pans, though, so IDK how they compare.
Ah, yep. All my camping gear is cast iron (except the compact stuff for hiking/light camps.
Honestly, the most satisfying part is reseasoning. “Yeeeeah. Get in there you deliciousness. So long as we got each other, you don’t ever have to worry about rust. Now let me shove this lamb shank in you and drop hot coals on your lid. I’ll see you in three hours for cleanup and some more oiling.”
Do tell. Stoneware as a brand name, or material?
Dunno if it’s what they are talking about, but I bought a set of the GraniteStone brand and fell in love. So much so that I bought a complete second set and a giant frying pan, lol
I’ll bet that is a brand of PFA
Probably not, I’m guessing it’s a ceramic coating similar to GreenPan (https://www.greenpan.us/pages/faqs-is-greenpan-cookware-healthy-to-use)
Note: I admittedly do not know enough about ceramic coatings to be able to say if they’re any better, but generally speaking they’re typically free from PFAS/PFOA/plastics
The secret of these coatings, which is deeply buried and requires some research, is their “sol-gel” structure.
Basically they are like a sintered bronze “oilite” bushing, where oil is stored in the pores between the bronze to lubricate the surface.
In this case the oil is silicone oil, and while it performs amazingly and is totally inert and harmless it sets a lifespan for the pan. Once the oil is depleted, the pan is worthless.
I’ve gone back almost entirely to cast iron and stainless steel, though I do have one Greenpan that I save for scrambled eggs and similar.
Could you not re-oil the pan like you do with steel and iron pans?
Unfortunately not as the oil is impregnated into very small pores during manufacturing. This is the “sol-gel” part of the process, a way of creating a solid and liquid in very close contact.
The oil is effectively bonded to the surface creating a “permanent oil film” which is why it works so well. You can think of the long tails of the silicone molecules being trapped in the pores.
However once they escape there’s no putting them back. Seasoning cast iron is a totally different process involving polymerizing light oils into a solid coating.
Ceramic is just a buzzword these days. Look at ceramic coating on cars, as on example.
Actual truly ceramic coatings are leagues better than teflon. They just nonstick a little worse and get stickier with abuse, instead of flaking off
Doubt the manufacturer’s website is trustworthy
“Squishy” claims like “healthy” or “better” are always iffy, but objective testable claims like PFAS-free are generally pretty trustworthy, as they can be easily disproven and open the company up to significant liability.
Sure they could be leaving out a million bad things that ARE in it, but the person I was replying to was specifically taking about PFAS, which are generally not found in ceramic nonstick coatings.
Granite and ceramics. Can’t go back. Cook an omelette in a stone pan and your mind will be blown . Super even heat, obviously very tough (yeeeeeears of life), and that egg will slide onto your plate without leaving a trace. Teflon and steel feels like those things humans do where we invent something despite the real solution having always been there all along.
I’m more of an enameled cast iron enjoyer myself
I own some enameled iron but find it’s only good for things like spaghetti sauce that attack exposed iron, and deglaze stuck material on their own.
Otherwise everything sticks to it terribly compared to regular seasoned iron.
Do you have a trick to avoid this? I’ve tried all manner of oils as well as lethecin spray, nothing seems to work for me.
Not really, it is quite terribly sticky. But it will outlast you, and heats up more or less uniformly. Also it’s great for stuff that is better served warm because you can make a huge pot of it and the thermal inertia of the pot will keep it warm for a while
Also idk if you know this already, but I found that usually, heating some water in it for a while (a good 30 mins, you don’t need to bring the water to a boil either), will help a fair bit with the cleanup of some sticky residues.