Yesterday I shared the dangers associated with nonstick cookware. But if you don’t use nonstick products, what can you use?
Fortunately, there are several options that are safer than nonstick:
Cast iron
While it’s heavy and needs maintained, cast iron cookware can benefit your health. Every time you cook with it, small traces of iron seep into your food – and iron is a nutrient everyone needs.
Other benefits include durability, heat retention, even heat distribution, and affordability.
Maintenance is a downside, though. Before using cast iron, it needs seasoned. Wash your pan with hot, soapy water and dry. Line the bottom rack of your oven with aluminum foil, then coat the entire pan (inside and oat) with a vegetable-based oil. Put in a cold oven, turn the heat on to 350 degrees F, and bake for an hour.
Cast iron cookware shouldn’t be washed with soap unless you plan on reseasoning it. To clean your cast iron pans, wash with hot water and a stiff bristled nylon brush. (To remove stuck-on food, fill the cookware with water and boil to loosen.)
To avoid rust, dry the pan with a towel before storing it. To remove rust, scour it with steel wool and reseason before using again.
Ceramic
Ceramic cookware is similar to cast iron cookware, because of its heat distribution. One huge benefit is that it doesn’t need seasoned. The enamel makes the cookware fairly non-stick, and it’s also safe for the dishwasher.
Stainless steel
As I shared yesterday, I’ve been cooking with stainless steel cookware for the past six years and am completely happy.
Stainless steel cookware may not be the safest option, though. Stainless steel contains nickel, chromium, carbon, molybdenum, and other metals. There’s a chance that these metals can leach into your food if the stainless steel cookware is pitted.
As long as your cookware isn’t pitted, metals shouldn’t leach into your food.
Anodized aluminum
An electro-chemical anodizing process locks in anodized aluminum cookware’s aluminum content. In theory, aluminum shouldn’t leach in to food. But like stainless steel, it may not be the safest choice. Aluminum is suspected to be linked to Alzheimer’s disease, so many people try to limit their use of the metal. Like other kinds of cookware, beware of dings and scratches.
Strictly based on the cookware’s performance, anodized aluminum shouldn’t react to acidic foods, and it has a nonstick surface.
Talk back
What kind of cookware do you use? What do you prefer?
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Suat Eman/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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We use Calphalon cast iron pots/pans and clean them with soap–we have to in order to be certain that all allergens are gone. We just rinse them in really hot water. We’ve never had to reseason them though. And rust isn’t an issue either.