Carbon Steel Fryin Pan Information
Non-stick Teflon coated frying pans, skillets, and pots have been the go to cookware in the cookware world for quite some time now. However recent discoveries have put a bad light on cheaply made non-stick coated cookware? So what do you switch to in order to avoid a scenario such as the coating on non-stick cookware starting to leak its way in to your food, and posing a health risk to you and your family?
Non-stick coating is fragile and easily chips away. It cannot withstand abrasion with metal and very high heats. Of course some manufactures are better than others, but cheap Teflon coated frying pan should definitely not enter the oven. The by product is highly toxic when introduced to the digestive tract. Being careful and using wooden spatulas to do your stirring is a good rule to follow.
This brings us to the question of what did people do before non-stick, Teflon coated cookware? How did the sir fries and pot roasts and deep searing happen then? Well the answer is seasoned cast iron frying pans and pots. In modern times that has been refined to carbon steel. Its light, it's easily cleaned and much healthier than Teflon coated frying pans.
The problem with cast iron cookware was that they were too heavy. Cooking an omelette on a cast iron skillet would have been impossible given it needs both hands just to lift the thing and hold it over a fire, forget flipping pancakes. So the solution was to achieve the same surface properties at a fraction of the weight, enter carbon steel. This is an alloy that is extremely light weight but has all the properties you would expect from cast iron. With seasoning before using it, a carbon steel skillet can be given non-stick like properties.
Care must be taken while cleaning the skillet not to remove the seasoned coating. Other than the simple cleaning care (do not use detergents or scrape too hard) carbon steel frying pans are a perfect replacement for Teflon coated non stick cookware with no risk of damage to the person doing the eating.
When looking at people who use heavy duty frying pans invariably you will find that the carbon steel seasoned skillet comes up tops given it's low maintenance and simple yet powerful ability to take on all the rough treatment involved in the searing, frying region. It's a must have for your kitchen.
Non-stick coating is fragile and easily chips away. It cannot withstand abrasion with metal and very high heats. Of course some manufactures are better than others, but cheap Teflon coated frying pan should definitely not enter the oven. The by product is highly toxic when introduced to the digestive tract. Being careful and using wooden spatulas to do your stirring is a good rule to follow.
This brings us to the question of what did people do before non-stick, Teflon coated cookware? How did the sir fries and pot roasts and deep searing happen then? Well the answer is seasoned cast iron frying pans and pots. In modern times that has been refined to carbon steel. Its light, it's easily cleaned and much healthier than Teflon coated frying pans.
The problem with cast iron cookware was that they were too heavy. Cooking an omelette on a cast iron skillet would have been impossible given it needs both hands just to lift the thing and hold it over a fire, forget flipping pancakes. So the solution was to achieve the same surface properties at a fraction of the weight, enter carbon steel. This is an alloy that is extremely light weight but has all the properties you would expect from cast iron. With seasoning before using it, a carbon steel skillet can be given non-stick like properties.
Care must be taken while cleaning the skillet not to remove the seasoned coating. Other than the simple cleaning care (do not use detergents or scrape too hard) carbon steel frying pans are a perfect replacement for Teflon coated non stick cookware with no risk of damage to the person doing the eating.
When looking at people who use heavy duty frying pans invariably you will find that the carbon steel seasoned skillet comes up tops given it's low maintenance and simple yet powerful ability to take on all the rough treatment involved in the searing, frying region. It's a must have for your kitchen.
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