I have a set of 3 Bra Premiere non-stick frying pans that I’ve used for a while. The coating on them says “Teflon Innovations without PFOA”. Recently I’ve noticed that on the most used pan, the 26cm one, the Teflon coating has started to peel off.
I know that Teflon coatings can release harmful fumes and chemicals if overheated, but what about if the coating is physically peeling? Is it still safe to cook with them? Or should I stop using especially the 26cm one? I don’t want to keep exposing my family to anything dangerous unknowingly. Any advice if these types of pans are still safe to cook with if the nonstick surface is peeling would be appreciated!
I’ve looked into this when buying pans, I’d say it’s still unsafe. Apparently in 2013 they changed their formulation so the chemicals aren’t toxic and if ingested it’s inert so it doesn’t affect you at all.
With all that, I still don’t trust non-stick and bought myself a stainless steel pan and I love it. It’s easy to maintain and when cooking properly most things don’t really stick either.
Would you have resources or advice about cooking properly on a stainless steel pan ?
Preheat and use a decent amount of oil
Preheat the empty pan. You’ll know it’s hot enough when you throw water droplets on and it beads and dances around. Depending on the pan and situation, they’re pretty sensitive to heat so youd mainly cook on a low or medium.
Then use a good amount of oil and/or butter. I’ve even cooked eggs without much hassle.
You often need less heat than you think. Use oil. Pretty much everything should cook better in a stainless with a little bit of learning curve, except eggs.* Yes, even fish. Keep steel wool and barkeeper’s friend handy for scrubbing them back to a shiny polish.
*Cook eggs in a non stick that you use for basically nothing but eggs.
Also try not to load it with a lot of food. I sometimes need to, and when I do, it seems to cool the pan a bit and the food starts to stick. I normally just raise the heat a bit.