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!
The one concern is that cheaper ones get ruined real fast, that’s why all cooking groups hate them (but people also keep buying them because cheap and convenient).
No stick but not durable seems to be the consensus I’ve seen and that’s, yeah that’s what it is.
Expensive ones get ruined real fast, too. There’s no point in buying expensive teflon cookware; it all wears out at the same rate, so the fancy stuff is just a rip-off.
Oh. I’ve had much better experience with more expensive ones. At least in my use they seem to survive better.
I don’t have personal experience with it myself; all I know is that experts (e.g. America’s Test Kitchen, who test pans regularly, and Alton Brown, who wrote a book on what pans to own) tend to recommend cheaper pans.
Hard to argue with that. Maybe I’ve just been lucky
I learned that the biggest difference between cheap and expensive non stick pans is basically the amount of non stick coatings. Regardless, the non stick coating will wear off over time. This was the conclusion from a documentary I once watched on whether it was more economical to bit a cheap pan every so often or an expensive pan less often.
Personally I would strongly recommend cast iron from a reputable brand or carbon steel if you can afford it. Stainless steel also works, but is more tricky to not stick. Cast iron is heavier, but very forgiving and will last you a generation or more.
The non-sticks are usually cheap and require minimal effort. Carbon steel could be a cool alternative though