An Iron-clad Rule

(WSJ illustration)

For decades we had been using non-stick cookware. When the first group of pans lost their non-stickiness, we blamed ourselves: we had been scrubbing too hard, we were using abrasive cleaners, we had turned the burner on too high, etc. Softening our techniques didn't work; the cookware surfaces still wore out.

We finally converted over to steel and ceramic pots and pans because of practicality but more importantly for health reasons: [bold added]

When the first Teflon pans—then called the “Happy Pan”—were marketed in the U.S. in 1961, they were advertised as “an amazing new concept in cooking” and packaged with a free spatula. The Happy Pan’s nonstick surface was made from a substance called PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). The compound was discovered in 1938 by an American chemist, Roy Plunkett, who would later be awarded the John Scott medal by the city of Philadelphia for an invention promoting the “comfort, welfare and happiness of humankind.”

Whether Plunkett’s invention was really such a boon for humanity is now in question. PTFE is part of a huge family of chemicals known as PFAS, called “forever chemicals” because, once released into the environment, they last almost indefinitely; they have ended up in drinking water and in people’s bloodstreams. Early versions of Teflon and other nonstick pans were manufactured with PFOA added to the PTFE. That additive has been linked to a range of health conditions, including some cancers. PFOA was phased out of nonstick pans in the U.S. by 2015 and has been banned in the EU since 2020, but it can undoubtedly still be found in some older nonstick pans lurking in people’s kitchens.

The egg fries at the lowest setting.

More recently we've (re)discovered the joys of cooking with cast iron. An induction cooktop heats up the iron quickly and efficiently. Also, if the pan was seasoned properly, there's very little scrubbing; in fact some cooks recommend wiping, not washing, the surface in order not to remove the oil.

Much of life's journey has turned out to be an odyssey, where we find out that our parents and grandparents knew the best way to do things.