CenturyLife.Org – Page 19

A No-Nonsense Guide to Cookware Materials

THE SHORT ANSWER

For each common cookware material below, I’ll summarize their strengths, weaknesses, and offer a quick summary.

Material	Strengths	Weaknesses	Summary
Aluminum	Cheap, Best heat spreading power per pound (a thick aluminum layer can spread heat quite evenly)	Easily bends and scratches, chemically reactive, not dishwasher or induction compatible	Cookware makers usually coat aluminum with PTFE (such as Teflon) or stainless steel because bare aluminum is chemically reactive and can give metallic off-tastes to food, particularly acidic foods like tomatoes and citrus. Stainless also makes it dishwasher/induction compatible and more resistant to bending. Anodized aluminum is a thin layer of hard aluminum “rust” that can chip/flake off over time and does not provide the structural support or dishwasher/induction compatibility that stainless provides. But anodization that hasn’t chipped off yet makes it relatively chemically inert and resistant to scratches.
Carbon Steel	Thinner, lighter, more expensive alternative to cast iron	Uneven heating, chemically reactive, rusts, stays hot and takes more care (keep away from small children and pets)	Basically a thinner, lighter version of cast iron with similar drawbacks like weight, chemical reactivity, and sensitivity to rust. New carbon steel pans are usually smoother than new cast iron pans, so carbon steel requires less seasoning to make semi-nonstick.
Cast Iron	Most cast iron is produced thick (3.5 mm or more) and thus holds a lot of heat. Thus cast iron is slow to heat up and slow to cool down. Can be seasoned to create a semi-nonstick surface.	Uneven heating, chemically reactive, rusts, stays hot and takes more care (keep away from small children and pets)	Cast iron rusts if not cleaned and stored and seasoned properly. Seasoning means burning oil onto the pan to produce a semi-nonstick, plasticky film that also prevents the iron from rusting. Modern cast iron is bumpy and requires lots of seasoning to make it semi-nonstick. Although the seasoning produces far less pollution than manufacturing PTFEs like Teflon, there aren’t lots of studies on the long-term effects of ingesting small amounts of seasoning each meal, though presumably your body’s natural defenses can handle it. Cast iron is chemically reactive (even through layers of seasoning) and can create metallic off-tastes/off-colors, so avoid cooking acidic foods like tomatoes in bare cast iron. Enamel-coated cast iron gets around the reactivity problem, but enamel can chip off and often costs more.
Copper	The best common cookware material in terms of spreading heat quickly and evenly.	Expensive and heavy. Higher upkeep than stainless, not dishwasher or induction compatible. Bare copper is chemically reactive and creates toxic compounds, so copper cookware must be lined with something nontoxic like tin or steel.	Millimeter for millimeter, copper delivers the fastest and most even heat spreading power of all common cookware materials (silver is slightly better but is softer and cost-prohibitive). Copper is also heavy and stores almost as much heat per millimeter as cast iron. Bare copper changes color when exposed to heat and eventually turns into a dull, matte brownish-black if not polished. Copper is harder than aluminum and not as easily bonded to stainless, so “clad” copper designs (copper coated with stainless steel) usually have very thin layers of copper, to the point where you’re probably better off with thicker aluminum pans coated with stainless, instead. (NOTE: Copper is toxic when ingested in large quantities which is why it is usually layered with tin or stainless steel to prevent its direct contact with fod. But for certain applications like whisking eggs or jam, bare copper is okay. Where one runs into bigger problems is cooking anything acidic in bare copper.)
Glass	Transparent, chemically nonreactive	TERRIBLE thermal conductivity, fragile.	Avoid cookware made purely out of glass/enamel/ceramic for the stovetop. An oven with gentle, even air heating is fine, but stoves deliver highly concentrated heat which will lead to hotspots if the material can’t spread the heat around fast enough. If the cookware has a layer of heat-conductive material like cast iron, carbon steel, aluminum, or copper, and is merely coated with glass/enamel/ceramic, that’s fine.
Stainless Steel	Resists dents and bending, chemically less reactive	Very bad thermal conductivity	Stainless steel resists bending and dents and has no possibility of chipping/fracturing like enamel/glass/ceramic if you accidentally bang it into the side of the sink or drop it. Stainless is also relatively chemically nonreactive, unlike carbon steel or cast iron or copper or aluminum. However, stainless by itself is a poor thermal conductor, so you almost always want to buy stainless steel bonded with a better heat conductor like aluminum or copper; the heat conductor does the job of spreading heat around evenly, and the stainless steel provides a chemically less-reactive cooking surface.
Tin	Used as a relatively inexpensive cooking surface on copper	Fragile, low melting point, re-tinning gets expensive	Copper’s toxicity is usually addressed in one of two ways: bonding stainless steel as a nonreactive cooking surface (expensive but long-lasting), or coating the copper with tin (inexpensive up front but costly long-term to hire someone to re-tin the cookware; for instance, it costs about $100 including shipping and insurance to re-tin a 28cm-diameter frying pan, though some people live close to re-tinners and don’t have to pay shipping/insurance). Tin is a little less sticky than stainless but is very soft. Even if you don’t use metal utensils or nylon scrubbies on tin, and even if you take great care to avoid cooking anything with bones in it (since meat/fish bones can scratch tin), tin wears away eventually and must be re-applied. Lastly, tin melts at about 450F (230C), and it takes only one accident to melt off enough tin to render a pan unusable. Tin is only for households where everybody has a perfect or near-perfect record of never overheating pans.
PTFE (Teflon)	Relatively inexpensive, easy to clean	Wears off with use, breaks down when overheated, creates pollution, and emits trace amounts of PFOA into your body	PTFE like Teflon is chemically inert (will not react to food, so it’s a popular coating for aluminum, which is very chemically reactive). PTFE is very slippery and easy to clean. However, PTFE is fragile and will eventually wear off with use, especially if you use metal utensils or stiffer nylon scrubbies on it. PTFE begins to break down and emit potentially toxic gases at about 400F depending on exact formulation, with the breakdown accelerating as temperatures increase. Bonding PTFE to cookware emits PFOA pollution which is toxic and takes decades to break down in the environment. There is almost no PFOA left in the cookware, but if you do cook on PTFE nonstick pans, you may eventually ingest very small amounts of PFOA. The amounts are small enough by themselves to not pose a health risk according to US government standards, but PFOA stays in your body for a very long time.

Back to How to Choose Cookware.

THE LONG ANSWER

If you want to know more about the common cookware materials, please see their respective information pages below:

If that’s not enough for you, then also see Thermal Properties of Metals. You may also want to see the electric and gas even heating rankings.

Back to How to Choose Cookware.

You can join the fight against food fraud

A Michigan State initiative hopes to curb food fraud in the future and is seeking participation from interested parties.

A MOOC is a massive open online course, a hot new development in open learning. MOOCs invite large-scale participation and are free to anyone in the world via the web. The aim of universities offering these courses is to expand their reach beyond just the classroom to potentially millions of new students.

The Food Fraud Overview MOOC is provided by MSU free to all interested parties across the supply chain and across the globe. The Overview MOOC is a two-session, 2-hour webinar accompanied by assessment quizzes. Students who successfully complete the assessments will receive an MSU Food Fraud Overview MOOC Credential.

As more people become aware of the concept and the vulnerabilities of Food Fraud, they will also become more effective at not only intervention and response but also at prevention – the more participants in the MOOC, the safer our global food supply chain can be. The MOOC doesn’t just define the problem, it also focuses on prevention. This MOOC is positioned as a bridge between general webinars and more intensive programs such as the graduate course, graduate certificate, or even a Food Fraud focus in a Master’s degree. Please click here to Register Now.

Please join us in creating a public forum and expanding awareness of the Food Fraud vulnerability. By participating in the MOOC you demonstrate that this concept is vital to your organization. By forwarding this information to your colleagues around the world you help build harmonization of terms and the prevention focus. By engaging us as a research partner you will help advance the discipline of Food Fraud.

Meyer Corp. Annual Factory Outlet Sale in Vallejo/Fairfield, California

Meyer Corporation's Vallejo Office — Meyer Corporation’s Vallejo Office

Meyer Corporation hosts an annual sale at its Vallejo and Fairfield, California sites (near San Francisco and Sacramento, respectively). The sale is usually around the Thanksgiving to Christmas shopping season.

My experience at the Meyer Factory Outlet Sale: It’s not worth going to.

I attended their sale on December 7, 2013. The Vallejo facility looks like a large office building from the outside, and like a warehouse on the inside, exposed ceilings and concrete floors and all. Meyer inflates the prices for everything at the factory sale, so in the end the prices weren’t any different than buying elsewhere. And then you have a whole bunch of additional costs:

gasoline
car wear and tear
bridge tolls if you don’t already live in North Bay
all sales are final at the Meyer factory outlet sale–no returns for any reason!

Nevertheless, if you live near Vallejo, you may want to check the Meyer annual factory outlet sale anyway.

In-Depth Product Review: Anolon Nouvelle Copper Nonstick

THE COMPANY

Meyer Corp. is one of the largest cookware manufacturers in the world. Meyer owns the Anolon brand all by itself, but Meyer makes a lot of stuff for celebrity chefs like Paula Deen, too. Typically, the brand owner and Meyer agree to specifications in a contract, and Meyer then makes the cookware and slaps the brand owner’s name on it.

THE PRODUCTS BEING REVIEWED

This review is for Anolon Nouvelle Copper, of which I have several other pieces. They are made in Thailand. I bought the 8, 10, and 12-inch skillets, as well as the 5-quart (12 inch) saute pan, but this review is applicable to the rest of the product line, too.

Anolon Nouvelle Copper features some of Meyer Corporation’s best technology. These are beyond a doubt some of the sexiest pieces of cookware I have ever seen, due to the curved handles, copper bands, and slick, black interior surfaces that are not marred by uncoated, bumpy rivets that can collect food particles and grime. Every time I cook with them is a joy, as is every time I clean them up in seconds with a splash of water and Scotch-Brite 3M Non-Scratch Sponge.

[Read more…]

Cladded sidewalls vs. disc-bottomed cookware: which is better?

Cladded cookware, uniform thickness throughout (All-Clad style)

You’ve probably heard it before: cladded is better than disc-bottomed. But is it cladded cookware worth it?

The Short Answer:

Generally speaking, sufficiently thick clad is more versatile than disc-base cookware. However, thick cladded cookware tends to cost more than disc-base cookware, so if you are on a budget and need to prioritize, this is the order of prioritization:

Your skillets/frying pans, saucieres, and woks should be cladded or else have sidewalls made from copper, aluminum, cast iron, or carbon steel.

Saute pans benefit somewhat from cladding but it’s less necessary than for skillets/saucieres/woks. Nevertheless, if you cook on gas, I would recommend getting a cladded saute pan to avoid the “ring of fire” effect (see below), or else a pan that has an oversized disc base to prevent the ring of fire (the cheapest being the Cuisinart Professional Series Stainless).

Saucepans and stockpots used to boil water or other thin liquids are a tough call. You could go either way. I would say with induction stoves, which heat very unevenly, go with a thick disc-base construction because you will need every millimeter of aluminum or copper on the bottom that you can get. Gas and electric coil are more even-heating, so if you get a decently-thick cladded piece, it should do fine. Cladding may also help with extremely thick stews, in theory, because thick fluids do a poorer job of transporting heat than thin fluids like water–but in practice, you probably want to help things along by stirring, anyway.

Avoid thin cladded cookware, because such thin cookware lacks heat distribution ability so that you may get hot spots on the bottom. For reference, All-Clad Stainless is about 2.6 mm thick–roughly 1.75 mm of which is aluminum (rough estimate). Many cheap All-Clad knockoffs made in China are 2.5 mm thick (1.5 mm aluminum) or even thinner. Some of the biggest names have some of the shoddiest tri-ply cladded designs, such as Calphalon Tri-Ply Stainless, and Paderno Tri-Ply, which are all around 2.2 mm in total thickness and thus probably have ~1.25 mm of aluminum.

The Long Answer: [Read more…]

Why I believe the Paleo Diet is a nice starting point, but not ending point, when it comes to diets

There’s been recent information on how the Paleo Diet is not the last word on human nutrition.

People in industrialized countries have less gut bacteria than less-developed countries, and it stands to reason that modern gut bacteria in New York City is different than gut bacteria in Paleolithic times in, say, Greece. Since bacteria can heavily influence how we digest foods, it stands to reason that even if we could replicate some mythically perfect Paleo diet, we might not get the same nutrition benefit out of it due to how we probably have different bacteria in our gastrointestinal tracts than our ancestors.

Furthermore, humans continue to evolve even in recent times. There is a biological basis for why some ethnic groups have a higher chance of lactose intolerance than others, for instance, or how some ethnic groups seem to have evolved to adapt to high altitudes.

All of that said, I think the concept of the Paleo Diet remains a good starting point when crafting a good diet, even if it’s not the ending point. And I think that a simple 70/30 veggie/wild meat split (like aboriginal diets in the early 1900s) is an even better starting point.