Choosing Green Non-Stick Cookware

Over the weekend, the topic of non-stick cookware came up after an incident with tofu left our stainless steel skillet...well, covered in burnt tofu (our fault, not the skillet's). Not to mention that a lack of skill prevents us from making omelets in our stainless pans. In any case, we know that given the rumblings in the culinary world about the dangers of non-stick, we'd like to choose a green alternative. That's when we decided to turn to a very trusted source for direction on just which green cookware to choose....

When we have a question about a product, we turn first to The Kitchn and then to Cook's Illustrated to get very helpful reviews. So we thought we'd check in on their list for a greener alternative to Teflon or other conventional non-sticks.

Sadly, our trusted source didn't find one pan they'd highly recommend that held up to the rigors of test kitchen cooking--which means it definitely wouldn't hold up for a couple of years in the kitchen. So what are we to do? Try out cast iron, which will last for ages--that's for sure.

(Image: Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Skillet, available at Macy's.)

Comments (3)

Anodized aluminum. I've been using one of the commercial line Calphalon "every day" pans ... every day. I've found that, like cast iron, once the non-nonstick aluminum gets seasoned, things slide right off. I couldn't cook without it now.

But what about this Thermolon cookware in the ad that magically appeared on this page? Does that work?

posted by JHayes on July 20th 2009 at 4:06pm
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cast iron or ceramic.
bought at S.L.Table a swedish ceramic (think space shuttle ceramic) skillet that's eco-friendly scratch resistant, can go in the oven up to 400F and it cleans up in a snap. not cheap but it has a lifetime warranty. also, its super light-weighed compared to cast iron.

posted by chris_94131 on July 21st 2009 at 11:12am
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Never would have thought of cast iron as a green option! Goes to show sometimes a tried and true option is still the best

posted by renewtheworld on July 21st 2009 at 4:14pm
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