Some of the product listings are not great. I see non stick skillets that I know won’t last than a year or two with moderate use. Otherwise I like the concept.
You literally are buying it for life. They cook the food way better. And a small amount of oil is all that’s needed for eggs and other non stick applications
Food cooked on carbon steel or iron tastes so much better.
There are actually ceramic non-stick pans, in which case you'd be eating sand if I understand the concept correctly.
What that usually comes down to is to let your non-stick pan cool to room temperature before you run water over it, even if you like seeing all that steam. Also, you weren't expecting to sear meat with your nonstick anyway so don't slap a massive cold slab of meat on your unoiled non-stick either.
And with cast iron, you are cooking in random organic polymers and eating them. The patina of cast iron pans is random organic chemicals.
- The non-stickiness of cast iron has probably been best in class in its age. Today, we have Teflon. Teflon is so non-stick we have trouble having it stick to the pan when making pans. My understanding is that nothing, especially nothing you’re likely to have in your kitchen, beats Teflon, ever. (Kenji Lopez-Alt, a well known chef and/or food scientist alongside being a cast iron fan, also attests to this: https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the-truth-about-cast-iro...)
- I’ve found that it does go against some of my (potentially hypochondriac) cleaning tendencies. Essentially, you can wash it and I think you can use soft soaps, but you can’t really actually scrub it with a hard sponge if you want to get the food out fully. It seems that the carbonisation of food and polymerisation of oil in a layer cake is in fact the thing gives the cast iron its nonstick properties. To someone used to the convivial shine of stainless steel, that’s a tough pill to swallow.
Cast iron is cool, and I’m sure it has its uses, but as someone who only dabbles in kitchen stuff, I’ve found it very inconvenient and frustrating to use.
Try getting a wire brush for a drill and smoothing it down.
This is generally only an issue for cheaper cast iron pans.
That or just get high carbon steel.
If you really need nonstick (frying eggs, basically), that's what you have to use, but cast iron and carbon steel are incredibly versatile and a better buy if you're space-limited than nonstick
As for eggs. Stainless steel with some butter. Way better tasting than teflon. And either way the oil absorbed is minimal.
Sure if my day job was making French omelettes all day, I’d use a Teflon pan. But really on a day to day it’s not necessary.
[1] doesn’t have to be this model. But something like this - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084VJG9VN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_...
Keep in mind that carbonized and polymerized layer is getting scorched every time you cook with cast iron so it's not the most hospitable environment for bacteria.
I do realise that polymerisation is conversion of burnt oil into polymer at which point it is largely inert, but it’s very hard to get an oil to fully polymerise 100% outside of lab conditions.
Stainless steel triple-ply (copper + aluminum) pans though have been fantastic. Even heating and nothing sticks with a bit of oil.
I haven't figured out how to cook pancakes on them yet though, without relying on the Leidenfrost effect, at which point they just kinda burn and don't cook right.