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Comment by Tade0 | Hacker News Reader

Those eggs appear to be on a non-stick pan, so without oil.

Try cooking with oil and you'll see PM levels go to enormous heights.

I have an air purifier in my bedroom. It measures PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 as well as TVOC (Total volatile organic components) and adjusts it's air intake according to the air quality. Usually it runs at very low speed and is inaudible, even at night.

When I start cooking downstairs, within a minute or so I hear the purifier upstairs ramp up to full speed.

That sounds like the kind of air purifier I want. What brand/model is it?

It's an AEG AX91-604DG

Looks nice but £100 for a filter? Crazy

Do people normally not use oil with nonstick pans? I always use some regardless of pan because it crisps better and adds flavor.

Same. The primary benefit of the oil, I’ve found even in a non-stick pan, is better and more even transfer of heat and more even browning.

I couldn't imagine cooking without oil. Pan frying spices in oil is pretty much the first step of cooking for me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempering_(spices)

That's a good point I didn't think of as well. Oil (fats) are great for holding onto and distributing flavor throughout the dish as well.

I wouldn't know as I avoid frying altogether and my cooking is largely stewed or steamed.

Indeed, and I prefer short period of increased air pollution + ventilation and air filters, to nonstick pan and eating PFAS which is unavoidable (and unmeasurable at home).

Afaik the nonstick pans are not emitting pollution in that sense, the food does not get contaminated, even if the surface peels off that is supposed to be benign. The problem is the production process, having already contaminated the drinking water of the whole world with PFAS - and that's the route where we get contaminated for real as well.

But who knows, maybe those pans are even more dangerous than currently known.

If it's Teflon / PTFE, as long as you don't let it smoke you should be fine. The polymer chain is too large to enter your cells, so your body just expels them intact.

That's not to say you should go out and buy everything coated in PTFE. It generates tons of pollution when it's synthesized. I'm just saying there's no need to rush to throw away the ones you may already have at home - that might be counter-productive as you're now generating waste unnecessarily.

I actually did cook this with oil

That is an interesting result. Every time I cook with oil my air purifier indicates 100ug/m3+ and will relentlessly churn air for minutes.

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