No Stupid Questions

First of all, if you're going to buy a fancy expensive non-stick pan, spend the money and buy non-metal utensils to use with it.

Second, if you want to keep using metal utensils, buy anodized aluminum. It's not perfectly non-stick, but it's close and it can take a beating.

Do you want to eat teflon? 'Cause that's how you end up eating teflon.

In theory, the teflon should continue to be inert as it passes through your digestive tract, but don't do that. It's time to throw out the pan.

Related advice: non-stick is overrated to begin with. Replace all your nonstick pans with tri-ply stainless clad aluminum, cast iron (enameled or not), carbon steel, etc..

If you insist on having a teflon pan, recognize it for the semi-disposable item it is: get the cheapest one you can find, use it only for things that really need it (e.g. eggs), and accept that you're going to be throwing it out and replacing it every couple of years.

There is an episode of the Dave Chang show podcast that covers this. They have a professor on to cover the science of different pans. If I remember correctly, it should be safe as it will through your digestive system. The bigger issue is overheating Teflon. That being said, you still don't really want non food in your food, and that pan is likely pretty worthless from a non-stick perspective

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2gJsAHAFP1MNZX5hZ7lA61

I've looked into this when buying pans, I'd say it's still unsafe. Apparently in 2013 they changed their formulation so the chemicals aren't toxic and if ingested it's inert so it doesn't affect you at all.

With all that, I still don't trust non-stick and bought myself a stainless steel pan and I love it. It's easy to maintain and when cooking properly most things don't really stick either.

What did you do to the poor thing? Looks like you've been stabbing it with a fork 24/7 for years. Toss it, and be (a lot) more careful with the next one - or skip nonstick entirely. They already have a finite lifetime when not abused, and if you manage to ruin the coat in one spot that's a hotspot for "scaling off" more.

Stainless steel can take a beating, though, go nuts.

No, it's toxic. Replace it with carbon steel, stainless steel, or cast iron.

My girlfriend is a materials scientist specialising in non-stick coatings.

The first time she came to my house, I had to throw away all teflon with even a scratch on it. She said once the surface is broken it will leach chemicals into your food.

She said they are perfectly safe whilst the coating is in tact and uses non-stick pans herself. Just replace them as soon as you notice the surface is broken.

"Safe" is a relative term. Is it going to set your house on fire? No. Is it going to release harmful gasses while you cook and leech toxic metals into your food and slowly poison you? Yeah, probably. But, like, how old are you? Maybe you're like 98 years old and don't have that much longer to live anyway.

Fuck's smatterchew? Throw that shit out and get a new pan. Damn.

I got tired of seeing my teflon-coated pans wear out like that or lose their non-stickiness, it bothered me to realize that the 'premium cookware' I was buying was temporary trash I'd need to replace every couple of years.

I retired my teflon cookware and now have just steel and cast iron (and ceramic-coated cast iron) and I don't miss teflon-coated cookware at all.

Sure, sometimes I end up with stuff stuck to my pans, but realistically that was true with my 'non-stick' pans as well. The nice thing about cast iron and steel is that with use, they seem to get better, whereas the teflon pans start out nice but deteriorate in the way they work. When I do end up with stuff stuck to the pan, I can scrub that clean in a few seconds with a steel scrubber or scraper, whereas stuck-on stuff with teflon (the stuff the dishwasher didn't get, anyhow), seemed to demand the extra-soft scrubber (and lots of time, because the soft scrubber doesn't work as well).

Did you know that if you use Teflon pans in a house with pet birds they might die from the fumes? Since we historically used canaries to detect dangerous gasses in coal mines, might we take that as an indication that Teflon pans should not be used at all?

The scratched ones are bad and should not be used. Going forward you should ditch all your nonstick pans and buy cast iron or stainless steel.

My stainless steel cookware set has worked better and lasted longer than every non-stick pan I have ever owned.

1. Don’t heat a non-stick on high, like ever. Medium is as high as they can take.

2. Use silicon utensils.

We had issues until we stopped doing #1. The cheap non-stick Tfals we have now have lasted 10+ years. The old expensive ones didn’t make it past the first few.

I stopped using non stick pots/pans completely. PFOS or whatever other fucked up, deadly, untested chemicals can get out of my life forever. We may think they're safe but do we really know? "They" told us the original teflon was safe and look at how that turned out.

I now have an induction range and only use cast iron and stainless steel. Yes, I sometimes have to scrub or soak my pans but I believe me and mine will live longer and healthier.

Cast iron does make better tasting food, IMHO. Takes some getting used to and more work to clean but I think it's worth it.

once you go cast iron you never go back

Replace ‘em. Get either cast iron or stainless steel, once both are seasoned properly they are just as non-stick as teflon pans and much more durable. Lodge cast iron pans are like $20 and are super easy to take care of if you cook frequently.

1. Chunks of teflon are getting in your food
2. The aluminium underneath, which was protected by the teflon, is getting into your food (especially true with acidic foods, since they will react with aluminium and erode it).

why does it look like a very old whale who's battled hundreds of squids? Ever hear of wood or silicone utensils?

No, it's not safe to keep using nonstick pans that are peeling, but people still use them anyway.

Teflon is very bad for you don't do it.

There's a couple misconceptions in this thread.

Yes, Teflon can release some gasses if overheated, but it's not likely going to cause you any real harm. As long as you're turning on the range hood while you cook, it's basically a non-issue. Teflon really only releases fumes at very high temperatures (usually over 500F), and foods that are being cooked at that high heat aren't really going to be needing a non-stick coating to begin with, so you'd ideally want to use a different type of pan for foods cooked at very high heat in the first place.

If you really huff the fumes intentionally, you might give yourself a headache/fever (look up "Teflon flu" for more), but it's not likely gonna kill you. However, some pets may be more susceptible to Teflon fumes, particularly birds, who can very easily die from Teflon fumes, so be cautious if you have any animals in your home.

As for the aluminum underneath, that's also largely a non-issue. Aluminum is safe to cook with in most applications. It's even relatively safe to consume, and it's actually used in many common medicines (like aspirin and antacids) and also as a food additive in some cases. There's a reason why acidic foods like tomatoes and pineapples are canned in aluminum; because it's safe to do so. If a little aluminum from the can/pan leeches out into the food, it's not a big deal as it'll pass through you unnoticed. It's only really a concern if you already have issues with high amounts of metal consumption in your diet. Some people believe that aluminum can cause or accelerate certain conditions like Alzheimer's, however I believe those studies have been mostly inconclusive, last time I looked into it.

The bigger issue is that you risk getting chunks of the Teflon coating breaking off of the pan and getting into your food. While it'll pass through you mostly harmlessly, it's still not ideal. And it's just gross.

I'd recommend tossing that pan and getting a new one and only using it for low/medium-high temps, as well as picking up a stainless steel pan (assuming you don't have any metal allergies), and use that for things that need more heat to cook.

Also, be gentler with your pans, in general. It looks like you've been sticking a fork or some other metal utensil in there, which is a bad idea. If you're using a metal spatula or something, stop that; just use plastic/rubber/wood on your non-stick items. If you're hand-washing it, just use a sponge or a soft brush, but don't use anything abrasive like steel wool or those sponges with the "hard" side for grease and grime, as those can also rapidly degrade the Teflon coating.

ATK just did a short video on this. It's probably not as detailed as you might want but here you go. I believe Teflon is used because it is so innocuous, but the chemicals used underneath to make it stick are very bad for you. https://youtu.be/2RJkIPT-jLs?si=w0X3lpQK9tnaMmbA