Welcome back to our open thread. Let’s dive in.

Future article idea/suggestion : Cookware… Teflons vs cast iron’s and others… Health benefits- dangers… Etc. This is something I’ve researched and am pretty passionate about. I believe the community would gain some knowledge by hearing your take on it.

You’re always dependable for a post idea. Thank you for that. Let me start by saying that I can’t wait to hear your take as well. Here at KL, we appreciate top quality goods. As such, we love cast iron for cooking. When my family and I built our current home, we intentionally created a dark kitchen. The woods we selected for the floor and beams are deep and rich, our lighting is subtle and the room has a cabin-like feel. We knew we needed some color to brighten the mood and bring in some light. Rather than splash tile or an bright accent wall, we tracked down some colorful pots and pans. Those orange and blue bad boys are made of cast iron. Since then, the cookware has housed sizzling steaks, stews bubbling for many hours and just about every type of meat and veggie you can imagine. I may have had optimized for aesthetics, but I knew the potentially negative health implications of some of the other options like teflon and aluminum. From whfoods.org:

Cookware made from materials that carry with them substantial risk of toxicity, even if research shows relatively little leaching of their toxic substances, should automatically not be considered to be among your best options. We would put aluminum cookware into this category. In the past five years, we’ve seen over 100 studies about aluminum and disease. This metal has consistently been placed in the top 200 health-jeopardizing toxins by the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a non-stick pan that I use for eggs. I’ve been on a mission for years to execute the perfect fried egg and I haven’t accomplished the task yet. I’m fully aware that my best chance for success in that regard is with a slippery surface. Am I rolling the dice trying to reach the perfect level of egg crispiness utilizing teflon? From blog.zocdoc.com:

Importantly, only trace amounts if any PFOA is present in the final Teflon product and the EPA does not think discontinuing use of non-stick cookware is necessary. Independent tests of 26 commercial brands of cookware indicate that the amount of chemicals migrating from cookware into food is negligible.

In fairness, I think more research is in order. We often talk about how critical it is to be aware and educated. We must continually be mining the answers for why, even about our cook wear. Like the dependability of Msquared’s questions and comments, cast iron is rock solid, and I know why I use it.

Cast iron is also a cookware material we really like. When properly seasoned, the surface itself is great for cooking, and when material does leach from cast iron, it’s an essential mineral (iron) that many of us can easily incorporate into a healthy day of mineral intake. For some individuals, cast iron cookware can actually make a very important contribution to health.

I’m not fully convinced. I want more proof. You can help. What do you use and, more importantly, why?