If you’re thinking of changing your cookware because of PFAS concerns, we have tips

In the culinary world, the most common question about the new state law banning the sale of products with added PFAS has been: Is my cookware safe?

The second: How will I make eggs?

Nonstick pans can be a hurried or novice cook’s best friend. And while there are still plenty of PFAS-free nonstick options, they come with a caveat.

“It’s a new way of thinking,” said Marie Dwyer, co-owner of Cooks | Bellecour retail shop and cooking school. “You can’t just whip that pan out and turn on the high heat and throw your egg in the pan anymore. It doesn’t work like that.”

While most of us are looking to replace a pan or two, Dwyer and her team had nearly 200 products to swap out of their three locations.

“It was a heavy lift, and we’ve been working on it for a year,” Dwyer said. “When we heard this information was starting to take shape in Minnesota, we started looking into what does a transition plan look like to replace all of our cooking school products and all of our retail products.”

In addition to cookware, that included bakeware and nonstick surfaces such as waffle makers.

“We’re not working with any PFAS, nonstick materials in our cooking schools, we’ve replaced everything,” she said.

We asked Dwyer to share tips on buying cookware and adapting to what might be a new-to-you type of cooking. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

How can I tell if my pans are safe?

Find out who the manufacturer of that pan is, and hop on the Google machine and either send their customer service people a note, or call them and find out if their nonstick material contains PFAS. That is the surefire way to get to the bottom of what is in your nonstick.

Then, as a consumer, you need to make that decision for yourself. Do you want to cook with PFAS, or do you not want to cook with PFAS?

(Note: If you’re concerned about PFAS, you’ll want to research any kitchen tools with nonstick surfaces. And if you’re tossing pans, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said it’s OK to throw products with PFAS in the trash, though PFAS poses a pollution risk at landfills.)

What are the visible signs that you shouldn’t use a pan anymore?

Certainly anything that’s scratched, anything that has actual cut marks in it, you should not use. What happens is that underneath that scratch, fats and oils and all that stuff gets stuck underneath, and it will start to lift that nonstick material off your pan. And every time you heat a pan to a really high heat, which you shouldn’t do with nonstick, it loosens that adhesion.

What are the nonstick alternatives now?

Everything we carry now is an alternative to PFAS nonstick; most of it is what they call ceramic. It’s the term everyone uses for it because it’s very slick. It feels like a ceramic surface and it’s healthier.

Are pans labeled as PFAS-free in stores?

Because Minnesota is the first state in the whole country to embrace this, the cookware manufacturers all haven’t labeled things as of yet. But there are different types of cookware that will be PFAS-free just naturally. For us, it comes through having our team members walk you through and do some education with you. For other folks, if they’re out there shopping, they really need to do that research. Whatever brand they’re looking at, they’re going to have to really go in and do a deep dig.

How do you guide people on what cookware is right for them?

It depends on how they cook, number one, it depends on what they cook and how many people they’re cooking for. Not everybody needs all nonstick, but for some people, that’s all they want. They want it to be short and simple to the point that anything they put in that pan is not going to stick. With those folks, we don’t talk about any other alternatives.

But then there are other people who are making a big change, so they’ll come in and talk to us about what should I replace? How should I look at that? Should it all be nonstick? And that’s when we have that bigger conversation.

What do you recommend for beginner cooks?

If you’re a budding chef, stainless steel is a really great place to start. It’s durable, it will last a lifetime. There’s nothing you can do to stainless steel that’s going to wreck it. So there’s no fear, right? It can withstand high heat. It can go low and slow. It can go from the oven to the stovetop and vice versa. And it’s really easy to clean up if you’re using it properly.

What’s the rundown on the other cookware types?

Stainless steel is a very fast conductor of heat, so it can get away from you pretty quick. But there are two others that are even faster. Carbon steel is a really fast conductor of heat, which is why [many] woks are made of carbon steel. It will heat real fast, it’ll cool down real fast. It’s lighter weight, and responds very quickly to heat adjustments. It’s actually really fun to cook in carbon steel. There are some maintenance issues; you have to season carbon steel. It eventually becomes a nonstick surface, but it takes patience to get there.

Cast iron is another wonderful surface to cook in, but it is slow to heat because if you think about how massive cast iron is, it conducts heat, but it retains heat for a long time, so you lose that fine-tuned high performance. That’s why it’s used for those beautiful French ovens and Dutch ovens, and skillets that can go over a campfire. It’s tough, it’s durable, but it is slow to heat up and slow to cool down, which is a beautiful thing for a lot of things you do with cast iron.

(Cooks | Bellecour has detailed information about the pros and cons of each type of cookware on their blog.)

Sets or individual pans?

There’s a lot of really good value in a set, but what we sell the most of is open stock. Sets are wonderful for people who want to change everything, and they’re drawn to the sets because of the value. But you really have to look at that set and say, “Are these the pieces that I’m going to use?” You’re getting some really good core pieces, and you’re getting lids, as well. I think the reason why we sell so much open stock is because people have those individual needs. Maybe they’ve got a bunch of cookware, but they really want to replace one thing, or they really want to upgrade, but they can’t do it all at once, so they’re doing it piece by piece. Or they’ve been inspired by something on TikTok, or on the Food Network, and they want to come in and see that single piece and then take it home and experiment and make that recipe.

What are the most common pan sizes you sell?

Number 1 would be a 9 ½- to 10 ½-[inch] size fry pan or skillet. The number 2 would be the saucepan, 3- or 4-quart. That’s a huge seller for us, as well. Another would be an 8-inch fry pan, because of the egg pan. Everyone’s always looking for a new egg pan.

How do I make food not stick?

The thing about cooking in something that’s not nonstick is you have to have a new level of patience. The reason for that is because you have to heat, you have to put fat in the pan, and you have to put plenty of fat in that pan and you have to heat it low and slow. You never need to crank, you don’t need to heat anything on high. You just don’t, unless you’re boiling water.

If you crank that heat to high, you’re just going to burn the oil in the pan. It’s unnecessary because the stainless steel heats evenly, and it heats quickly. So medium to medium-high is all you need.

What’s the trick to frying an egg in a stainless steel pan?

Just put the fat in the pan, bring it up to a nice medium-high heat, and then you add your ingredient, and then you wait. And when you wait, whatever it is you’re going to make, if it’s a chicken breast, seared salmon, or your eggs, what happens is a little bit of a skin will form on the bottom of whatever that ingredient is in your pan, and you wait for it to release — don’t try to scrape it off. And it’s cooking all the way through, as well. But you just have to be patient and then it’ll release. It’s like magic.

Any other cooking tips?

You also have to pay attention, particularly if you’re working with scallops or some kind of protein you’ve invested in. Pay attention, take your time — sip a glass of wine and enjoy the process. Enjoy your time in your kitchen and make the most of it.

What if I’m in a hurry?

That’s why there’s magic in having one good nonstick pan in your assortment. We have all kinds of pans, because one of the testing mechanisms [for the store and cooking school] is our house. We have everything: copper, stainless steel, carbon steel, cast iron and we have nonstick and yes, we use that for eggs. There are just certain things that it’s really, really good for. Could you do everything without it? Certainly. But it just makes it a little easier if you have one decent piece of nonstick.

What about utensils on the pans?

You definitely don’t want to use metal in any nonstick pan, because anything that’s metal will cause some scratching. And in that, even in these new ceramic surfaces, little scratches will collect oils, it’ll collect food. Then it becomes sticky, and then you have a stickable surface, which is what you’re trying to avoid. So right out of the gate, if someone’s cooking with a new pan with nonstick surfaces we recommend that you use silicone tools. You can also use wood.

Stainless steel, carbon steel and cast iron — those are indestructible. You can use whatever tool you want, and sometimes metal is better on metal, when you’re making a big batch of something and want to grab the crusty bits off the bottom.

How do you recommend caring for pans to extend the longevity?

For any of the nonstick surfaces, just warm soapy water should clean them up well and super easy. Just stay away from any abrasive scrubs, or any kind of heavy abrasive sponges. You don’t need it and don’t use it because you will create some surface scratching.

With the other surfaces, like stainless steel, you can use anything, and you can use an abrasive surface if you need to. We love, love, love Bar Keepers Friend. It’s like the miracle cleaner. It comes in a dry powder cleanser as well as a liquid and I am hands down a fan of either one. It’ll make your stainless steel shine. We use it on the interior and exterior of copper cookware. It just makes everything look like a million bucks.

For cast iron, if it’s uncoated cast iron, which is what a lot of the Lodge brand is, — not enameled cast iron — those have a patina on them and you have to be somewhat careful. You don’t want to strip that off because it’s built up over time and helps in creating a natural nonstick surface. You don’t want to use abrasive materials in those or carbon steel. I mean, you can, but you’ll strip off that patina, and then you just have to start over.

And definitely no dishwashers. Even though it may say dishwasher-safe, we recommend no dishwasher because dishwashers create a little bit of pitting, and that pitting will affect your surfaces. Dishwashers are great, just keep any of your cookware out of it. You’ll just shorten the life of anything. And you’ve made the investment, so take care of it.