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Eco-friendly pans

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Eco-friendly pans

Postby littleKiWi » Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:42 am

Hi All! I just got my green cheek conure a couple of weeks ago, and am new to the forum. :hatching:

After eating out for the past couple of weeks, I've decided it's finally time to invest in new cookware. I hope this isn't too repetitive of a post but I was looking at these:

http://www.amazon.com/Ecolution-Element ... d_sbs_k_12

And wanted to know if anyone had any experience with these pans, or other nonstick alternatives to teflon. And of course, just wanted to confirm that these should be safe. Thank you :) :gcc:
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Re: Eco-friendly pans

Postby Michael » Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:49 am

Sorry, not familiar with those. However, I have found a lot of success with cast iron pans and found them much easier to use than the stories I've read about them. Here's an article I wrote about some elements of using cast iron and other factors related to bird proofing a home.
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Re: Eco-friendly pans

Postby entrancedbymyGCC » Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:50 pm

I'm not familiar with that brand and the wording in the description seems a bit dodgy. I'd write to make sure the coating itself does not contain PTFEs, it only talks about the solvents used not about the coating itself.

I HAVE had good luck with both Cuisinart Green Gourmet and the Bialitti ceramic nonstick. Cast iron is great for high-heat searing and grill pan applications. I've written a review of the Green Gourmet product, if you are interested. http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1781&start=0&hilit=Cuisinart.

I think a nearly ideal set of cookware for a serious cook who owns birds is:
* Stainless steel saucepans and stockpots for general use (boiling, steaming, heating liquids)
* Cast iron skillet -- high heat browning
* bird-safe nonstick skillet and small saucepan for delicate sauces, eggs, hollandaise, other low-heat delicate operations.

Depending on your skill and desire, enameled cast iron is great for braising, uncoated anodized aluminum or stainless is good for applications where you want to brown meat and then scrape up the bits into a pan sauce. A cast iron grill pan for indoor pseudo grilling. And I just got a pressure cooker which speeds up braises and soups, cutting cooking time to 1/3! Beware of any special purpose cookware you have like panini grills, electric woks, etc -- they often have a teflon-type coating. As may your toaster oven and your self-cleaning oven.

Cast iron is great for what it is great for, and properly seasoned and cared for is quite nonstick. But I really dislike using for things with delicate flavor, low heat applications (I want that thing sterilized) and wet saucy foods. It's the best for browning a steak, though. You can do eggs in it, if you don't mind the iron-y taste, and they will stick more than in a nonstick pan. Ironically, we should never have been using nonstick cookware for the kinds of things cast iron excels at -- it was never meant for high heat applications.
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Re: Eco-friendly pans

Postby snakesentwined » Wed Feb 02, 2011 1:42 pm

But where do you get these non-nonstick pans?!? We've been trying to find a small frying pan, and just get blank looks when we say we need a non-stick! You'd think we'd asked them for a rock :D
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Re: Eco-friendly pans

Postby entrancedbymyGCC » Wed Feb 02, 2011 5:29 pm

I haven't been shopping in the UK in a while, but here any big kitchen store or department store will carry stainless steel and cast iron. Many also carry anodized aluminum without the nonstick coating, but you have to look carefully to make sure it is uncoated. The Green Gourmet and Bialitti ceramic coatings, I'm not so sure about. Silicone-coated bakeware is actually safe, but you can't tell by looking if that's the nature of the coating.

Don't trust the store clerks to know what is bird safe and what is not, or what is PTFE-coated and what is not.

For grins I looked at M&S' website and indeed you are SOL there for frypans. You can get plain stainless steel saucepans there. Amazon.uk carries cast iron and Cuisinart Green Gourmet products. That might be your best bet.
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Re: Eco-friendly pans

Postby snakesentwined » Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:37 am

Thanks for the research Entranced!! (and here's me, the librarian!)
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