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Cooking Tips
Cooking Tips Articles
Helpful and "Healthful" Cooking Tips
By Brian Gokey, CFT, BSMET
This section of www.wellness4everyone.com is dedicated to providing you with cooking tips that cover
everything from picking the most healthy foods and preparing them in healthy ways, to how to properly care for your cookware.
A good starting place is to start with the actual cookware you are using in your kitchen. As there are potential risks in some cookware
materials, we will address those issues here.
Aluminum Cookware
Aluminum and Teflon-lined pots, pans and bakeware are safest
when kept in good condition and used properly. Stainless steel, enameled or well-seasoned cast iron and porcelain cookware are best.
Plain aluminum cookware is low-cost, lightweight, and thermally responsive - but aluminum is reactive. Foods cooked in aluminum can
react with the metal to form aluminum salts associated with impaired visual motor coordination and Alzheimer's disease; however, there
is no definite link proven. More than half of all cookware sold today is made of aluminum.
Helpful Hints:
- keep aluminum cookware
in good condition - When cooking with aluminum pots, the more pitted and worn out the pot, the greater amount of aluminum will be
absorbed.
- minimize food storage time in aluminum - The longer food is cooked or stored in aluminum, the greater the amount that
gets into food.
- avoid cooking highly acidic foods in aluminum - Aluminum cookware manufacturers warn that storing highly acidic
or salty foods such as tomato sauce, rhubarb, or sauerkraut in aluminum pots may cause more aluminum than usual to enter the food.
Anodized aluminum has been treated to develop an aluminum oxide (extremely hard and non-reactive) coating on the surface of the cookware. Commercial Aluminum Company, the manufacturer of Calphalon, a best-selling brand of anodized aluminum cookware, claims that a final stage in the anodization process seals the aluminum, preventing any leaching into food. Anodized aluminum cookware does not react to acidic foods, so these pots and pans are good choices for cooking rhubarb and sauces with tomato, wine, and lemon juice.
continued below.....Stainless Steel Cookware
Stainless steel cookware is considered among the best and safest choices in cookware.
Suggestion:
• avoid
using abrasive materials when cleaning stainless steel cookware - Stainless steel cookware can become a problem if an abrasive material
is used frequently to clean it thereby releasing small amounts of chromium and nickel. Nickel is not poisonous in small quantities
but it can cause an allergic reaction. People with nickel allergies should avoid cooking with stainless steel cookware.
Copper
with Stainless Steel Lining
Copper exterior requires more care but imparts the utensil with copper's excellent thermal properties.
Stainless steel/copper cookware is considered one of the best choices in cookware.
Teflon and Silverstone
Non-stick finishes
like Teflon and Silverstone scratch easily and may release little bits of inert plastic into the food when cooked, as well as toxic
fumes over high heat. DuPont studies show that Teflon offgases toxic particulates at 446°F. At 680°F Teflon pans release at least
six toxic gases, including two carcinogens. DuPont acknowledges that the fumes can sicken people, a condition called "polymer fume
fever."
A study by Environmental Working Group, in collaboration with Commonweal in 2005 found chemicals in the umbilical cord
blood of US-born infants including the Teflon chemical PFOA. Similarly, researchers at
Suggestions:
• consider
replacing your Teflon cookware
• do not overheat Teflon cookware - Nonstick coatings are a risk is if they are over-heated. This can
happen if an empty pan is left on a burner. In this case, the fumes released can be irritating or hazardous. If you plan to continue
using Teflon, only cook foods at low heat.
• keep pet birds away when cooking with Teflon - Households with pet birds should be aware
that Teflon fumes pose a hazard to birds.
Cast Iron
Plain cast-iron is thick and dense cookware for unparalleled heat capacity.
The thickness also results in even heating; however, the thickness also requires more time (and energy) to heat up. Cooking with cast
iron also provides an important nutrient. Some nutritionists suggest that foods cooked in unglazed cast iron contain twice or
more the amount of iron they would contain otherwise. Cast-iron utensils, although considered very safe to use, should be handled
differently from other utensils.
Suggestions:
• keep cookware well coated - To prevent rust damage, the inside of cast iron cookware
should be coated frequently with unsalted cooking oil.
• use detergents sparingly – Cast Iron should not be washed with strong detergents
or scoured and should be wiped dry immediately after rinsing.
Ceramic, Enameled and Glass
Cookware made properly of enamel-coated
iron and steel is safe to cook with, according to the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Because of the high firing
temperatures required, lead, which could present a safety concern, is not used in the enamel for this cookware. Some older enamel
cookware contained the potentially toxic substance cadmium, which was sometimes contained in the red, yellow and orange pigments used
to color the interior of enamel cookware. Mostly foreign manufacturers used cadmium. However, manufacturers have discontinued its
use, and consumers today are not in danger of cadmium poisoning from enamelware marketed currently.
Some countries do not have strict
lead and cadmium limits. If you bring in glazed ceramic cookware from abroad, be aware that it may not meet permitted levels for lead
and cadmium in the
Plastic
Using plastic containers and wrap for anything other than their original purpose can
cause health problems. Do not use plastic bowls or wrap in the microwave unless they are labeled as microwave safe. If you reuse items
for storage, such as dairy product containers, let the food cool before storing, and then refrigerate it immediately. Never heat or
store food in plastic containers that were not intended for food.
• Store your food in glass,
not plastic
• Do not use Styrofoam cups for drinking (especially hot drinks!)
• When cooking, keep your kitchen well ventilated. Turn
on your oven fan or open a window.
• Plastic cookware handles that get too hot may emit toxic fumes. Choose cookware with handles that
stay cool on the stovetop for a reasonable amount of time but are oven-safe (e.g. glass/ceramic or stainless steel tubular).
• Never
use scouring powders, scouring pads, or other abrasives on 'microwave safe' cookware.
• Avoid eating leftover food that has been stored
for more than one day.
Want more Cooking Tips?
You can find more Cooking tips in the Cooking Tips articles section of www.wellness4everyone.com.
