Yay for being overly cautious after the BPA thing and deciding to avoid plastic as much as possible and strictly avoiding it when dealing with high heat.

Though I still wonder about the chemicals used to treat/seal wooden utensils.

It is kinda funny coming back full circle, because as a kid I thought the wooden spoons we had were relics of the past and preferred the smooth plastic ones.

Now I prefer the wooden ones, stains, cracks, and all. Just limit how long you soak them for when doing dishes.

On that note, I've found that most dishes only need to soak for a minute or less before they are easier to clean. And if you rinse them before anything dries, you probably won't even need to soak at all.

Time for another trip to Spatula City.

I always wonder if these sorts of dire warnings are real or just a marketing ploy.

I only use wooden spoons, spatulas and cutting boards myself. And fire retardants are obviously damaging to health, so throwing out black plastic is a good idea. But I don't think the article gives any good reason to avoid plastic in general. "Potentially harmful plastic compounds" sounds a lot like "compounds with zero evidence of being dangerous but they sound scary". Happy to be proven wrong though.

flame removedants

facepalm. Censorship absurdity.

Plastic and food shouldn't mix.

We fucked up real bad. Gonna be a long road to fix this shit.

Also, if you have a cast iron pan that is extremely rusted, get a brass bristle drill attachment and blast all the rust off with it.

After you have finished that and cleaned it, season it like the other poster mentioned and it will be as smooth as almost any Teflon you've ever used.

Do yourself a favour and start using proper cast iron or stainless steel frying pans as well. You gotta learn how to use them, but it's a whole different level. I'm never going back to non-stick.

To get started with a new pan:

1. Pour a bit of oil in it
2. Dry it ALL up with a paper towel
3. Heat up to high temperature, let cool.
4. Repeat three times or so. This creates a coating of hardened oil.

~~Never, ever, wash with soap. If you do by accident, repeat the above process to coat the pan again.~~ (just don't scrub too violently with soap - I'm being outdated with my advice here)

When cooking:

1. Heat up pan
2. Add oil
3. Add things into pan only when hot
4. Use water or wine to deglaze when things get a little stuck. That's where you get deliciousness from - it's a feature, not a bug.

I use an old cast iron that's a bit rugged in the bottom for pancakes. It's the most amazing thing ever. I found it in the trash one day. The cast iron allows me to use a steel spatula when it needs to be thin, otherwise I use wood.