I have just bought a Tefal Pan with nonstick Teflon coating. The instruction manual says that using olive oil to cook will gradually ruin the nonstick coating.
What are the best options for buying a pan where one could cook and fry in olive oil without worrying about the toxins entering your food.
Thanks
Best Answer
First of all, a Teflon pan will get gradually ruined anyway. Even when you don't use oil, the heat and the food itself will wear out the coating, it is just very sensitive this way. Using oil will speed up the process.
Second, both existing technologies for nonstick pans, PTFE (Teflon) and ceramic, will get ruined by oil. If you want to cook with olive oil and the pan to last forever, you will have to switch to pans without nonstick coating. Practically any other pan will work here (except tinned copper, where the coating also gets worn, independently of oil this time). But you will have to build up much better cooking skills to prevent your food from sticking to the pan. You will also have to increase your oil use. Seasoned iron or carbon steel pans offer a certain amount of nonstickiness (certain combinations of food/temperature still stick), but they also require a bit of maintenance and knowledge.
For many people, the tradeoff is not worth it, and they stay with teflon, replacing the pan every now and then. If it is worth it for you, there is no single answer to suggest, different pan types are optimal for different applications.