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Should I take teflon off pans??

 
gardener
Posts: 527
Location: Rocky Mountains, USA
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My well-meaning teenaged sons bought us some secondhand pans for Christmas (ours are shot).

Unfortunately, they didn't know what to look for and got some with Teflon (PTFE) coating.

I've thought about chucking up a wire wheel in the drill and taking it off, but according to a magnet test, they are apparently aluminum underneath.

What do you think?  Should I...
A) Live with it
B) Take off the coating
C) Cut our losses and hawk them off to someone else on craigslist

 
pollinator
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If you don't want to cook on teflon, then it seems like (c) is the best option. Sanding it off seems like causing more problems--clouds of teflon dust, and maybe you are left with a surface that is not great for cooking on.

Personally, even though I would not choose teflon when buying new, I do have at least one teflon pot that I still use because it's there and it was free to me a decade ago. The decade of boiling spaghetti in that pot has not had a discernible effect on my family's health. I would not want to do all my cooking on teflon--it's harder to care for than cast iron AND full of bad chemicals.
 
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I vote option:
D) Landfill

Aluminum isn't any better for anyone's health than teflon is. Cast-iron, steel, copper, corningware, are all excellent choices which will last forever. Life is too short to be cooking on aluminum pans.
 
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