stain less steel cookware

[seek10]

My stainless steel pan produces some white coating after frying my chops and I was looking for a answer
I see this

♦ Whitish or chalkish deposits inside pan... Remove calcium deposits by boiling water with some white vinegar, allowing your pan to cool, then washing it with warm, soapy water. Help prevent white spots and pitting by adding salt to your cookware only after the water has reached a boil.

Well. vinegar does removes deposits and still not sure why the deposits are coming up. then this mercola's costly ceramic cookware article gave some goose bumps

Why I Believe You Should Throw Out Your Aluminum and Stainless Steel Cookware as Well!

Even after you purge your kitchen of unsafe cookware, you may still be harboring danger -- this time in the form of aluminum or stainless steel.

I would not recommend aluminum pans for cooking if you want to enjoy your golden years. Aluminum is a causal factor suspect in Alzheimer's disease (AD).

In my experience, people dread Alzheimer's disease more than cancer and heart disease, for good reason.

Aluminum is a "reactive" metal, meaning that it reacts with salty or acidic foods to release itself into your food. Dietary sources of aluminum include cookware, containers, foil, and utensils. You can also face exposure to aluminum when the non-stick surface chips off a coated aluminum pan.

Next to the most common cookware alternative is stainless steel, accounting for one-third of U.S. cookware sales.

And some cooks prefer the "clad" or "three-ply" varieties that have an aluminum or copper base sandwiched between layers of stainless steel.

Contrary to popular belief, stainless steel may not be an inert metal either. All stainless steel has alloys containing nickel, chromium, molybdenum, carbon, and various other metals.

In a study conducted on heart patients receiving stainless steel stents, restenosis occurred in 50% of patients. Allergies to the nickel and molybdenum in the stainless steel were suspected causal factors.

While this study is clearly not cooking-related, it is certainly possible that cooking with stainless steel, clad or not, may increase the likelihood that metals will leach into your food. This is especially true if the cookware becomes pitted due to extended use or storage of acidic foods. For those with nickel allergies, it could be a particularly concerning problem.

Copper is an alternative that provides even heat distribution. However, I recommend that it never has direct contact with your food.

When you use copper as your cooking surface, it can leach out in excessive amounts. If enough leaching occurs, you could potentially experience digestive discomforts.*

Therefore, most copper pans come lined with other metals, creating the same concerns noted above. And copper pans are also extremely costly.

Once you realize the potential risks of that aluminum and stainless steel are reactive, and that copper may be risky as well, isn't it time you switched to the best non-toxic cookware I've found to date -- Mercola Healthy Chef Ceramic Cookware?

And, with its patented ceramic non-toxic surface, you now can...

I am wondering whether any of this you observed this white coating and what precautions you took.

How do I even know any thing getting leaked from stainless steel cookware ?. Are there any way we can identify based on shape, color, cost etc.

 

[anart]

Are you sure your pan is stainless steel? I've used a stainless frying pan for years now and have never had white flakes or spots or anything come up on the surface. Perhaps your pan isn't actually stainless steel (usually 18/10) - other alloys might not react the same way? Regarding the Mercola article, I'm not overly convinced, especially since (once again) he's selling something...

 

[seek10]

Are you sure your pan is stainless steel? I've used a stainless frying pan for years now and have never had white flakes or spots or anything come up on the surface. Perhaps your pan isn't actually stainless steel (usually 18/10) - other alloys might not react the same way? Regarding the Mercola article, I'm not overly convinced, especially since (once again) he's selling something...

Thank you for asking this question. I was checking the boxes for the contents.
I used 2 different pans from different companies one is tramontina 18/10 stainless steel ( the specific model I am using seems to be not there , but spec's are same ) and another one is IKEA's polerand pan. Interestingly both are 3 layered ( top layer is stainless steel, second layer is aluminium and third one is

first one
_http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tramontina-8-Piece-Cookware-Set/5716478
top layer is stainless steel, 2nd layer is Aluminium and bottom one is magentic stainless steel.

second one
_http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90101207/
- Thick three-layer base, stainless steel with an intermediate layer of aluminium, prevents food getting easily burnt and stuck to the pan.

One thing I observed is progressive whiteness with time. I generally cook for 3 or 4 days ( most of the time apple cider vinegar soaked chops in beef tallow) , first batch produces no white powder and second batch I see some of whiteness. 3rd one more like that. I clean it after 3 batches. If they are leaking for the high heating, that explains the progressive increase in deposit. If this is true

 

[anart]

Yeah, it definitely sounds like something is off. The vinegar might have increased some sort of degradation of the stainless steel layer. I'm really not sure, since I've never seen that happen with my stainless steel - but I never cook with vinegar either!

 

[Laura]

I would suggest ditching the stainless for frying and use cast iron.

If you are going to use stainless for other things, make sure it is good quality even if you can only buy one or two pans/pots.

 

[shellycheval]

seek10

Interestingly both are 3 layered ( top layer is stainless steel, second layer is aluminium and third one is magentic stainless steel.

Anart

The vinegar might have increased some sort of degradation of the stainless steel layer.

I'll bet this is the problem--I have seen white flakes emerge on from aluminum pots and utensils when contacted with an acid.
I think high quality, stainless steel pans are probably OK for medium to low heat cooking (eggs in lots of butter) which is what I use them for. I remember reading years ago not to leave tomato sauce, with its high acid content, sit in stainless steel pans as the acid will pit the surface of your pans and possibly leach out the nickel. Stainless steel is an alloy of steel that contains more than approximately 10 ½% Chromium and about 8% nickel.

For high heat frying and stewing things in a pot, I stick to cast iron.
shellycheval

 

[seek10]

Thank you for the comments.

I vaguely remember this coating issue started ( or got aggravated) with vinegar soaking . First I tried to fry it on cast iron pan ( lodge 10sk ) one, but found out it is getting white coating and its black seasoning disappearing exposing the cast iron, so I switched to one steel pan and other pan with less whiting. Once option left is clean the meat thoroughly after vinegar soaking and ofcourse I will get new pan.

Looking at the good quality pan seems to be having some confusion
_http://happycookingco.com/hidden-dangers.cfm

STAINLESS STEEL
There are many grades of stainless steel. Regular stainless steel cookware is made from different alloys including scrap metal. "Most stainless steel sold in stores is of such a nature to allow chrome and nickel to bleed into the foods as the salts and acids of the food react with the pot." Dr. Shelton. For cleanliness and safety reasons, you food should be cooked on only high -grade surgical stainless steel.

316Ti STAINLESS STEEL:
The cooking surface of Saladmaster® cookware is 316Ti surgical stainless steel it is the highest grade of steel used in the cookware industry. It is non-porous, meaning you can cook without oil and it's much easier to clean than regular stainless steel.

Regarding the metal, most cookware sold in stores is an 18/10 grade of steel at best. Because of the softness of this grade of metal, when heated, it expands and the food sticks to the pan. You are then forced to cook with oil and the pan becomes difficult to clean. In addition the natural acids and salts contained in our foods can create a chemical reaction

It looks more differences in surgical steel
_http://www.waterless-cookware.com/stainless_steel_cookware.htm

Is there a distinguishable difference in 304 vs 316 surgical stainless steel cookware?

Yes, 316 surgical stainless steel cookware costs more to manufacture.

In highly corrosive conditions like marine applications, 316 will outperform 304 however these harsh conditions do not exist in the kitchen environment.

316 is also preferred over 304 in high chloride conditions found in certain industrial applications and scientific research.

some interesting discussion went on there with types of steel, confusion regarding which is safer etc.

This thread has lot of discussion on the steel cookware quality and prevalent confusion regard to that , but some where the moderator started equating 316 series to 18/10 thus confusing things and ended up 4xx series as the good one
_http://www.finishing.com/292/94.shtml

It is rather difficult to discuss stainless steels because there are so many, and there are multiple numbering systems for the same types. To keep it fairly simple though, in one of those numbering systems most household stainless steel is either a "Series 3xx" stainless, like type 304 and type 316 ; or it is a "Series 4xx" stainless like type 403.

Most household Series "3xx" stainless steels have about 8 to 10 percent nickel in them and are nonmagnetic whereas most "Series 4xx" stainless steels have no nickel in them and are magnetic. The Series "3xx" series are more expensive because nickel is more costly than steel, and are generally considered more corrosion resistant. "Surgical stainless" is a "Series 3xx" stainless steel; type 18/8 and 18/10 are "Series 3xx" because they have 8 percent and 10 percent nickel respectively. Type 18/0 is a "Series 4xx" because it has no nickel.

But there is nothing "wrong" with 403 stainless steel. In fact, some people, rightly or wrongly, think "Series 4xx" is better (safer for the body) because it is nickel-free.

It looks I need to do some more digging.

 

[Laura]

There is no reason to not use cast iron. You can search google for several methods of re-seasoning the pan.

 

[seek10]

There is no reason to not use cast iron. You can search google for several methods of re-seasoning the pan.

thank you Laura. I will check it up.