How Likely Was It The Cooking Pot?

[birdie22]

I've been gluten-free for 10mo and doing well. Yesterday I cooked dinner for myself and kids (hubby is usually the cook). I made chicken stir fry...chicken breast, frozen mixed veggie, brown rice, and sweet sour sauce. The sauce is labeled gluten-free (wegmans has clear labeling) as was the brown rice and the veggies (also wegman's brand) only listed veggies on the ingredients. About 30min after dinner my stomach was very distended and uncomfortably bloated. This was my major symptom leading me to NCGS diagnosis and has all but gone away since going gluten-free. I was shocked given that my meal was gluten-free and I prepped it myself. Then I remembered that the 2qt pot that I cooked the rice in was used by hubby ~4 days prior to cook couscous. The pot had been hand washed in hot soapy water and not used again during those 4 days. How likely is it that my bloating was caused by using that same pot?

[shadowicewolf]

How well was it hand washed? does it have scratches in it? Its possible.

[GottaSki]

It is possible. Was there a lid involved? When we had a combined kitchen I found that the lids weren't being washed as well as the pots - that is when I bought separate pans. Separate pans, cooking utensils and colander in a different color worked great in our kitchen.

One other possibility -- perhaps if the sauce was new to you - something besides gluten bothered you?

[birdie22]

Thanks all. Sauce wasn't new and it's a meal I've had before except usually with white rice instead of brown rice. Pot appeared clean. I did use a lid and it's a glass lid so there's a seam where the glass meets the metal rim. The rice water did boil up to the lid so I guess it's possible there was cc from the lid. We've used this pan a lot and the rest of the family rarely eats gluten items so it never dawned on me that the pot could cause a problem. I have leftover rice and I'm tempted to eat it by itself and see if it causes any issues. If it does, I'll have my answer. If it doesn't then I'll be scratching my head.

[ciamarie]

Is the pot non-stick or stainless steel? For my stainless steel cookware, when starting a gluten-free diet, I used a steel-wool pad to clean them until they were nice & shiny. But the non-stick bakeware and griddle has caused some issues, except the muffin tins for which I use paper baking cups.

[come dance with me]

I found there was a problem with the non-stick skillet, so bought a new one and gave the other one to a charity organisation for their shops. It was scratched so was a good place to catch gluten then spread it through whatever was cooking.