Forgive me father for I have sinned, I bought a Carbon Steel Frying Pan and I LOVE IT!
My family has been using cast iron pans back to the early 1900's (My father has my great great grandmothers pan) and we have always swore by them. In my late 20's, early 30's I tried to go my own way with some fancy calphalon etc but always found my way back to cast iron. That was until this past weekend. A chef friend of mine was telling me how great these "Black Steel" (another name for carbon steel) pans are and strongly suggested I try one instead of my cast iron. I did and after a week of use I can safely say they are better than cast iron in every way.
Carbon Steel vs Cast Iron
- Much Lighter than Cast Iron
- MUCH, MUCH easier to season and obtain that true "non-stick" surface in compared to Cast Iron
- Carbon Steel Heats up and cools down much faster than cast iron
- The Sides on a Carbon Steel pan are lower and have are not as straight up as Cast Iron thus they are more conducive to frying/sauteing, easier to flip eggs and pancakes
- Two to three times the price of Cast Iron
- Longer, angled handles make the Carbon Steel pans much easier to handle
- Silicone Handle Covers are much tighter and feel better on the pan I bought vs my experience with the silicone handles for my cast iron pans
- They are to be treated the same way you treat your current Cast Iron pan when it comes to cleaning and storage
The Seasoning Process
After a ton of research I purchased the
Matfer Bourgeat 11-7/8 pan for $50 on Amazon and followed their instructions on seasoning with a slight alteration per some videos I watched. I bought 4 large idaho potatoes, peeled them, split them into two equal piles. While I was doing this I had filled the pan with water and boiled it for about five minutes. I then washed it with hot water and dawn detergent and brushed it aggressively with a stiff brush. This process removed the protective coating the pans ship with. Then on medium heat I added 2/3 of a cup of Salt, half a cup of the highest smoke point oil you have (I used peanut) and the skins of two potatoes. You keep moving this mixture around the pan for 15 minutes, then remove from the heat, dump the mixture out, wipe the pan clean (ITS HOT, be careful) and then repeat the process. After you do this for the 2nd time, wipe it clean again, put a table spoon of the same oil in the pan, wipe the pan completely with a paper towel and let it sit on medium heat for five minutes and it's ready to use. The pan will have turned from a bright silver to a dark brown at the center to a carmel color the further out from the center you go. After this process the pan was like a sheet of glass. I couldn't believe how well food moved around the pan with just a bit of oil in it. The pan is completely non-stick with a bit of oil in it.
Here is a pic of some sausages I cooked immediately after I seasoned the pan.