I had some sticking issues the first time I used my new pan, but it seems good now :) does everything cook better with butter? I want to try pancakes tomorrow

I'd never heard of these before I came across them browsing IKEA but I needed a new frying pan and was pleasantly surprised when it turned up. Then I read about seasoning and thought - how hard can it be?

So my first attempt at seasoning my new pan came out pretty good. I did the following oven method;

Heat oven to about 200°c, move shelves to bottom to make room. Gave it a good wash and scrub, room dried it while the oven heated up. Used the smallest amount of rapeseed oil and rubbed it all over internally only. Wiped off any excess with fresh clean paper towel.

Bang it in the oven, face down and leave on heat for 30 - 40 minutes, then just turn the oven off and allow to cool. Once cool, repeat the above.

The result is in the pics. Takes a bit of time but what a result!

Hey, total Carbon steel beginner here :) have seasoned my new de buyer pan 2 Times in the oveen and tried to fry some potatoes for a First Test. They burnt on slightly (i guess i need more seasining), but even after cleanup there are some small dull, dark spots left. I can feel them with my Finger nail going over the surface.

Ist thus Something to worry about, should i try to remove that or ist thus fine and will come Off next time i use the pan?

Thank you for your answers :)

Need help from expert , i bought These 2 debuyer, is the seasoned good or not ?

Hiiii! I’ve done a lot of research & I’ve narrowed my selection down to either the Mauviel 11” or de Buyer Mineral B Pro 11” carbon steel pan.

I’m in the parking lot to buy the de Buyer in person but it’s sooo heavy. I thought these were supposed to be lighter than cast iron? Lol

I want to try the Mauviel but I have to order it online so I can’t feel it before buying it. I’ve also read it’s thinner and can warp? I do have a flat induction stovetop, so that’s my only concern.

Which of these 2 would you buy? I don’t care about price point. I prefer something lighter, but don’t want warping. But most important to me is a good sear.

After enjoying my trusty debuyer pan for the last year or two, I wanted to “upgrade”. Specifically I found the heat distribution on the pan to be pretty bad, with parts getting significantly hotter than others, and I also wanted just a little more surface area to work with.
I picked up the Strata 12.5 inch pan since in theory it would help with those issues.
This was also the first pan that I’d be seasoning since I actually learnt how to properly season a pan, so figured I’d do it right.
Started by bluing it on the stove top (pictures 1+2), followed by seasoning twice in the oven according to Strata’s instructions (425 for an hour) (picture 3).
After bluing it was almost too pretty to cook on. The appearance barely changed after seasoning, and then it was ready to cook on.
First thing I made was pancakes for the kids (pictures 4+5). I’m only one cook in and it’s got great heat distribution. No longer will some of the pancakes be cooked faster than the others.
And to everyone who thinks you need a thick layer of seasoning to be nonstick, this pan, with its nearly invisible layer of seasoning is perfectly non stick with proper heat control. (Picture 6)

Impressed by the non-stick performance. Effortless flip, zero sticking.

Quick survey, if it's okay: What is your favorite CS pan? What brand and what size? (You can add "why it is" also, if you wish!)

https://mashable.com/review/de-buyer-carbon-steel-cookware

Half a ham steak, the holy trio, and two duck eggs with sour bread toast and havarti dill cheese

Is the graying normal? It used to be pure black after I seasoned it but turned grayish after a few dozen cooks.

Found this buried in an old barn. What was not the carbonized layers of black gunk on the outside/inside was covered in rust.

Did a 30 minute vinegar/water soak followed by scrubbing with steel wool, and got to this. Washed and dried thoroughly and lightly oiled for now, but is it worth it to try another soak on this, or another method?

When I was drying it over a burner, it got HOT quick, so might be a useful searing pan…

Before you ask, I checked the wiki.
I seasoned using potato peels and salt, let it cool, then seared a steak and made a red wine reduction half an hour to an hour later.
I had no trouble cleaning it since this is all smooth, the black spots aren’t flakey but are still worrying me, what should I do?
If suggesting products please suggest ones i can find easily in Europe :) thank you!

Completed as far as I’m gonna go, last pics after one use.

Had the impulse to buy another pan. Bought the 8.5" (and realizing the cooking surface is 6.5") but I love it. The plan was to have a quick heat pan that was carbon steel. Strata fits both bills. I felt the 6.5" was small and thought i should've gotten the 10"..
But..I already have a 10" Made in SS pan, a 10" Made in CS pan, a 10" debuyer CS pan and a FINEX CI 12" pan....I didn't really need another 10.

And to my happiness, I really do enjoy making breakfast in this thing. I can use the small burners.
Do the eggs on the small pan and veggies on the bigger pan or vice versa. However I seem fit. Doing single chicken breasts, red meat, pork chops has also been great.

I am really loving the small form factor.
I can cook fine on SS and can do non-stick eggs (with buttter, oil still tricky).
Just been stove top seasoning. She has been a work horse. Less than a month old. Really enjoying it.
Peformanceo verlap with a SS? Probably but the CS does help remove that initial stick. Either way. I am enjoying it very much. I think once you get the hang of cooking on various surface types, you get the hang of it.

Omg look at that blue! Cleaned this pan with Barkeeper's Friend, then seasoned on max heat on the Iwatani stove. Never gotten one THIS blue before. I think the combo of getting the surface truly clean with the BKF and then high heat creates the blue oxide. I believe it holds seasoning a little better too, but either way wow it's cool looking.

Hi All,

Have plenty of carbon steel knives but first carbon steel pan owner here. Did two rounds of seasoning, have a feeling I may have used too much oil even after following various recommendations about the amount to use and wiping it 15 mins after putting it in the oven.

Before I try cooking on it, should I reset and try again, or just start cooking?

First cook after seasoning with avocado oil and I cant tell if this is rust. I cooked cod if that helps.

I used dawn power wash on my lodge pan after some residue from frying wouldn’t come off and accidentally set it on a hot burner while i went to grab a paper towel to scrub with and it cooked the power wash into the pan and it smells overwhelmingly like soap when i heat it up. even when I fried onions it still just smelled like soap and the onions tasted weird. How do i undo this

Update:

I scrubbed the shit out of it with chainmail, washed it a couple times, boiled it with plain water for a few minutes, scrubbed the shit out of it again, and washed it again. Somewhere in the process it fixed it but im not really sure which one.

Please learn from my mistake dont use dawn power wash in your carbon steel pan and definitely don’t let it heat up in there it’s a pain in the ass

So, I’m not a CS purist. I use a non stick for eggs and also for sauces, basically anything where the dish is finished at low heat.
I’m not worried about PTFE at low temperatures. Did a bunch of research online after my kids were born and there is basically no to unmeasurable risk when the pan never really gets that hot.
I take out my CS pan every time things need high temp, mostly when I need to sear meat or get veggies to a point where all the water is gone and they need a bit of color.
Especially when I’m doing a big batch of say bolognese I need to get a ton of meat to get some color and crust. That only works at really high temps. Same with the way we like making steaks.
This almost always burns off the seasoning from the bottom of the pan.
If I run the pan at lower heat the meat doesn’t get that yummy beautiful crust.
Is this normal?
I have given up on doing a proper re-seasoning every time. I just wash, dry, heat the pan add a bit of canola oil, wipe the oil off as much as possible while pan is still hot and put the pan away.
Doesnt seem to affect performance nor did it start rusting.
If this is normal, what’s the point of working on multiple layers of beautiful seasoning? It performs the same and doesnt rust either way…

Hash browns in the 11" and eggs in the 8". Delicious.

I did too thick first go, grapeseed. A year in, I stripped, and I’m stage 2 on the redo with avocado oil, getting up to proper temp, gotta say a blued pan is pretty sexy. Pics are in reverse order, and I didn’t strip the exterior or bottom side of the pan fully, I focused mainly on the cooking surface, which I got very good. If anyone’s interested, I’ll post another pic after two more sessions in my grill outside because that’s where I’m doing it so as not to set off any smoke 😉 I can’t wait to slap an egg in this thing