Carbon Steel Pan

14 years ago

I'm contemplating buying a heavy duty carbon steel pan for searing steaks when the weather isn't cooperating for outdoor grilling. (My current skillets works fine but I want something with a seasoned finish that might be easier to clean). Instead of a fry pan, I've been looking at the crepe pan because I like the lower sides. Is there any reason that the crepe pan is a bad choice or am I over thinking this?? I suppose my range will get more spatter with the lower sides but I can't think of any other negatives.

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Comments (14)

lindac
14 years ago
Sounds good to me....I like to use a cast iron griddle.
Linda C
cooksnsews
14 years ago
I have a 9" CS frypan, as well as a crepe pan. I use the frypan way more frequently. So, I'd advise to get whatever pan that you can use most often.
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Frankly I'm no fan of a U shaped kitchen because two corners are one extra useless corner. Working off of Mama's excellent plan, I turned it into an L shape. 1. I moved the fridge to the opposite side. The reason I did so is your mudroom and your pantry are on that side. Coming in with groceries would mean lots of steps back and forth to put foodstuff away if your fridge is so far from the pantry. The same holds true when grabbing food to make a meal. Great exercise but really do you want to walk across your kitchen to get stuff from the pantry and then back again across the kitchen to get stuff from your fridge? 2. I moved the microwave shelf to that side too. I did it since it's closer to the fridge and it's out of the cooking zone. 3. I widened your island. 4. I added a 42" dish drawer facing your dishwasher so it's easy unloading to your dish drawer. 5. I moved the trash drawers to next to the prep sink. You didn't mention if you plan on having a disposal unit in your sink? I have a prep sink and a cleanup sink and put a disposal unit in both. They're not too expensive and I felt it was well worth it. I'm also planning on putting a small trash can UNDER my clean up sink. Most trash is generated by the prep area, so the trash under the clean up sink is only for the occasional food stuff that can't go down the disposal. 6. Next to your air return, I added narrow shelving. This can be open or closed and is good for storing stuff one can deep, so would be good for stuff you use more frequently like cereals, etc. One other thing I noticed not related to your kitchen but your pantry/powder room. You don't want the door to your powder room opening into the powder room because think of how you will need to be a contortionist to try and get around the door to use the toilet. Get a pocket door or have the door swing out. Additionally I would not angle the corner where the sink is in there as it will feel quite congested as it's a small room already. The space out of the pantry is minimal but will make the powder room feel larger.
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27 is huge, 😂. But I suppose you have the need. Surprised that the seasoning chore that seemed daunting at first...has not been so bad. My favorite egg dish I thought might stick for a while, is pretty perfect right out of the gate. My n15 and n20 are nesting on my back right burner 24/7. We do a bit of seed/whole seed spice toasting and oil infusions so that has been my seasoning routine after the initial gunk/travel removal.
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Ok, who talked me into this $%#$%& De Buyer pan?
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I'm amazed at the negative cast iron experiences and/or beliefs. Like I said above, despite a huge All Clad collection, I find myself using one 4 qt AC pot and 2 cast iron skillets 99% of the time. I make scrambled eggs 2 to 4 times a week; they never ever stick and I always wipe then quickly wash my cast iron. Eww, I would never not wash, but no rubbing and scrubbing is needed, so the wipe, hot water wash and rinse is quick. They're as non-stick as the Teflon I used to use, actually better, which I would never buy again. I have no idea if it has helped my CI season so well, but against all advice, I only use (organic) extra virgin 1st cold pressed olive oil, even when sauteing.I don't fry or bake. Agree with what fori said above, "if you can't soak it or wash it with dish soap, it ain't seasoned." Since I wash my cast iron, there is never a smell.
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ci_lantro
14 years ago
I use my carbon steel wok for searing roasts. Does a fantastic job.
antiquesilver
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the comments & suggestions - I think I'm trying to rationalize buying yet another skillet/saute pan. Apparently, I love the things & at last count had 9 high quality ones & several small cast iron ones stored in the basement that have probably rusted.

I don't particularly care for crepes, have never cooked them & the descriptions I found for crepe pans seemed to be very food-specific; that's why I wondered if there was something that prevented them from being all purpose. I doubted it, but just to be sure............

Looks like I'd better add another hook to the pot rack!
MichelleDT
14 years ago
I love my deBuyer CS pans! Love them! When they arrived, Mister even said it was a good looking pan. ;-)
lalithar
14 years ago
MichelleDT - Do you know the difference between Mineral B and blue steel pans from deBuyer? I am looking at these alternatives and confused on what to get.

Lalitha
antiquesilver
Original Author
14 years ago
According to the deBuyer site, the blue steel is slightly thinner gauge & the Mineral B has a beeswax finish (to aid in rust prevention I guess as I can't see how this would be 'seasoning' if you're still required to boil it out before oiling). The Mineral & the Mineral B are advertised as 'organic iron' - as opposed to ????????????? As I understand it, 'blue steel' is just carbon steel that's undergone a heat process that turned it blue although I'm not sure of the purpose.
MichelleDT
14 years ago
I really don't know the difference, if there is a significant difference. The label is still on the largest pan and it says, 99% Pur Iron Mineral B Steel Frying Pan. They were a set of three and I have been using the two smaller ones and love them.

BTW, I was at a Bluestar cooking demo (deciding on my new range) and a personal chef just raved about the pans and the rep also agreed which prompted my research and purchase. I think I will get many, many years out of these pans.

M
foodonastump
14 years ago
I noticed on the Mineral B it says "undistortable" which is a claim I don't see them making on the other products. Don't know if that means anything or not. This interests me, esp since I'm currently cooking on a smoothtop where such things matter.

(OT - Michelle - I wander over to appliances from time to time and a short while ago I saw you debating between griddle, no griddle, 12" or 24". Any decisions?)
MichelleDT
14 years ago
@Food - we decided on the 60" with 6 burner, griddle and grill. Mister finally got tired of me talking about it so I just went with both. Now he is tiring of my refrigeration analysis! ;-)
John Liu
14 years ago
The other negative with a crepe pan with very low sides is that you can't easily deglaze it to make a pan sauce.

OTOH, positive with a crepe pan is that the low sides make it easy to slide fragile stuff out of the pan to a plate. Thin flakey fish fillets, roesti, even crepes.

If you're okay with another pot in front of your window, then I'd certainly get a crepe pan. You can never have too many pans.
antiquesilver
Original Author
14 years ago
Yeah, John, I thought about the pan sauce limitations but I'm mainly interested in the CS for searing steaks - other foods don't seem to leave a baked on coating on the pan as much - & I'll forego the sauce. Not sure how well a pan sauce works in CS anyway if you use a lot of wine or other acidic liquids.

And I agree - you can never have too many pans!
antiquesilver
Original Author
14 years ago
An Update:
I bought the 12" deBuyer Carbone Plus crepe pan & it arrived yesterday. The Carbone seems to be almost identical to the Mineral line without the 'green' hype & it was $15 cheaper on Amazon (with shipping taken into consideration); it's not blue steel but rather a light charcoal color. It's 2.5mm thick & heavy - & the finishing is superb & it's absolutely flat! I'm not sure what I was expecting for carbon steel but the milling is as good as my DeMeyere SS skillet.

So far, I've only used it to fry bacon to aid in the seasoning process but the depth & shape seem to be ideal for searing. There's slightly more depth than a griddle but the sides are angled enough for easy food removal. And the most important functional part is that it not unwieldy if I want to finish in the oven.
arley_gw
14 years ago
That sounds great; I like cast iron but I spend lots of time trying to smooth out the surface prior to seasoning. I may have to try one of those carbone plus pans. Let us know how it seasons up.

There are lots of formulae out there for seasoning; I've had good luck with grapeseed oil.

Carbon Steel Pan

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Carbon Steel Pan

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