Member
Central Maine
The French made steel pans came to my attention maybe a year ago. At the time I knew little about them except that folks who should know really liked them. I filed the info' away in the grey matter and decided I'd explore them at a future time.
The pans that I'd been made aware of were the deBuyer line. They weren't inexpensive and for me to pay a lot of money to replace my cast iron was going to take a lot.
The last issue of Cooks Illustrated reviewed a mess of the steel pans, also called black pans. CI loved them for all the reasons I'd been made aware of, and the winner of the review was a more moderately priced steel pan made for restaurant kitchen use. The winning pan was a specific size of the Matfer brand. The actual name is bigger than that, but I shorten it to Matfer for ease.
So I decided it was time to try them out and ordered the tested size as well as the 9" crepe pan. Everything had been backordered, and the large pan is still backordered, but the crepe pan came in yesterday. The short story is that they are better than either Teflon no-stick pans or cast iron.
The long story continues... Using their suggested seasoning information I had the pan seasoned in short order on the stove top. I used 1:2 flax seed oil and salt, with the peels of a potato also in the pan. Season on medium heat for 8-10 minutes and the seasoning was seen to develop on the pan. I seta timer and the timer and the peels both agreed when the pan was fully seasoned. The peels were crispy and dark brown. One doesn't need to stand over the operation, but one should periodically move things around and up onto the edge of the pan to get that seasoned as well. When the pan is seasoned it will have turned from the grey metal to a brown to dark brown. One never wants to use detergent on that surface, but if that's done, it can be re-seasoned by the same method. There are other ways to re-season it as well, but the oil/salt/peels method is pretty foolproof and yields a perfectly seasoned pan.
So to test the pan I had the peeled potato, and I was cooking supper anyway. I decide on a sandwich, no big production last night. So I sliced a roll open and very lightly buttered both halves. Into the hot pan they went. Just an aside, steel pans come up to heat much more rapidly than cast iron. They also transfer heat much better as well, so you'll want to use a lower heat setting or you'll burn things. I figured that out with the roll. It didn't burn, but that's because I was keeping an eye on things. So the roll was done and cooling, the pan was hot so a bit of butter and the sliced potato went in. Now I've done raw potatoes in cast iron before and they sometimes stick. There was absolutely no sticking to the steel pan. Too, there were no hot spots despite the relatively thin material. When the slices were crisp the pan just wiped clean with a paper towel. No elbow grease required at all.
This morning I gave it a much more difficult test. We cook a product know as Taylor Pork Roll (TPR), aka Taylor Ham. Ours is a knock off version since TPR can be difficult to find in quantities we require it in. When it fries it, makes one heck of a sticky mess in a seasoned cast iron griddle. I use a metal spatula and lots of elbow grease to scrape it off so that I can fry my eggs. So today I fried the TPR and was amazed that the sticky residue wasn't sticking. A bit more butter and the egg went in. There was absolutely no sticking even being cooked in the same pan and with no removal of the TPR residue. After my English muffin sandwich had been assembled I put a paper towel to the pan, and with very minor effort if came clean. No water, no metal scraper, no stainless steel mesh required. It passed possibly the most difficult test I could think of, and passed with flying colors.
These pans are keepers in my kitchen. The plan is to simply not replace the current ($140) Teflon pan when it needs replacing, and Teflon always has a finite life span. We'll also retire our cast iron pans and smaller griddle. The smaller griddle has in fact already been replaced. Our Stainless steel pan will remain in use, I'll get to why in a minute.
Advantages of the steel pans... They heat rapidly, they transfer heat very efficiently (you'll need to rethink the heat you cook things with), they have no hot spots with the better brands, and they are basically the same price as cast iron. Of course they can also be more expensive.
The deBuyer steel pans didn't get as high a review as the Matfer pans and are twice the price. DeBuyer does make a prettier pan. But I'm not about looks but function. Debuyer handles are riveted on, the Matfer are welded. That yields a pan innard with nothing to catch crud. Myself, I'll stick with the Matfer pans.
There are other brands and I can't compare them. But Cooks Illustrated did. I was very curious as to the Lodge steel pans, and CI did not like them. The steel is too thin and it had hot spots because of that. Unless Lodge rethinks their pans I would steer clear of them. But why shop around and experiment when Matfer has been in business for 300 years and the pans work so nicely and are priced to sell?
Disadvantages... as already mentioned, do NOT use detergent on them or you'll need to re-season the pan. It's no big deal but with a little forethought you can save yourself that hassle. Too, do NOT simmer wet ingredients in them for more than a few minutes. Again, doing so will require re-seasoning. That where the stainless steel pans come in and why they'll remain in my kitchen. SS doesn't require re-seasoning. Simmer wet ingredients all you like in one and there is no harm. Again, just think ahead.
I wish I had known of steel pans many years ago, but I didn't. A steel pan should be as long lived as any cast iron pan, and future generations will be using the pans one buys today.
Here's my 9" crepe pan taken before cooking my breakfast this morning. The color today might be a hair darker and that's good since the seasoning is thicker. That makes it even more non-stick. Before seasoning the pan was approx' the same color as the handle.
[Image: DSC04279_zpsmcmwg4it.jpg]
The pans that I'd been made aware of were the deBuyer line. They weren't inexpensive and for me to pay a lot of money to replace my cast iron was going to take a lot.
The last issue of Cooks Illustrated reviewed a mess of the steel pans, also called black pans. CI loved them for all the reasons I'd been made aware of, and the winner of the review was a more moderately priced steel pan made for restaurant kitchen use. The winning pan was a specific size of the Matfer brand. The actual name is bigger than that, but I shorten it to Matfer for ease.
So I decided it was time to try them out and ordered the tested size as well as the 9" crepe pan. Everything had been backordered, and the large pan is still backordered, but the crepe pan came in yesterday. The short story is that they are better than either Teflon no-stick pans or cast iron.
The long story continues... Using their suggested seasoning information I had the pan seasoned in short order on the stove top. I used 1:2 flax seed oil and salt, with the peels of a potato also in the pan. Season on medium heat for 8-10 minutes and the seasoning was seen to develop on the pan. I seta timer and the timer and the peels both agreed when the pan was fully seasoned. The peels were crispy and dark brown. One doesn't need to stand over the operation, but one should periodically move things around and up onto the edge of the pan to get that seasoned as well. When the pan is seasoned it will have turned from the grey metal to a brown to dark brown. One never wants to use detergent on that surface, but if that's done, it can be re-seasoned by the same method. There are other ways to re-season it as well, but the oil/salt/peels method is pretty foolproof and yields a perfectly seasoned pan.
So to test the pan I had the peeled potato, and I was cooking supper anyway. I decide on a sandwich, no big production last night. So I sliced a roll open and very lightly buttered both halves. Into the hot pan they went. Just an aside, steel pans come up to heat much more rapidly than cast iron. They also transfer heat much better as well, so you'll want to use a lower heat setting or you'll burn things. I figured that out with the roll. It didn't burn, but that's because I was keeping an eye on things. So the roll was done and cooling, the pan was hot so a bit of butter and the sliced potato went in. Now I've done raw potatoes in cast iron before and they sometimes stick. There was absolutely no sticking to the steel pan. Too, there were no hot spots despite the relatively thin material. When the slices were crisp the pan just wiped clean with a paper towel. No elbow grease required at all.
This morning I gave it a much more difficult test. We cook a product know as Taylor Pork Roll (TPR), aka Taylor Ham. Ours is a knock off version since TPR can be difficult to find in quantities we require it in. When it fries it, makes one heck of a sticky mess in a seasoned cast iron griddle. I use a metal spatula and lots of elbow grease to scrape it off so that I can fry my eggs. So today I fried the TPR and was amazed that the sticky residue wasn't sticking. A bit more butter and the egg went in. There was absolutely no sticking even being cooked in the same pan and with no removal of the TPR residue. After my English muffin sandwich had been assembled I put a paper towel to the pan, and with very minor effort if came clean. No water, no metal scraper, no stainless steel mesh required. It passed possibly the most difficult test I could think of, and passed with flying colors.
These pans are keepers in my kitchen. The plan is to simply not replace the current ($140) Teflon pan when it needs replacing, and Teflon always has a finite life span. We'll also retire our cast iron pans and smaller griddle. The smaller griddle has in fact already been replaced. Our Stainless steel pan will remain in use, I'll get to why in a minute.
Advantages of the steel pans... They heat rapidly, they transfer heat very efficiently (you'll need to rethink the heat you cook things with), they have no hot spots with the better brands, and they are basically the same price as cast iron. Of course they can also be more expensive.
The deBuyer steel pans didn't get as high a review as the Matfer pans and are twice the price. DeBuyer does make a prettier pan. But I'm not about looks but function. Debuyer handles are riveted on, the Matfer are welded. That yields a pan innard with nothing to catch crud. Myself, I'll stick with the Matfer pans.
There are other brands and I can't compare them. But Cooks Illustrated did. I was very curious as to the Lodge steel pans, and CI did not like them. The steel is too thin and it had hot spots because of that. Unless Lodge rethinks their pans I would steer clear of them. But why shop around and experiment when Matfer has been in business for 300 years and the pans work so nicely and are priced to sell?
Disadvantages... as already mentioned, do NOT use detergent on them or you'll need to re-season the pan. It's no big deal but with a little forethought you can save yourself that hassle. Too, do NOT simmer wet ingredients in them for more than a few minutes. Again, doing so will require re-seasoning. That where the stainless steel pans come in and why they'll remain in my kitchen. SS doesn't require re-seasoning. Simmer wet ingredients all you like in one and there is no harm. Again, just think ahead.
I wish I had known of steel pans many years ago, but I didn't. A steel pan should be as long lived as any cast iron pan, and future generations will be using the pans one buys today.
Here's my 9" crepe pan taken before cooking my breakfast this morning. The color today might be a hair darker and that's good since the seasoning is thicker. That makes it even more non-stick. Before seasoning the pan was approx' the same color as the handle.
[Image: DSC04279_zpsmcmwg4it.jpg]
Brian. Lover of SE razors.
