Steel pans, better than either teflon or cast iron

I can verify that the Matfer seasoning instructions work fantastically. Could you use their seasoning method for deBuyer? Of course.

I am going to scrub one of mine down to bare and retry a seasoning from scratch.

Do you have a link to them or was it the instructions from post one with the potato peel?

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I found their instructions online, but it was something foreign. Use what's in the #1 post. For my 9" crepe pan I used about 1/3 cup of salt and just enough oil to wet it but not make it sloppy. I used one potatoes worth of peels. Then it's medium heat for 8 -10 minutes, but go by the peel. They should browned and parts may be beyond browned and almost burned. Halfway through the time you should see the seasoning beginning. If not then turn the heat up a smidgeon. It will stink if you use flax seed oil. So have the windows open and the exhaust fan on. It will smoke a bit, but just continue. Get the oily salt all over the pan, even up the sides. Don't be afraid to move the pan around the flame to get the heat onto the sides. When the time is up and the potato skins are close to burned, turn off the heat and allow the pan to cool. Wipe it out with a paper towel and you should be done. Some of the salt came out hard, but a little more pressure did it. It may need to be seasoned twice but once was fine for mine. The instructions didn't say to do this, but since I had the peeled potato I sliced it and fried it up just to use the pan and give it a bit more seasoning while doing something productive with it.

Let me know how it works for you.

Edit: a larger pan would require more of everything. When my 12" pan comes in I expect to double the quantities.

Well Brian, I owe you a huge THANK YOU for posting your findings.

I manually stripped down a pan and tried the method you described and it worked like a charm. I then put two more in the self clean oven to strip them (took finish off handles but we are fine with it) and then did the same method. Hopefully we don't have any issues with no coating on the handles and they will probably start to show some darkening as we use them. I'll keep an eye on the handles and should have researched the self clean method a bit more, but many people were reporting great success with it. In fact, we only did one hour in the oven and it took 90% of the seasoning off.

After 2-3 seasonings with Crisco, Coarse Salt and potato shavings/peels for 10 min a sessions and Voila.

We used the newly seasoned pans tonight for supper and my wide said "I wish we had done this from day one, you better go on your forum and thank whoever told you about this method". That is some high praise, trust me.

Pics don't do them justice, so I didn't take any as they don't look as dark and rich in the pics as in person.

The rice we made slid right off and around, she said it always sticks in the past. The peapods were the same. We did some fried eggs yesterday with the first one and again, they slid right out.

What a world of difference from our last seasoning with the brittle flax seed oil seasoning and use, when stuff would build up and get crusted on. Now we coarse salt scrub any debris off, lightly oil and out away.

THANK YOU.



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Precisely, pix just don't work to convey it.

You're welcome. It was my pleasure. :-) I'm just glad that it worked for you. I got the technique from Cooks Illustrated and they got it from Matfer, except Matfer was a bit vague. I just passed it on.

It's amazing to see the seasoning develop as it's heated, or I think that it is. One can't see that happen with cast iron, but I bet it would work there as well. Of course it will take longer since it takes 2x longer for CI to heat up. No big deal, just go by the potato peels; they need to be dark brown and blackened in spots for the job to be done.

Crisco isn't wrong since any oil or fat will work, but rumor has it that Flax seed oil produces the toughest seasoning that will hold up to metal tools. I'm just reporting it, I wasn't the author of the research that I quote. It's what I used and it's working fine. But whatever works aka YMMV.

I've found that if I can't wipe the pan clean when hot, then just let it cool and whatever is on it "flakes" off with paper towel. If it's truly stubborn a bit of water and it's off. I've been following the water with heat and a microscopically thin film of oil that instantly smokes and polymerizes.

I'm just glad that it worked for you.

I was thinking not long ago about what I'm going to make for breakfast. I'm going to try to convince the wife that she wants crepes. I can't think of a better use for a crepe pan. :-)

I'm still waiting on the bigger pan. Matfer USA was taken by surprise.

Edit: So I couldn't convince the wife about the crepes. Instead I made a breakfast sandwich of faux Taylor Pork Roll (one heck of a "sticky" thing to fry) , Hoffmans super sharp cheese, and egg. I was able to follow the TPR with the eggs immediately, but a teaspoon of water was required in the pan to get rid of the bits of residue. I followed it by heating the pan, adding a few drops of flax seed oil and wiping it out with a paper towel, what remains is an extremely thin film of oil, but of course it doesn't remain as oil. As the pan was hot, after caring for the inside, I wiped down the outside of the pan to build on its rust resistance.

Brain excellent article. I can attest that steel cookware is great, I used steel cookware when I had cooked professionally. Nothing conducts heat better for cooking.

I also agree that real food tastes much better then processed.

Sinistral, I enjoy watching Chef Ramsey's "Hells Kitchen" and it boggled my mind at one time when the chefs couldn't sauté things without burning. Just recently I realized that they're probably using steel pans. I realized that since getting ours in fact. Yes, they heat up faster and conduct heat better than cast iron. But if they're steel pans on the show they don't have any seasoning on them from their appearance.

When you used them were they kept seasoned? I'm merely curious as I've never worked in a professional kitchen.

I've noticed that on many shows we watch with the kids like Chopped and Cut Throat Kitchen. The chefs competing always bring their own knives but the cookware always appears new and unused.

Regarding flax oil. I've heard so many things for it and then many against. I figured Crisco was food enough for Grandma, it's food enough for me. I used to pour excess bacon grease into a jar and use for seasoning but don't have any handy . Now that they have a bit of DIY seasoning on them, we will just season through regular use.

Either way, I sure hope these pans continue to perform like they have the past few meals...and get even better.

All evidence has been buried. All tapes have been erased.

Sinistral, I enjoy watching Chef Ramsey's "Hells Kitchen" and it boggled my mind at one time when the chefs couldn't sauté things without burning. Just recently I realized that they're probably using steel pans. I realized that since getting ours in fact. Yes, they heat up faster and conduct heat better than cast iron. But if they're steel pans on the show they don't have any seasoning on them from their appearance.

When you used them were they kept seasoned? I'm merely curious as I've never worked in a professional kitchen.

No, we did not season them  they were used so frequently there was not time to do so, expectation were saute and fry pans were seasoned occasionally. Like you discovered I rarely had food stuck in a steel pan.

I may have to try the flax seed seasoning technique on my cast iron stuff. A couple of my pans are beginning to lose their seasoning. My wife's nephew and his girlfriend have been cooking at our place, and I think they have some issues with not using detergent on pans.


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Yup, that'll do it Yohann (detergent), but flax seed seasoning will still not like detergent. I won't let anyone but the wife or myself anywhere near our cast iron, and now the steel pan.

I know how non-stick these pans are but this morning I was amazed all over again. This morning I fried up a slice of canned ham steak, and since these pans aren't oiless I added some grapeseed oil to the pan. The pan was doing it's typical no stick routine, but the amazing part was that the ham steak was moving itself around the pan as it fried. I never saw that before! It was as though it was on ball bearings. The eggs that followed on the residual oil were just as non-stick.

I know it's ridiculous to gush about a stupid pan, but it's that good!