Carbon Skillets

[snipes]

My big matfer showed up a earlier today and figured I'd pass along an initial cleaning tip that really worked well for me. I tried the soaking in hot soapy water and scrubbing with kitchen brush. Wax coating just laughed at it. I have a pack of 3M Scotchbrite pads. These are the grey 0000 abrasive, not the green ones at the grocery store (though those would probably work too). Made short work of the wax buildup. Took <5 minutes to do the entire pan. Still going to do the Cooks Illustrated potato skins cleanse to pick up what I may have missed, but what a time saver. Figured I'd pass it along.

The nicest thing about it was I thought to myself It's not like I can mess the pan up and put scratch marks in it

[Drewski]

Agreed! I love not worrying about "breaking" a pan by scratching it with a metal utensil. Rib steaks for the fam tonight. Such a better crust compared to the bbq (on thinner steaks), in my opinion. All were pleased with the results, Thermapen to save the day.

[old onion]

Agreed! I love not worrying about "breaking" a pan by scratching it with a metal utensil. Rib steaks for the fam tonight. Such a better crust compared to the bbq (on thinner steaks), in my opinion. All were pleased with the results, Thermapen to save the day.

Same here.I love not worrying when I use a metal utensil to try and pry off my stuck steak from my well seasoned non stick carbon skillet.

[Drewski]

Hope it's ok to post another forum here. The posts are a few years old, but some great info about using DeBuyer Mineral B pans in the oven. Seems pretty safe, as Altadan has already pointed out.

https://www.chowhound.com/post/debuyer- ... ven-833215

[Bob Z]

This is a Matfer with about 7-10 uses after several attempts at seasoning.

Fried some shroom slices with a drizzle of lemon juice tonite, the seasoning layers seemed to get lighter, but then
20 oz of smoked bacon. Wow this just didn't go well at all. pan sitting in the sink now and prolly gonna need steel wool to clean it out. I wont be cooking bacon in this pan again.

[slobound]

---
A little bacon fat, more heat and split into two batches may have yielded different results.

Thanks! The butter/oil didn't start spitting like crazy when I put the chops in, so I figured it wasn't hot enough to start.

I have become an ardent proponent of the reverse sear method of cooking steaks and chops.
Next to a sous vide, for me it is the most reliable and effective way of getting that perfectly controlled result on any thick cut of protein.
https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/03/how ... steak.html

I’m with ya, Ray! I’m a big fan of reverse sear.

[old onion]

This is a Matfer with about 7-10 uses after several attempts at seasoning.

Fried some shroom slices with a drizzle of lemon juice tonite, the seasoning layers seemed to get lighter, but then
20 oz of smoked bacon. Wow this just didn't go well at all. pan sitting in the sink now and prolly gonna need steel wool to clean it out. I wont be cooking bacon in this pan again.

Humm,I wonder what the deal is. I fry smoked bacon bought from a little farm market here and follow with several over easy eggs every couple of mornings and my carbons do ok.At first,bacon used to be a problem with some sticking but for some reason,I trudged on and now the pans are fine.I have both Matfers and Mineral B's.

[Bensbites]

This is a Matfer with about 7-10 uses after several attempts at seasoning.

Fried some shroom slices with a drizzle of lemon juice tonite, the seasoning layers seemed to get lighter, but then
20 oz of smoked bacon. Wow this just didn't go well at all. pan sitting in the sink now and prolly gonna need steel wool to clean it out. I wont be cooking bacon in this pan again.

I have an uneducated guess, is the skillet was too hot. That sounds counterintuitive at first. I have had success starting bacon at low temps to render some fat, once there is enough fat to lube things up you can add some heat.

[old onion]

I also do better when I don't crowd my bacon like you are doing in your picture.I started off my heat on number 4 setting this morning with my new Newquist skillet that I have only used a handful of times so far.Once the heat was there,I added the bacon and let it go without moving it.I watched for the sides to curl just a bit and then I knew the bacon released by itself.If I try to flip to early that is when I get sticking,so I use tongs and lift an end to see how it goes.If it reveals the slightest bit of stick,I leave it go until it doesn't.After the bacon,I tossed in two eggs and let them brown on the bottom and then flipped for a few seconds on the other side.No problem.

[gladius]

Hot pan THEN add fat.

[Altadan]

I think I too am learning that these pans are simply not a wok, or generally meant for sautee-ing - at least not during the first few minutes.
For one, my Min-B 12.5" is 6lbs, and I can feel my scrawny biceps laugh at my attempts to saute' with a pan like that... second, it seems like yes, the pan needs to first be hot, but... not too hot? This learning curve is quite curvy. I'm doing my utmost not to give up
On the upside, my pan is just the coolest looking thing I've seen in my kitchen - it's got this deep red/brown color around the sides, and deep deep blue hue in the center, where I gave it a heat stroke a while back

[jbart65]

I think I too am learning that these pans are simply not a wok, or generally meant for sautee-ing - at least not during the first few minutes.
For one, my Min-B 12.5" is 6lbs, and I can feel my scrawny biceps laugh at my attempts to saute' with a pan like that... second, it seems like yes, the pan needs to first be hot, but... not too hot? This learning curve is quite curvy. I'm doing my utmost not to give up
On the upside, my pan is just the coolest looking thing I've seen in my kitchen - it's got this deep red/brown color around the sides, and deep deep blue hue in the center, where I gave it a heat stroke a while back

First and foremost, Dan, steak. Super hot pan, then oil, then steak. If just for steak, these are great pans.

The second thing I cooked in my new pan was a Spanish tortilla. Almost no stickage from tatas and eggs. The pototoes fried nicely with little stickage. The eggs went in at lower heat.

Cooked shave steak the third time around. Very little stickage.

[Altadan]

I think I too am learning that these pans are simply not a wok, or generally meant for sautee-ing - at least not during the first few minutes.
For one, my Min-B 12.5" is 6lbs, and I can feel my scrawny biceps laugh at my attempts to saute' with a pan like that... second, it seems like yes, the pan needs to first be hot, but... not too hot? This learning curve is quite curvy. I'm doing my utmost not to give up
On the upside, my pan is just the coolest looking thing I've seen in my kitchen - it's got this deep red/brown color around the sides, and deep deep blue hue in the center, where I gave it a heat stroke a while back

First and foremost, Dan, steak. Super hot pan, then oil, then steak. If just for steak, these are great pans.

The second thing I cooked in my new pan was a Spanish tortilla. Almost no stickage from tatas and eggs. The pototoes fried nicely with little stickage. The eggs went in at lower heat.

Cooked shave steak the third time around. Very little stickage.

Spanish tortilla is something I went for as well, but as soon as the salt and rosemary hit, that's when the stickage began... the eggs only made a mess :\
I made a mid-cooking transfer to my old calphelon.
I need to get my hands on more steaks? Roger roger!

[jbart65]

For the record, I used the seasoning method recommended by Matfer. I did it twice in a row and went even longer than the recommended time.

My pan was nicely seasoned the first time I used it. I was surprised. Took awhile for my cast iron to get to that state. That's what I have been using for Spanish tortillas.

I did salmon on my Matfer last week. Got an even better crust than my cast iron with no stickage.

I'd wait on potatoes and eggs until it handles proteins a bit. Or pan seared vegetables such as asparagus or cauliflower.

[AlbuquerqueDan]

This is a Matfer with about 7-10 uses after several attempts at seasoning.

Fried some shroom slices with a drizzle of lemon juice tonite, the seasoning layers seemed to get lighter, but then
20 oz of smoked bacon. Wow this just didn't go well at all. pan sitting in the sink now and prolly gonna need steel wool to clean it out. I wont be cooking bacon in this pan again.

I'd clean that with a cup of vegetable oil mixed a cup of kosher salt. Heat the oil/salt mixture for a bit, then scrub with a big was of paper towels. From what I can see, there's no need to dispair.

[gladius]

I have a chainmail I use for my black and carbon skillets for those times I need it.

[old onion]

I have a chainmail I use for my black and carbon skillets for those times I need it.

I have used these before.They work good too.

[snipes]

This is a Matfer with about 7-10 uses after several attempts at seasoning.

Fried some shroom slices with a drizzle of lemon juice tonite, the seasoning layers seemed to get lighter, but then
20 oz of smoked bacon. Wow this just didn't go well at all. pan sitting in the sink now and prolly gonna need steel wool to clean it out. I wont be cooking bacon in this pan again.

Bob,

How confident are you that you removed all the wax coating on the inside of the pan (both the bottom and the sides)? The reason I ask is yours looks exactly like my little 8 1/2" Matfer did after a year's worth of use. The outside and inside walls are black, but the bottom doesn't really have much of a protective surface on it at all. And there was a definite crust line between the black walls and the pan bottom (on mine).

I picked up a larger Matfer last week and really ensured I removed all the wax this time (now that I had a better understanding of it all) and also decided to completely strip and refinish my smaller one. Night and day difference. Now some of it could be I used a different seasoning method this time, but both are super non stick. The smaller I use for eggs and the larger for bacon. No sticking with either and they wipe right off. I'd suggest you strip that sucker down all over the inside and try again. I will say it took A LOT of elbow grease, a dremel brush, steel wool and BKF to get that baked on coating off the sides. I tried finding oven cleaner at the grocery store, but they didn't carry it.

[Drewski]

Just a heads up about the Mineral B 12.5" pan, two weeks ago on Amazon they were $65, now they're $107 CAD. This is the Canadian Amazon, not sure if things have changed on the American site.

[Cutuu]

This is a Matfer with about 7-10 uses after several attempts at seasoning.

Fried some shroom slices with a drizzle of lemon juice tonite, the seasoning layers seemed to get lighter, but then
20 oz of smoked bacon. Wow this just didn't go well at all. pan sitting in the sink now and prolly gonna need steel wool to clean it out. I wont be cooking bacon in this pan again.

Bob,

How confident are you that you removed all the wax coating on the inside of the pan (both the bottom and the sides)? The reason I ask is yours looks exactly like my little 8 1/2" Matfer did after a year's worth of use. The outside and inside walls are black, but the bottom doesn't really have much of a protective surface on it at all. And there was a definite crust line between the black walls and the pan bottom (on mine).

I picked up a larger Matfer last week and really ensured I removed all the wax this time (now that I had a better understanding of it all) and also decided to completely strip and refinish my smaller one. Night and day difference. Now some of it could be I used a different seasoning method this time, but both are super non stick. The smaller I use for eggs and the larger for bacon. No sticking with either and they wipe right off. I'd suggest you strip that sucker down all over the inside and try again. I will say it took A LOT of elbow grease, a dremel brush, steel wool and BKF to get that baked on coating off the sides. I tried finding oven cleaner at the grocery store, but they didn't carry it.

These carbon steel pans should be really non stick Bob. I put bacon in my completely cold Newquist forge pan without any issues at all.