Title is kind of self explanatory, seasoned it and then proceeded to make a quesadilla for the kids. Wife tried to make a cheese "chip" and it took some of the seasoning off.
Do I just proceed as normal ?
So i bought this pan a year ago its a merten and i got discouraged using it because it seemed hard to cook on once the factory seasoning wore off. So i got it back out today and attempted to strip and re season since the carbon build up was so bad. Do you guys think this looks ok? And any tips for using carbon steel on electric? I was to prevent warping so i guess maybe super low heat?
It wasn't like that until I popped some popcorn and sauteed tomatoes 🫠😅
When people say just cook in it, they're not kidding...
I'm not suggesting seasoning isn't important, but here is a bare carbon steel pan (lodge, would not recommend) cooking an egg with about 1 tablespoon of butter.
It works just fine with zero seasoning.
This is just an attempt to demonstrate that temperature and oil are far more important than seasoning for something to act like a non stick
I included the cast iron and SS pan at the start so you can see the CS pan is freshly sanded.
I'd say that keeping it clean (using soap and water) and applying a very thin oil to a warm pan when done is all that really needs to happen to keep you and your pan happy.
No, your seasoning won't look like "black magic", it will be non uniform in color, but will always perform like this video & that's all that really matters.
Having it "perfect and black" is for social media posts...
(The nonstick from the lodge factory works fine for cooking, cleaning up is not as easy as I would like and I don't like having to use a lint free towel or cloth to reapply oil. For me, it's far more enjoyable to use sanded)
Hi everyone, I started using Misen’s carbon steel pans a few years ago, and while my tortilla tastes even better than in any nonstick skillet, the walls aren’t high or vertical enough to get a nice sealed, rounded edge like I used to get (see photos).
Any suggestions for a good model or brand?
Picked up this beauty for free through a local marketplace. The owner was flabbergasted anyone would even want such a rusty piece of metal. They even asked if we had taken a proper look at the pictures 😅
I got this paella pan for Christmas and finally was able to use it yesterday. I got all the food off (wooden spatula, soap, and green side of a sponge), and the steel is smooth to the touch (minus the built-in divots) but the steel is almost like, stained?
I will admit shamefully that I didnt realize it was carbon steel until I went to clean it after use, so I used whatever factory-coating was on it. I've used carbon steel a little bit before but my wok is jet black so ive never seen it with these marks before
Does it just need to be re-seasoned? I saw a few sources say that its pointless to fully season a paella pan because paella is so acidic, so just oiling it after washing is enough, so I dont know.
Any advice or information would be super helpful!!
I have no idea if I did this right. Got them both up to really hot on the gas stove. Then coated with olive oil, then when it stopped smoking, I did it again. I did this routine approx 4 times each. However, they look dirty. Did I not get them hot enough?
Absolutely loving the switch to carbon. Quick learning curve about heat control but so far so good. I've enjoyed the extra process of cleaning the pan and taking care of it.
The other night I decided to season my Tramontina Ember pan on my grill. While I planned on an hour I got distracted and forgot about it for several hours. Temp of the grill was about 500 degrees when i turned the gas off. It went from black to various shades of blue. The photos show the contrast between a normal and the new blued pan. The rivets are also a bronze in color.
Is this kind of discolouring normal?
I’ve been just cooking, cleaning, drying, and light seasoning regularly. I love how it looks and have loved seeing it change colors with each cook. That being said, if I look at it in the right light you can see the spots that look dull and caked compared to the rest of the pan. Almost like it’s not clean and maybe caked on oil or food. I have done kosher salt and oil scrub, boiled water and scraped with a wooden spoon, I clean each time with a sponge and dish soap, I can’t feel any difference when I run my finger across these parts. I assume this is fine? Should I worry it’s not clean with these spots?
Hey ya all!
I am actually quite happy with how my pans are.
Small one is beeing used since a few years. Doing its jobs fine for single steaks and other small stuff.
Got the big a few days ago. Did the seasoning with linseed oil.
Very thin layers, 250• C till smoking in the oven. Let it cool. Repeat 5 or 6 times.
But same as my small pan a few years ago, after the first cooking process, a few spots got flaky.
I really don’t know why.
I don’t use acid when cooking with these pans. Soy sauce was in the process when frying minced beef.
Question is: am I doing something fundamentally wrong or are these small patches normal. With the small pan it never recovered, but the patina works well.
I wanted to do it proper this time, but the same mistake seems to have happened again.
Any recommendations?
And yes I am a experienced chef, I use induction, I heat slowly the go to maximum level 8 of 10 levels, most of the time only lvl 7
No acid
No rapid cooling etc
Anything I am not seeing?
Thanks y’all!
Happy to finally write in here not only read :)
Really liked how this turned out.
Roughly followed but tweaked Noah Bristol’s youtube guide on rust bluing cast iron.
Surface prepped with a light sanding and green scotchbrite, but I probably should have done more, like a vinegar etch. The first few layers mostly flaked off and left a lot of bare metal, maybe because the surface was too smooth or I wasn’t aggressive enough with degreasing the factory oil.
Also found that I got a lot better results wiping rust solution on a warmed pan so that it would flash off, instead of drenching like Noah suggested. I did several passes before the conversion step.
First tried boiling water in the pan, but steaming over a wok seemed better and faster.
Once I figured it out, it only took me 3 cycles to get a decent covering of black oxide. Could have gone more but I figured it was all aesthetics after that point.
The first seasoning layer was super even. Seems like it really does act like velcro. On my Dartos, the first layers always had little drops of coalesced oil no matter how many dry paper towel wipes I did.
Stopped at 3 layers of seasoning because it was late.
Will post a timelapse of the rust conversion in the comments, it’s pretty cool to watch the black rust spread.
Was super excited for my first carbon steel pan. Waited almost two weeks for shipping and…it arrived dented
Having it for some months and I usually just clean it with a cloth and oil it after cooking
Just finished the first round of preseason, canola at 465F for an hour. It mostly looked good but there are these small, off colored looking marks.
Is this normal and should I just use it to keep building it? Or is this factory wax or something that I didn't do a good job cleaning off prior to the initial preseason?
Bought my first two carbon steel pans. Seasoned them and will cook on them this evening.
Did not know this brand existed until it popped up on ozbargain a few weeks ago. I wondered who would pay AUD$219 for the Classic if you could buy the nitrided version for $20 more. I was planning on buying a one piece carbon steel pan, but would have gone with Darto when their sales are on later in the year. I wouldn't pay Solidteknics prices for a Chinese made pan, even if it's an Australian brand.
But, Yahgan decided to sell off their remaining Classic series for half price, (going only nitrided from now on) and this pan is definitely worth the punt at $109. Looks good out of the box. Will be giving it a season and cook soon.