Serious problems with carbon steel pan...HELP!

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milford

Cook
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Messages
93
Location
Bedford, Oh
Several months ago I got a Matfer 11" carbon steel pan. I figured that if I can handle 4 cast iron pans, 1 carbon steel should be easy. Ha,Ha.
So far, the only thing that doesn't stick to it are home fries. Bacon and eggs stick like crazy. I have seasoned the pan per instructions. I have even gotten it to take on a dark brown finish. But it doesn't work. Right now, I have water soaking the eggs loose. I Can either try and save it or pitch it.
I'll clean it up again and try some steel wool to clean up the pan. If I try again, I ran across a YouTube video where the whole pan (carbon steel) was baked in the oven for a couple of hours and the whole pan turned brown with the non stick finish.

Anyone have any suggestions.
 
No reason to toss it. Re-season it. Clean the pan so it's perfectly clean. Pre-heat your oven to 350ºF. coat the entire pan inside and out handle and all with the lightest coating of oil you can manage. Then wipe off as much as possible. Place the pan in the oven upside down for an hour. Shut off the oven and let the pan cool. That should give you your seasoning base. Do it all again. And again.
 
It takes time IMO to get a steel pan right.
The best advice is to keep using it and don't use it for eggs. Use a non-stick skillet for eggs. I don't even cook eggs in my AL skillets. Eggs always go on the non-stick.
Just keep the steel pan good and oiled after use and use oil or butter for cooking.
Don't try to season it again. You would be undoing anything positive you have already created.
 
Please be careful with your nomenclature as to what exactly your cooking utensil is made of.

Some here believe that elements can't be turned into alloys by the additions of other elements.

I suggest you give us a breakdown of the actual carbon content of said pan before you can trust any response you receive.

And remember that Iron can not be turned into an alloy such as steel. "So it's an alloy because it's turned into an alloy!?".

So it must come out of the ground as "Carbon Steel"

And we all know that steel doesn't contain any Iron. It's an element after all and elements can't become alloys. ;)


( Please excuse my pissy rant. )


To the OP.

Use the pan but don't expect miracles of nonstick with it.

It's a balance of heat and cooking technique that might take you a moment to adjust to your personal needs.

Cooking is heat and ingredients combined for the result you desire.

The tools we use become comfortable to us as we use them and understand there advantages and disadvantages.
 
Please be careful with your nomenclature as to what exactly your cooking utensil is made of.

Some here believe that elements can't be turned into alloys by the additions of other elements.

I suggest you give us a breakdown of the actual carbon content of said pan before you can trust any response you receive.

And remember that Iron can not be turned into an alloy such as steel. "So it's an alloy because it's turned into an alloy!?".

So it must come out of the ground as "Carbon Steel"

And we all know that steel doesn't contain any Iron. It's an element after all and elements can't become alloys. ;)


( Please excuse my pissy rant. )


To the OP.

Use the pan but don't expect miracles of nonstick with it.

It's a balance of heat and cooking technique that might take you a moment to adjust to your personal needs.

Cooking is heat and ingredients combined for the result you desire.

The tools we use become comfortable to us as we use them and understand there advantages and disadvantages.
Do you know how many companies advertise "carbon steel pans"? I'm not a metallurgist I just call it as I bought it. As for your "pissy rant, do you also rant when someone mentions stainless steel? I can assure there are several different alloys used there.
And if you read what you printed, steel is an alloy. Low carbon steel, high carbon steel, stainless steel, chrome vanadium steel, surgical steel, etc. Would you like me to give you alloy numbers. I work in a metal testing lab. We have alloys to test that companies who made them can't identify. Oh, and did you know if you heat treat an alloy, you can change the physical properties of that alloy?
p.s. as for your second sentence? Do you know the world is round?
 
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I have a 12" carbon steel pan I bought cheap, from World Market online. It is my go to. I did not oven season it, instead seasoning it on the top of my (gas) stove, using coconut oil. Washed it first, then oil and heat. Let it cool and wipe it with a cotton cloth. After a couple of times, it is non-stick. After I use it, even for something that wants to stick, I just deglaze with water while it is still hot, dry it on the burner and wipe it down with my now oily cotton cloth.
 
Calm down Milford.

Nice link BTW. :bounce:

Please define alloy?

I think you'll find we agree. :D
 
My (pissy rant) post was only due to the fact that I was told "So it's an alloy because it's turned into an alloy!?".
 
I was under the impression an alloy is a combination of elements.
 
But what's a dummy like me know. :rolleyes:
 
And thank you. Your rant is as good as mine.;)
 
Is the world round? :wacko:
 
I think you might need to research that a bit and you'll find it's not a perfect sphere. :rolleyes:
 
 
Welcome to DC.
 
Now. Lets start again. I washed and cleaned the pan as best I could. I also went over it with a salt/oil mix that gets rubbed all over to really clean the pan. Andy M. I must have missed your post. I should have tried it. I re-oiled the pan and cooked it on the stove a good long time. It burned, it smelled, it did nothing. I let it cool, and you can't even tell I did anything to it. As soon as Easter is over, I'll try baking this thing.
 
Now. Lets start again.

That's a wonderful idea.

But I won't start anew I'll go to my original post. ;)


To the OP.

Use the pan but don't expect miracles of nonstick with it.

It's a balance of heat and cooking technique that might take you a moment to adjust to your personal needs.

Cooking is heat and ingredients combined for the result you desire.

The tools we use become comfortable to us as we use them and understand there advantages and disadvantages.

I hope this is helpful in any way no matter how miniscule that may be. :chef:
 
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