Completed the carbon steel pan set.

[strmanglr scott]

I have been using the 12" Lodge carbon steel pan now for about 5 months. Finally pulled the trigger on the 10" and 8" to complete my set.

I bought from Lodge direct this time. Any order over $50 got free shipping and qualified for a $10 discount. So I got both delivered for just under $63.

I used the 12" and wasn't sure about it in the beginning. I had some food stick a few times at the start. I scraped it off, used some course salt and re-seasoned it a couple times and now it's working great. Just as non-stick as a coated pan, I love it.

Some of the other pans had a better rating from ATK but you had to scrub the wax off and season it from the start. Plus I wanted to buy American made.

Can't wait to get the other two pans up to speed. Highly recommend getting carbon steel.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I too love carbon steel pans. I have a carbon steel, flat-bottomed wok made by Atlas. It is easily as non-stick as are my Griswold cast iron, and my one non-stick saute pan. The great things about carbon steel verses CI is that it cooks equally well, is substantially lighter in weight, and is actually tougher as it is more malluable. It won' shatter with extreme temperature changes, which though rare, can happen with cast iron.

The only downside is that due to it's lower mass, and lower thermal mass, it won't hold its teperature as constant when food is put into the hot pan, that is, it's easier to cool the metal. But in reality, it absorbs heat from the heat souce faster, which may nullify the lower thermal mass. In any case, my carbon steel wok is a wonderful, and very capable cookig vessel.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[strmanglr scott]

The fact they don't hold heat like a cast iron and are that much lighter makes them more suitable for a saute pan. I wish I had a gas stovetop, these pans would really shine.