A big "ME TOO" in admiration of these fry pans!
Received my first one yesterday, an eight inch Mineral B Element. My goal is to have a dedicated egg flipping pan without replacing it (non-stick stuff) every two years.
OK, the pan is pretty heavy and I will have to work on my technique. FWIW, I almost went with the same size Lodge carbon steel model. It is substantially thinner and should be lighter, but... if I ever want to sear a lump of flesh at high temperature I'm more comfortable with the thicker (more warp resistant I think) pan.
The DeBuyer directions no longer instruct the user to boil potatoe skins in the pan, but I did it anyway. It was gross!
Someday I'm going to boil potatoe skins in a stainless pan and see if all that black stuff came off the skins or out of my new fry pan.
I followed up with as light a coat of Canola oil as I could manage. I couldn't even see the oil. Baked it upside down at 400F for an hour, let it cool.
I wound up with a spider web pattern of cooked oil all over the pan. It was dry to the touch though, no stickiness. Next time I'll pull the pan half way through and give it another thorough dry wipe.
Undeterred, I wanted to begin stovetop seasoning it, i.e., cooking, and I had these two peeled Russetts handy. I decided to make potatoe chips. My wife, (who is always amused when I discover stuff she already knew long ago) offered up some of her goose grease hoard. Why not?
Fried very thin potatoe slices in small batches (eight inch pan/ potatoes cannot touch one another) for an hour or so. None stuck, but then again, they were pretty much floating in bird fat.
Very tasty!
The pan is now an even golden brown (inside and out) but still decorated with the Canola oil spider web.
This morning was the real test. Fried eggs.
I'm a happy camper! Three over easy eggs in quick succession with just a light wipe of Bacon grease. They needed just a nudge to release and then swirled around as well as any I've seen in a non-stick pan.
As I mentioned, the pan is a bit heavy to flip with but I didn't break any yolks whilst flipping. I did break one while plating it. I'll need some practice before I can move up to flipping doubles.
Just had to share.