how robust is the seasoning on your DuBuyer skillet?

i'm relatively new to carbon steel pans.

you all motivated me to try it. for the most part it is awesome. it has taken a fair share of the workload from my old griswold cast pans.

what i dont like is how delicate the seasoning is. yesterday i tossed a few coins of andouille sausage in the pan to set on top of white beans and the pan now has shiny spots where the sausage seems to have cleaned the pan of seasoning.

i'm not convinced i'll ever get it to the level of my cast iron in terms of seasoning.

i dont wash it..if it gets bad, i might boil some water in it and wipe it out. that move has taken off seasoning. if i had a Griswold with sloping sides, i might never get into carbon pans.

it makes a killer roasting pan for a small chicken/cornish hen.

Carbon steel does not get the same bullet proof seasoning as cast iron, but it is far easier to apply one (I use the stovetop method). Don't over think it just use it knowing you can always repair the seasoning with a quick heating on the hob and wipe of oil.

If you ever need to scrub the pan just add salt and a bit of oil and go at it.

It took a full year of regular use before my first deBuyer was a certified badass. They just love to be used, and used a lot. It's ugly as sin and not nearly as uniform as the seasoning you can get on cast iron, but the performance is there and it never really lets me down. My second deBuyer doesn't see much use and I tried to force a season a bunch of different ways... it's lackluster at best. Maybe just bad technique on my part, but the impression I get is that you just gotta put the time into using the hell out of them.

Interesting... I would've thought that the grease from the sausage would HELP the seasoning, not damage it. I presume you didn't use metal tools during cooking?

The one on our pan is quite good, no sticking when making eggs or pancakes, but the pan itself deformed (bottom bulging outwards) considerably and now is deformed both in cold and hot state what makes it hard to use on glass-cooktop. Part of the reason may be that the bottom is slightly larger than the diameter of the bottom. Maybe also because of the cleaning procedure (that otherwise work perfectly) - after using I would heat up the pan up to smoking point (with most food-rests and oil removed) and then splash it with water - this would un-stick most of the leftovers. After that I only clean it with steel-pad and dry with paper.

I have recently bought a small Turk carbon pan (it has shallow crossing ridges and it was the cheapest one) and that one keeps flat perfectly so far.

But I agree with what was bkultra said - they need many uses until the full patina develops.

Pirendeus said:

Interesting... I would've thought that the grease from the sausage would HELP the seasoning, not damage it. I presume you didn't use metal tools during cooking?

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some sausage will contain added sugar which will cause a problem...

nothing wrong with a metal spatula as long as you are careful how you use it as a well seasoned pan should just release the food (though tongs always seem to scratch even when I'm careful). IMO, chopstix are best tool for these pans by far.

I use de buyer pans I season myself using flaxseed oil and the stove method in a professional kitchen and they see loads of action. The seasoning once you develop enough layers lasts for a good few months of quite a lot of punishment. One thing is to never boil anything in them and wipe with a rag/sponge to get any residue food off them as soon as possible.

This is my 32cm frying pan after 1½ year of use. Nothing sticks really, and it's smooth as glass. My one rule is no acids for more than a minute. So if I use it as a roasting tray for chicken (which I am going to do tonight), I'll deglaze the fond with white wine (or vinegar) very quickly, and then transfer into a small saucepan, continuing the sauce from there. No damage to the seasoning if done right. Usually if I know that I have to cook something acidic for a longer time, I'll just use a stainless skillet.



I find carbon steel pans much easier to season and maintain than my Lodge Cast Iron. Nearly all of my cast iron has been sitting on the shelf since I got my de Buyer pans.

Mine are nowhere that smooth, might be time to strip it back and start from scratch. Did you use flax seed?

I only seasoned it once, using America's Test Kitchen method of salt, potato peels, and grapeseed or sunflower oil. I've tried flaxseed and a whole bunch of other stuff (duck fat, clarified butter, etc.) on my cast iron, and I honestly don't really see a difference in the result. America's Test Kitchen method is easy and it works every time. You don't get any gooey buildup as can happen if season using layers of oil alone.

[video=youtube;-suTmUX4Vbk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suTmUX4Vbk[/video]

So other than that one seasoning, I've just used it and let the seasoning build naturally. No acids at all for the first six months of use.

Boom, Some good advice given here, Damage in particular. Carbon steel loves high heat, so you've got to get them ripping multiple times before you'll get a pan sealed like Damage's. D also cooks with it in the oven, that will heat the pan more evenly causing the side to darken then cover with carbon. Follow Damage's suggestion on cooking with acids too.

I've gotten some new CS pans from Spring USA--Backline pans.

thanks. i guess it's user error.

i tossed from fresh corn with butter and miso and the pan suffered. the miso burned on worse than i imagined it would..and wiping it with the salt and a soft sponge put a big shiny circle 1/3 up the sides and the entire bottom.

Did some reading though, thought I'd ask the forums about the difference between the Mineral B vs. Carbone Plus. Sounds like the Mineral B version is just made with recycled materials?

Also any leads on the best place to buy one? I'm finding amazon/most sites are around $55 for the Carbone Plus and $70 for the Mineral B line in 32cm/12.5" models.

no clue. i got mine off of amazon.

i'm gonna do a small two person paella with it this weekend. i'm gonna quit overthinking the seasoning. it is what it is.

I use Matfer Bourgeat pans over debuyer. Seems like theres more cooking surface area and I like the handles more too.

mikedtran said:

Did some reading though, thought I'd ask the forums about the difference between the Mineral B vs. Carbone Plus. Sounds like the Mineral B version is just made with recycled materials?

Also any leads on the best place to buy one? I'm finding amazon/most sites are around $55 for the Carbone Plus and $70 for the Mineral B line in 32cm/12.5" models.

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I have both the mineral b and the carbone. No difference at all except for two things. The mineral b comes coated in beeswax (which you have to remove) and there is a little silicon button in the handle (which serves no purpose).

Oh, and there's the little shallow stamp in the middle of the pan.

DamageInc said:

I have both the mineral b and the carbone. No difference at all except for two things. The mineral b comes coated in beeswax (which you have to remove) and there is a little silicon button in the handle (which serves no purpose).

Oh, and there's the little shallow stamp in the middle of the pan.

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Thanks mate! Just bought a Carbone =)

I like the button.

I shopped these a few years back. If memory serves the Mineral B was the only offering avail in US markets. Carbone was available everywhere else. As said pans are identical save the button and the coating.

For seasoning I like the Volrath method for carbon steel, inside the oven. To finish I fill an 8 qt cambro with onions and saute the crap out of them in batches. (this last borrowed from "Breath of a Wok" for seasoning carbon steel woks.)

So you do like this, but in the oven instead of on the stove? I did the stovetop version before switching to the potato method.

[video=youtube;xoIO8YOpyN4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoIO8YOpyN4[/video]

I like the button too, but it does nothing practically.

I got my mineral B on bestbuy.ca of all places, they were dirt cheap at the time so I got more than I really needed. Picked up 12cm blinis pan; 20, 24, 26, 28, 32, 36cm fry pans; 26, 32cm grill pans; 24, 32cm high side "country" pans; 24, 30cm crepe pans plus some extras which were sold or given as gifts… still have an unused 26cm pan in the brown paper bag with the "France tape" on it.

I'm glad to hear from DamageInc that the lodge CI sits on the shelf now, I may retire mine as I feel like I have too much cookware in my kitchen. I like using the lodge but the De Buyer seems more elegant just like my Staub; and it is made in Europe, which is a marketing gimmick commonly used in North America.

I love deBuyer, but these pans are not the same as cast iron...imo you need both...damn Tanner, you make me feel good about "only" owning 6 deBuyer pans

chinacats said:

I love deBuyer, but these pans are not the same as cast iron...imo you need both...damn Tanner, you make me feel good about "only" owning 6 deBuyer pans

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For us uneducated (i have one of the debuyer blue steel pans) what things does a cast iron pan suit more than a carbon steel?

I've never been standing in my kitchen using my carbon steel pans thinking "I wish I had grabbed my cast iron instead". I don't know what the cast iron would be better at. I guess the shorter handle would make it easier to fit in a cramped oven maybe.

malexthekid said:

For us uneducated (i have one of the debuyer blue steel pans) what things does a cast iron pan suit more than a carbon steel?

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cornbread and pan fried chicken!!

Thermal mass. Great outside.

boomchakabowwow said:

cornbread and pan fried chicken!!

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Yup

boomchakabowwow said:

cornbread and pan fried chicken!!

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I've made cornbread in my carbon steel pan with no problems. Though I may never be allowed back in the States after admitting it. I make fried chicken in a dutch oven. Much less messy.

daveb said:

Thermal mass. Great outside.

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Thermal mass difference between the two hasn't been an issue for me. But you are right. What makes a cast iron skillet better for outdoor cooking? You can also toss a carbon steel pan directly on a fire or on coals.

DamageInc said:

So you do like this, but in the oven instead of on the stove? I did the stovetop version before switching to the potato method.

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Yep. I got splotchy results on gas burner as pan did not heat evenly

DamageInc said:

I like the button too, but it does nothing practically.

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Like Kitaeji, only different.:groucho:

I seasoned my debuyer carbone plus 8" skillet by heating it up on the stove and applying thin layers of flaxseed oil. The seasoning isn't smooth looking but I cook just about everything in it and generally don't have a problem. The one things that bothers me most is the build up of oil on the outside of the pan from splatter. Not sure how to get rid of that. I seasoned the entire pan so that might have lead to the issue. I might try stripping the seasoning on the outside and start fresh.