Carbon Steel (pan) maintenance

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The Carbon Plus I have had beeswax coating just like Mineral B Element. It seems they ship Carbon Plus with beeswax coating these days. Mine has a special black handle that resists 2 hours at 250C (model 5190), good for cooking in the oven. Anyway, it was not so hard to remove the coating, I just put it into the oven (low temp) to melt it and washed with soap and hot water, but maybe you can skip the oven, it was soft. My Mauviel M'Steel had robust beeswax coating much harder to remove.
 
Marcelo Amaral said:
Do you have a suggestion for something better? I appreciate the help!
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If you need to take a cast iron pan or carbon steel pan down to bare metal, I like a small handheld angle grinder with a stiff wire brush attachment. Mine is a small DeWalt, can't remember the model but something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWE4120-2-Inch-Paddle-Grinder/dp/B00E3AOBVC

Get a heavy and stiff wire brush attachment that fits in the chuck, and you can work it around any angles in pans much better than a flat grinder/sandpaper wheel. Or you can use a "flat" wire brush for heavier duty jobs like the one in the photo below. I bought one of these originally to refurbish an old wok that had built up too much crud, and it took it down to bare metal very easily. Used it again for a Lodge cast iron pan that a guest had baked on too crud on high heat. It will take a while, but a stiff wire brush can help knock down the pebble finish on Lodge cast iron pans so they're a little smoother. Works much faster than sandpaper.

Here's my refinished wok job:

Wok%20refinish.jpg
 
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My pan was hell.

It’s finally non stick after using it solely as a roasting pan for a loooonnnggg time.

Now. I cook in it. If anything does stick, I dump out the food and pour water in it. That usually does it. If not, do a short simmer. Dump the water, rinse with hot water while swiping with my new dish brush, put it back on the heat to dry, wipe with oil and shut off heat. Done.

I’m agonizing about buying a 15” carbon paella pan. That’s a lot of real estate to season :)
 
The seasoning is easy, it’s the cooking to worry about.

I have a 14 1/8” pan, I think the cooking floor is smaller percentage wise than the paella pan and a ge profile range with one super duper hob for high heat. I have no problems with this pan and often use it on the second fastest burner. I think if your stove is okay you’ll be fine. Just give it a chance to come up to heat.

Use it with protein to start
 
For paella pan that big, use the grill. I use my Weber charcoal grill. I don't even think it's necessary to season paella pans like you would CS pans. You're going to put tomato purees in it and then simmering for a while.
 
I use pretty much the same approach for carbon and cast iron for maintenance. While the pan is till warm but not hot I rinse or scrub it depending on whether anything is stuck. Then just back on the heat and add a very thin layer of oil after it has dried.

Works fine and the pans are a joy to use for most things non acidic.

I usually use metal utensils in it mine I simply like them better and can live with the scratches of the coating. Looking at the picture I realize I need to scrub the bottom edges a bit better though.

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Bonus pic of my kitchen lamps :)

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I found Oxo (GoodGrip|Steel) Dish Brush are useful to clean up pans. They have a long handle and also a scraper behind the brush so you don't need to put your hands to oily hot water.
 
Carbon pan arrived yesterday. Still unsure the right way to go about the initial seasoning.

First step is obviously to get rid of any protective coating.

After that I've seen both the potato skin method (as seen in the link in the OP - seems quick and easy) and a method which involved applying multiple thin layers of oil and heating between (as seen on serious eats https://www.seriouseats.com/2019/06/how-to-season-carbon-steel-pans.html - seems long and smoky).

Is the latter method worth the extra effort?
 
Migraine said:
Carbon pan arrived yesterday. ...
Is the latter method worth the extra effort?
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Yes. THE most critical steps are to get first layers of seasoning on the pan ABSOLUTELY correct.

1. clean.
2. wash.
3. dry.
4. season.

There is no reason this should take very long, either.

There are a couple more sophisticate ways to do each step, but they all have the goal of getting the first layer correct.

As outlined earlier, its useful to "clean" the pan in 3 steps

- remove manufactures coating (follow directions)
- acid wash (boil potato peel)
- 3m pad (green scotchbrite)

The purpose of these 3 steps to to

- remove gross contamination
- remove un-seen residues
- remove oxidation

To put this in perspective, the pan comes from the factory with an anti-corrosion coating (beeswax, etc). This coating will leave residues in the pores or micro-structure of the metal, even if you "Wash it off" (or whatever physical removal method is used). However, this coating is often slightly imperfect and can be scratched somewhat easilty, and thus there can be small-scale oxidation in places where ther OEM coating is "wounded" (including initial attempts are removing it).

You need to do all these steps so the "seasoning" is done on bare steel. Imagin you are repainting a car...you would never paint over anything other than bare metal because the paint wouldn't "bond" correctly...eg you would never pain on top of wax or rust....so all of the "work" of painting a car is preparing the bodywork. The actual painting is easy, but getting a perfect surface is the measure of a good paintjob.

The good news is your new pan is alot easier to prep than a car body work. But you need to keep in mind its a similar process.
 
HRC_64 said:
Yes. THE most critical steps are to get first layers of seasoning on the pan ABSOLUTELY correct.

1. clean.
2. wash.
3. dry.
4. season.

There is no reason this should take very long, either.

There are a couple more sophisticate ways to do each step, but they all have the goal of getting the first layer correct.

As outlined earlier, its useful to "clean" the pan in 3 steps

- remove manufactures coating (follow directions)
- acid wash (boil potato peel)
- 3m pad (green scotchbrite)

The purpose of these 3 steps to to

- remove gross contamination
- remove un-seen residues
- remove oxidation

To put this in perspective, the pan comes from the factory with an anti-corrosion coating (beeswax, etc). This coating will leave residues in the pores or micro-structure of the metal, even if you "Wash it off" (or whatever physical removal method is used). However, this coating is often slightly imperfect and can be scratched somewhat easilty, and thus there can be small-scale oxidation in places where ther OEM coating is "wounded" (including initial attempts are removing it).

You need to do all these steps so the "seasoning" is done on bare steel. Imagin you are repainting a car...you would never paint over anything other than bare metal because the paint wouldn't "bond" correctly...eg you would never pain on top of wax or rust....so all of the "work" of painting a car is preparing the bodywork. The actual painting is easy, but getting a perfect surface is the measure of a good paintjob.

The good news is your new pan is alot easier to prep than a car body work. But you need to keep in mind its a similar process.
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Great post, HRC
 
The 5th rule of using cast iron or carbon is:

5) chill out about it.

If you need to use a little soap once in a while, do it. It’s not the end of the world.

My life was much more stressful before I learned this.
 
(continued)

Ther serious eats article talks about washing and drying in a good way (soap and water+heat). IN particular they talk about avoiding flash rust-- drying quickly with towels and also with heat. Keep in mind bare still will flash rust in the presence of mere humidity--you don't need standing water. Just quickly dry your pan between washes with lots of truly dry rags like you are taking care of a good, iron clad knife...warm it up on the flame to finish, etc

You wold never half-ass wipe-down Shigefusa iron cladding (let it drip-dry on a wet towel for 30 mintues...etc) don't do that with your steel pan either. Unlike the shig, you can heat/warm your pan without ruining it. SO do that too.

Once you have your pan perfectly clean, dry, and warmed up to eliminate any residual humidity issues...you're ready to start.

At a minimum, I would do the first (at least) 3 layers using the individual layer approach with paper-towel wiped-off THIN layers of oil. This really won't take that long on a gas or modern hheat source, your talking 10 minutes or something trivial. But these intial layers are what will provide your base seasooning and prevent flash rust and other issues. Consider these layers a sort of "protectivion" for the life of the pan.

It will take closer to 10 layers to get a color-dark seasoning, but once you've made it this far the later couple steps won't take long. You can also probably safely use one of the other variations (cooking food, etc) if you are wanting to experiment or attempt to save time or just diversify (try other mehtods) and don't want to follow one single approach.
 
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ian said:
The 5th rule of using cast iron or carbon is:

5) chill out about it.

If you need to use a little soap once in a while, do it. It’s not the end of the world.

My life was much more stressful before I learned this.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with this as well... :)
 
Boil the potato skins, just with water? Are potato skins acidic (you've called that an acid wash)? Didn't know that if so.
 
Migraine said:
Boil the potato skins, just with water? Are potato skins acidic (you've called that an acid wash)? Didn't know that if so.
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Pretty sure you can use oil or water (there is water in the potato skins anyway). RAW Potato skins will yield a mild acid (oxalic acid) into solution with water + heat. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalic_acid#Cleaning)

These are the Matfer instructions, they use oil to boill the potato skins
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SEASONING
YOUR MATFER BLACK STEEL FRY PAN
1. Before use, wash pan under hot water in mild detergent, using a bristle brush, if necessary, to
remove all protective coating. Thoroughly dry the pan.
2. Sauté oil, salt and the skins of two potatoes on medium heat, continually swirling around entire
pan. (The amount of these ingredients will vary depending the size of pan, i.e., for a medium pan,
use 1/3 cup oil, 2/3 cup salt and the skins of two potatoes.) Discard after sautéing for 15 minutes.
3. Repeat Step 2 again.
4. After processing Steps 2 & 3, briefly reheat frying pan with a little oil, remove from heat and
wipe with paper towel.
AFTER USE:
Wipe with paper towel or rinse under hot water. Do not use dish soap and do not
allow pan to air dry. Dry thoroughly by briefly placing on hot burner and re-grease lightly.
As you enjoy cooking with your Matfer Black Steel Pan, the color will naturally become darker
until it is black.
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There are a bunch of variations on this, but the key thing is to remember why they are doing this...
Cleaning
Oxalic acid's main applications include cleaning or bleaching, especially for the removal of rust (iron complexing agent). Its utility in rust removal agents is due to its forming a stable, water-soluble salt with ferric iron, ferrioxalate ion.
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The peels should change color as they boild -- turn a grey/black -- that coloris iron particles cleaned by the acid wash

Its probably a good idea to stop here, and we can have a discussion about why you might want to follow these instructions closely or more loosely. Again, there are a couple of ways to do this.

You'll see the Matfer instructions here us multiple steps of boiled peels. Once the iron oxides are in solution, they need to be removed. The miultiple steps allows for the removal of the discoloref peels from the pan, with the next set of peels being alot cleaner, and then also removed etic.

There are more iterations, like boil peels in water, then scour with 3m, then start seasoning with oil, etc. Agian the peels will turn black, the 3M will remove the particles and re-surface the forged steel, and the goal is CLEAN and dry and flat and smooth STEEL to now begin your seasoning process.
 
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There are pro and cons to these slight variations, but the key is to understand the logic, to not leave out critical steps.
Matfer Bourgeat’s Black Steel Pans are designed for the foodservice industry and professional chefs. As with any metal manufactured product, slight color variations, minor imperfections and irregularities, such as scratches, are normal and will in no way affect the performance of your pan.
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Note that 3M (Scotchbrite) is really the only way to deal with these "minor imperfections and irregularities, such as scratches" prior initial seasoning.

SOME POSSIBLE ITERATIONS
1) Matfer method - used the used up potato peels (2-3x) to absorb and transport the particles to be reomved.
2) Matfer w/ 3M scour - Boil per matfer, remove as per matfer (1-2x), but then scour using 3M pad. Then continue Matfer method.
3) H2O method - boil peels in water (not too much), 3M scour to clean, begin seasoningmethod of your choice etc.


Hope this is helpful, sorry its such a long explanation.
 
It's absolutely fantastic and thank you so much for your time. Never apologise for being helpful.
 
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Don't think I got it quite right. Doesn't look quite right.

Second picture is the extent of stickage I got with a fried egg.
 
Migraine said:
Don't think I got it quite right. Doesn't look quite right.
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It looks good to me. As long as you don't feel bumps in the surface and it's smooth, your pan is fine.
Preheat your pan well before putting ingredients. 180C is the target temperature. It takes time as your pan is thick.
 
i have both debuyer and lodge pans, and there is definitely more of a learning curve in maintaining the steel pans than the iron, but worth it, imo.

fwiw, when i took the beeswax off the debuyers i used boiling vinegar, a green scrubby, and a lot of elbow grease, and the pan that took a seasoning the fastest is the one i used to do blackened catfish.
 
Thought I'd write some notes about re-seasoning a pan.

I decided (in the interests of completion!) to knock the seasoning off the pan from the OP and build it up again from scratch.

1-Remove cruddy old seasoning (only for a used pan)

I started with 220 grit sandpaper, which was too coarse for the soft steel, next time I'll start with 320, and progressed up to 600 grit to remove most of the old seasoning. Basically, I was just looking for a satin smooth base to start from. Wash it off well and dry and season immediately

2-Re-season

I think this is where a lot of people go wrong. I don't use the potato skin method, I just apply a bunch of layers of light oil.

I bring the pan up to moderate heat and then drop a few drops (drops!) of canola oil from the squeeze bottle and wipe it in thoroughly with a wadded up paper towel. Thoroughly. 30 seconds of wiping each layer in, so there's no oil on the surface.

Repeat this operation. I don't let the pan cool, each layer is probably 15-30 seconds of wiping in a very thin layer of oil, and then I put the next layer on. If I had to guess, I did 15 layers in 20 minutes. Every so often I'll let the pan get a little hotter, almost smoking, then I take if off the heat for 2 minutes to let it cool a little and then start up again with the moderate heat. This repeated thin layer of oil is what you're looking for.

I generally do this at night, then the next morning (but could be only 20 minutes later) I do an abbreviated version of this routine, maybe 4-5 more layers of a little bit of oil.

As soon as I was done I scrambled an egg for the dog, it slid around perfectly.
 
I just bought a cheap dish brush. I seared salmon tonight and used hot water and only the brush to clean the pan. Whoa! It’s perfect got the pan clean and smooth without affecting the seasoning. I then just warned it up to dry and wiped it with a few drops of oil and a wad of paper towels.

I also just ordered my 15” Matfer paella pan. I think it’s perfect for my needs. Roasting pan for small turkeys, big chickens and a 4-bone standing rib roast. I bet I can stir fry with it. Seasoning it is the wild card. Haha. I’ll get it done. But in how long. I’ll roast a few splattery chickens to get it started.
 
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