question about carbon steel pans. the preheat.

[boomchakabowwow]

yesterday, I drove into San Fransisco for some dinner. we ordered up one plate thinking of leftovers, and to be honest it kinda sucked. it was a char Sui rice plate. the pork was cloyingly sweet. bleck. it was on a HUGE pile of rice.

I packed it up togo..thinking I will doctor it up at home. (the rest of the food was good..we go for the braise beef over noodles)

wake up and think..what to do with the rice and pork?. easy decision. breakfast fried rice!! setting up my wok seemed like a hassle considering I am still not wearing any pants. . and it is cold outside.

so I warmed my carbon pan on my stove top slowly while I chopped everything up. I think warming it slowly is better than how I warm a wok up FAST with the wok burner? does this make sense? both vessels are seasoned for years, but I seems warmed slowly and then oiled, and let the oil shimmer..nothing sticks!! I didnt get a single grain of rice stuck to the pan.

does how I warm a carbon pan make a difference? I always have something to scrub in the wok.

 

[knifeq2121]

the pans are thicker and don’t preheat evenly but hold the heat nicely. when you go slower it heats more evenly. if you blast it and let it cool off for a second i’ve found it doesn’t make a difference though

 

[btbyrd]

the pans are thicker and don’t preheat evenly but hold the heat nicely. when you go slower it heats more evenly. if you blast it and let it cool off for a second i’ve found it doesn’t make a difference though

This. And always preheat slowly when using induction. Carbon steel is a lousy conductor of heat, so if you crank an induction burner it runs the risk of locally overheating the area over the coil enough that the pan can warp. I don't really like carbon steel or cast iron on induction because there are pretty much always obvious hot and cool spots.

 

[Shokupan]

I think warming it slowly is better than how I warm a wok up FAST with the wok burner?

On a wok, you kind of want the center to be hotter than the edges, plus the dome shape makes it resistant to warping, so fast preheat makes sense to me. Flat pans, not so much?