Carbon Steel Pans



Until three weeks ago the default pan in my kitchen was my big cast iron skillet. It is a well seasoned pan that I can fry an egg in, flip it and remove it from the pan with a spatula as if it were one of those disposable non-stick pans. Two drawbacks to using it is its weight, and straight vertical sides. The weight and straight sides makes it impractical to try to impress people by flipping things in the air, and catching it back in the pan. Of course if you could do that with that big heavy pan it would be impressive indeed, just don’t expect me to try it. The third disadvantage is that short stubby handle, that gets about as hot as the pan its self.

So what happened three weeks ago to oust the default pan from my stove top? Well lately I had been reading about carbon steel pans. Carbon steel pans have many of the same properties as cast iron, as far as cooking is concerned. Seasoned in much the same manner as you would season a cast iron pan, you get the same non-stickiness, only without all the weight, and the carbon steel pans are relatively inexpensive, as is cast iron. Eager to get one of these pans I started researching, and shopping around.

My first stop in shopping is Amazon.com. Not only do they sell just about everything in the world, but there is much to be learned about each product right there on the site. Not only do they provide detailed information about many of their products, but customer ratings, provided by people who have used the product. I find the customer ratings very helpful, and some raters go into great detail as to why they ether like or dislike a product. As a customer reviewer you can give a five star or less rating, with the stars appearing at the beginning of your review. I like to read all the reviews, just in case some of the positive ones are put there by manufactures, or retailers.

I discovered several brands of carbon steel pans on Amazon. One of the brands featured at Amazon was A Joyce Chan carbon steel stir fry pan, in other words a wok. I found that very convenient, because I already own a Joyce Chan Stir fry pan, that sees a substantial amount of use in our kitchen, as a stir fryer, so it’s already seasoned. I immediately fried an egg in it and got the same result as the cast iron pan. I still plan to buy a dedicated twelve inch carbon steel pan, because I do use the wok with my bamboo steamer now and, than which requires boiling water in it which  destroys the seasoning, but I’m not in as big a hurry as before.

If you have an uncoated wok with a wide flat bottom, the kind you would buy for an electric stove, it is essentially a fry pan. Season it and you can make one large pancake, or three small ones, or an omelet very easily in it. All the brands listed on Amazon have an average of four to four, and a half star ratings. So far the only retailer I have found selling steel pans in my area is a seller at the regional produce market. Check your local restaurant supply shops, and you might have your carbon steel pan tomorrow. As far as Joyce Chen woks, you can find them almost anywhere.

Oh!, by the way I did not put my cast iron pan in the recycling ben. It still fries up a mighty fine pork chop, and makes the best cornbread ever, but that’s another post.