You should clean your pan … Restaurant recommendations you trust. I recently cooked my first steak in a well-seasoned carbon steel pan. I often do this over a burner but you can do it in a 450°F oven, as well, as long as the handle of your carbon steel pan is oven-safe (unlike cast iron pans, which are a solid piece of iron, handle and all, carbon steel has a handle riveted on; some handles on carbon steel pans can't take high oven heat, so check the owner's manual). If you have a cast-iron skillet or two, and you know how to season it, and how to clean and maintain it—you're finally ready for a pan upgrade. The smoking will eventually stop, which is a sign that the coating of oil has completed its transformation. The Bon Appétit test kitchen does not recommend buying pre-seasoned carbon steel pans, as their quality is not as high. Its sloped sides make it ideal for sautéeing, and it is lighter weight than cast-iron. Simply follow the instructions that come with the pan. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 1/1/20) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 1/1/20) and Your California Privacy Rights. © 2020 Condé Nast. If you so much as wonder if you might have applied too much oil, I can guarantee that you have. Carbon steel pans don't get half the love cast iron ones do, which is too bad since carbon steel can be just as useful in a home kitchen. Look at a new carbon steel pan and you'll see something you rarely do with cast iron: the color of the bare metal. I can't stress this point enough: A heavy hand with the oil will mess up your seasoning, leaving you with a splotchy, sticky coating that can be difficult to fix. Then, the first few things you cook in your carbon steel should be high in fat, like bacon or a pork chop—as the fat renders, it will boost the layers of seasoning. Carbon steel tends to have better nonstick qualities, so it’s a better bet for eggs and seared meats. Cooking a rack of lamb in a carbon steel pan. This is why conventional wisdom holds that you shouldn't get your cast-iron pans wet; the water will sneakily leech its way into the pan, degrading the quality and making it rust. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest recipes and tips! How can you tell? Wipe the pan thoroughly, so a very thin layer of oil coats the entire inside surface of the pan. Keep it traditional with this sage and sausage dressing. All rights reserved. When not working on, thinking about, cooking and eating food, he blows off steam (and calories) as an instructor of capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art. Most carbon steel pans come completely unseasoned, allowing you to see the seasoning develop before your eyes. Drip a few drops of oil onto a few layers of folded paper towels. Seasoning a carbon steel pan is easy to do. But because carbon steel pans are usually stamped or spun from sheets of metal instead of cast in a form, they have sloped sides and are thinner and lighter than cast iron. In the oven, about 30 minutes should do it. Cooking advice that works. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Meet: The carbon steel pan. Some comments may be held for manual review. How do you know if your pan is unseasoned? Instead, it's a protective coating made by burning oil onto the pan. If this happens, don't sweat it, just season the pan a few more times to patch up a problem spot. Now go cook something awesome. PS. It's also more instructive than seasoning case iron. Because different manufacturers use different coatings, I'm not going to provide instructions for that here. This cast iron pizza recipe is the easiest method for making a crisp-crusted, airy, chewy pan pizza at home. Similar to the cast-iron but with a few key differences, the carbon steel is a seriously undervalued tool. With enough roasting and sautéing in the pan, you will build up even more seasoning. A: It sounds like you seasoned the carbon-steel pan correctly from the onset; a gradation of seasoning up the sides of the pan is totally normal. Like cast iron, carbon steel has relatively poor heat conduction and relatively good heat retention, which makes it a solid choice for pan-roasting meats. To revisit this article, select My Account, then View saved stories.