You know that guy (it’s always a guy) who says “you’ve never heard of them” or “you wouldn’t know it” when you ask their favorite band/song/movie/anything? I don’t want to be that guy and no one is ever going to ask me “What’s your favorite skillet? I’m so interested.” So, I’m just going to tell you about it. And, once you’ve heard of it you’ll want one too.
Before stainless steel, aluminum, and non-stick skillets carbon steel skillets were common in professional and home kitchens. Home cooks have not used them in decades with all the other options but carbon steel pans have been a fad among food blogs, like Serious Eats, and food magazines, like Bon Appetit. I'm not particularly susceptible to fads but I like to challenge myself with tools that old French chefs and home cooks alike used long ago.
Carbon steel pans combine the best aspects of cast iron, stainless steel, and non-stick. They are heavy and sear meat beautifully, even better than cast iron. Cook a burger in carbon steel and you’ll think it just came off a diner’s industrial griddle. Which is a good thing if you are making trendy smash burgers (which you should).
With a little practice carbon steel pans are also nonstick. Have you read about how a perfectly seasoned cast iron pan will create a nonstick surface and release food easily. So have I and it doesn’t happen often. Ever cook eggs in your cast iron skillet? Sometimes it works but often it is a burnt, smelly disaster. In a carbon steel pan, with a bit of butter, I can swirl eggs around like the best most toxic non-stick pan in your kitchen.
Stainless steel is good. I have a set of Calphalon pans we bought for our wedding. I love the sauce pans but the skillets are difficult to use for finicky things like eggs, pancakes, and pretty much anything delicate that might stick.
The main disadvantage of nonstick pans is that they are not oven safe. I can sear a steak in carbon steel, cast iron, or stainless steel then throw it in the oven to finish. Same with one-skillet chicken thigh dinners (another post). The other disadvantage is toxicity. Debate persists about the toxicity of cooking with non-stick pans but actual science demonstrates that fumes released from overheated (only 500°F) non-stick coatings are bad for mammals and kill birds. There are also major environmental hazards of manufacturing the compounds.
The best quality of my carbon steel skillet is that I can use it outside on a campfire or grill. They are not cheap so my family was worried when, after a couple beers, I put my new favorite pan on the grill. Charcoal grills can be much hotter than stoves, over 650°F but it takes 3000°F to make steel so we’re good. “Can it do that?” “Won’t it turn all black?” Yes to both. Just wash it with soap and water when you finish. Or, if you’re like me, maybe a day or two later since grill night usually goes: swim with the kids>beer>start the grill>beer >eat>enjoy dinner and the family>beer>keep enjoying family>kids to bed> beer>Netflix. Who could possibly remember there is a black oily pan outside next to the grill?
My favorite uses of my carbon steel pan so far are deep-frying chicken on the grill, smash-burgers with a great crusty sear, and pizza when my baking stone broke just as I loaded my raw dough with toppings. So, should you get a carbon steel skillet? If you would like a versatile pan that can go from stove to oven to grill, then yes. If you are concerned about per- and polyfluoro- and GenX compounds to you and the environment, then yes. If you are just a nerd who likes to try the ‘old way’ of doing things, then yes. I’ll be the first to say that no one needs extra stuff or to spend extra money; it's not our frugal way. But if any of the above applies to you, a carbon steel skillet is a fun, analog addition to your repertoire.
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