Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel Frying Pan, 10"

This is not my third Matfer pan, and for good reason. This pan is flawless, simple, elegant in that austere French way, and—when properly seasoned—easily outperforms my other pans, which includes a 5-ply stainless, and a disappointing Hexclad). It's heavy for its size, but I welcome the trade-off for having more consistent heat distribution and retention. Their product support is impressive: a robust Q&A, and you can subscribe to get technical tips and product information. They clearly want you to appreciate how to use the pan correctly and get the most out of it. I'm not a huge fan of the potato skin/salt/oil method of seasoning, preferring to barely coat the pan with oil and bake in 500dF oven for an hour, then repeat when cooled. Is this pan better than other cabin steel pans you'll see out there? Look at the quality of the weld on the handle, the thickness of the pan body, and the absence of any rivets on the business side of the pan. Hard to beat.

Read about carbon steel pans in Cook's Illustrated. Sounded like something to try. Got this pan (should have gotten smaller, and will) to test it out. Yep, it is heavy. Not as heavy as the same size cast iron, but a lot more than the non-stick Cook's Essentials Anodized Aluminum. First it needs to be seasoned, and not like you would a cast iron pan. The directions that come with it are iffy, almost badly translated French. So, I will add here the directions from Cook's Illustrated and hope they weren't copyrighted. First though, the pan and using it. Very nice, cooks great. Really is non stick after seasoning and clean up is a swipe. Going to have to get used to that. Seared the steaks perfectly and finished the cream sauce without at hitch. Yep, gotta get you some. INITIAL SEASONING: First you'll need to remove the new pan's wax or grease coating (used to protect the metal from rusting in transit). Use very hot water, dish soap, and vigorous scrubbing with a bristle brush. Dry the pan and then put in on low heat to finish drying. Add 1/3 cup oil, 2/3 cup salt, and peels from two potatoes (these help to pull any remaining wax or grease from the pan surface). Cook over medium heat, occasionally moving the peels around the pan and up the sides to the rim, for 8 to 10 minutes. (The pan will turn brown) Discard the contents, allow the pan to cool, and wipe with paper towels. You are ready to cook. (If you experience sticking, repeat once. This method will work on any carbon-steel skillet.) MAINTENANCE: Avoid soap and abrasive scrubbing. Simply wipe or rinse the pan clean, dry it thoroughly on a warm burner, and rub it with a light coat of oil. If you accidentally scrub off some of the patina, wipe the pan with a thin coat of oil and place it over high heat for about 10 minutes until the pan darkens ( it will smoke; turn on an exhaust fan). BLOTCHY IS OK: As soon as you season and start cooking in a carbon-steel pan, it changes from shiny silver to brown and blotchy. The blotches are a sign that the pan is building up a slippery patina, which will help it become increasingly nonstick. The blotches and nonstick capability may initially wax and wan, but with use, the pan's cooking surface will gradually darken and become more uniform in color.

The pan itself is fantastic. Took seasoning like a champion, and is more nonstick than my tramontina teflon skillet. no joke. but before i continue to sing it's praises... and i will... let's mention the one down side. this is a heavy skillet. no two ways around it, it is lighter than cast iron in the same size, but if you're moving from cast iron to carbon steel because you can't lift your cast iron anymore, it may serve to keep looking at aluminum or teflon. this pan is a bulldog, great little pan, always faithful, but he's got shoulders and a head that will absolutely scare your neighbors. now, the praises... i started my pan with a rigorous hot water and detergent scrub, all over, and paper towel dried, then whilst the pan was drying on a warm stove, i cranked my oven up to 500F. once the pan was dry, i gave him a full body massage in flax oil. the entire length of the handle, the inside and outside of the pan, all of it. flipped upside down and inserted in the oven, and gave him one hour in the heat. i pulled the pan, set him aside for a bit too cool, then rubbed him down again in flax oil with an oily rag i keep for my cast iron. once he was shiny all over like a golden god, back into the furnace. after the second hour at 500F, the heat went off and the pan sat until the next morning when i seasoned as per the instructions, using oil, salt, and potato skins. the pan was, at this point, a deep auburn all over, and the potato skins fried right up. but instead of taking those to black, i just fried them until the skins were crispy and brown, then removed the salt, oil, and skins from the pan. i wiped out of the pan, and it was slick and easy, nothing stuck at all. i then sauteed one whole onion in butter. having two peeled potatoes left, i had chunked those and soaked them in lemon water to keep them from graying, so faced with a dilemma, I answered by using a fork to separate the skins from the salt, then placed some of the oiled salt back in the pan, with the sauteed onions, topped it with the chunked russets, and added pepper, then slid the whole pan into a 375 degree oven for an hour. once the potatoes were done, i sprinkled the crispy skins over the steamy soft potatoes, and preserved the salt to be used yet again. (of note, i was using a large grain himalayan pink salt, as i was out of kosher salt). the next morning, the 3rd day this pan was in my house, i fried three eggs in it, just to see where we were at. i got that "egg on an air hockey table" effect that you see on TV, and finished the three perfect sunny side up eggs with the last of the crispy potato skins from the previous day. the pan hasn't left my stovetop yet. if you can get past the weight, these pans are flat out incredible. cut the teflon cord! one final note... i love the pan, and i got it just under 50 bucks on amazon, but after some research, i've seen them as low as 30 bucks from some restaurant supply stores. do your research kids, just because it's a value at 50 doesn't mean you should have to pay that if you don't have to! price shop!

My go to pan and I gave this 4 stars instead of 5. Its complicated and I will tell you why. I have Lodge cast iron in three sizes and a ceramic coated dutch oven, I have All Clad stainless in various sizes. I have non stick from Kirkland signature in various sizes. I used to work in a restaurant (not as a career) and I cook on the stove every day. BROWNING- Five stars - This pan is the best and it shines here. I rate cast iron a very close second. They each have their advantages but overall the carbon steel browns better just ever so slightly without as much carbon build up in the pan and with a little bit less weight. Its close to call, but that is my call. The carbon steel heats up so much faster. non stick is the worst at this at browning but it can be done HANDLE - 4 stars - I like the feel of the handle because the design doesnt want to spin in your hands like some pans that have nice comfortable smooth handles. A handle is not about comfort, its about safety and function. The All Clad wins this HAND DOWN even though some knock those pans for their handles. Their handles are best of not spinning when you hands are greasy or wet while still looking great. This carbon steel pan's handle however is just to big and raises up to high but other than that it functions well. NON STICK - 5 stars - Once you have it treated properly its pretty amazing and you don't have to worry about a coating coming off at any temp. I can cook fried eggs or toast bread without sticking. Cant treat stainless like this to get this effect and cast iron comes in at a tie with with my non stick pans. Obviously my nonstick does it the best, but you have to worry about heat and scratches and how abrasive cleaners takes it off and how much you eat it over the years....it goes somewhere....yeah, in your food. HEAT DISTRIBUTION - three stars on an electric stove, 5 stars on a gas stove. Of all my pans, this pan comes in last place for this if I am using an electric stove. Now its still usable of course, but if I rank them, then that is how it goes for me. MAINTENANCE 3 stars - None of the pans are perfect here. This pan you have to be concerned about your treatment if you boil a water or acid based liquid. For me, I would give my All Clad stainless the nod here. Nonstick is the easiest to clean but you have to baby it more. Cast iron you have some of the same concerns as the carbon steel but with more weight to man handle. DURABILITY - 5 stars - I rate it high so far. This would be a good open fire pan, oven pan, broiler pan. I have heard some stories that induction warps it or excessive temp changes warps it. I am aware of that and am careful so that would be a knock i guess. I gave it a 5 star however I would rate it second behind cast iron. Cast iron is practically indestructible on the stove or on a fire. VERSATILITY - 3 stars - I use this pan the most because its meets my cooking trends and personality, however I believes its the least versatile or tied for last with the non-stick. I find my ALL Clad stainless the most versatile and if I could have only one pan, a 12 in All Clad stainless even though I use mine less than this carbon steel pan. VALUE - 4 stars - a really good pan at a logical and decent price. Stainless is ridiculous but that is because they have to work around and design around the stainless steel heat distribution by putting in different cores and layering. Chemical companies make the non-stick coatings for those pans. And cast iron is by far that greatest value. They are cheap...unless you go with a couple brands.. SUMMARY - This is my go to pan because it matches me. I never put it up as it always on my stove. Its heavy, just not as heavy as cast iron. I dont flip foods in it like I do my non-stick and my All Clad because they are light. I dont make gravies, or tomato sauces, chili, stews or roasts in my carbon steel. I could, but I go for cast iron or stainless as the better match, but out of 50 meals or dishes, based on how and what I cook, 30 of them would be in carbon steel, 10 in stainless, 8 cast iron, 2 in nonstick.

I have been looking for a new pan for a while that has non-stick properties. Last year I bought two new non-stick pans and about a month later read a news report that they cause cancer so I stopped using them and had to learn how to cook in my stainless steel all clad pans without food sticking. It has been okay, but not a great experience. This really is a great pan. The first thing I noticed when I opened the box and took the pan out is how heavy it is for it's size. I got the 8 5/8" version for eggs because I have a lid that fits it perfectly and I like my eggs basted. I watched some videos that made me concerned about seasoning the pan on my electric stove so I contacted the manufacturer and they emailed me some instructions on how to season the pan in the oven. In the end I decided to do it on the stove using the method with the potato peels, salt, and oil. I also saw some videos where people said it was difficult to scrub off the initial factory coating and the manufacturer sent me some detailed instructions on how to do that, as well. It turned out to be much easier than others made it out to be. Per the manufacturers suggestions, I went to the store and bought some Scotch Bright copper scrubbing pads. I filled the sink with hot water and soap and scrubbed the pan for about 5 minutes until all of the coating was removed inside and out. Then I dried the pan with a towel and put it on the stove with a preheated burner set to the #3 setting. While it was warming up on the burner, I peeled two potatoes, prepared 1/2 cup of salt and 1/4 cup of canola oil. Then I added the salt, oil, and potato peels and set a timer for 15 minutes. I gradually increased the heat one setting at a time until I got to setting #7, to slowly get the pan hot. Once I got to setting #7, I backed off to setting #6 and then #5 and left it there. At about 12 of 15 minutes, the potato peels were a little burnt so I stopped and dumped everything out and wiped the pan as clean as I could get it and repeated the process. The pan turned a nice golden copper color. Once that was complete, I put a little canola oil on a paper towel and wiped the pan down inside and out with a very fine layer of oil. This morning I cooked up a couple of the potatoes that I peeled and made hash browns using grape seed oil. I put in the potatoes, some bell pepper and onion and nothing stuck. Then, I wiped out the pan, added some butter and put in two eggs. I added a little water and put a lid on the pan, waited about two minutes and the eggs were done. The eggs barely stuck in a couple of places but easily released once I slid a spatula under them. I'm not concerned as I know the pan will get better over time. Once again, I wiped out the pan with a paper towel, put a little oil on another paper towel and wiped it down inside and out. I think that is easier than washing and drying a pan. It was probably better than using a non-stick pan. It was like cooking on ice. When I cooked hash browns in my stainless steel pan, I always had a layer of potatoes stuck and burnt to the bottom of the pan. I figured out how to cook eggs in a stainless steel pan without them sticking but could never figure out the potatoes. The Matfer Bourgeat pan makes cooking much easier. I've heard these pans can warp on electric or induction stove tops, especially the larger pans. That is why I wanted to take is slow with the heat and not shock the pan. The manufacturer said that is another advantage of the oven seasoning method is that it tempers the pan. I'm buying a larger version from Amazon today and I may try the oven method with that one. I would highly recommend this pan.

This is my favorite pan now! Perfect for omelets. There is a tiny learning curve for cleaning and care--it's close to the same as cast iron. It heats evenly, everything cooks through, it isn't as heavy as cast iron, but just a durable. I expect this pan to last waaaay past me!

PERFORMANCE - I bought this pan after reading many reviews. Two things I thought the pan would do well was the even heat distribution and the contact flatness since it is such a heavy pan. I have an electric stovetop. Using largest burner, I still find the center to be much hotter than the outer. So the food in the center 8 inches will brown/burn faster than the outer 8-12 inch perimeter. On the flatness, it seemed okay the first 4 months. Then for whatever reason, i started noticing the pan "spinning". Now this is a 5+ lbs pan. It's a bit dangerous to have it spin so easily as the pan does retain a lot of heat. I've uploaded the picture I took showing about a 2 to 2.5 millimeter concave warping. Where you see red, is the pan not making contact with the heating surface. This is what is causing the spinning. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS - I've had this pan now for 11 months. The non-stick of carbon steel is great. Just by using a little oil or butter, friend eggs don't stick. You do have to be careful not to go so high on heat setting as the food will continue to cook on the pan even if you turn it off. The cleaning is fairly easy once the pan is season and used. Be sure to really dry your pan or rust will form. No big deal though, a light scrub will get the rust off. This is a heavy pan; it's a workout on your wrist when you need to move it from one side of the kitchen to the other (and your other hand is occupied). If you can live with cooking in smaller batches, buy the smaller version. it'll be lighter and might even not warp due to less surface stress across the bottom surface. So in short, I have mixed feelings about this pan. i knew it would be heavy, but heat distribution should have been way better and warping should not be an issue. but the non-stick property is good. 1 out of 3 ain't bad?

Spectacular pan. Seasoned easily and I’ve had zero sticking problems. Note that the pan is very heavy. Similar to my big cast iron pans in fact. But the heat responsiveness is amazing and I’ve loved cooking in it.