French steel / black metal / carbon steel

[mise en place]

These pans are especially utilized at the fish stations of restaurants.

Interesting. I wonder what happened to mine? I've cooked fish in everything else--even straight aluminum--and never had this happen.

[JasonCampbell]

I continue to be amazed by the lack of information about and limited availability of these products.

Here in the UK a good source is Nisbets, you can order online- they aren't the cheapest but they're a good bet for just about anything catering wise. Not much help to our cousins across the water I know...a nice cheap pan.

[Fat Guy]

Oh we can get them, there are a few sources, but the lack of a larger number of outlets no doubt affects price and selection.

[JasonCampbell]

Oh we can get them, there are a few sources, but the lack of a larger number of outlets no doubt affects price and selection.

Yes, but you get the American version of steel, we have the British version of steel, very much like the French version of steel, only more steelier. That's the problem with America today, they just don't have access to a good pan.

[Jim Dixon]

People are spending gazillions of dollars a year on fancy cookware that doesn't work as well as stuff that costs ten bucks.

Steven,

I think this applies to all sorts of kitchen stuff...beautiful kitchens full of high-end appliances, shiny matched sets of pots, global knives, etc...but the owners don't actually cook.

As is often the case, especially here in America, the marketing of style trumps the joy of eating well.

And I'd have a few steel skillets if I could bear to part with any of my cast iron. I'm more than happy to dump the calphalon (especially the skillet), so I'll commission Judith to keep a lookout at garage sales.

Jim

[Priscilla]

I have a couple such pans, dunno if they're black or blue ... maybe they're not all the same, too. I like 'em; forgiving, very tough. Satisfying to work with.

Toted a couple home from France ... bought a crepe pan at Williams-Sonoma some years ago (Chuck Williams has always been on top of things like this) ... just recently found a gorgeously blackened small omelette size in a thrift store. Aaah a pleasure to use.

An informal though repeated observation is that a lot of people who cook more casually than I do object to pans with metal handles. Fear of burns. Cheap pans with metal handles, anyways -- somehow the various high-end metal-handled cookware isn't subject to this restriction.

[formerly grueldelux]

I have probably a half dozen in various shapes and sizes and use them for most of my cooking. I was lucky enough to inherit a few 50 year old beauties, and they seem like they could go another 50 years no problem. The ones I've purchased myself have been from the de Buyer Acier line (http://debuyer.com/). I haven't spent much time comparing them to competitors but I wouldn't hesitate to heartily endorse them. They're made of very thick steel and they're a very good deal, a steal!

The crepe pans are really uselful as sizzle pans when you want to pop a serving or two under the broiler. Also, the blini pans are great to have around. They're great for toasting a small amount of whole spices and they make the cheeriest fried eggs in the world, delightfully unnatural in their roundness.

[SG-]

remember seeing some french one's at the local viking culinary center (Phila.) don't remember how much but recollect that they were relatively inexpensive and looked quite sturdy. I think they are made by bourgeat.

http://pans.com/series.asp?SID=2653

[SG-]

  The ones I've purchased myself have been from the de Buyer Acier line (http://debuyer.com/). 

Checked out their website and they're marketed as World Cuisine here in the US, a line carried by Bloomingdales.

[knuckles76]

I have been using blue steel pans for over a year now. We cook all of our sauted fish in them. Nothing works as well to for a perfect golden brown crust. The one thing is that these pans are of a very heavy gauge. They will not warp. We clean them by "burning them", put them on a burner going full blast, when its smoking we hit the pan with coarse salt and use the salt as an abrasive and scrub with and old kitchen towel and tongs. When clean, we rub the inside with a little vegetable oil. We have never let them go near water. Do not try this cleaning technique at home. The amount of smoke generated is way too much for the home hood fan.

[Chef Fowke]

I have been using blue steel pans for over a year now. We cook all of our sauted fish in them. Nothing works as well to for a perfect golden brown crust. The one thing is that these pans are of a very heavy gauge. They will not warp. We clean them by  "burning them", put them on  a burner going full blast, when its smoking we hit the pan with coarse salt and use the salt as an abrasive and scrub with and old kitchen towel and tongs. When clean, we rub the inside with a little vegetable oil. We have never let them go near water. Do not  try this cleaning technique at home. The amount of smoke generated is way too much for the home hood fan.

Do that to your $300 copper pans and see what happens!!!

[Matthew Grant]

I continue to be amazed by the lack of information about and limited availability of these products.

Here in the UK a good source is Nisbets, you can order online- they aren't the cheapest but they're a good bet for just about anything catering wise. Not much help to our cousins across the water I know...a nice cheap pan.

I've been using two pans that I bought from Nisbetts for about 7 years now and I wouldn't be without them, today, b y mistake, I left one on a burner to dry for around 15 minutes - no damage whatsoever, without doubt my favourite pans to use, virtually indestructible and very cheap.

Incidentally, if Nisbets is supposedly expensive (and I'm not disagreeing, just curious), where can you find these cheaper?

[mnebergall]

For a good selection of very heavy, carbon steel pans at what appear to be very reasonable prices, visit:

http://www.goodcooksonline.com/Shopfactory...kwareSteel.html

[Fat Guy]

Cool. Thanks.

[Hest88]

Thanks for reviving this thread. The things you learn on eGullet! I've used my carbon steel wok for 11 years now, practically every night, but I never thought about tracking down pans in carbon steel.

[mrbigjas]

I just want to revive this thread for long enough to say that I picked up two steel omelette pans for about 10 euros each at E. Dehillerin while I was in Paris--I was going to buy something fancy, but for various reasons I stuck with the cheap stuff. Pretty neat. I love me some cheap functional stuff.

[essvee]

This is incredible. I haven't even seen these at restaurant supply houses. I am so pumped. How about a recommendation on brand and/or gauge. I don't want the ones that won't stand up to Scotch Brite...

[mnebergall]

essvee:

Click here for a selection of very heavy carbon steel skillets, etc. I don't know whether scotch brite will rub off the seasoning or not. I have three of them and they clean up nicely with a rough plastic scrubber/sponge thing. Just wipe with a paper towel after scrubbing under hot water.

[slkinsey]

If the pans look either black or blue, they should be hard black or blue steel. If they appear silvery or gray, they are probably softer carbon steel.

[mrbigjas]

I don't have a recommendation, sorry, except that if you go to that store in Paris, there are a billion of them and they're cheap. And they're definitely gray.

[EdS]

French steel pans come in various thicknesses, materials, and handle types. I have a couple De Buyer Acier Carbone Plus pans in carbon steel with cast-iron handles just like the ones on high-end copper pans. While some steel pans are lightweight like those crêpe pans you often see with the thin handles, others are quite heavy. My 10" "omelette" pan of 3mm thick carbon steel is 4 lbs. 10 oz. which is just a little less than my Lodge 10-1/4" cast-iron skillet.

Here is a link with information about De Buyer steel pans.

I found mine at a local Sur La Table. When I picked it up, the salesman approached and told me that they rust and tried to direct me to some plastic-coated pan. Needless to say, I ignored him like I do most salespeople and never regretted it.

Edited December 17, 2003 by esvoboda (log)

[Chad]

Cool pans. Any idea where one can get these in the US?

Oh, and those folks are seriously confused about Maillard reactions.

Chad

[mnebergall]

Sorry for the bad link before. But de Buyer carbon plus is available from this place in new Mexico.

[EdS]

Also be aware that due to the shallow "Lyonaisse" profile, the inside diameter may be less than you expect. With my ~10-1/4" pan, the inside diameter is about 7-1/4". That compares to about 8-1/2" with a comparable Lodge skillet and about 7-5/8" with an All-Clad frypan.

[halland]

I've gotten 2 pans -- one for me and one for a friend and we both love them. I got them at Sur La Table in Seattle. My pan is effectively nonstick and I credit this to never using soap on it (my $.02). I think the 10" skillet was around $25. These pans aren't in the catalog, but if you call the seattle store they could ship them to you.

Hal