Which pan?

Thanks. Will do. I'm excited about these pans!

 

I endorsed De Buyer pans in my reply to this thread earlier. Actually, as much as i like them, i shall curse them! Why? I was looking them up on the interwebs and found a De Buyer thread in a kitchen knife forum. This got me excited in Japanese knives again, with the outcome that i bought six new knives and my bank account is crying alone in the dark.

Damn you De Buyer pans!

:

 

Exactly! Think wax on, wax off.... After you put a thin coat of oil on, wipe it back off with a clean, dry paper towel. Wipe off as much as you can. That is how thin you want your layers.

 

Sound advice! The pans arrived yesterday, and I'm about halfway done with seasoning. It's coming along nicely with super thin coats of flax seed oil and medium-high heat. No sticky mess and the inside of the pan feels smooth to the touch when cool. Seems like a good seasoning method so far. I can't wait to use these things!

 

Looking good Andy! afterwords you could do the whole pan in the oven to really keep it rust resistant.

 

If you build up too much stuff in the pan it might not really burn in and not get hard. In that case it could flake off. The end result is you could end up to worry about your 'patina' every time you cook.

The way i do it is just using it after the first seasoning (which is just burning in the pan with fat bacon (Speck). Then, after every use it gets a bit better as a bit more fat gets burned in. The pan gets a bit darker from time to time (not homogenous). After cooking i just clean it with hot water and a kitchen cleaning brush. Then i dry it and apply some camellia oil (what's good for my knives is good for the pan as well).

So, the way i do it there is no danger of destroying the 'patina' while using the pan, because the buildup is very thin and just fills out the gaps in the steel. It's very much non-stick. Not like a new teflon pan, but really good imo.

 

Thanks, Jim. So I would just lightly coat the outside of the pan with oil and throw it in a hot oven (450 degrees F or so?) until the outside browns?

I'll probably just start using the pan soon. 1) I'm impatient and excited to use that thing and 2) I figured it would just season more with use. I wanted to get a good start on seasoning to reduce sticking issues early on.

The point of using flax seed oil is that is polymerizes, so I've read anyway. You have to use extremely thin coats of flax seed oil and let the pan cool completely between coats. Otherwise, you'll end up with a thick, uneven, gummy mess that's prone to flaking off.

Your post also reminds me that I need to get some camellia oil.

 

Toms point is important, too much love too soon can make it peel off. You can give it a coat and let it bake a while. This coats everything and you will be surprised how tough that rapeseed oil is when it plasticizes. Here are mine from a while back-

 

Those look great, Jim. I appreciate all the wonderful advice from you, Tom, and Connie. It's making me worry less about seasoning pans incorrectly.

 

What pan? Going by my pan rack, the answer is all of them. Two years ago, I'd say Paderno over De Buyer, but the prices are about the same, now. My most used pan is a 12" Vollrath aluminum (the kind with the chromed handle), but I love my copper, my clad (especially my Viking and Demeyere), and my vintage All-Clad Master Chef, and all my carbon steel.

 

Seconded. That's about how I get my carbon before I really start using them. My most used 12 inch Paderno is pitch black, and very non-stick.

One of the secrets to non-stick is keeping your temps low, which many people don't know or forget.