Posted: 8/28/2026 10:14:45 PM EDT
| Looking to replace my daily breakfast pan with a nitrided carbon steel one, and maybe a larger one for occasional use. Doing some research, it seems Misen and Anolon get high praise. Not sure if I want to spend that much, but I'm not against it. Looking at OXO and Tramontina on the cheap end. I'm no pro, so I don't need the best, but I also don't want something cheap that will fail and irritate me. |
God will not look you over for medals, diplomas, or degrees – but for scars
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Recently moved to pretty much only using cast iron skillets, have a cast iron griddle plate for the big oval center gas stove burner, and steel outdoor Blackstone griddle for most cooking. Trying to move away from the Teflon stuff. A couple non Teflon sauce pans would be nice so will keep an eye on this thread. |
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Originally Posted By Cobalt135: Recently moved to pretty much only using cast iron skillets, have a cast iron griddle plate for the big oval center gas stove burner, and steel outdoor Blackstone griddle for most cooking. Trying to move away from the Teflon stuff. A couple non Teflon sauce pans would be nice so will keep an eye on this thread. That's my main impetus, since I use it daily. I've never been able to get cast iron to work right for me. No matter how I season, I still get terrible sticking, and morning eggs are even worse. |
God will not look you over for medals, diplomas, or degrees – but for scars
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Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: That's my main impetus, since I use it daily. I've never been able to get cast iron to work right for me. No matter how I season, I still get terrible sticking, and morning eggs are even worse. I have been putting a light coat of oil (avocado oil) on some of the cast iron and heating it up on the outdoor Weber grill until it reaches the smoke point to season it between cooks. |
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Google some of the nitrided pan tests. I don’t have links readily available but the bottom line was cost more, don’t do any more (than carbon steel). I know we all like nitrided parts (or not) but it didn’t do anything for the pan’s performance. And if you’re interested in cast iron, Smithey. Expensive (just bought a blemish/second) and it is the smoothest, best factory seasoned pan I have ever seen; completely non stick right out of the box. |
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It’s not about how many people you kill, it’s about how many you save.
No rules today, sport…just orders.
It’s not about how many people you kill, it’s about how many you save.
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I cook with cast iron, enameled cast iron and stainless steel. I've found the key to cast iron was 3 fold. 1. If it has a rough surface, clean it up with an angle grinder and flapper before you season it. You only have to do this once and it makes it so much better. 2. If what you're cooking doesnt have fat in it, cook with oil, butter or bacon grease. If I'm only making a couple eggs, I can skip this. 3. Changing how I cleaned it. I scrub with table salt using a paper towel. If it's really bad with burned on food, I scrape it with a butter knife or add a little water. Rinse if necessary and then place on a warm burner. If the seasoning looks a little weak, I add a light coat of avacado oil, cover with foil and leave it on the burner for a little while. I don't remember the last time I seasoned my skillet in the oven. |
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Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: That's my main impetus, since I use it daily. I've never been able to get cast iron to work right for me. No matter how I season, I still get terrible sticking, and morning eggs are even worse. Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Originally Posted By Cobalt135: Recently moved to pretty much only using cast iron skillets, have a cast iron griddle plate for the big oval center gas stove burner, and steel outdoor Blackstone griddle for most cooking. Trying to move away from the Teflon stuff. A couple non Teflon sauce pans would be nice so will keep an eye on this thread. That's my main impetus, since I use it daily. I've never been able to get cast iron to work right for me. No matter how I season, I still get terrible sticking, and morning eggs are even worse. Here's what I've decided on cookware, based on two decades of constant tinkering and cooking - the coating (if any exists at all) really only serves two purposes: 1. Preventing the item from rusting (especially cast iron and carbon steel). 2. Increasing the permissible "window" on temperature. The problem that Teflon solves, and no other coating solves it nearly as well, is the problem of needing to nail the temperature of the cooking surface relative to what you're cooking on it. Teflon is so good at this, that you can throw caution to the wind and just dump cold eggs on a cold pan (with no oil) and then just turn the burner on. Basically - you can do literally everything wrong, and the damned things will not stick. That's the problem it solves. That's why it was a godsend to aspiring cooks the world over. It removes a skill component from the equation. It just does - and nothing does it better. In the hands of an experienced practitioner, a bare stainless skillet is capable of cooking eggs that freely slide around with no sticking. When the cooking surface temperature is juuuuust right, and you've got a bit of fat/oil in there to lube it up - it works great - regardless of the underlying material. Aluminum, stainless, cast iron, carbon steel...doesn't matter. When you use seasoned cast iron or carbon steel, all you're really doing is widening the window of acceptable temperature ranges. The better the seasoning (which is really just a somewhat non-stick surface that you can repair with common pantry items, instead of an industrial manufacturing facility), the higher and lower the bounds are for an acceptable temperature that will still work. Stainless? Really tight upper/lower temp window. Seasoned iron? It widens a bit. Parlor trick seasoning rituals that are nigh-impossible to indefinitely maintain? It widens A LOT. Still not as much as Teflon, though. I spent a lot of time (wasting a lot of food - one time pain, lifelong gain) deliberately mastering the skill of managing temperature. I only had to suffer through this once. Once it "clicks", it clicks. Once you spend the time to do this, you stop caring so much about chasing the perfect seasoning ritual, or even exotic pan coatings. Because it no longer matters. My cast iron and carbon steel skillets are "seasoned" to the extent, that they don't rust. That's the end of it. They're easier to cook certain foods in (relative to bare stainless for example), because the seasoning layers have built up such that I don't have to precisely nail the temperature. But think about that - all the "seasoning" (coating) is doing, is allowing me to slack off on the discipline of temp management a fair bit. If I don't slack off, it doesn't matter. At all. Like...there is no difference. Which means all I really care about in the end, is the thing not rusting on me. Which in practice, is all I really worry about. The fact that it's a bit more non-stick than raw stainless is sort of a bonus. It's a buffer against my own incompetence, know what I mean? I no longer own any Teflon cookware. But I'm telling you - it's not because I have the money for Nitrided wonder-coatings (I do not). It's because I spend a lot of time deliberately learning how to use my five senses as a proxy for a direct temp measurement. Once you know...you know. |
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
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Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: I'll check them out. Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Originally Posted By RR_Broccoli: I have been very happy with my Merten & Storck carbon steel pans. Amz has them for 30-60 depending on the size. I'll check them out. |
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Originally Posted By pokey074: I bought a couple of these from a local kitchen place. Don't even touch my cast iron anymore. They are the tits for bacon and eggs. Originally Posted By pokey074: Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Originally Posted By RR_Broccoli: I have been very happy with my Merten & Storck carbon steel pans. Amz has them for 30-60 depending on the size. I'll check them out. Perfect! |
God will not look you over for medals, diplomas, or degrees – but for scars
| Grabbed a Merten & Storck 10" and tried it out this morning. Good news was that there was no sticking at all, but I left quite a bit more bacon grease in the pan than I normally do for the eggs. It cooked the bacon really fast and kinda burned it. With my old pan, I set it at a certain temp, drop the bacon in and go get my lunch ready and I don't need to monitor the bacon. |
God will not look you over for medals, diplomas, or degrees – but for scars
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Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Grabbed a Merten & Storck 10" and tried it out this morning. Good news was that there was no sticking at all, but I left quite a bit more bacon grease in the pan than I normally do for the eggs. It cooked the bacon really fast and kinda burned it. With my old pan, I set it at a certain temp, drop the bacon in and go get my lunch ready and I don't need to monitor the bacon. |
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Originally Posted By pokey074: What kinda heat you use though? I have an electric stovetop and set it at 3 for bacon. Carbon steel pan heats up much quicker but I've found it cooks bacon at exactly the same rate. Originally Posted By pokey074: Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Grabbed a Merten & Storck 10" and tried it out this morning. Good news was that there was no sticking at all, but I left quite a bit more bacon grease in the pan than I normally do for the eggs. It cooked the bacon really fast and kinda burned it. With my old pan, I set it at a certain temp, drop the bacon in and go get my lunch ready and I don't need to monitor the bacon. Gas. Setting 7 on my old pan. I did notice that it started frying near instantly after only being preheated for less than a minute. Old pan would take a couple of minutes. |
God will not look you over for medals, diplomas, or degrees – but for scars
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Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Gas. Setting 7 on my old pan. I did notice that it started frying near instantly after only being preheated for less than a minute. Old pan would take a couple of minutes. Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Originally Posted By pokey074: Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Grabbed a Merten & Storck 10" and tried it out this morning. Good news was that there was no sticking at all, but I left quite a bit more bacon grease in the pan than I normally do for the eggs. It cooked the bacon really fast and kinda burned it. With my old pan, I set it at a certain temp, drop the bacon in and go get my lunch ready and I don't need to monitor the bacon. Gas. Setting 7 on my old pan. I did notice that it started frying near instantly after only being preheated for less than a minute. Old pan would take a couple of minutes. |
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Originally Posted By pokey074: I think your heat's too high. Carbon steel pans definitely heat up faster. Because they're so thin I think they carry the heat much more directly and don't need as high a temp. I've read that a lot of people use too high of heat to cook anyway. Originally Posted By pokey074: Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Originally Posted By pokey074: Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Grabbed a Merten & Storck 10" and tried it out this morning. Good news was that there was no sticking at all, but I left quite a bit more bacon grease in the pan than I normally do for the eggs. It cooked the bacon really fast and kinda burned it. With my old pan, I set it at a certain temp, drop the bacon in and go get my lunch ready and I don't need to monitor the bacon. Gas. Setting 7 on my old pan. I did notice that it started frying near instantly after only being preheated for less than a minute. Old pan would take a couple of minutes. I ran it at about half of that this morning. Cooked quite a bit slower, but I was also monitoring it more closely. Only slightly overcooked, but I'll get it dialed in eventually. |
God will not look you over for medals, diplomas, or degrees – but for scars
|
Originally Posted By pokey074: I think your heat's too high. Carbon steel pans definitely heat up faster. Because they're so thin I think they carry the heat much more directly and don't need as high a temp. I've read that a lot of people use too high of heat to cook anyway. Originally Posted By pokey074: Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Originally Posted By pokey074: Originally Posted By SecretSquirell: Grabbed a Merten & Storck 10" and tried it out this morning. Good news was that there was no sticking at all, but I left quite a bit more bacon grease in the pan than I normally do for the eggs. It cooked the bacon really fast and kinda burned it. With my old pan, I set it at a certain temp, drop the bacon in and go get my lunch ready and I don't need to monitor the bacon. Gas. Setting 7 on my old pan. I did notice that it started frying near instantly after only being preheated for less than a minute. Old pan would take a couple of minutes. If someone is accustomed to a thick steel or aluminum pan or cast iron I could easily see them getting a thin pan way hotter than desired when using the same heat setting in a couple minutes when a thicker pan is still absorbing and radiating that concentrated heat along its whole surface before any real cooking starts. |
| Pretty good once I learned its idiosyncrasies. It's starting to get a decent patina to it now. When I scrub it, I just give it a whisper of avocado oil so that it doesn't try to rust before my next use. |
God will not look you over for medals, diplomas, or degrees – but for scars
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Originally Posted By RR_Broccoli: I have been very happy with my Merten & Storck carbon steel pans. Amz has them for 30-60 depending on the size. I bought an 8" and a 12" M&S a couple years ago. My cast iron skillets just sit and look pretty. I probably use those twice a year, while the carbon steel is my go-to. So much easier to handle without losing any functionality. |
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