The most comprehensive way to recondition your carbon steel pans
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- Sometimes it's best to restart and this video covers reconditioning your carbon steel pans using a Lye Bath.
Lye powder or crystals is widely available from hardware stores
I use a mixture of 1lb Lye to 5 gallons of water
Please use caution. Lye is caustic and will burn skin and can blind you.
This is a the detailed video on oven seasoning: • Seasoning a Carbon Ste...
Use this link to save $10 on your Cook Culture Seasoning Kit:
www.cookculture.com/discount/...
Chapters
Start 0:00
Intro 0:23
Lye Bath 2:48
Cleaning 3:32
Results 4:29
Seasoning 5:45
Egg Test 10:19
Final 12:30 - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I use Easy-Off Oven Cleaner, which is also lye. I spray the pan with the lye foam, seal the pan in a thick trash bag, and leave it in a well-ventilated area for a few days. When I come back, the built-up gunk wipes off easily.
I don't find that oven cleaner gets all the nooks and crannies as well as a lye bath.
@@Cook-Culture I sometimes have to use the foam twice. In a small apartment, spray foam takes less space to store too.
@@davidhunternyc1 Yes, agreed, oven cleaner is MUCH easier.
@@Cook-CultureI have used both a lye bath and oven cleaner to take cookware back to scratch. I couldn't really see a difference in results. There are a few positives to the spray on oven cleaners. One is that I can leave it in our stainless steel sink and a good scrubbing an hour or so later will remove all the softened carbon and expose any the lye hasn't gotten to yet. Rinse and repeat...
I go a step further after being done with carbon removal by immersing in a passivating solution of citric acid for a few minutes, and then using metal polishing compound on the inside cooking surface to get a mirror finish. My theory on polishing is that the more you remove of the micro crevices and crannies, the less sticky it will be even after seasoning. But perhaps I'm just kidding myself.
If you really want a really black look to your pan, right after you finish your prep, apply gunsmithing cold bluing to all surfaces,it is a much harder, tougher form of oxidization than water rust. The coating is only microns think and there are no more health issues than firearms users holdin blued firearms in their hands for hours on end.
Yeah, I recently 'nuked' a 12-ish inch DeBuyer pan. It was well seasoned, but had some islands of carbon build-up, and I wanted it to have a totally uniform surface. I used a couple acids, starting with tomato paste, and used an 'SOS pad' between the various treatments, and then switched to Easy-Off (though I diluted it with water and mixed it so it evenly covered the bottom surface). I didn't need to create a lye bath, this was all on the stove-top. Maybe it took a couple hours in total, but certainly not days. I think applying some elbow grease at the right time(s) really helps as well.
Thank you for another informative how-to video! The lye bath method was new to me, but I believe as you say, it's not for everyone due to the high pH (corrosive to skin, eyes etc.).
For reference, I nuked mine (Mineral B Pros) once in the oven with the pyrolysis self-cleaning cycle. Worked like a charm - however, the stainless steel handle turned into a brass-like hue, and the carbon steel became really dark compared to the shiny new out-of-the-box carbon steels (maybe some nitriding happened during the process, who knows ...). For me this was not a letdown, as a matter of fact I can fancy some brass-like handles.
Beware that your Mineral B (not Pro) in the video which has a coated handle would most definitely not survive the pyrolysis method as the epoxy from the handle would strip off and generate fumes of which also by the way would not be in the healthy category.
I've stripped a few Lodge cast iron skillets like that - just make sure your oven is relatively clean so it doesn't cause major smoke, and prepare to not use your oven for about 8 hours 😆
turning the Mineral B at above 500 Celsius? Wow, I´d be interested to know what happens to the metal then, from a profesional standpoint
Got your seasoning paste today, applied first coat using your method. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I did use my chainmail in addition to my washing pad on the Debuyer Pro, it gave it a nice brushed metal look. Dried with towel, oven at 250 for 20 minutes, applied thin paste (with 100% cotton rag) over all the carbon (inside and out), used a 2nd clean 100% cotton rag to wipe and wipe and wipe some more before putting it back in the over (which preheated up to 450 while I was applying the paste and wiping it). I decided to do 450 for 1 hour, then turned off oven. After it cooled down, wow... just wow... it is so beautiful, excited about applying a few more layers.
Not carbon steel related, but my son ran a seasoned cast iron pan in the dishwasher not knowing. It came out with no seasoning. Originally purchased preseasoned. Has reseasoned beautifully and is better than before
I would just use white vinegar and bring it to a boil in the pan, it's worked really well for me in the past to “reset” a carboon steel pan.
Yes, but hard to get the top edge and bottom.
You don't even need to boil the vinegar really. I just left mine submerged for a while. Does require a container big enough, though
@@LikeACrouton You're right. As for the sides and bottom they aren't that big a deal anyway as you don't cook on them, and they usually need less of a re-season than the center of the pan.
I think it's funny that everyone has different advice. I have a Matfer and the instructions said to fry potato skins to season the first time - you're saying don't use starch. I've had to re-season many times now so I don't even know what is right or wrong, I'm guessing I just keep cooking with it too long on high heat. I'm still trying to get used to carbon steel / cast iron, thank you for these videos 🤝
Hi, this a great point. You'll find that the most popular YT channels don't use the potato skin method, but that does not mean that it does not work. I've found that using starch when the pan is new can be slightly problematic. Onion with a bunch of oil is friendlier to the fresh seasoning.
I very much appreciate the very valuable information that you share.
I am re-seasoning my Matfer and used water with a cup of vinegar with a lid. Brought it to a boil, then let it sit. Repeated without changing water/vinegar. After it cooled, the old seasoning scrubbed right off.
Good on you. That process works very well!
That was one hell of a leap from the first round of seasoning to the third, would have been nice to see a snapshot of it in the middle. Looks amazing though, brings back memories of when I first got into cast iron and went a little bit seasoning loopy.
Speaking of which, thanks for the flashback to the cast iron Reddit and their 'slidey eggs' obsession.
Thanks. I've done the multiple steps in quite a few videos, so I was trying to be economical with everyone's time!
I will be trying this method! Although I am unsure if it will work on my deBuyer blue steel pan? I have tried several methods of seasoning and several oils and fats to apply but they don’t seem to stick to the pan
Double check my chemistry but I'd be really careful with NaOH (lye) and the acidic Bar Keepers Friend in the same work space.
It's probably not chlorine bleach and ammonia bad but we keep the acids and the bases in separate fume hoods in the lab for safety.
Thanks for the heads up!
After you season the first layer in the oven, do you add seasoning paste for additional rounds in the oven? Or are you just heating/seasoning that first layer multiple times with no additional paste? Thanks!
I have just founs your channel and notice you use a finer chain mail than I usually see sold for pan scrubbing here in the US. Is there any disadvantage to using the kind with the larger loops?
Thank you. What did you do to dispose of your lye bath liquid?
I reuse a bath for months but when I empty it I dilute in water and pour it down the drain
would the lye bath strip the epoxy off the handle? i'd like to keep it the way it came.
No, only breaks down organic materials
Question: how long do you leave your pan in the oven to cool down?
specifically, after turning off the oven, how long do you let the pan sit in there to cool down? (~1 hour?)
Till its completely cool. It usually takes 2 to 3 hours depends on the ci or cs heat retention but basically till it's cold.
@@Gohan11718 thank you!
Nice video again. But how the hell do you get the pan THAT dark?? I can´t make it more than bronze in the oven!
For the nuking, vinegar essence always worked perfectly for me, just wrap it in papertowels, wet it with the essence and put into a plastic bag. was sufficient for me without the need of so much liquid and it just costs a buck or two.
I’d recommend non toxic biodegradable gun cleaning solvents like, SLIP 2000 725 Gun Cleaner or M-Pro 7. They’re specifically designed to remove carbon buildup, rust and other contaminants quickly and easily. Far better, safer and faster than lye.
I think an electrolysis tank is probably the best method for stripping, but you have to get your hands on an old battery charger without safeguards which not everyone will be able to do.
I recently stripped my 11” Mineral B Pro because I left the eye on for a post seasoning, forgot about it for an hour, and realized I put the eye on high instead of low because I turned the knob the wrong way. I used the sponge chainmail scrubber and Barkeeper’s Friend, and never again, took half an hour of scrubbing and I still had a bit of carbon on the sides but by then the wrist holding the pan in place was really bothering me. It looks beautiful after researching though.
Why did you go back up to 425? I started using 350 after those videos you did on polymerization and thst seems to work great.
Hi, I go from 350 to 425. I used 425 for speed here, where I find 350 is best for a solid finish. They all get to the same place.
@@Cook-Culture Cool. I've been using the Buzzywax pucks for full seasoning. Wipe on at room temp, wipe excess, bake at 250 for 15 minutes, turn up the oven to 350 and take them out, wipe excess. When the oven is at 350, bake for one hour, then turn off and let them cool overnight. Takes me around a week to put 6 coats on two pans but the result is brilliant.
@@praetorxyn I'm with you. I've found your process to be bombproof! Good on you!!
@@Cook-Culture To clarify, by pucks, I meant the discs that don’t come in a can. For post seasoning, I’ll use the one in the can. I leave the eye on Lo and let it sit a few minutes, wipe a little Buzzywax on it, then let it bake on about 5 minutes before wiping excess and turning it off.
Do you ship the cckit to Germany?
Yes!
Hey I just watch your video where your professor friend said that 350 was the right temperature so I did all my seasoning at 350. Now you are saying 425. Which is better???
Great question. It's all good. I've found that 350f works great and 425f works great. My point with 350 is that you don't need to go crazy hot.
White vinegar also works very well just simmer it and it starts it over
Did it bother the coating on the handle?
This handle was already damaged from heat but it won't. Lye only breaks down organic materials
What cooktop are you using?
Jenn-Air
11:00 It is not sticking due to seasoning being new... it is sticking due to too low temp
why not turn your oven in clean mode and put pan upside down?
That can damage it in the long run or warp it. Too high heat and doubt he wants to risk warping it lol
My ovens do not have self clean, and when I've tried that in the past it hasn't worked nearly as well.
@@Gohan11718 I think it's probably safer with thicker iron
I have a wood fired pizza oven. I heated my pan just hot enough to get the seasoning to flake and brushed off the rest of the old seasoning with a wire brush. I’m happy with how well it worked. No warping and it now looks like new.
Just use oven with pyrolysis function.
Jeez what a work. Just buy rvs
Nahhh, the absolutely fastest and least toxic method is to use a paint stripper wheel on your electric screwdriver. Takes a few minutes and it's clean as a whistle.
I've tried that. Much too rough on the surface for my liking
Let’s talk steel.
The term “Carbon Steel” is marketing gobbledygook.
The reason Steel is Steel and not simple iron, is Carbon. All steel has Carbon in it. Using the marketing phrase “carbon steel” to describe a pan (or anything else) is just falling for marketing bullshit.
There is no alloy of steel called “carbon steel.” There are thousands of steel alloys. Each alloy may have elements like Molybdenum, Nickel, Cobalt, Chrome, or any of a boatload of other alloying elements smelted in them to produce a steel with the desired properties for machining or ease of welding or lubricity on and on and on. But Carbon is universal. All steels have Carbon in them. So the term “Carbon Steel” is just foolish redundancy fed to us by marketing assholes.
The steel alloy that these pans are made from is most likely A36. A36 is the most common and cheapest steel on the planet. It is a very old alloy, and it is the one that lay folk might call “Structural Steel” because it is the steel that all steel erection for buildings, bridges, and navel vessels the world over are made from. So, there’s a very good chance that the manufacturers of these pans use a common, easily sourced, and inexpensive alloy of steel, and A36 and a slew of other steels will fit the bill wonderfully.
It might just be „marketing“ but wouldn’t calling it just a steel pan lead to confusion with stainless steel? So it’s just a term to better differentiate the two?
@@andrecanis4894 There is carbon in stainless steel.
So no, it wouldn’t clarify things to use a redundancy to refer to steel. It’s just redundant.
The only reason Stainless Steel is called stainless is because there is a percentage of chromium in the steel; anywhere from 12% or more. The chromium migrates (yes it literally swims through the metal) to the surface where it reacts with oxygen in the atmosphere and turns to chrome oxide with is the "passive" layer that makes stainless steel stainless.
Most stainless can not be hardened. The correct way to say this is that they don’t not respond to heat treatment.
However, increasing the carbon in any series of stainless makes for a Stainless Steel which does respond to heat treatment. Your kitchen knives are, they are in the 400 series of stainless.
Waste of time. Looking crappy is a badge of honor that means they get used.
I’m the same way. I have a bunch of perfectly seasoned pans and one or two that are spotty. They work just fine and I kind of like their “rugged” look.