Wash with soap and water, put that sucker on the stove and heat it till it turns blue. You will have to move it around. Then let it cool and add a coating of an oil with a high level of linoleic acid to the entire thing and then use a rag or paper towel to wipe the oil off. Put back on stove and heat till all oil is burned off. Rinse and repeat till pan is black. Just bought one and the matfer seasoning instructions are crazy. used the same routine you use for high carbon woks and it worked great.
Two things i like about this channel, three actually if I include Scott's personality, is that there is no sponsorship money involved and his meticulous experimentation from what he reads and what he knows from experience.
I’m ordering one of the 8” to replace my spinner. Side note, as your metal/coatings guy: Freshly sand blasted blasted carbon steel, if left untreated, would rust under atmospheric conditions within a few days. Even the amount of moisture in the bag would be enough to rust the pan. If it isn’t rusting, it has a coating.
Great video. I ordered the 12" Matfer and it just arrived. I'll be seasoning it and learning to cook on carbon steel starting this week. Your videos have been extremely helpful.
Such a handy video and good information. I just got one of these pans and did exactly this with the barman's friend and everything. Then seasoned with salt, oil and potato and it came up exactly like this. Eggs sliding around in the pan better than the cheap nasty teflon non stick. I also just went through all my old carbon camp ovens and did the same and they came up so much better. Previously I was making the same mistake putting oil on them while they were hot after cleaning and they were going brown and sticky. This whole routine you've shared here is 👌
I received my Matfer 11 7/8 pan yesterday and followed your advice to the best of my ability. It turned out great, it passed the fried egg test and has a beautiful bronze coating. Can't wait to cook lots of meals in this beautiful pan. I just wish I could share my photos and short video.
Thanks for all your videos, Scott! You have inspired me to adopt carbon steel and now it's a huge part of my cooking process. As an aside, I look forward to your review of the Demeyere pan! Thanks again!
Love the way you geek out on the pans, I do the same. My Wife trips on me but I don' t care!!! These things are important to me. Thanks for your videos, you have taught me a lot!!!
I watched your updated Matfer video and ordered a new Matfer Bourgeat 12 5/8 pan. It didn't appear to have a coating but I scrubbed it anyway. I did the original potato peel seasoning method and then cooked two eggs! flawless, no sticking whatsoever! I'm still using my #10 Griswold cast iron pan but I think I'll be using the new Matfer in place of my #12 Griswold.
I have a selection of carbon steel woks. While the European/American carbon steel cookware guys have you using potato peelings, the Asian wok folks have you using aromatic veggies such as chopped ginger, green onions and the like along with oil and salt. I really think it is the oil and salt that does the trick on the seasoning and all the peelings/veggies do make it easier to push it around evenly.
@@LouisXIVStreet I'm not quite sure why some of the carbon steel seasoning folks add salt to the mixture. I may be wrong on my idea of what seasoning on carbon steel and cast iron actually is, but I always thought it was the same as the blackish-brown crud that bakes on to the sides and bottom of your oven from spills and is a PITA to get off. You hate it in your oven but love it on your cast iron cookware. Go figure! 😄
@@DoubleDogDare54Using the potato peels with the salt and oil is to SCRUB any remnants of either the wax coating that you partially removed in hot water or a machine oil that Matfer is using presently as of at least Spring 2022. If you notice the DeBuyer seasoning method is applying a light coat of oil in the pan and heating it up until it smokes then letting it cool down. The problem with the DeBuyer method is that it doesn’t address wether 100% of the coating is removed. In the case of wax it’s likely to not allow a solid seasoning to develop. In the case of machine oil, it isn’t suitable for human consumption, and the potato, salt and oil scrub addresses this. After owning 2 Matfer pans one from 2020 with the wax coating, one from 2022 with the machine oil coating and now three DeBuyer Mineral B Pro pans I understand the reason for the different cleaning and seasoning methods. However I believe Matfer should change their cleaning and seasoning suggestions to differentiate the steps of removing a protective coating and ACTUAL seasoning.
@@Assimilator702 I always wondered why Lodge cast iron was left slightly rough, to the point some people will take a sander to them to smooth them down. I was told the slightly rough surface helped seasoning stick to the cookware, which will build up with time and cause the surface to become more like nonstick.
@@DoubleDogDare54 The main reason is cost. Cast iron pans are made by pouring molten iron into a sand mold. The pans are lightly deburred then sprayed with seasoning. But seasoning DOES stick better when there’s a more bumpy surface vs the smooth surface of the sheet steel used for CS pans.
I just seasoned my new Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel pan two days ago. I seasoned it with grapeseed oil in the oven at 450F three times in a row and I did not cool the pan or oven down between seasonings. I fried an egg on it that night and it performed better than my teflon pan.
I have three DeBuyer pans that I love and use constantly. I have one Matfer pan that in no way measures up to the DeBuyer. I wouldn't waste my money on another Matfer pan no matter what they promise.
Uncle Scott..I believe some "Previgen" is in order! BTW, my grown adult kids are going to buy me the DeBuyer 11" Mineral B Pro! I seen a ton of your vids, so if I screw things up...KIDDING! You've been a huge help and comfort zone. I even reseasoned my cast iron skillet.
Great job! Thank you very much! I have a 'Made In' carbon steel pan. Seasoned it five different times in the oven at 400°F with canola oil before I even attempted to do an egg! Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick.
Thanks to Scott's videos I purchased 2 Matfer CS pans back in 2020 and they were very coated and in the bags. I assumed the bag was to protect everything else from the oil on the pan : ]
Great video. I went ahead and ordered this pan. I have 2 smaller carbon pans from de Buyer. Your video on how to maintain them has been a life saver! Time to try a Matfer. Kinda hop I get the old model.
I am so glad you posted this video and that I found it! We just got our first Matfer skillet and I was a nervous wreck as I seasoned it today! But so far my pan has passed the egg test thanks to this video! I can’t wait for the next meal I cook. I do have one question though, what about the bottom of the pan? As I followed your video today, that’s what I kept thinking over and over. Do I put any oil on it? Or leave it as is? I did wash the bottom as I washed the inside. Do I have to worry about it rusting? Thank you for your help!
Awesome on the eggs!!! Whenever I add the drops of protective oil (after cleaning and cool down), I wipe those all around the pan including the bottom and then that's about all I do for the bottoms of the pans.
The new Matfer I got comes with that anti-rust bag but also has a coating they tell you needs to be taken off before seasoning. (Didn’t take that much elbow grease or time.) After that, their potato skin thing worked fine.
Grüße aus dem Norden Utahs in den USA! Schön, dass dir die Videos gefallen! (Ich habe das von Google Translate ... der einzige deutsche Satz, den ich kenne, ist "Weiss Bier Bitte!"
I have one of the new pans, and I found the tater skin method to be a complete bust. I just nuked the bad seasoning with vinegar and seasoned the pan the same way I do cast iron. Nice golden coating now, where the peels gave me leopard spots and uneven results overall. My oil of choice for an initial seasoning is grape seed. I haven't had time to do an egg test because the Thanksgiving turkey is getting all my attention today. EDIT TO ADD- The video mirrors my experience. I would recommend a thorough soap scrub, then a vinegar bath right to the rim, THEN hot seasoning.
Rice has arsenic if you didn’t know… almonds have cyanide, and banana is radioactive. I can walk outside my door and be struck by a meteor, or get hit by a stray bullet, or a car for that matter. And if you’re sanding aluminum, inhaling it causes Alzheimer. Bottom line is that everything can harm you.
great video. glad to see something go wrong and now to remedy it. I got an older model a year or so ago after watching one of your videos....and yes it warped an is a spinner. saw you test of the new models and that it didn't spin. I might just have to invest in one of the new ones. Thanks for doing these, i really enjoy them.
I have a Lodge CS I have never heard of seasoning the way Matfer suggests, I season it just like my cast iron skillets and it works just fine! Also newer cast iron pans are way too rough! So I strip them with an abrasive paint stripper in a cordless drill and season normally, and fry either bacon or sausage in a newly seasoned skillet whether it's CS or CI and just rinse out with hot water dry on the stove top and wipe on a light coating of cooking spray.
I used a sanding block with 80-100 grit sandpaper. When the pan no longer caught on my finger nails I was done sanding then re-seasoned the pan with just cooking oil applied in very thin coats on the stove top. A lot of the seasoning methods you see are just "old wives tales."
@@virginia_ny I have the 11" Mineral B Pro...perfect size for 1 or 2, works well on my coil electric stove, never any warping. I always pre-heat slowly before cooking. I'm staying with De Buyer! Got the 12" Mineral B Pro with 2 handles, just too much skillet for 1 person, great for larger gatherings.❤
@@ckost2308 I wound up buying the 9" Pro as well, for omelettes. I also gifted the Country Pan and the 11" Pro to my sister to celebrate her new kitchen.
Hi Scott. Thanks for going into such detail on seasoning the new Matfer pan. I followed your directions and the pan seasoned up very nicely. First meal was chicken breast which did not stick and cooked up perfectly. However when I cleaned the pan (still warm) with a soft brush and hot water the finish came off. Should I scrub the finish off and start over?
I am an experienced iron pan user, (not carbon steel, but it is similar). I heard this in an Americans Test Kitchen video, though: the whole potato skin thing is too absorb any leftovers of the scrubbed off wax. So what's the point if you are starting with a nice clean new pan? And yeah, potato stuck to that pan! Also salt makes iron rust faster, so that doesn't make sense either. Maybe it is meant as low abrasion scratch cleaner? My trick with iron pans is soak oil in low and slow. I use either coconut oil or a combo of coconut oil and peanut oil. Crisco works. I put a deep puddle of oil in the pan, like a quarter inch. They say to warm the pan before you put the oil in; if you are drying a just washed pan with the burner, pan is warm. Then you put the heat down as low as it will go and let the oil steep into the pan. Turn it off for a while and let it sit for a good while. Then turn it on low again. For a new pan, maybe 3 X. Then I guess you have to smear oil all over the whole pan at some point and maybe leave it in the oven at 200 F or warm. Once you've soaked a deep puddle of warm oil in the cooking surface for sufficient time, however, you pour off the excess oil and just cook. Nothing will stick. You can attempt higher temp plasticization of the oil after you've done the low temp soak, and poured and wiped oil off, but I never have bothered. It would probably work. I have always just revitalized old pans.
I just got my Matfer today. It was in a plastic bag, but had more specific directions. I think I have the old version because the bottom is completely flat. During the seasoning process, the pan did start to spin on me. My glass stove top was set on a 4 out of 10 and that was more than enough heat. The seasoning did great after two rounds. Also chopped up the potatoes and they slid all over the pan. I didn’t cook them as crunchy as I would have liked, but the pan did great!
I got one for Christmas. It was in a bag. It's bottom was not flat. But it did not have the logo on the handle. It has the shortened directions. Came from the Matfer store on Amazon. So I'm conflicted. Firstly, does your pan have the logo on the handle? Did your pan have the shorter seasoning directions? I have an induction cooktop and don't want a "spinner". Do you think the pans we got are the "older" version?
@@charlesbaum3778 it sounds like your pan is a combination with the old handle and the new design of the pan with the shortened instructions. After I noticed mine was a spinner, I hit it with a rubber mallet from the outside a few times and it hasn’t spun since. If your pan isn’t flat, I think you will be fine on your induction eye.
Knowing when the manufacturer's protective coating was fully removed is a guessing game until you season it for the first time and see what the heat does to it...then back to the sink and scrub some more, season again and hope you got it all this time. How do you avoid making that mistake? Cooking with the cs pans also involves using a lot more oil or butter that non sticks don't require. The good news is food tastes a lot better now so learning the process has been worth it. The most fun I'm having is making omlettes with the 9" crepe pan.
This is exactly what happened when I did the potato peel process. I m not sure I ever did get all of the stuff out and have been having issues with the seasoning ever since. Any suggestions?
I have that pan and it took a long time to season it. The seasoning just would not stick, if it did I would do something to screw it up. Then I tried something I saw on youtube where I cooked onions in avocado oil on high heat until they were almost black and boom the pan was dark and seasonend. After that worked I started using it more often and it has gotten much darker over the past year.
Awesome video as always, Scott. After watching so many of your videos I'm finally thinking about buying my first carbon steel pan (they are a little more expensive/difficult to get down here in Mexico), but this video showed me something that I'm definitely going to wonder during the seasoning process, is there any way to tell if you have completely removed the protective coating? That is, without having to find out the hard way during the frying of the peels? Is the coating something you can see? I know you go hard with the scrubbing for a while, but if you could tell us/show us how a pan looks with and without the coating (after the scrubbing) perhaps we could avoid something like this. Anyway, thanks for all the work you put in these videos, we really appreciate it.
What I normally do is scrub with hot soapy water and then some use bar keepers friend to strip the top layer of whatever is on there, to include a little metal. Then I heat it until it "blues" let it cool down a bit then I do the salt, potato, and oil. Just make sure to really scrub off all the residue from the bar keepers friend. That is how I've done all my carbon steel pans, wok, and two heavy duty baking trays that I also use as skillets.
I have come to the conclusion that the best method for seasoning your pan.... does not matter. They all work. The oven method created the best looking uniform black coatings, but it tended to peel off at the inside corner in my attempts. Didn't hurt the properties, though. In my first pan the potato peel method was recommended - I suspect it is just as much of a safety cleaning step as a seasoning step - and it also worked. My last pan - the 28cm Debuyer workhorse in my kitchen - was thoroughly cleaned, rubbed with olive oil once, heated until it smoked, wiped again and immediately used for cooking. Worked as well. No "sacrifice a virgin at midnight at the last full moon of the year" nonsense...
I was thinking the same thing. I would imagine the salt is there as an abrasive and the potato skins absorb the remnants. I'd rather scrub thoroughly and just do a light coating like cast iron
Oive oil has a low smoking point and should not be used to season a pan, Canola, Grape seed, Sunflower, Peanut, all have higher smoke points and are better suited for seasoning.
@@M_Ladd You don't understand what seasoning is. Seasoning means thermally decomposing a film of oil in the pan to create a layer of polymerized residue of this oil. That is the non stick layer. Using a high smoke point oil for seasoning is bad. Because it needs much higher temperature for the decomposition and creates less sturdy layers. Chemically speaking it has less double/triple-bonds to crack up and form interconnects between the carbon chains. Some people swear on linseed oil for seasoning and it is about the lowest smoke point oil there is. For later on high smoke point oil is great for very hot work in the pan.
@jackmclane1826 You keep it your way, and I will keep it mine. My pans are over sixty years old, and I never had any chips or cracks or any pan breaking down on me. One day, you will see!
Thanks for the videos, Scott. Always lots of good info. I pulled out my old style Matfer 11 7/8" C/S pan last night for a long overdo strip and re-season because my original run at it was done without the help of the internet. I have a 36" GE Profile Induction cooktop (gasp). So, for seasoning, the oven is the best route for me. But before watching your videos, I'd always just turned the heat up to medium (10" front-right HOB), added oil, and gotten after it. So I was pretty curious to see if I had created a spinner (I use silpats under my cookware; so spinning wouldn't necessarily be apparent). I took my old pan, which only has been used on this induction cooktop since I got it years ago, placed it on a flat surface, and to my relief, no spinning. I'm glad M/B has made improvements to their design so other people don't experience the problems you and others obviously have experienced. But on my cooktop, the heat ramp-up apparently is not drastic enough to warp the pan to the point of spinning, at least in the way I have used it. I'll have to check my 10 1/4" M/B pan tonight, but if the big one hasn't had an issue, I doubt the smaller one has been affected. Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I definitely will be ramping up my temperatures with my C/S pans from now on, just to be on the safe side.
I have the new Matfer 11.78 inch washed it with hot water and soap dried it used oven seasoning method 450 one hour let it cool did it again it seasoned flawlessly I never use potato peels it just has never worked good for me
I bet that you would be successful with the fried egg test on a stainless steel pan since you master the art of setting the pan at the proper temperature. I recall having some eggs at a cafeteria that were fried on an electric stainless steel grill and they did not stick. Of course the whole grill could not be lifted but the eggs could be be moved around with a spatula and they would glide on the surface of the grill. I would love to see you nail it.
Indeed I agree with you about heat setting. Egg on SS pan is difficult, I found out that if you heat the pan on mid-high, wait till pan is hot, then put in oil, and then egg. Most of the time the egg would not stick.
Great PSA, Scott. I've received four different Matfer Carbon Black pans within the last several months, with one as recently as 45 days ago. They all came in plastic bags. They all had coatings. A plastic bag will do nothing to prevent rust on unprotected carbon steel. In fact, if any moisture or humidity gets into the bag it would make the situation considerably worse by trapping it there. So I'm a little perplexed why someone at MB told you this, and who they were. I found the wax/coating on them to be very difficult to remove. I had to use boiling hot water from the tap (or nearly, I run my water heater up), a little dish soap, and a copper wire scouring pad. It takes a lot of work and even when seasoning I saw a spot or two I missed and had to start over.
How could you see the coating? Did it create a white film when cooking? I just received mine today. Put it in hot water and it immediately started to turn brown from hot water only. Then I scrubbed with a brush and dish soap for about 10 mins. The soap turned brown but nothing else came off so I assumed it was uncoated and the brown was rust forming. I rinsed and dried with paper towel, more brown residue came off on the paper towel. I seasoned with oil, potatoes, and salt for 15mins twice. Then I fried two burgers and I started to see a white film on the bottom of the pan. So now, I'm wondering if its coating and is it harmful to eat the burgers, and do I have to start over? Thanks
@@peacheswhatley I had to use Barkeepers Friend and an abrasive walnut based sponge to get the coating off. It's been a while but I remember the metal looking a bit brighter in the spots I scrubbed off, though it reacts with the air and oxidizes almost immediately.
A carbon steel pan requires some type of protective coating to prevent it from rusting during shipping and storage. Most of them will be shipped by sea and stored for some time at a shipping port, both of which have high-salt atmospheres that cause rapid rusting of unprotected carbon steel surfaces. There are a lot of different coatings, some of them thin and nearly invisible. The previous thick waxy coating served two purposes: 1) to prevent rusting and, 2) to prevent physical damage like small dings and nicks from other pans during packaging in the factory, shipping and storage. The plastic bag prevents physical damage and helps protect the thin anti-rust coating.
@@coralinealgae I found my old comment. I've since been using canola oil and it's been much better. However I was doing it or cooking it seemed like the grapeseed oil was just more "brittle". I've seen in some of scott's videos that he at least sometimes uses canola oil for seasoning. I personally don't like the taste so I just use it to season and something else for cooking.
So…….my “Brand New Updated Matfer” 14” pan arrived today! And it warped almost immediately when trying to season it on my electric stove top! My 11 7/8” was no problem, turned out beautifully ! And is why I purchased the 14”! 🤡 My plan was to season the cooking surface with Avocado oil, the highest flash point I can find here locally, and then season the rest of the pan with vegetable was oil in the oven at 500F, my max! Anyway…….I heard a pop, the warp, within the first few minutes. Long story short……..I let cool, it was still warped! Then I went to work on the bottom, upside down, with a big rubber mallet! Feeling for the high spots, and a few good licks, try it on the stove top. Rinse and repeat! 😎 It feels much flatter, better now on the glass stove top, time will tell! 😳
The easiest way to get rid of the non debuyer/non beeswax coatings I find is to burn it off with my butane camp stove, can't do it with my cruddy coil electric sadly. An additional benefit is you can keep heating till it turns blue, and then eventually dark(er) gray than it was before. This indicates the formation of a black iron oxide coating, which unlike red rust adheres well to the pan and protects the deeper layers from further corrosion (much like copper tarnish). This is often colloquially known as "bluing", and it is a teqnique often used by Chinese chefs for carbon steel woks to prepare the surface before seasoning. That and it also just helps aesthetically to create a beautiful dark surface faster. Simply heat the pan empty, after you wash it if you want. And then wash it again when you're done. It's worth noting, you can also burn away the epoxy coating on these handles, I've done it with debuyer and WinCo CS pans. i'm fixin' a do it to these lovely tramontina Brazilian made carbon steel pans i got recently too, something just don't sit right with me about meltable coatings on a handle. I like to use my skillets under a broiler
@@TheDingfish yeah you just allow the flame to burn it off. Depending what they use it may look different but in my experience it starts bubbling abit then turns into a rusty looking ash. no worries it aint rust its just the burnt off coating, give the handle a good scrub in soapy water and a stiff sponge and it should reveal the bare metal.
Have you ever tried "bluing" a carbon steel pan? The seasoning on my blued carbon steel pans and woks seem to be more durable over any other season technique I've tried.
I think I inadvertently blued one of my pans but I didn't do it on purpose. I just left one on the burner for about 10 minutes and it turned blueish. Seemed to work well but I don't know about recommending that for the average home viewer as there might be a little danger in getting things that hot on a home stove. It did seem to cook nicely after though!
I just put a thin layer of oil on mine and put it in the oven upside down for an hour at 475 and I repeat the process a few times. I have a lodge carbon steel.
Matfer pans have always had machine oil left on the pans, but Matfer said these new pans did not have a coating left on them and were bagged to keep them from rusting.
Scott do you have and experience with any of the generic restaurant supply carbon steel pans? They seem fairly heavy gauge but are pretty inexpensive compared to the name brands....
Just (July 28, 2023) seasoned a new (but old style) Matfer Bourgeat 9 1/2" using the 1/3 cup of salt and 2/3 cup of oil and skins of two potatoes for 15 mins. Did this twice per the directions. Used my Wolf Induction range top which has one 10 1/2" coil. Seasoning came out perfectly. No warping. Passed the egg test. You really have to scrub these pans well on both sides. Did this about 4 times in hot water using Dawn Platinum and a Scotchbrite pad before the seasoning process. Looking forward to MANY years of Matfer bliss. Hey Scott how about a pancake lesson? When I do blueberry pancakes I get blueberry stains on my older pan. Any help here?? thanks Amigo, and try the Modelo Negro PorFavor!! Art
My Matfer came in a bag with a dessicant envelope (labeled _"déshydratant"_ which is French for "dehydrating") and dozens of silica beads the size of the ball of a ball-point pen. I could not see or feel any beeswax on the pan, so I inferred there was none, or else why the bag and the dessicants? Question: I oven-seasoned it twice (veg oil at 425 for 70 min then cool to room temp) and it looked great but then I did the egg test without butter. The egg stuck and now I have splotchies. Do I have to scour back down to metal an restart?
The Tramontina steel pans with classic french handles are "nitrocarburized." The process does not sound problematic -- a bio-chemical form of pre-seasoning. But, the pan remains incredibly sticky after far too much use.
I've never know exactly why either, but I think it may have something to do with being just slightly abrasive and maybe it scrubs off any remaining bits of that coating. I know some people will use salt to clean cast iron... might be the same principle.
Great video. Just received my Matfer from Amazon but haven't seasoned it yet. My question is: why the potatoes? In a different video, didn't you recommend just using oil to season, skipping the potato step? Thanks for your feedback.
The potatoes are to ensure the coating is removed 100%. I didnt remove 100% of the coating which I believe is a machine oil presently on my Matfer pan from April 2022 and the first batch of onions sent me running for the toilet after eating a few on a sandwich. After that the pan was fine. Using the potatoes and salt scrub is NOT a seasoning step. Heating the pan with a light coat of buzzy wax or grape seed oil is seasoning #1.
I'm having similar issues. I scrubbed the pan thoroughly then tried seasoning over an outdoor gas burner using a more traditional seasoning method to find that the pan still had some coating on it which was oilphobic. Took the pan inside, scrubbed it all down again with bartenders friend for like 20 minutes and STILL did not remove all the coating. Very frustrating.
With my first Matfer I had to boil vinegar in mine to get the coating off. The potato peel method didn't work for my (might have been me though). I used a different method, now it's black and slick.
@@Assimilator702 I did the oven method first. Just to get the whole pan an initial seasoning. Then I seasoned the inside on the stove top with very, very light coatings of oil (canola for me). when it starts smoking I wipe off as much as possible. I repeat those steps until I got the seasoned look I was looking for. Hope this helps.
I have been using cast iron pans for over 40 years and carbon steel for about 20 years starting with a proper wok. I use tallow or lard to season my pans and I can flip eggs in all of them without have to use a ton of oil to cook with. Vegetable oil was used for lubricating machinery before they decided to hydrogenated it and call it edible. It is horrible stuff
Hey Scott it is great informative video about seasoning the new Matfer skillets. I’m cast iron guy, but I love my Carbon steel stuff too. Most is lodge with some other pieces. I don’t have any Matfer. What I didn’t catch in the video, if you mentioned it was what, if anything, is different about the new Matfer skillets compared to tho old ones. Of course you mentioned the me packaging and the shipping coating (or possible lack there of) and the new seasoning process instructions. However, is there any real change other than that? Is there a design or engineering change, a change in materials or the production process? So other than packaging what is different?
Great video! I have a carbon steel pan for 2 years, and well seasoned. I made an omelet and it gave off a metallic smell, which I hate. I think I had this with a cast iron pan. Does it need some sought of cleaning. It’s very smooth and no build up or rust that I see.
If there’s a seasoning built up on the steel there should be no “metallic” taste getting into,your food. If there was no seasoning the eggs would stick. Not sure what the issue is with your pan.
That doesn't sound like "wiggle room", that sounds like their marketing department saw the old directions as a problem with selling the pans... because it made them sound like they took too much effort to season properly. So... They dumbed down the seasoning process on the labels to make it sound simpler and less involved. My guess is that they probably require the exact same process as the old ones, but this way they sell more pans.
I don't know if their "non-coated" product line is such a good idea. Just go my new Matfer pan this afternoon. It's one of the old stick, three point weld, units with a coating. It was in the newer style bag and DID have a desiccant bag in it. It was still RUSTED. ( cleaned up fairly easily ) I can't imagine the new "non coated" units NOT having problems.
Hey Uncle Scott, love your vids! You inspired me to get a matfer CS pan and it's been great so far! I was wondering if you've seen the Stargazer Cast Iron pans yet. Could be an interesting review. You'll see why at a glance, they don't look like typical cast iron.
@@randompersonontheinternet8790 Your typical Lodge cast iron pan is a charcoal black colour vs the Stargazer more of a polished grey and sanded down vs bumpy. That's all I meant.
@@randompersonontheinternet8790 It’s not just the missing pour lip. It’s highly polished, it’s not black but brown seasoned, has a beautiful comfortable handle. Obviously perfectly weighted- not too thick, not too light weight. A beautiful cast iron skillet.
Do you find the oven method works better or worse im wondering, say with a very light coat of avacado oil then wipe down. Im having a very hard time getting my Vollrath (cheaper brand) carbon steel pan seasoned. Ive done it twice in the oven above the smoke point for 45 mins. And i cant even imagine frying an egg in it, regular food sticks like home fries and other veggies. And anytime i build up a seasoning it comes off with a veryy light washing. No scrubbing with a rough side of sponge…im afraid maybe that brand is just not good and i ended up hurting myself by trying to save, and now i have a useless pan, instead of just spending double the money in the first place. Please help loll ive followed your videos and care instructions before and still no luck! Thanks.
Ok..I received my first Matfer today (11 7/8). It was packaged in plastic bag and shiny like yours. It has a very slight concave shape to the bottom. ? The protective coating was relatively easy to remove, though I did resort to a scouring pad. I didn't have potatoes so after drying per the instructions, I coated it with Crisbee Rub and into the oven for an hour. After an hour cool down, I opened the oven and was blown over with what I saw. The most perfectly even bronze patina I've ever gotten! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a coloring snob when it comes to seasoning. If I was I would never eat bleu cheese. I have multiple cast iron and a de Buyer and even a Merten & Stork (that is actually a great egg pan). I even have a Made In which if I hadn't received a coupon, I would consider myself cheated. I regularly cook over easy eggs on a Blackstone Griddle, so I don't lend much credence to the "fried egg test" . I think, if I cleaned it up really good, I could cook eggs on a shovel (butter helps but it's the heat when the egg hits the surface that keeps it from sticking). I love your podcast and wanted to share my experience with you. I don't know why, but I never considered the Matfer until watching. I look forward to years of service from mine. As a side note, since I cook on everything from cast iron to the Blackstone, I must say I'm not a seasoning snob. I personally think the steel doesn't care what oil I use or what color it is. I believe I could use motor oil to season, though it would play hell with the flavor profile. LOL As you have stated, "Cook More Season Less". Thanks
We can see the handle weld marks on the interior of the pan you started with. When you got "back on track" the weld marks aren't there. The only explanation I can think of is it's a different pan.
@@UncleScottsKitchen Yeah, I'm not accusing you of deceit, it's just very odd. It's also interesting to note that in your other videos with other pans, after you have seasoned them and used them for years, the weld marks are still there. Just a fact.
Wash with soap and water, put that sucker on the stove and heat it till it turns blue. You will have to move it around. Then let it cool and add a coating of an oil with a high level of linoleic acid to the entire thing and then use a rag or paper towel to wipe the oil off. Put back on stove and heat till all oil is burned off. Rinse and repeat till pan is black. Just bought one and the matfer seasoning instructions are crazy. used the same routine you use for high carbon woks and it worked great.
Matfer Bourgeat could do itself a great favor by using this video on their website.
Two things i like about this channel, three actually if I include Scott's personality, is that there is no sponsorship money involved and his meticulous experimentation from what he reads and what he knows from experience.
Uncle Scott, the Idaho potato economy would collapse without you and your carbon steel seasoning process!
Never cross the Potato-Paper Towel-Carbon Steel Pan industrial complex!
I’m ordering one of the 8” to replace my spinner.
Side note, as your metal/coatings guy: Freshly sand blasted blasted carbon steel, if left untreated, would rust under atmospheric conditions within a few days. Even the amount of moisture in the bag would be enough to rust the pan. If it isn’t rusting, it has a coating.
Agreed unless there is a desiccant pouch in the bag with the pan as well but he never stated that there was one.
If you have a hammer, use it. Put the pan upside down and ht it in the center.
They coat it with a food grade wax if I recall correctly.
@@Kartoffelmeister89 did you watch the video ? He specifically said they told him they stopped doing that
@@kodakberry2231 while that may be true no say how old the stock is at certain retailers. I believe mine came waxed not too long ago for example
Great video. I ordered the 12" Matfer and it just arrived. I'll be seasoning it and learning to cook on carbon steel starting this week. Your videos have been extremely helpful.
How was it
It turned out great, using shortly to cook an omelette for dinner.
I had the same sticking problem and went back to the original method and it worked perfectly. Thanks for sharing!
I own a Matfer and love it. I'm surprised you didn't preheat the pan. In my experience, that is a critical step.
agreed!, its the high temp and steam that make it work. at low temps the potato just leach its water and youre F*****.
I also always start with the oil. Everything else I drop in later.
Such a handy video and good information. I just got one of these pans and did exactly this with the barman's friend and everything. Then seasoned with salt, oil and potato and it came up exactly like this. Eggs sliding around in the pan better than the cheap nasty teflon non stick. I also just went through all my old carbon camp ovens and did the same and they came up so much better. Previously I was making the same mistake putting oil on them while they were hot after cleaning and they were going brown and sticky. This whole routine you've shared here is 👌
I received my Matfer 11 7/8 pan yesterday and followed your advice to the best of my ability. It turned out great, it passed the fried egg test and has a beautiful bronze coating. Can't wait to cook lots of meals in this beautiful pan. I just wish I could share my photos and short video.
Thanks for all your videos, Scott! You have inspired me to adopt carbon steel and now it's a huge part of my cooking process. As an aside, I look forward to your review of the Demeyere pan! Thanks again!
Love the way you geek out on the pans, I do the same. My Wife trips on me but I don'
t care!!! These things are important to me. Thanks for your videos, you have taught me a lot!!!
I had the exact same problem and thought mine was defective. Thank you for addressing this! Now to go back and scrub the heck out of it
I watched your updated Matfer video and ordered a new Matfer Bourgeat 12 5/8 pan. It didn't appear to have a coating but I scrubbed it anyway. I did the original potato peel seasoning method and then cooked two eggs! flawless, no sticking whatsoever! I'm still using my #10 Griswold cast iron pan but I think I'll be using the new Matfer in place of my #12 Griswold.
I have a selection of carbon steel woks. While the European/American carbon steel cookware guys have you using potato peelings, the Asian wok folks have you using aromatic veggies such as chopped ginger, green onions and the like along with oil and salt. I really think it is the oil and salt that does the trick on the seasoning and all the peelings/veggies do make it easier to push it around evenly.
@@LouisXIVStreet I'm not quite sure why some of the carbon steel seasoning folks add salt to the mixture. I may be wrong on my idea of what seasoning on carbon steel and cast iron actually is, but I always thought it was the same as the blackish-brown crud that bakes on to the sides and bottom of your oven from spills and is a PITA to get off.
You hate it in your oven but love it on your cast iron cookware. Go figure! 😄
@@DoubleDogDare54Using the potato peels with the salt and oil is to SCRUB any remnants of either the wax coating that you partially removed in hot water or a machine oil that Matfer is using presently as of at least Spring 2022. If you notice the DeBuyer seasoning method is applying a light coat of oil in the pan and heating it up until it smokes then letting it cool down. The problem with the DeBuyer method is that it doesn’t address wether 100% of the coating is removed. In the case of wax it’s likely to not allow a solid seasoning to develop. In the case of machine oil, it isn’t suitable for human consumption, and the potato, salt and oil scrub addresses this. After owning 2 Matfer pans one from 2020 with the wax coating, one from 2022 with the machine oil coating and now three DeBuyer Mineral B Pro pans I understand the reason for the different cleaning and seasoning methods. However I believe Matfer should change their cleaning and seasoning suggestions to differentiate the steps of removing a protective coating and ACTUAL seasoning.
@DoubleDogDare54 The salt scrub is also a light abrasive so it promotes adhesion of the seasoning.
@@Assimilator702 I always wondered why Lodge cast iron was left slightly rough, to the point some people will take a sander to them to smooth them down. I was told the slightly rough surface helped seasoning stick to the cookware, which will build up with time and cause the surface to become more like nonstick.
@@DoubleDogDare54 The main reason is cost. Cast iron pans are made by pouring molten iron into a sand mold. The pans are lightly deburred then sprayed with seasoning. But seasoning DOES stick better when there’s a more bumpy surface vs the smooth surface of the sheet steel used for CS pans.
I just seasoned my new Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel pan two days ago. I seasoned it with grapeseed oil in the oven at 450F three times in a row and I did not cool the pan or oven down between seasonings. I fried an egg on it that night and it performed better than my teflon pan.
I have three DeBuyer pans that I love and use constantly. I have one Matfer pan that in no way measures up to the DeBuyer. I wouldn't waste my money on another Matfer pan no matter what they promise.
Uncle Scott..I believe some "Previgen" is in order! BTW, my grown adult kids are going to buy me the DeBuyer 11" Mineral B Pro! I seen a ton of your vids, so if I screw things up...KIDDING! You've been a huge help and comfort zone. I even reseasoned my cast iron skillet.
Great job! Thank you very much!
I have a 'Made In' carbon steel pan. Seasoned it five different times in the oven at 400°F with canola oil before I even attempted to do an egg! Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick.
Thanks to Scott's videos I purchased 2 Matfer CS pans back in 2020 and they were very coated and in the bags. I assumed the bag was to protect everything else from the oil on the pan : ]
Another great video Scott, thanks. I think I'll wait on ordering the new Matfer pan for a while...
Thank you! I had the same results you did and couldn't figure out what I did wrong.
Blotchy is fine! Don't worry They will be weird at first and not have uniform color. Cook cook cook and give it time.
Great video. I went ahead and ordered this pan. I have 2 smaller carbon pans from de Buyer. Your video on how to maintain them has been a life saver! Time to try a Matfer. Kinda hop I get the old model.
Which is better?
I am so glad you posted this video and that I found it! We just got our first Matfer skillet and I was a nervous wreck as I seasoned it today! But so far my pan has passed the egg test thanks to this video! I can’t wait for the next meal I cook.
I do have one question though, what about the bottom of the pan? As I followed your video today, that’s what I kept thinking over and over. Do I put any oil on it? Or leave it as is? I did wash the bottom as I washed the inside. Do I have to worry about it rusting?
Thank you for your help!
Awesome on the eggs!!! Whenever I add the drops of protective oil (after cleaning and cool down), I wipe those all around the pan including the bottom and then that's about all I do for the bottoms of the pans.
Have the handle shapes, lengths or angles changed in the new version? I have to get a small pan to join my old version bigger Matfer.
The new Matfer I got comes with that anti-rust bag but also has a coating they tell you needs to be taken off before seasoning. (Didn’t take that much elbow grease or time.)
After that, their potato skin thing worked fine.
Hey uncle scott Grüße aus Niedersachsen in Deutschland,macht wirklich Spaß deine Videos zu sehen.👍😊
Grüße aus dem Norden Utahs in den USA! Schön, dass dir die Videos gefallen! (Ich habe das von Google Translate ... der einzige deutsche Satz, den ich kenne, ist "Weiss Bier Bitte!"
@@UncleScottsKitchen haha der war gut 👍 😂
I have one of the new pans, and I found the tater skin method to be a complete bust. I just nuked the bad seasoning with vinegar and seasoned the pan the same way I do cast iron. Nice golden coating now, where the peels gave me leopard spots and uneven results overall. My oil of choice for an initial seasoning is grape seed. I haven't had time to do an egg test because the Thanksgiving turkey is getting all my attention today.
EDIT TO ADD- The video mirrors my experience. I would recommend a thorough soap scrub, then a vinegar bath right to the rim, THEN hot seasoning.
What do you think about the EU recall on Matfers due to arsenic?
Rice has arsenic if you didn’t know… almonds have cyanide, and banana is radioactive. I can walk outside my door and be struck by a meteor, or get hit by a stray bullet, or a car for that matter. And if you’re sanding aluminum, inhaling it causes Alzheimer. Bottom line is that everything can harm you.
You might want to edit this video! I almost didn’t rub the coating off! Glad I watched the whole video.
great video. glad to see something go wrong and now to remedy it. I got an older model a year or so ago after watching one of your videos....and yes it warped an is a spinner. saw you test of the new models and that it didn't spin. I might just have to invest in one of the new ones. Thanks for doing these, i really enjoy them.
I have a Lodge CS I have never heard of seasoning the way Matfer suggests, I season it just like my cast iron skillets and it works just fine! Also newer cast iron pans are way too rough! So I strip them with an abrasive paint stripper in a cordless drill and season normally, and fry either bacon or sausage in a newly seasoned skillet whether it's CS or CI and just rinse out with hot water dry on the stove top and wipe on a light coating of cooking spray.
I used a sanding block with 80-100 grit sandpaper. When the pan no longer caught on my finger nails I was done sanding then re-seasoned the pan with just cooking oil applied in very thin coats on the stove top. A lot of the seasoning methods you see are just "old wives tales."
@@eminusipi I think matfer's instructions are to ensure that all the factory coating is gone
I'm still in love with my mineral b pro.. I don't want to buy anything else.. thanks to Scott
I'm ordering the 11" dB Pro. Can't wait to start cooking in it!
@@virginia_ny I have the 11" Mineral B Pro...perfect size for 1 or 2, works well on my coil electric stove, never any warping. I always pre-heat slowly before cooking. I'm staying with De Buyer! Got the 12" Mineral B Pro with 2 handles, just too much skillet for 1 person, great for larger gatherings.❤
@@ckost2308 I wound up buying the 9" Pro as well, for omelettes. I also gifted the Country Pan and the 11" Pro to my sister to celebrate her new kitchen.
Hi Scott. Thanks for going into such detail on seasoning the new Matfer pan. I followed your directions and the pan seasoned up very nicely. First meal was chicken breast which did not stick and cooked up perfectly. However when I cleaned the pan (still warm) with a soft brush and hot water the finish came off. Should I scrub the finish off and start over?
Great review as always; thank you so much 👍
Thanks, Alanca!
I am an experienced iron pan user, (not carbon steel, but it is similar). I heard this in an Americans Test Kitchen video, though: the whole potato skin thing is too absorb any leftovers of the scrubbed off wax. So what's the point if you are starting with a nice clean new pan? And yeah, potato stuck to that pan! Also salt makes iron rust faster, so that doesn't make sense either. Maybe it is meant as low abrasion scratch cleaner? My trick with iron pans is soak oil in low and slow. I use either coconut oil or a combo of coconut oil and peanut oil. Crisco works. I put a deep puddle of oil in the pan, like a quarter inch. They say to warm the pan before you put the oil in; if you are drying a just washed pan with the burner, pan is warm. Then you put the heat down as low as it will go and let the oil steep into the pan. Turn it off for a while and let it sit for a good while. Then turn it on low again. For a new pan, maybe 3 X. Then I guess you have to smear oil all over the whole pan at some point and maybe leave it in the oven at 200 F or warm. Once you've soaked a deep puddle of warm oil in the cooking surface for sufficient time, however, you pour off the excess oil and just cook. Nothing will stick. You can attempt higher temp plasticization of the oil after you've done the low temp soak, and poured and wiped oil off, but I never have bothered. It would probably work. I have always just revitalized old pans.
I just got my Matfer today. It was in a plastic bag, but had more specific directions. I think I have the old version because the bottom is completely flat. During the seasoning process, the pan did start to spin on me. My glass stove top was set on a 4 out of 10 and that was more than enough heat. The seasoning did great after two rounds. Also chopped up the potatoes and they slid all over the pan. I didn’t cook them as crunchy as I would have liked, but the pan did great!
I got one for Christmas. It was in a bag. It's bottom was not flat. But it did not have the logo on the handle. It has the shortened directions. Came from the Matfer store on Amazon. So I'm conflicted. Firstly, does your pan have the logo on the handle? Did your pan have the shorter seasoning directions? I have an induction cooktop and don't want a "spinner". Do you think the pans we got are the "older" version?
@@charlesbaum3778 it sounds like your pan is a combination with the old handle and the new design of the pan with the shortened instructions. After I noticed mine was a spinner, I hit it with a rubber mallet from the outside a few times and it hasn’t spun since. If your pan isn’t flat, I think you will be fine on your induction eye.
Knowing when the manufacturer's protective coating was fully removed is a guessing game until you season it for the first time and see what the heat does to it...then back to the sink and scrub some more, season again and hope you got it all this time. How do you avoid making that mistake?
Cooking with the cs pans also involves using a lot more oil or butter that non sticks don't require. The good news is food tastes a lot better now so learning the process has been worth it. The most fun I'm having is making omlettes with the 9" crepe pan.
This is exactly what happened when I did the potato peel process. I m not sure I ever did get all of the stuff out and have been having issues with the seasoning ever since. Any suggestions?
I have that pan and it took a long time to season it. The seasoning just would not stick, if it did I would do something to screw it up. Then I tried something I saw on youtube where I cooked onions in avocado oil on high heat until they were almost black and boom the pan was dark and seasonend. After that worked I started using it more often and it has gotten much darker over the past year.
Awesome video as always, Scott. After watching so many of your videos I'm finally thinking about buying my first carbon steel pan (they are a little more expensive/difficult to get down here in Mexico), but this video showed me something that I'm definitely going to wonder during the seasoning process, is there any way to tell if you have completely removed the protective coating? That is, without having to find out the hard way during the frying of the peels?
Is the coating something you can see? I know you go hard with the scrubbing for a while, but if you could tell us/show us how a pan looks with and without the coating (after the scrubbing) perhaps we could avoid something like this.
Anyway, thanks for all the work you put in these videos, we really appreciate it.
I've read that boiling water in it for ten minutes and then washing it with soap and a pad will do it.
What I normally do is scrub with hot soapy water and then some use bar keepers friend to strip the top layer of whatever is on there, to include a little metal. Then I heat it until it "blues" let it cool down a bit then I do the salt, potato, and oil. Just make sure to really scrub off all the residue from the bar keepers friend. That is how I've done all my carbon steel pans, wok, and two heavy duty baking trays that I also use as skillets.
Absolute newbie here. Do I oil exterior and handle of pan? Can’t wait to get started.!
I have come to the conclusion that the best method for seasoning your pan.... does not matter. They all work.
The oven method created the best looking uniform black coatings, but it tended to peel off at the inside corner in my attempts. Didn't hurt the properties, though.
In my first pan the potato peel method was recommended - I suspect it is just as much of a safety cleaning step as a seasoning step - and it also worked.
My last pan - the 28cm Debuyer workhorse in my kitchen - was thoroughly cleaned, rubbed with olive oil once, heated until it smoked, wiped again and immediately used for cooking. Worked as well. No "sacrifice a virgin at midnight at the last full moon of the year" nonsense...
I was thinking the same thing. I would imagine the salt is there as an abrasive and the potato skins absorb the remnants.
I'd rather scrub thoroughly and just do a light coating like cast iron
Oive oil has a low smoking point and should not be used to season a pan, Canola, Grape seed, Sunflower, Peanut, all have higher smoke points and are better suited for seasoning.
@@M_Ladd You don't understand what seasoning is. Seasoning means thermally decomposing a film of oil in the pan to create a layer of polymerized residue of this oil. That is the non stick layer.
Using a high smoke point oil for seasoning is bad. Because it needs much higher temperature for the decomposition and creates less sturdy layers. Chemically speaking it has less double/triple-bonds to crack up and form interconnects between the carbon chains.
Some people swear on linseed oil for seasoning and it is about the lowest smoke point oil there is.
For later on high smoke point oil is great for very hot work in the pan.
@jackmclane1826 You keep it your way, and I will keep it mine. My pans are over sixty years old, and I never had any chips or cracks or any pan breaking down on me. One day, you will see!
Thanks for the videos, Scott. Always lots of good info. I pulled out my old style Matfer 11 7/8" C/S pan last night for a long overdo strip and re-season because my original run at it was done without the help of the internet. I have a 36" GE Profile Induction cooktop (gasp). So, for seasoning, the oven is the best route for me. But before watching your videos, I'd always just turned the heat up to medium (10" front-right HOB), added oil, and gotten after it. So I was pretty curious to see if I had created a spinner (I use silpats under my cookware; so spinning wouldn't necessarily be apparent). I took my old pan, which only has been used on this induction cooktop since I got it years ago, placed it on a flat surface, and to my relief, no spinning. I'm glad M/B has made improvements to their design so other people don't experience the problems you and others obviously have experienced. But on my cooktop, the heat ramp-up apparently is not drastic enough to warp the pan to the point of spinning, at least in the way I have used it. I'll have to check my 10 1/4" M/B pan tonight, but if the big one hasn't had an issue, I doubt the smaller one has been affected. Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I definitely will be ramping up my temperatures with my C/S pans from now on, just to be on the safe side.
I always learn something from your videos Scott!
I have the new Matfer 11.78 inch washed it with hot water and soap dried it used oven seasoning method 450 one hour let it cool did it again it seasoned flawlessly I never use potato peels it just has never worked good for me
Are you supposed to season the outside of the pan in any way? Do you leave the wax on the outside and bottom?
Out of curiosity what did you use to scrub pan with? Chain and soap?
Love my Matfer ❤
I bet that you would be successful with the fried egg test on a stainless steel pan since you master the art of setting the pan at the proper temperature. I recall having some eggs at a cafeteria that were fried on an electric stainless steel grill and they did not stick. Of course the whole grill could not be lifted but the eggs could be be moved around with a spatula and they would glide on the surface of the grill. I would love to see you nail it.
Indeed I agree with you about heat setting. Egg on SS pan is difficult, I found out that if you heat the pan on mid-high, wait till pan is hot, then put in oil, and then egg. Most of the time the egg would not stick.
What should the CS cooking surface temperature be (using an IR Temp Gun) just before adding food? thx
hmm, I just got a 12 5/8" one and after one round of potato skins and a blast in the oven its very well seasoned with no sticking.
just received two paella pans.... there is a coating... so i will scrub the take outside and blue the pan using my propane burner... then season
Holly crap Batscott !! What a knightmare public PR wrong instruction.... All the best
Great PSA, Scott.
I've received four different Matfer Carbon Black pans within the last several months, with one as recently as 45 days ago. They all came in plastic bags. They all had coatings.
A plastic bag will do nothing to prevent rust on unprotected carbon steel. In fact, if any moisture or humidity gets into the bag it would make the situation considerably worse by trapping it there. So I'm a little perplexed why someone at MB told you this, and who they were.
I found the wax/coating on them to be very difficult to remove. I had to use boiling hot water from the tap (or nearly, I run my water heater up), a little dish soap, and a copper wire scouring pad. It takes a lot of work and even when seasoning I saw a spot or two I missed and had to start over.
How could you see the coating? Did it create a white film when cooking? I just received mine today. Put it in hot water and it immediately started to turn brown from hot water only. Then I scrubbed with a brush and dish soap for about 10 mins. The soap turned brown but nothing else came off so I assumed it was uncoated and the brown was rust forming. I rinsed and dried with paper towel, more brown residue came off on the paper towel. I seasoned with oil, potatoes, and salt for 15mins twice. Then I fried two burgers and I started to see a white film on the bottom of the pan. So now, I'm wondering if its coating and is it harmful to eat the burgers, and do I have to start over? Thanks
@@peacheswhatley I had to use Barkeepers Friend and an abrasive walnut based sponge to get the coating off. It's been a while but I remember the metal looking a bit brighter in the spots I scrubbed off, though it reacts with the air and oxidizes almost immediately.
@@TheMsdos25 Thank you so much!
A carbon steel pan requires some type of protective coating to prevent it from rusting during shipping and storage. Most of them will be shipped by sea and stored for some time at a shipping port, both of which have high-salt atmospheres that cause rapid rusting of unprotected carbon steel surfaces. There are a lot of different coatings, some of them thin and nearly invisible.
The previous thick waxy coating served two purposes: 1) to prevent rusting and, 2) to prevent physical damage like small dings and nicks from other pans during packaging in the factory, shipping and storage. The plastic bag prevents physical damage and helps protect the thin anti-rust coating.
What oil did you use? I've been using grapeseed oil and it comes off anytime I cook meat. Using a DeBuyer pro
Not sure what Scott used, but I used canola oil to season two DeBuyer pans with no issue. I've heard that grapeseed oil works just as well.
@@coralinealgae I found my old comment. I've since been using canola oil and it's been much better. However I was doing it or cooking it seemed like the grapeseed oil was just more "brittle". I've seen in some of scott's videos that he at least sometimes uses canola oil for seasoning. I personally don't like the taste so I just use it to season and something else for cooking.
So…….my “Brand New Updated Matfer” 14” pan arrived today! And it warped almost immediately when trying to season it on my electric stove top! My 11 7/8” was no problem, turned out beautifully ! And is why I purchased the 14”! 🤡 My plan was to season the cooking surface with Avocado oil, the highest flash point I can find here locally, and then season the rest of the pan with vegetable was oil in the oven at 500F, my max! Anyway…….I heard a pop, the warp, within the first few minutes. Long story short……..I let cool, it was still warped! Then I went to work on the bottom, upside down, with a big rubber mallet! Feeling for the high spots, and a few good licks, try it on the stove top. Rinse and repeat! 😎 It feels much flatter, better now on the glass stove top, time will tell! 😳
I just bought one and you can see the coating on the pan. The shipping has rubbed some of it off. But it is like a thick plastic coating on it.
The easiest way to get rid of the non debuyer/non beeswax coatings I find is to burn it off with my butane camp stove, can't do it with my cruddy coil electric sadly. An additional benefit is you can keep heating till it turns blue, and then eventually dark(er) gray than it was before. This indicates the formation of a black iron oxide coating, which unlike red rust adheres well to the pan and protects the deeper layers from further corrosion (much like copper tarnish). This is often colloquially known as "bluing", and it is a teqnique often used by Chinese chefs for carbon steel woks to prepare the surface before seasoning. That and it also just helps aesthetically to create a beautiful dark surface faster. Simply heat the pan empty, after you wash it if you want. And then wash it again when you're done. It's worth noting, you can also burn away the epoxy coating on these handles, I've done it with debuyer and WinCo CS pans. i'm fixin' a do it to these lovely tramontina Brazilian made carbon steel pans i got recently too, something just don't sit right with me about meltable coatings on a handle. I like to use my skillets under a broiler
Hi can you explain what do you mean by burning off the epoxy coating, does it melt off? Is it just putting the handle over a flame?
@@TheDingfish yeah you just allow the flame to burn it off. Depending what they use it may look different but in my experience it starts bubbling abit then turns into a rusty looking ash. no worries it aint rust its just the burnt off coating, give the handle a good scrub in soapy water and a stiff sponge and it should reveal the bare metal.
Have you ever tried "bluing" a carbon steel pan? The seasoning on my blued carbon steel pans and woks seem to be more durable over any other season technique I've tried.
I think I inadvertently blued one of my pans but I didn't do it on purpose. I just left one on the burner for about 10 minutes and it turned blueish. Seemed to work well but I don't know about recommending that for the average home viewer as there might be a little danger in getting things that hot on a home stove. It did seem to cook nicely after though!
I just put a thin layer of oil on mine and put it in the oven upside down for an hour at 475 and I repeat the process a few times. I have a lodge carbon steel.
I would assume there would be machining oil residue left?
Matfer pans have always had machine oil left on the pans, but Matfer said these new pans did not have a coating left on them and were bagged to keep them from rusting.
@@patricklinkous I guess I missed the part where he washed it. Thought he just went straight to season.
When you see sticking is it because the burner is too high or too low in an already seasoned carbon steel pan?
I can’t find the updated ones!😢
If you don't oven season, won't the bottom and handle rust?
When I add my drops of protective oil after cleaning, I will usually spread those all around the pan... the bottom gets a little protection that way.
are they selling the new versions of the pans yet? i was looking at amazon and one review from jan 2023 still looks like the old version of the pan...
Does Matfer make a skillet smaller than an 8 5/8?
I cant find the new version anywhere . even matfers website dont mention anything about a new version
Scott do you have and experience with any of the generic restaurant supply carbon steel pans? They seem fairly heavy gauge but are pretty inexpensive compared to the name brands....
Just (July 28, 2023) seasoned a new (but old style) Matfer Bourgeat 9 1/2" using the 1/3 cup of salt and 2/3 cup of oil and skins of two potatoes for 15 mins. Did this twice per the directions. Used my Wolf Induction range top which has one 10 1/2" coil. Seasoning came out perfectly. No warping. Passed the egg test. You really have to scrub these pans well on both sides. Did this about 4 times in hot water using Dawn Platinum and a Scotchbrite pad before the seasoning process. Looking forward to MANY years of Matfer bliss. Hey Scott how about a pancake lesson? When I do blueberry pancakes I get blueberry stains on my older pan. Any help here?? thanks Amigo, and try the Modelo Negro PorFavor!! Art
My Matfer came in a bag with a dessicant envelope (labeled _"déshydratant"_ which is French for "dehydrating") and dozens of silica beads the size of the ball of a ball-point pen. I could not see or feel any beeswax on the pan, so I inferred there was none, or else why the bag and the dessicants?
Question: I oven-seasoned it twice (veg oil at 425 for 70 min then cool to room temp) and it looked great but then I did the egg test without butter. The egg stuck and now I have splotchies. Do I have to scour back down to metal an restart?
I wouldn't scour down to metal but just scrub out any egg residue and USE SOME BUTTER next time. Butter is delicious!
the coating is non-stick but it's not Teflon non-stick, you cannot just fry egg without oil
The Tramontina steel pans with classic french handles are "nitrocarburized." The process does not sound problematic -- a bio-chemical form of pre-seasoning. But, the pan remains incredibly sticky after far too much use.
I’ve ordered mine and looking forward to using it. I have a carbon steel wok and love it. Appreciate this video!
Will the pan get darker the more it gets used?
Hi Uncle Scott! What is your old channel? I want to check it out!
Can it be used on an induction cooker?
Thanks
So, I've occasionally wondered why the salt? Carbon steel woks don't call for it for seasoning. 🤔
I've never know exactly why either, but I think it may have something to do with being just slightly abrasive and maybe it scrubs off any remaining bits of that coating. I know some people will use salt to clean cast iron... might be the same principle.
Great video. Just received my Matfer from Amazon but haven't seasoned it yet. My question is: why the potatoes? In a different video, didn't you recommend just using oil to season, skipping the potato step? Thanks for your feedback.
The potatoes are to ensure the coating is removed 100%. I didnt remove 100% of the coating which I believe is a machine oil presently on my Matfer pan from April 2022 and the first batch of onions sent me running for the toilet after eating a few on a sandwich. After that the pan was fine. Using the potatoes and salt scrub is NOT a seasoning step. Heating the pan with a light coat of buzzy wax or grape seed oil is seasoning #1.
So what is the right remperature?
Hello Scott
Hope all is well
Any thoughts on Frances recall?
th-cam.com/video/YgkTlJfyEOg/w-d-xo.html
Are the updated pans the same 3mm thickness as the older models?
I'm having similar issues. I scrubbed the pan thoroughly then tried seasoning over an outdoor gas burner using a more traditional seasoning method to find that the pan still had some coating on it which was oilphobic. Took the pan inside, scrubbed it all down again with bartenders friend for like 20 minutes and STILL did not remove all the coating. Very frustrating.
Thumbs up for the applause intro, LOL🤣😂
These days I hear it in my head every time I say something to my wife.
@@UncleScottsKitchen i know that feeling LOL
With my first Matfer I had to boil vinegar in mine to get the coating off. The potato peel method didn't work for my (might have been me though). I used a different method, now it's black and slick.
Which seasoning method did you use? Oven or stovetop?
@@Assimilator702 I did the oven method first. Just to get the whole pan an initial seasoning. Then I seasoned the inside on the stove top with very, very light coatings of oil (canola for me). when it starts smoking I wipe off as much as possible. I repeat those steps until I got the seasoned look I was looking for. Hope this helps.
Scott, do you use kosher salt or ordinary table salt? Thanks much, a happy subscriber.
I can't remember what I used but I think either are fine.
I have been using cast iron pans for over 40 years and carbon steel for about 20 years starting with a proper wok. I use tallow or lard to season my pans and I can flip eggs in all of them without have to use a ton of oil to cook with.
Vegetable oil was used for lubricating machinery before they decided to hydrogenated it and call it edible. It is horrible stuff
Hey Scott it is great informative video about seasoning the new Matfer skillets. I’m cast iron guy, but I love my Carbon steel stuff too. Most is lodge with some other pieces. I don’t have any Matfer. What I didn’t catch in the video, if you mentioned it was what, if anything, is different about the new Matfer skillets compared to tho old ones. Of course you mentioned the me packaging and the shipping coating (or possible lack there of) and the new seasoning process instructions. However, is there any real change other than that? Is there a design or engineering change, a change in materials or the production process?
So other than packaging what is different?
Never mind I just found your comparison video from a couple weeks back.
Great video! I have a carbon steel pan for 2 years, and well seasoned. I made an omelet and it gave off a metallic smell, which I hate. I think I had this with a cast iron pan. Does it need some sought of cleaning. It’s very smooth and no build up or rust that I see.
If there’s a seasoning built up on the steel there should be no “metallic” taste getting into,your food. If there was no seasoning the eggs would stick. Not sure what the issue is with your pan.
Does anyone know if the Updated pans are on Amazon yet?
That doesn't sound like "wiggle room", that sounds like their marketing department saw the old directions as a problem with selling the pans... because it made them sound like they took too much effort to season properly. So... They dumbed down the seasoning process on the labels to make it sound simpler and less involved. My guess is that they probably require the exact same process as the old ones, but this way they sell more pans.
I don't know if their "non-coated" product line is such a good idea. Just go my new Matfer pan this afternoon. It's one of the old stick, three point weld, units with a coating. It was in the newer style bag and DID have a desiccant bag in it. It was still RUSTED. ( cleaned up fairly easily ) I can't imagine the new "non coated" units NOT having problems.
Hey Uncle Scott, love your vids! You inspired me to get a matfer CS pan and it's been great so far! I was wondering if you've seen the Stargazer Cast Iron pans yet. Could be an interesting review. You'll see why at a glance, they don't look like typical cast iron.
@@randompersonontheinternet8790 Your typical Lodge cast iron pan is a charcoal black colour vs the Stargazer more of a polished grey and sanded down vs bumpy. That's all I meant.
@@randompersonontheinternet8790
It’s not just the missing pour lip. It’s highly polished, it’s not black but brown seasoned, has a beautiful comfortable handle. Obviously perfectly weighted- not too thick, not too light weight. A beautiful cast iron skillet.
Do you find the oven method works better or worse im wondering, say with a very light coat of avacado oil then wipe down. Im having a very hard time getting my Vollrath (cheaper brand) carbon steel pan seasoned. Ive done it twice in the oven above the smoke point for 45 mins. And i cant even imagine frying an egg in it, regular food sticks like home fries and other veggies. And anytime i build up a seasoning it comes off with a veryy light washing. No scrubbing with a rough side of sponge…im afraid maybe that brand is just not good and i ended up hurting myself by trying to save, and now i have a useless pan, instead of just spending double the money in the first place. Please help loll ive followed your videos and care instructions before and still no luck! Thanks.
Ok..I received my first Matfer today (11 7/8). It was packaged in plastic bag and shiny like yours. It has a very slight concave shape to the bottom. ? The protective coating was relatively easy to remove, though I did resort to a scouring pad. I didn't have potatoes so after drying per the instructions, I coated it with Crisbee Rub and into the oven for an hour. After an hour cool down, I opened the oven and was blown over with what I saw. The most perfectly even bronze patina I've ever gotten! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a coloring snob when it comes to seasoning. If I was I would never eat bleu cheese. I have multiple cast iron and a de Buyer and even a Merten & Stork (that is actually a great egg pan). I even have a Made In which if I hadn't received a coupon, I would consider myself cheated. I regularly cook over easy eggs on a Blackstone Griddle, so I don't lend much credence to the "fried egg test" . I think, if I cleaned it up really good, I could cook eggs on a shovel (butter helps but it's the heat when the egg hits the surface that keeps it from sticking). I love your podcast and wanted to share my experience with you. I don't know why, but I never considered the Matfer until watching. I look forward to years of service from mine.
As a side note, since I cook on everything from cast iron to the Blackstone, I must say I'm not a seasoning snob. I personally think the steel doesn't care what oil I use or what color it is. I believe I could use motor oil to season, though it would play hell with the flavor profile. LOL As you have stated, "Cook More Season Less".
Thanks
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I'm a whiskey drinker too. Why else would I be so vocal this late at night. 🤣
Can you review a Darto pan?
Nice video. I have a Matfer 12 5/8 on the way. What type of oil did you use?
I can't remember off the top of my head but it would probably have been Crisco canola or vegetable oil
When will the new pan design be available
Latest I have heard is early October.
We can see the handle weld marks on the interior of the pan you started with. When you got "back on track" the weld marks aren't there. The only explanation I can think of is it's a different pan.
Ha! Exact same pan after scrubbing it with a scrubbie pad for 15 minutes. The black stuff scrubbed off.
@@UncleScottsKitchen Yeah, I'm not accusing you of deceit, it's just very odd. It's also interesting to note that in your other videos with other pans, after you have seasoned them and used them for years, the weld marks are still there. Just a fact.