Just bought a De Buyer Frying pan

I now own a 30cm de buyer blue steel fry pan. Before I do anything with it I thought I would ask some of the cooking geeks on here what is the best way to season and care for my new beauty.

Thanks!

It must be early for me yet Richie -- I clicked into this thread wondering what a frying pan for "DE buyers" would look like.

Congrats on the score!

Black steel pans come with a protective coating to prevent them from rusting in the warehouse/store. You'll have to scrub it off with hot water and a soapy sponge (no steel wool- it will scratch it). It will now look a bright, shiny silver color, and will be totally useless. Put a few drops of vegetable oil in it and spread thoroughly over the surface with paper towels until it seems as if there isn't any oil visible. Heat over med/low heat. It's hard to heat it too long. Alternatively, you can throw it in a 350F oven for an hour or so. Repeat. The more you do this, the better. The pan will turn an increasingly dark shade of brown with use. The uglier it gets, the better it is, and will increase in its nonstick ability with continued use. To clean, rinse under hot water and wipe with paper towels. If there are some bits that are hard to remove, throw on a teaspoon or two of kosher salt and wipe with a damp paper towel. The coarse salt makes an abrasive paste that works great. Before you put it away, heat it until it is completely dry, and you may want to oil/heat it after use every time for the first few months.

You may develop a love/hate relationship with your pan, and it may languish in a drawer for years until you come to fully appreciate it. Eventually, it will become a good friend, and it will last for years. The second decade will be much better than the first. They function much like cast iron pans, only lighter.

Thanks for that ouch. I cook a hell of a lot, and I use my tefal non stick for fry pans and le crusets for sauces. I decided I may as well try something new as this doesn't really break the bank.

The pan arrived today and I have scoured it thoroughly, but i can't get it back to shiny silver no matter how much I scrub. It is a de buyer force blue fry pan if this helps any.

Don't worry about the color when new- your goal is golden brown from use.

Teflon pans start out great and quickly lose their nonstick ability. Black/blue steel pans get better and better with use, and will need need to be replaced. They perform better when used a lot, which makes them ideal for restaurants.

Sounds like you scrubbed it plenty. I have a 10in black steel pan from Bridge Kitchenware. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite 10 inch skillets. After probably a year of use, it is slick as Teflon now - I cook eggs in it with no problems. I use that pan far more often than the 10 inch All Clad I have. And as matter of fact, I use my 12 inch Lodge cast iron more than my 12 inch All Clad too. I think they perform better and are less finicky in some ways.

I once got my sister a cast-iron dutch oven (soon after she moved into her first home) and seasoned it for her. She was stoked.

I didn't see her for the better part of a year ... went over to her place, and noticed the dutch oven ... coated in a reddy-brown fuzz of rust. I asked dear old Sis if she used the DO much, and she admitted no, since it was so rusty. I suggested she might want to 'season' it, and she said she did give it a good cleaning with detergent and steel wool right after I gave it to her, but after that, if just kept getting rusty.

Doc4 said:

I once got my sister a cast-iron dutch oven (soon after she moved into her first home) and seasoned it for her. She was stoked.

I didn't see her for the better part of a year ... went over to her place, and noticed the dutch oven ... coated in a reddy-brown fuzz of rust. I asked dear old Sis if she used the DO much, and she admitted no, since it was so rusty. I suggested she might want to 'season' it, and she said she did give it a good cleaning with detergent and steel wool right after I gave it to her, but after that, if just kept getting rusty.

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How to clean cast iron cookware:

1) Fill it with clean, cold water, up to about an inch from the rim. No detergents, no vinegar, no salt. Just water.

2) Get the stove screaming hot, put the cast iron on the burner, bring it up to a violent boil, let it boil uncovered for as long as it takes for at least half the water to boil off.

3) There will be a brown sludge that floats to the top of the water ... this is what was baked in to your pan. Pour out the water into the sink. BE CAREFUL, don't let it splash back on you.

4) Use a paper towel or a clean sponge to wipe out any sludge that sticks to the pan. Rinse it several times with clean water.

5) Repeat steps 1 through 4. This time, the water will boil up white. Toss it out again, and wipe out any residual sticking to the pan.

6) Repeat again. This time, the water will boil up clear. The pan is as clean as it will ever be. Pour out the water, wipe it down again if there is any residual sticking to the pan.

7) You're done cleaning. Let the pan cool to the touch, and re-season it using an oil that's good for high-temp cooking, such as Peanut, Grapefruit, Canola. Don't use Olive Oil, as it has too low of a smoke point.

8) Maintain the pan in between cleanings by pouring out the excess grease after cooking, scrape it with a grill brush/blade, wipe it out, and re-oiling.

I test cooked some bacon in mine tonight, but tomorrow I shall give it the full in the oven seasoning.

Looks like I need to get an 8" or 10" black/blue steel pan. This way my wife can have a pan that isn't "too heavy" (i.e. all-clad or cast iron) whenever she wants to cook.

biomesh said:

Looks like I need to get an 8" or 10" black/blue steel pan. This way my wife can have a pan that isn't "too heavy" (i.e. all-clad or cast iron) whenever she wants to cook.

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Don't mis-read Ouch's post... Black steel pans are lighter than cast iron, but they are not lighter than my All Clad. The BS pans are still pretty heavy and very solid.

Dennis said:

Don't mis-read Ouch's post... Black steel pans are lighter than cast iron, but they are not lighter than my All Clad. The BS pans are still pretty heavy and very solid.

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Even if it was a lighter pan my wife would probably come up with some other excuse not to cook.

I have come home to find scrapes all aver the surface of the pan, almost like someone has been trying to scape stuck pancake batter up with a metal spoon [sometimes I love my family's lack of kitchen tool respect grrrr]. I have overcome this by covering with oil and putting into a 300 degree oven to try and season over the scrapes. I hope I have done the right thing. I am sure they will become lost under layers of seasoned goodness in time.

Seeing as the 1st seasoning only happened yesterday I saw no point in taking it back down to bare all over and beginning again.

http://www.debuyer.com/video.php?id=44

The link is to de Buyer's website where they have a short video that shows you how to season and maintain your pans.

I don't own one...yet.

Hope this helps.

Cool!

Never heard of the potato peel trick.

dpm802 said:

scrape it with a grill brush/blade

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Wouldn't that remove the patina and cause you to have to re-season? I suggest not doing that.