I keep hearing that carbon steel pans are the best for everything

Last Tuesday I tried searing a steak in my new carbon steel pan and the thing warped so bad on my electric stove that the oil pooled on one side. Everyone in my kitchen crew swears by carbon steel but my old cast iron never did that once in 3 years. I think it depends way more on your stove type than people admit. Anyone else have a batch of carbon steel that just didn't hold up on electric?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor.betty1d ago

Oh man, I have to push back on this one hard! I've been using carbon steel on an electric coil stove for like 5 years and never had a pan warp on me. The trick is you have to let the pan heat up slowly on low heat first before cranking it up. You can't just blast it on high like cast iron. I bet you went straight to high heat and that's what caused the warp, not the pan itself. Your old cast iron handled it because it's way thicker and heavier.

reese_lane291d ago

Wait, you've been using carbon steel on an electric coil stove for FIVE YEARS with zero warping? That's impressive but honestly I think you just got lucky with a really thick pan or maybe your coils are more even than mine (mine are those cheap spiral ones). My De Buyer warped in the first 10 minutes even with low heat, so maybe there's a quality control issue with some batches that people don't talk about enough.