Going through old copies of the year end Saveur 100 issue.
Found this item and wondered if anyone bought in.
$300.00 for a cast iron skillet seems counter-intuitive to me, but hey.
https://www.darto.org/us/products/
look at Darto Pans made in Argentina. Of pressed steel not cast. Truly beautiful once seasoned non stick. Super high quality
I have had this for 20 years and love it (along with a collection of Lodge). We use it mostly for brick spatchcock chicken. Chasseur - Cast Iron Cookware
Zabar’s used to carry generic French steel pans. My primary omelette pan is an 8" version of those. Really inexpensive but good quality, although that purchase was made nearly 30 years ago.
That Borough Furnace piece not only makes me thinks silly $$$, but that “Y” design handle seems like it would be an Achilles heel if dropped.
Just got this one, don’t remember if I read about it here on Berserkers, or somewhere else. Haven’t seasoned and used it yet, but the quality looks very good.
drop has great prices on my favorite black steel pan from matfer-bourgeat the 12 inch one has replaced pretty much every pan i had. huge step up from cast iron, imo. seasoning i think is maybe a bit easier than cast iron.
fyi, the sizing is confusing. the 12 5/8" pan has a 9.5" cooking surface (the flat part). for seasoning, i’ve been using the flax seed oil method and it’s insane how non-stick it is.
rare when one of the cheapest versions you can buy ends up being the best but this seems to be one of those instances.
I love these pans. I will say however that they’ve gotten ridiculously difficult to buy. The last few sales I’ve put on my calendar, logged in @ EXACTLY the appointed time, gotten a pan into my cart - but had them sell out before I could complete the transaction. Until things low down not sure I’l buy another (but I also have 3 already, so no real urgency either).
My 100+ year old Griswold cracked this year, which was my fault as I took it out of a cold cabinet and put it on too high of heat. So I researched replacements thoroughly. I considered Finex, Field, Smithey, Stargazer, and a few others. Ultimately I settled on Stargazer. The reviews were great and at about $90 it was half the price or less than some others. So far I’m very happy with it. It’s only been about a month but I use it a lot. Quality seems top notch, and I’m happy with the QPR.