For a couple of months now, and I haven’t, although I do rub a small dot of heated grapeseed oil in them before I put them away (I think almost all of the oil remains in the paper towel that I use to rub it in. They’ve done pretty well once you learn their vibe. They warn you that eggs can be an issue until they get some mileage on them. I’ve done veges, protein (including fish) without issue once you appreciate how to use the fat and heat. My only complaint is that I wish they were a bit deeper
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My best non-stick pans are a set of cast iron skillets gifted to me by a friend who knew I liked to cook; they had been her grandmother’s (!) and so are well over a century old and have been properly treated. They have a patina like glass. A rinse under hot water is usually enough to clean them, even after eggs.
Bacon
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I’ve had most of my All-Clad stuff for 20+ years, and it’s all great. I do feel like the more recent All-Clad lines aren’t as good as the pans I bought in the early 2000s. I’m sure they’re still good, but there seems to be a difference (without having done any rigorous testing and comparison).
That said, I tend to avoid the DTC brands like Misen and Made In because I distrust the influencer marketing that drives a lot of them. Maybe there is good stuff in there, but for now I’m sticking with the older, more proven brands.
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My All Clad LTD 12” skillet from the late 80s warped in recent years from all the abuse these get, finally need to replace that sometime. But these have been bulletproof otherwise, except for looking beat to hell like from a commercial kitchen, which I actually like.
For nonstick I guiltily like a couple of too-expensive Scanpan skillets, which have much thicker aluminum than cheap pans that retains and distributes heat evenly. Eff it, just use the evil CFC pans for eggs and such, toss them when worn out, and avoid high heat.
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For nonstick, mainly for eggs, this is what I do. I can get some reasonably heavy nonstick AllClad pans at HomeGoods for $20-30 depending on the size and I can get at least a couple of years out of them.
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Same here Sam’s and the restaurant supply store sell the same pan. Used to be 2/$20. Now about $14. Heavy duty aluminum and a slick coating. Never heat them empty and they last a couple of years easy. If I hand wash they last longer.
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What line(s) do you have in mind w/r/t this comment? Copper core included?
+1. I go the disposable route with my non-sticks, too. Cheapie All-Clads or Calphalons are what I go with. I usually get a couple years, too. but over the past couple of years I have made a concerted effort to use my stainless or cast iron whenever possible, which I didn’t necessarily do before that — quite frankly, this makes you a better cook, imo.
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Sorry, good point. Mainly thinking of the D3. I do have some Copper Core, but they are all old. I have not seen the current Copper Core products.
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Thanks. My CCs are nearing 20 yrs old and I love them. I frequently think about adding to them, but haven’t, as doing so would be more out of luxury than actual need.
I used to buy the restaurant store non-stick pans and I still have a couple in the drawer, but these days I just use regular carbon steel 99% of the time that I previously would have used non-stick, including for eggs. Works fine for me, but it probably depends on what you cook and how you cook it.
I would look up stovetop seasoning methods and try some. The oven is not the way with carbon steel, from most of what I’ve read about this.
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It looks like this is pre-seasoned carbon steel. It will require re-seasoning pretty regularly. I do mine every 2-3 uses. It’s very fast and easy once there’s some seasoning there.
Cooking anything, including bacon, does NOT season a carbon steel or cast iron pan.
Misen’s promotional materials are misleading. They say you don’t need to “actively season”, I guess since it’s pre-seasoned, but then they do say you need to “[c]ondition your pan early and often”, after which they describe re-seasoning. This needs to be done far more often with carbon steel than with cast iron, in my experience and from what I’ve read. I’ll be if you get this thing really clean, then do 2-3 stovetop seasonings, it will work great. After that, just a quick re-seasoning every few uses should be fine.
I cook mostly omelets with my carbon steel, and they come out great. No pan is non-stick without some kind of coating or requiring seasoning, despite what a lot of companies are claiming these days.
Been a Misen kickstarter from the beginning knives. Got the carbon non stick pans and like them. I treat them like cast iron and religiously preheat and use some fat before cooking. When I make eggs, I put enough butter to coat the bottom on medium low and try to size the pan to not crowd the shallow edges. I wait for some coalescence and then gently fold the eggs. This makes soft gentle large curds and avoids the sides which can stick. I don’t do omelettes, but would be a snap to add and shape based on the ease with which they slide off the skillet. If you’re doing low and slow small curds YMMV.
I also have a niece who loves her “Our Place” titanium skillets. They have the Misen ones as well, and vastly prefer these. They are 3 layer (stainless steel, aluminum core, and titanium) and the titanium is stamped into a geometric pattern that looks like hexclad. Not used but curious. I’d give them a look if you have space and money. Not as pricey as most high end.
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Way to go in so many ways. Probably the most economical in the long run. Probably highest satisfaction over the long run if selected properly. Probably the best for health considering the materials that last the longest are often the least toxic. Without doubt, the least detrimental to the environment.
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cooking bacon leaves behind a nice film to use for seasoning. So, you’re right – the actual cooking doesn’t season the pan, but it sets you up for it.
Best thing to do for any pan that requires seasoning is to use it often.
Are you then putting it in the oven or on very high heat on the stove? Seasoning happens when oil gets above its smoke point and is chemically bonded to the surface of the metal. The old received wisdom of just using it a lot may help to keep cast-iron in good condition, but it doesn’t work like that for carbon steel, and it has a little or nothing to do with seasoning the pan.
In oven, high heat, after wiping as much of it out as possible. I have a bacon grease solera in my fridge that I tap into for maintaining the seasoning on my cast iron pans, (I’ll go with something with a higher smoke point if starting the seasoning from scratch), and I actually used it from the get-go when I seasoned my Blackstone. As you obviously know, “seasoning” requires polymerization, which requires heat far too hot for cooking bacon (I prefer low-and-slow for bacon cooking).