Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel Frying Pan, 9 3/8"

Where has this pan been all my life? I followed the simple seasoning instructions, cleaned the pan as recommended, and have enjoyed non-stick cooking, many of the advantages of cast iron skillets, and easy care for almost a year now. I wish I had discovered it 30 years ago. I was tired of non-stick pans that put invisible chemicals in my food, which steadily deteriorated with every use, and which required replacement every few years. Properly cared for, this pan will last a lifetime with no loss of quality. It is slightly heavier than most non-stick pans of equal size, but far lighter than cast iron. A great professional skillet at a reasonable price.

Pictures show residue left from throwing bacon on the dry pan, having only seasoned it 2 times. Another shows after i cleaned it, everything wiped off no problem in the sink. some of the seasoning wore off, i shouldve seasoned it 3 times. Then how the pan evenly heats pancakes, my stove does not heat evenly but this pam distibutes it great! Im gonna start off with the "negatives" because thats what i think people are here to see. If you dont season it good 2 or 3 times, its not gonna be non stick. Also depends on what you cook, if you arnt cooking very fatty foods like steaks and bacon, you NEED to season it at least 3 times before using. Its anoyying yes but most people are looking to get rid of teflon and unknown ceramic pans, thats the trade off. Now the great thing is once its seasoned this pan is probably the best pan ive ever had. I seasoned the pan 2 times, 500 degrees with avacado oil which has around 550 smoke point. I still should have and will season it a 3rd time but i wanted to test how it held up with 2 and i know id cook steak and bacon ect. Well i threw bacon into this newly seasoned pan dry, and unsurprisingly it stuck a little. But after a minute of searing it was easy to pull off and any residue was very easy to push off the pan. Then i threw eggs in and because of the bacon bits sticking the eggs were sticking slightly too, but i didnt brake a yolk and again none of the egg bits that stuck a little stayed on the pan. For cleaning i let it cool a little then just used a non abrasive scruber and a little dish soap and everything wiped right off! Make sure you dry the pan and throw a little oil on it so it wont rust. Oddly some of the eggs from the firet cook seemed to wear off the seasoning a bit, another reason to season it again. You need to take care of this pan for the first few uses or it will stop being non stick. shown in the picture with the pancake, this pan distibutes heat insanely well! My stove heats 1 side a little more and i could see it in the cooking but its way more even than an aluminum or stainless pan. Its is totally non stick if you treat it right as i said before, even without butter the pancake didnt leave residue on the pan, and i still need to season it one more time! Overall great pan, wish i got one sooner.

Read about carbon steel pans in Cook's Illustrated. Sounded like something to try. Got this pan (should have gotten smaller, and will) to test it out. Yep, it is heavy. Not as heavy as the same size cast iron, but a lot more than the non-stick Cook's Essentials Anodized Aluminum. First it needs to be seasoned, and not like you would a cast iron pan. The directions that come with it are iffy, almost badly translated French. So, I will add here the directions from Cook's Illustrated and hope they weren't copyrighted. First though, the pan and using it. Very nice, cooks great. Really is non stick after seasoning and clean up is a swipe. Going to have to get used to that. Seared the steaks perfectly and finished the cream sauce without at hitch. Yep, gotta get you some. INITIAL SEASONING: First you'll need to remove the new pan's wax or grease coating (used to protect the metal from rusting in transit). Use very hot water, dish soap, and vigorous scrubbing with a bristle brush. Dry the pan and then put in on low heat to finish drying. Add 1/3 cup oil, 2/3 cup salt, and peels from two potatoes (these help to pull any remaining wax or grease from the pan surface). Cook over medium heat, occasionally moving the peels around the pan and up the sides to the rim, for 8 to 10 minutes. (The pan will turn brown) Discard the contents, allow the pan to cool, and wipe with paper towels. You are ready to cook. (If you experience sticking, repeat once. This method will work on any carbon-steel skillet.) MAINTENANCE: Avoid soap and abrasive scrubbing. Simply wipe or rinse the pan clean, dry it thoroughly on a warm burner, and rub it with a light coat of oil. If you accidentally scrub off some of the patina, wipe the pan with a thin coat of oil and place it over high heat for about 10 minutes until the pan darkens ( it will smoke; turn on an exhaust fan). BLOTCHY IS OK: As soon as you season and start cooking in a carbon-steel pan, it changes from shiny silver to brown and blotchy. The blotches are a sign that the pan is building up a slippery patina, which will help it become increasingly nonstick. The blotches and nonstick capability may initially wax and wan, but with use, the pan's cooking surface will gradually darken and become more uniform in color.

This turned out to be a fine pan. First off though getting it ready to cook. Cleaning the protective coating off of the pan was a pain. I wish there was a better way to protect these pans. I cleaned, and scrapped, and scrubbed to get that stuff off for almost an hour. Then it started to show signs of rust. So that was enough of cleaning for me. Time to season. I used the salt and potato skins technique for seasoning. Worked ok. Then I oiled it it up with avocado oil and placed it in the oven at 450 degrees. Pan did not change color much and I never got it to that nice bronze color I see a lot of people get. So to heck with seasoning it, I'm just gonna cook with it. I've done sausage, bacon, eggs (over easy and an omelette) steaks, chicken, mushrooms & onions, and pork chops. All this with no sticking. All of that cooking and the pan is what I would call well seasoned. It's just not bronze in color. Go figure. I like the pan though. It has nice weight to it. The handle does not get too hot when cook short meals. It's just continues to warm up the longer you cook. That's expected of course. It's a snap to clean. I just let it cool then use some hot running water in the sink and the stuff just rises off. If there is some heavier cooked on bits just boil some water in the pan until the stuff softens up then wipe it out. Easy. Great pan I fully recommend it. Update 08/28/2021: Pan is outstanding. It has developed a nice dark patina now and food just slides around in it. With a little oil even delicate fish fillets release easily. Patience is needed with these pans. Sure you can season it as directed for a few hours, then drop an egg with butter/oil for the "egg test". The egg might slide around or it might stick some. It's not a failure. Cook in it. Steaks, hamburger, chicken, fish and more. Give the pan time to really get that patina built up after lots of cooking. This pan is a superb piece of cookware. 03/31/2022 Update: I mistakenly added some sauce to the pan that had vinegar in it. It ate away some of the seasoning that I had built up over the last few months. I'm not too concerned about it at this point. I'll just keep cooking with it and see how it goes. 12/19/2022 Update: This latest photo is of my pan after two years of cooking. It's amazing how slick it is. I just cooked a couple of eggs in it, then wiped it out with a paper towel. It doesn't get much better that this!

Just cooked first breakfast on a new 15.75 incher. My impressions. First, it's big. I wanted something bigger than my vintage 12 inch cast iron for cooking big batches of veggies and bunches of burgers for the fam. To get a bigger bottom surface area, went with the 15. It's 2 pounds heavier than a #12 cast iron. The pan is thick and the handle is almost comically well built. The 15.75 is way too big for a standard oven, which is fine for my purposes. I cook on a powerful bluestar range with 25k btu burner. I wouldn't go bigger than this size for sure. On a regular range, I have to believe this wouldn't heat evenly on the edges. The 14 would probably fit better on a bluestar with less overhang but I wanted the extra space. This pan and size would probably be good for a drive in campfire cook. High sides, lots of room, big handle. I talk about the seasoning. The instructions on the sticker are deceptive in how easy they make it sound to clean the factory coating off. Warm water and detergent with a brissle brush won't do it. I worked hard on it and the coating just started scratching after 15 minutes. I saw various places people say to use easy-off oven cleaner outside to avoid fumes. Tried it and have to say this is my new method. Sprayed it on and left it in a garbage bag for a couple hours. It still took hard scrubbing but it progressed pretty quick and could easily see where there was and wasn't coating. The effort after easy-off was like what I thought it should have been out of the box. Then I seasoned with canola oil cause that's what I had. Held it over the huge burner till each section smoked. It looked and felt perfect. I would have done this in the oven for a smaller pan. Even with 25k btu, it took a while to get each area to smoke. It's a thick pan. Don't know if the smaller pans are thinner. Weight. The 15.75 is very heavy. I'm a beefcake with strong arms that has no problem one handing a full 12 inch cast iron. This thing is a 2 hander all day. It's very long handle to the far opposite side. The bottom half the handle gets hot. The top half seemed to stay cool. I have a long history with cast iron. Have a bunch of vintage griswold pans of various sizes. Cooked 1000s of meals in CI. My wife has a carbon steel crepe pan and I started messing with it for eggs and I was like, what's this? Seemed light and very non-stick. I've wanted something bigger than a #12 cast iron for bigger meals. So after a bunch of research, I ended up with this 15.75 to get a bigger bottom surface than a #12. I think the 15.75 is maybe an inch wider at the bottom, which is quite a bit more in area when you do the math. My overall impression of cast iron vs carbon steel is carbon steel is easier to clean. Feels a bit more non-stick. I like that I can run a hot/warm carbon steel pan under water. Don't do that with CI. I cracked a vintage CI pan doing that. I like the longer handles. This newer matfer has the convex bottom which I'm not a fan of. On gas, the oil runs to the outside. It's not terrible, just less than perfect. Temperature IR tests. Did a simple heat comparison with an IR gun between a griswold #12 and the 15.75 matfer. From each pan completely cold, tested each pan every minute on the middle and the outside edge running full blast on the 25k burner each minute. I expected the matfer to be faster to climb. I was surprised. Results (middle of pan and outside edge): #12 Griswold @ 1 min: 370 mid, 288 outside. 2 min: 570 mid, 490 outside. 15.75 Matfer @ 1 min: 200 mid, 168 out. 2 min: 340 mid, 235 out. 3 min: 410 mid, 288 out. 4 min: 460 mid, 330 out. Then after the test about 3-5 minutes, didn't measure closely, the #12 was still 330 degrees. The matfer was 160 ish. Matfer had more time to cool as it was tested first. CI definitely holds heat. These are different shaped pans and not really and apple to apple but I expected quicker heats up on the matfer as that's one of its selling points. The CI was blazing in a couple minutes. Not saying that makes it better. That pan does tend to get and stay too hot. The 25k is a monster and I can't imagine how long a 12 or 15k typical burner would take on this pan. Wouldn't be good at all for searing steaks, anything high heat. Just throwing that out if anyone with a regular gas burner is thinking of going this big. I can't speak for induction or electric. Outside cooking on a bayou burner would be a good fit probably. After seasoning, cooked sunny side up eggs and they came out perfect. As non-stick as I expected. Probably a hair more non-stick than the cast iron. Clean up seemed easier. All in all, I'm impressed. I think 15.75 is too big probably even for a bluestar range but is workable. Great quality pan. I'll be picking up some other sizes and will sideline some CI pans other than for searing.

I have been looking for a new pan for a while that has non-stick properties. Last year I bought two new non-stick pans and about a month later read a news report that they cause cancer so I stopped using them and had to learn how to cook in my stainless steel all clad pans without food sticking. It has been okay, but not a great experience. This really is a great pan. The first thing I noticed when I opened the box and took the pan out is how heavy it is for it's size. I got the 8 5/8" version for eggs because I have a lid that fits it perfectly and I like my eggs basted. I watched some videos that made me concerned about seasoning the pan on my electric stove so I contacted the manufacturer and they emailed me some instructions on how to season the pan in the oven. In the end I decided to do it on the stove using the method with the potato peels, salt, and oil. I also saw some videos where people said it was difficult to scrub off the initial factory coating and the manufacturer sent me some detailed instructions on how to do that, as well. It turned out to be much easier than others made it out to be. Per the manufacturers suggestions, I went to the store and bought some Scotch Bright copper scrubbing pads. I filled the sink with hot water and soap and scrubbed the pan for about 5 minutes until all of the coating was removed inside and out. Then I dried the pan with a towel and put it on the stove with a preheated burner set to the #3 setting. While it was warming up on the burner, I peeled two potatoes, prepared 1/2 cup of salt and 1/4 cup of canola oil. Then I added the salt, oil, and potato peels and set a timer for 15 minutes. I gradually increased the heat one setting at a time until I got to setting #7, to slowly get the pan hot. Once I got to setting #7, I backed off to setting #6 and then #5 and left it there. At about 12 of 15 minutes, the potato peels were a little burnt so I stopped and dumped everything out and wiped the pan as clean as I could get it and repeated the process. The pan turned a nice golden copper color. Once that was complete, I put a little canola oil on a paper towel and wiped the pan down inside and out with a very fine layer of oil. This morning I cooked up a couple of the potatoes that I peeled and made hash browns using grape seed oil. I put in the potatoes, some bell pepper and onion and nothing stuck. Then, I wiped out the pan, added some butter and put in two eggs. I added a little water and put a lid on the pan, waited about two minutes and the eggs were done. The eggs barely stuck in a couple of places but easily released once I slid a spatula under them. I'm not concerned as I know the pan will get better over time. Once again, I wiped out the pan with a paper towel, put a little oil on another paper towel and wiped it down inside and out. I think that is easier than washing and drying a pan. It was probably better than using a non-stick pan. It was like cooking on ice. When I cooked hash browns in my stainless steel pan, I always had a layer of potatoes stuck and burnt to the bottom of the pan. I figured out how to cook eggs in a stainless steel pan without them sticking but could never figure out the potatoes. The Matfer Bourgeat pan makes cooking much easier. I've heard these pans can warp on electric or induction stove tops, especially the larger pans. That is why I wanted to take is slow with the heat and not shock the pan. The manufacturer said that is another advantage of the oven seasoning method is that it tempers the pan. I'm buying a larger version from Amazon today and I may try the oven method with that one. I would highly recommend this pan.

This is the new pan that they shipped with the logo. It's got that bottom that doesn't spin like the old ones . I cooked 2 rounds of potato skins in grapeseed oil with salt and fried up 1 potato. Only used Dawn Powerwash when I first washed it in the sink. It's getting a cool patina now already on day 1. Wow I love it. No oven like I did with my cast iron pans. This took less time than sticking it in the oven over n over though I still may do that I don't think it's necessary. That's what appealed to me about this pan cuz I don't have to season it in the oven which can literally take a day or 2 like with a cast iron though I love my cast irons. Very pleased with it. Good sturdy pan. Weighs a little less I think than my 10 inch cast iron. This is probably going to be my go to pan. I have stainless steel, cast irons, Oxo's but I think I'll end up using this pretty regularly now. Update: I put the pan in the oven for an hour at 470 with grapeseed oil the next day and it the 2 pictures show how it darkened. May 6 2024: Uncle Scott's Kitchen updated the French recall info. Apparently according to the letter from Matfer he was reading from they tested this pan by cooking something acidic for 2 hrs in a pan that wasn't seasoned and it leaked arsenic and some other stuff but that's not how these pans are supposed to be used normally. These pans are not for acidic foods. Cooking acidic foods will remove the seasoning. Stainless steel is more for acidic foods so I'm not worried about it at all. Update. I got the 9.5 inch pan and I really like it. It's the older version but it's still great. Had trouble cleaning it in the sink getting off the coating but it's still great! Update 5.28.25... This pan and my deBuyer 9.5" are both my go to pans for cooking. LOVE this 9.5" Matfer. It's seasoned great and is completely non-stick when it's hot n smoking. Some of the seasoning came off of the bottom but I just kept using it and seasoned over it by cooking and re-seasoning after and now it's not really chipping off anymore. So easy to do eggs with. This pan is the best n I even prefer it to the DeBuyer at times too.

This is an UN-Seasoned steel skillet! It is bare steel, which will rust very quickly, unless it is coated or otherwise covered. This is as basic, no frills device as can possibly be constructed to qualify as a skillet. The only features that make this a skillet are that it is a steel disc with the sides turned up so its no longer a flat steel disc and there is a handle attached by a spot weld. There are no technological features, unless being pot-like with a handle qualifies as a feature. No copper, aluminum, stainless steel discs on the bottom and no ready to cook non-stick coating. This one is factory coated in some kind of plastic film to protect the steel during shipping. The plastic coating on the skillet must be removed before seasoning and before any cooking can commence. Some reviews have suggested scrubbing it off. It took 3 hours of hard hand scrubbing. In hindsight, some spray on oven cleaner would have been easier. Using the recommended seasoning method of frying potato peels with salt, it laid down a mottled brown, tan, or black, extremely thin seasoning layer. When making scrambled eggs using lots of butter at a low temp, the seasoning came right off in small patches. Seasoning will make some smoke, so be sure to use plenty of ventilation. Seasoned again with potato peels and salt. Scrambled eggs made this thin re-seasoning come off again, but this time in different patches. Re-re-seasoned again, more eggs and re-seasoned again, and then again. Eventually lost count. After one of almost month of daily use and re-seasoning after every use, the seasoning is about 60% solid but still has some bare spots that 'move around'. Maybe eventually it might come around to fully seasoned, after maybe 3 more months of use and constant re-seasoning. This skillet requires extreme patience to get fully seasoned. Be sure to use maximum ventilation to remove the smoke produced by seasoning, otherwise your home will smell like a greasy spoon after a few days! Seasoning is tricky due to the thin steel hot spots. If the oil is not hot enough, the seasoning will not stick, but your food sure will. Also, wiping the oil around the inside takes a special technique. Too much oil leaves a drip or heavy run that becomes a hard blob and eventually comes free and pulls the seasoning off in that spot. Too little oil and it immediately burns and smokes leaving a black spot to comes right off the next use. The thin steel on this skillet means there will be hot spots that affect cooking and is the cause of the spotty, blotchy and unsightly seasoning layers, *** UPDATE: After more than 9 months, I gave up on getting this skillet to retain any uniform seasoning of any kind. Continually seasoned after each cooking session. I used it for frying, using plenty of oil/grease, tried cooking on very low temps, tried using lard, Crisco, butter and olive oil - but everything always sticks, every time, all of the time. The seasoning goes on but comes right off in a different spot each time leaving blotchy patches. The multi-colored layers of burned/brown/tan splotch seasoning really looks disgusting, and very unappetizing, like cooking with a 100 year old never washed skillet. It looks for all the world to be an old crusty old miners grub skillet from 1849! Now just need the crusty old miner with a pick-axe and mule to go with this skillet. But it will dependably stick no matter what temp, oil or grease. Also this this steel skillet has hot spots directly over the heat source so be sure to constantly move it around the burner. The burner heats the bottom, goes straight up, and does not spread out to the sides. The skillet either cooks perfectly directly over the heat source with medium or low settings and then the sides are cold and uncooked, or with medium to high settings it burns food directly over the heat source and the side cooks OK, but never cooks evenly. Pre-heating on low to medium for 5 to 10 minutes will help but the hot/cold spots are still very irritating. All this seasoning care, preheating, fussing, and pampering might be 'character' but takes a lot of time for poor results. I got a Lodge pre-seasoned Cast iron skillet, have used it for two months now, and I'm very happy with it. Use a little of any kind grease, olive/corn oil, or butter and it just does not stick[PERIOD]. Be sure to pre-heat on low for just a few minutes before starting to cook and this prevent hot spots and cooks very evenly. After use, while still hot, rinse in very hot water, all the little particles come right out and wipe it dead dry. Then using a spray bottle with some olive oil, 1 light squirt of oil, wipe it all over the hot dry skillet. Store it in the oven to keep it handy for next time. It's cast iron, so is literally bullet proof, in case if you ever turn the oven on with out checking it first. Yes, slightly more care than teflon, but I have used and replaced 4 cast iron skillets ($20 to $40 each) and becomes useless when the coating scratches and wears off. Teflon (aluminium) skillets can't be used at high temperatures. This Lodge cast iron doesn't stick, I can see the seasoning gradually building up with each use, it will last forever, and it cooks evenly. Cast iron is also great for frying chicken. The cast iron heavy weight retains the heat, after it gets up to frying temp (350-375 degree F), drop the chicken, the temp does go down, but cast iron still keeps it frying around 300F to 325F. It is critical to maintain the higher temp throughout frying process for any fried foods to be non-greasy. Also retaining the heat cooks the food quickly and thoroughly with the higher temps. Maybe someone at Goodwill will have better luck than me with the Matfer Bourgeat skillet. They can have it but they aren't getting my cast iron!

I love cooking and was looking for pans I can safely use on my gas stove top, put in the oven and use on my 100 year old Rayburn wood stove! I am weeding out all plastics, Teflon and non-stick surfaces, and noticed lots of very good reviews for the Matfer steel pans. I started with a small pan, followed all the starter seasoning instructions and cleaning after every use very carefully and so glad I did. I was so very happy with this pan I bought another. When I can afford a third I will add to my collection. Nothing sticks! The cooking results are excellent. I'm very happy! Tip, I purchased heat proof slip on silicon handles, cause they get hot and the pans are heavy. Follow the cleaning instructions every single use. No detergents, dry thoroughly and oil lightly when dry. I use rice bran oil. My pans are nearly black now, which is how they are supposed to be after correct use and cleaning/storing.

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Seasoned it on the stove (following the video guide by Serious Eats) and it turned beautifully dark in just a day! Food did not stick, except when I used soy sauce the first time. It’s my first time using carbon steel and I have high hopes and good experiences so far. It’s on the heavy side but more manageable than cast iron. The bottom surface is very small though, much less space than a 10 inch Lodge skillet.

Its a Joy to cook in, once it is seasoned, its the best non stick pan. Best for stake lovers. I personally try to cook as much possible in this. Wok will be a nice addition to our kitchen. Its going to last a life time. Absolutely worth the investment.

This is my third matfer bourgeat cookware and as expected is of high quality. Highly recommended! Have provided photographs of before and after seasoning …