Care and Maintenance

• Always preheat the pan before cooking.

• Use plenty of oil or fat.

• Control the heat to ensure you are not over heating the oil nor burning your ingredients (fine line at times).

• Your pan can be used on all types of stovetops, in the oven, on a BBQ, or over an open campfire.

• The seasoning on your pan will change depending on the ingredients being cooked. Acidic foods will strip back the seasoning but it can easily be built back up by cooking meals with more fat or oil.

One of the most crucial aspects of care for a well seasoned carbon steel pan is how you clean it.

• While the pan is still warm, rinse with water and a soft sponge, or just wipe it clean with a dish/paper towel.

• If food is stuck to the surface, a stainless steel chain male scrubber is our favorite tool to use. If you don’t own one…yet, scrub the pan with salt (more coarse the better) and a paper towel—then rinse. The salt will act as an abrasive, but it will not scratch through your hard-earned non-stick coating.

• For stubbornly stuck bits, heating water in the pan until it boils will soften and allow those ingredients to be easily scrubbed off.

• To keep from rusting, always towel dry the pan after washing.

• Avoid using too much soap and the abrasive side of a sponge.

• Never put the pan in the dishwasher.

• If you plan on storing the pan for a while between uses, clean the pan, warm it and apply a thin layer of oil.

One of the most common questions we receive is; how to season a carbon steel pan? If you are having trouble with food sticking while cooking, use more oil or try cooking a meal high in fat or oil. If this method doesn’t help, or you are just not satisfied, you may need to re-season your pan. Don’t worry; there are many seasoning methods, and we will explain our two favorites. Both methods described below will produce smoke, so turn on your range hood’s fan, or open a window.

Stovetop

• Heat the pan, and in the center place a small amount of medium-temp oil until it smokes (coconut, flax, lard, or tallow are our favorite).

• Work the oil around the pan and coat the entire surface; keep the oil hot and smoking.

• Allow the pan to cool; discard oil then, wipe clean with a paper towel.

Oven

• Scrub the pan clean with soap and abrasive side of a sponge to remove as much food, oil, and carbon build up as possible.

• Warm the pan on the stovetop or in the oven.

• Remove the pan from the heat and coat with a medium-temp oil. (coconut, flax, lard, or tallow are our favorite).

• Wipe off the excess oil (the pan should appear wet but not overly greasy), and place upside down on the middle rack of the oven.

• Heat the pan at 450 for one hour; then, let it cool slowly in the oven.

The oven method is the most thorough and will best restore the pan’s even finish. Both methods may be used as often as desired and will only improve your pan’s non-stick performance.