Blue Carbon Steel Pan: Should You Buy It?

In a professional kitchen, there are always utensils that are used mainly in restaurants. This is the so-called professional cookware for real pros in the culinary world. For example, a frying pan can be made of special blue carbon steel. Should you buy it for your kitchen? Let’s figure it out.

Blue Carbon Steel Pan in Your Kitchen

The use of pans made of any steel is connected with certain difficulties — you need to carefully control the cooking time and temperature to avoid failures. Steel pans (both blue and stainless steel pans) do not have a non-stick coating. They do not forgive mistakes on the part of the cook — to get burnt pieces of dough instead of pancakes is a very real prospect. This also applies to blue steel, so if you are thinking about buying a blue carbon steel wok on https://yosukata.com/blue-carbon-steel-woks/, keep in mind this information.

The positive features of using blue steel pans include:

durability — with proper care, dishes do not lose their appearance and qualities for many years;
convenience — such a frying pan does not have a single sharp corner, so the food slips onto the plate without any problems;
ergonomics of forms — a handle of a special shape (the so-called French bend) allows you to take the pan even with your left hand;
any heating is suitable, including induction;
the steel of this type is ideal for frying — meat is especially juicy, on which a crust forms at temperatures above 140 degrees, which prevents the product from drying out.

The disadvantages are:

sensitivity to overheating — food can burn easily;
delicacy in care — the product is afraid of temperature extremes, dampness, and acidic environments.

Main Types of Blue Carbon Pans

Blue steel is heat-treated, which gives it a bluish tint, indicating the metal’s high carbon content. A frying pan made of such a durable material has a special shape called “Lyons”. Such dishes have high walls of convex geometry, widened at the top. The handles are typically curved and made of sheet steel. They are attached to the body of the pan by welding or riveting.

There are two types of frying pans available in blue steel:

With a wall and bottom thickness of 1-1.5 millimeters. This design is semi-professional. With strong heating, the material can easily deform, so the pans are inapplicable in a professional kitchen.
With a wall and bottom thickness of 2 millimeters. Models of this type are professional cookware suitable for use on medium-power heating.

The period you use a frying pan depends a lot on proper care. The best quality is considered to be a darkened frying pan soaked in oil — it does not require a lot of fat during cooking. Hot water without detergents is used for washing. The use of a kitchen sponge is allowed. Store the pan in a dry place, and enjoy your meal!