Heavy Duty Carbon Steel 11" Frying Pan

This is just my initial unboxing review. I bought this to replace a 12" Lodge carbon steel skillet.The pan is super heavy, especially compared to the Lodge which claims to be 12 gauge (.109") but my calipers say 13 gauge(.093") at best, way thinner than this pan. This pan claims 3mm but comes in at .108" whereas 3mm should be .118". Neither one lives up to its thickness claims, perhaps that is a pre-machining thickness. At any rate, 0.108" is far thicker than 0.093" and I suspect you will be happy it is not thicker because it is quite heavy.I was concerned about the machining rings in the pictures but my concerns were for naught: you can't even feel them with your finger and can just barely feel them with a finger tip. The pan is plenty smooth enough. The handle is like most other pans of this type, not super comfy but functional.I got this because I wanted it to act more like cast iron, which the Lodge certainly does not.I had to dock one star because the bottom of the pan is not completely flat, it domes out on the bottom a very slight amount. I'm actually glad that it doesn't dome upward. I would rather have my oil pool to the center than the edges, the Lodge does this and I hate it. However, if I didn't have a gas stove I would already be packing this up for return because it would be spinning around on a ceramic hob. As of yet, I haven't received any pan, of any brand, made of carbon steel that has been totally flat on the bottom so you might want to adjust your expectations in that regard.Now, off to the cleaning, seasoning, and cook testing. I don't expect problems, I've seen videos of the pan in action.Edit: I seasoned the pan today. It is almost pitch black. Washed it in the sink and scrubbed it with a green scrubby until it felt like bare metal. Put it on the stove, heated at medium until hot, cranked to high until screaming, then daub a paper towel in Crisco and lightly coat the pan. Let it "burn off" until it quits smoking for about a minute, repeat until fully black. It doesn't create all that much smoke. After about 4 times the pan is nearly completely blackened. Don't try and cook in this first, you will see why after the first oil rubbing, the paper towel will be grey. You simply must season it before cooking in it. It would probably be helpful to do a single round of seasoning, then clean with salt and oil to pull up any metal residue and season a bit more, then begin the real seasoning process. Anyway, after about 5 times or so you should be able to start cooking. It takes maybe an hour to season the pan well. Very similar to the method you will see in youtube videos of people seasoning woks over the burner.

These are beautiful pans but made in China, not Italy. I first ordered the 12.5 inch pan, which was heavier than my iron skillet with the most uncomfortable handle imaginable. I gave it to my son and ordered the 11inch one. I can manage the weight of the 11 inch one, especially with the Paderno silicone handle cover. (I ordered the red one, which is about six and a half inches long and fits both the 12.5 and 11 inch skillets perfectly.) I've seasoned and reasoned iron skillets but the carbon steel was tricky. I probably used too much oil or the wrong oil, organic canola refined for high heat. My pan is now a splotchy golden brown, silver, and black. I only got black after I began to cook. The good news is that I got a perfectly seared steak on the first try and an easy clean-up with only hot water and a brush.Our 25 year old cooktop with coiled burners gave up the ghost for Christmas and retrofitting the space I had to choose between breathing gas fumes or dealing with a glass top electric. I chose the glass top as the lesser of the two evils and am learning to use it. As more of the hot and forgiving coil burners bite the dust and old cooks are forced to give up beloved iron skillets, I hope someone will make a carbon steel pan with a comfortable and shorter handle. These pans are wonderful except for the handles. The long, long handle also forced a reorganization of my pots and pans cabinet.

I just received my 11 inch Paderno carbon steel frying pan today! I was very excited about it and opened it up to find a very pretty (or handsome if you will), well made, heavy duty carbon steel frying pan! I love the looks of it! It looks so french like the ones in the Julie & Julia movie.Okay so I scrubbed it out with soap and water and then heated it up nice and hot on the stove. I tossed in a little bit of beef tallow in to season it. (I render this beef tallow from unsalted ground beef that I fry up, separating the fat from the juice/water/particles with a fat separator.) By the way, I do NOT recommend using vegetable oils for seasoning cast iron or carbon steel frying pans as they are sticky oils and build up--if you don't like home rendered animal fat as a seasoning oil, then render yourself some clarified butter (it's easy google it if you don't know how).Using a paper towel I wiped the tallow around inside then I took the paper towel and wiped the entire outside of the pan with it (minus the beautifully speckle painted handle).I repeated this seasoning process a few times with more tallow and paper towels.After this I got the pan to about 300 degrees F and slapped some butter in (just a modest amount). Then I poured in 2 eggs worth of batter I whisked up while the pan was heating. I let it set for a few seconds then started moving the pan forward and backward across the burner.. GUESS WHAT? The omelette literally slid/glided along the pan. If I jerked the pan hard enough the omelette would fly out of the pan. I cooked this omelette constantly moving the pan to keep it more evenly cooked. Put some cheese on it and folded it in half (easily).It was the most delicious omelette ever.To clean the pan all I had to do was wipe it out with a paper towel. No eggs stuck to the pan at all!This pan would work wonderfully for scrambled eggs as well... Also pancakes and even crepes! Crepes should be easy to turn with this pan I'd think.. they'd slide around in it... you could just slide em out of the pan into a plate and flip em back in for the other side.This pan will last you a lifetime. It's thick enough steel that it won't warp on you. But just to be safe don't put cold cold water in a very hot pan as it could cause it to warp. Let the pan cool down a little before doing that.I think I'm going to reserve this pan as my egg, pancake & crepe pan only. I have my lodge cast iron skillet for high heat searing (I let that pan get to like 650 degrees or so for searing a steak). I wouldn't want to do that to this pan.