De Buyer MINERAL B Carbon Steel Omelette Pan - 9.5” Diameter, 7.7” Cooking Surface - PFAS, PFOA & PFOS Free - Made in France

This is my second de Buyer carbon steel pan after a 10.2 inch mineral b skillet. I've had the other for years and have learned a lot about seasoning that has helped me with this new pan that I'll get to, but first, I'll give my impressions of the pan.COMPARED TO OTHER DEBUYER PAN:For some reason, when I ordered this pan I thought it was was 10.5 inches and would be slightly bigger than my other de Buyer skillet. This is actually 9.5 inches and although I'm a little disappointed that it's not bigger it's still a good size. It's only about 1/2 inch smaller but over a pound lighter than my other pan and has a shorter handle. The weight difference is very noticeable. The sides are also a little shorter. It's a pretty good size for an egg pan or for a burger, piece of fish or medium steak.I got this primarily to make French omelettes. I have made them in my other skillet with Lyonnaise-style angled sides which is not ideal when trying to flip and fold the omelette. I'm hoping the rounded sides on this will work better. Also, since this weighs less it will be easier on the arm to flip the egg.The build quality is pretty much comparable to my other pan however the bottom edge of the base of the handle where it is riveted to the pan is rather sharp. It was probably stamped out but not ground down or filed smooth. An errant grab could cause a bad scrape and/or cut. Not a huge deal as that is not a place I'll be putting my hand very often, especially if the pan is hot but I'll have to be careful when washing it. It can probably be fixed with a file.SEASONING:I'll try to make this brief and concise. After years of trial and error with my first pan and lots of reading and Youtube videos I feel I have a fairly good method of seasoning and understand it a lot more than I ever have before. Here's what to do.1. Mineral b pans come with a beeswax coating that must be removed. I got a new Scotch-Brite kitchen sponge with attached scrub pad and scrubbed the heck out of the pan with the abrasive pad while running very hot water on it in the sink. I did this inside and out several times until the sticky feeling of the wax diminished. When I was done the pan felt smooth to the touch and I could see accumulated wax on the surface of the pad. The appearance of the pan at this point had not changed from it's initial dull silver color.2. Wipe the water off with a towel and put it on the stove burner until all moisture disappears and turn the heat off then wipe with a paper towel. Gray metal residue will come off onto the towel, most likely left from the factory polishing job. Fold the towel and wipe until residue appears to diminish then run the pan under hot water again, add soap and scrub for 10 seconds or so then rinse, dry and repeat wiping with clean paper towel. Repeat this whole process one more time or until hardly any more gray appears on a clean paper towel. At this point the pan still appeared the same as when I began.Side note: I don't imagine any of this residue would be very harmful to ingest but I wanted to minimize it so that it doesn't interfere with the seasoning, possibly weakening it.3. With a new clean and dry pan, add a dime's-worth or so of flax seed oil (I'll go into why I chose flax later). Wipe the interior with the oil. You might see oil streaks and it may be fairly glossy. This step is important. You do not want large amounts of oil on the pan. Wipe with a fresh paper towel (from now on PT) until you see no streaks and it appears as if you've wiped all the oil off. If you swipe it with your finger the amount of oil should be almost imperceptible.Now, put on stove top and heat at high heat on largest burner. You might need a pot older as eventually the handle will get too hot to hold. Constantly run the PT around the pan as you heat. Light swipes are OK and you don't have to lean into it. I just wad up a PT and use my hand. If you're afraid of burning yourself use a pair of tongs. As you wipe there may be spots appear on the pan that look wet. The goal is to constantly evenly distribute the oil around the pan and smoothing out any glossy spots that appear. One way to tell is to look at lights from the room reflecting into the pan. It will start off kind of semi-gloss and glossier spots will appear that you want to even out. You may even feel roughness over these wet spots. It's almost like buffing out the rough spots. Also, the pan will start to darken from the center out. It will progressively get darker with each seasoning layer. After several minutes, depending on your burner heat, you'll suddenly see the surface go matte and dry looking. Keep swiping your PT and keep heating.You'll notice a smell from the flax oil that will remind some of paint. It's kind of pleasant actually. The hotter it gets the more fragrant it is. At some point the oil will get hot enough that I believe it reaches its polymerization point. If you've been looking at the PT every once and a while as you were wiping, you would have noticed very little color coming off on the PT. Only a very light golden color. When I believe it reaches the polymerization point you will notice, especially if you're rubbing too hard, that darker material is coming off on the PT. At this point I believe you can stop wiping the pan as it will only diminish your seasoning. I heated several minutes more past this point but saw no change to the pan and I did not ever see any smoking. Turn off the heat and let cool for several minutes. Wipe the pan again gently with a clean PT. You should see no real residue coming off. Your PT should look almost clean. I believe that as it cooled the newly polymerized oil solidified and is now set. Rub some more and you should notice significantly less friction on the pan.Now, let cool until you can rub your hand on the pan and repeat steps 1 through 3 until you have the desired amount of seasoning (some put seven or eight layers on). I believe it's important to only add more oil when the pan is cool to the touch. If the pan is too hot and you pour oil in it, it may start the polymerization process before you can evenly distribute it and wipe out the excess which will leave you with streaks and splotches. I believe that this is the main problem people face. They get uneven, splotchy, sticky finishes because they're using way, way too much oil, or the pan is too hot when the put in oil, or they aren't constantly wiping during the heating.WHY I USED FLAX OIL.I used Barlean's Organic Flax Oil Pure Unfiltered 16oz, approx $10-$12 from Amazon, Whole Foods, Sprouts or a health food store. There are two types; the one I just mentioned and one with added lignans. You may also find other brands that add other ingredients. I chose to go with the pure oil and no additives. Also, you'll find it refrigerated. It needs to be refrigerated to prevent oxidation and it also doesn't have a long shelf life. You won't need anywhere near 16 ounces to season a pan and you probably can't use it all up seasoning as you'd have to have dozens of pans. I couldn't find any smaller amounts so, if you've done all your seasoning you can eat the rest of the oil before it goes bad. People take it like a supplement as it's a good source of omega 3 oils. It's also not real great for cooking with as high heat will reduce its nutritional effects, however that's what makes it good for seasoning.I found out about benefits of flax for seasoning after reading this http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ which convinced me to try flax. The short of it is that flax is a drying oil which is what works well for the purposes of seasoning cast iron or carbon steel.If you've done everything right you should have a nice even, dark bronze to black colored pan . If you end up with slightly sticky spots in the pan or areas that are less slick than the rest these spots my not have fully polymerized. I haven't dealt with this enough on a new pan but I suspect that you can heat the pan and wipe with clean dry PT (don't add any more oil) until you feel the spots become more slick.I will update this after I've gotten some cooking with it under my belt.UPDATE 7/23/215There are some things I didn't mention about the seasoning. I seasoned my pan about eight times. It got to be a real pretty deep bronze color that transitioned to lighter pretty blues the longer I heated the seasoning. For the bottom I only did 2 to 3 layers early on and then continued to add cooking surface layers. After I was all done the bottom was a real light blue color. Spots kept appearing which I finally realized were due to the burner grate that probably had oil residue from other pans.For the cooking I made my first omelette. I heated the pan and a tbsp of butter to almost browning it then poured in 2 beaten eggs at almost room temp. They formed a sort of "pancake" and the whole thing slid around like it was on ice. When I was ready to fold the egg partially over on itself I found out that the pan was actually a little to slick. As I flicked my wrist back to flip the whole egg pancake just slid back into the pan so I had to use a little more force in my wrist flick but I almost sent the whole thing flying out of the pan.Overall the pan was super slick. More nonstick than any other pan I've used. Almost a little too nonstick :). For my next omelette I may use slightly less butter so it's not so slippery.One more thing of note. After cooking in it for the first time the pan got noticeably darker approaching the color of my other carbon pan with years of use that has deep dark brown color.

I purchased this pan after years of frustration with variations on non-stick pans. For most skillet or frying pan cooking I use cast iron, but I never found a satisfactory cast iron solution for the omelet pan. I did a lot of research and read many reviews before purchasing this De Buyer MINERAL B Round Carbon Steel Omelet-pan, 9.5-Inch. I am (so far) really pleased with it. It is high quality, sturdy, and obviously very well made. This size is just right for my needs—light enough to be manageable but not so flimsy that it feels cheap. Then I prepared for the seasoning challenge. I admit to being somewhat intimidated by the challenge. I read many, many reviews and forum discussions about seasoning a carbon steel pan, watched videos from various sources and finally combined suggestions from a couple of reviews on this site, and the information offered in the De Buyer video. The method I used was simple, very quick, and has resulted in (so far) an exceptionally smooth, non-stick surface. First, I ignored the instruction to wash off the beeswax coating with hot water and, instead, followed a reviewer's suggestion to just heat the pan on a burner and wipe the wax coating off the inside and outside with a paper towel or absorbent cloth. That worked perfectly. I could tell that I had removed quite a lot of wax because of the residue on my paper towel. Then, following the De Buyer instructions, I heated the pan until it felt hot when I held my hand over it (heated on the stovetop rather than in the oven), poured a small amount of a high heat oil (I used avocado oil), probably between 2 teaspoons and a tablespoon, swished it around to coat the entire inner surface of the pan, let it heat for a few minutes, then wiped it out VERY well with a paper towel while the pan was still fairly hot, and then let it cool and wiped it again. The pan has worked flawlessly (so far). I have never washed it (so far), because all I have needed to do is wipe it out with a paper towel while it is still warm. If I did wash it, I would not use soap, just hot water, and then heat it and oil it again. The pan has developed a lovely, even, bronze-ish patina, has no sticky spots, and is a joy to use. I don't know, maybe I have just been lucky, but I have not had to do any of the complicated seasoning techniques described by many reviewers, nor have I had any sticking, warping, or flaking problems (so far). If use over time changes my observations, I will amend my review.May 2018: After a few months use, I am updating my review to say that I love this pan even more than I did at the beginning. It has developed a wonderful patina and remains absolutely non-stick. I never subject it to soap. Usually all it takes is a quick wipe out with a paper towel and a swipe with some high heat oil (I use avocado oil) while it is still hot. Sometimes I scrub it a bit in hot water then heat it and wipe with oil again, depending on what I have cooked in it. Always wipe the oil to the thinnest film possible and make sure the pan is dry before storing. My favorite things to cook in it are eggs (fried, scrambled, omelet) and steaks.

Perfect for eggs. Takes a little work to season but once done there is nothing better than carbon steel.

I love this pan. I want to make that clear. It is everything a carbon steel pan should be. [Oh, and for that guy who will ask because there is always one, this is NOT the same as a cast-iron pan. If you are unclear on the difference, go to Youtube and you will find countless videos explaining the difference between them. Recently Alton Brown of Good Eats fame did one.] Carbon steel pans like this one are non-stick if you season the pan properly and treat it right and frankly, it is not that hard to do either. But yes, if you fill it full of water and leave it in the sink overnight or longer, you will be upset with the result. If you toss it in your dishwasher and run it through a cycle then you should not be allowed to own good pots and pans at all.Now I will upset those who love this pan as much as I do. There is a cheaper alternative - Lodge. It is roughly the same size and weight and comes preseasoned. You treat it and use it the same way. The primary difference between the two other than price [for the home cook] is that the surface of the interior of the Lodge pan has a very faint pebble texture to it which is done so the preseasoning process works properly. This pan does not, it is as smooth as a baby's bottom. But the Lodge is much less expensive. I own both types and I use both types. If I were rich I would own a lot more of both types but I am not.Final thought - if you buy this pan and use it properly [i.e., not like that cheap dreck you buy at Target], it will last you for your lifetime and your kids will fight over it after you die. And you will make many delicious meals with it.