Carbon pan turned blue when seasoning.. any harm?

It IS a sign of heating, but hardly overheating. These pans of mild carbon steel can show a range of colors from raw straw to yellows, reds and blues depending on the temperature and time. Bladesmiths use those color changes to judge tempering their blades.

Completely normal.

I was having trouble getting whatever protective coating it is that Matfer uses (as were a lot of others, it was the most commen complaint in the ratings).

So I heated it full blast on my gas stovetop for quite a few minutes, thinking to burn it off. It became a very nice blue: inside, outside, and about 2 cm up the handle.

Now it’s just black all over.

This slightly blue is good thing. You did not harm your pan of course.

the pans i’ve used for awhile didn’t show any color changing until i started using an induction cooktop.

Have you had any problems with warping or anything else from using them on induction?

no warping problems, but the pans heats so quickly that food scorches easily until the pan heat reaches its cooking equilibrium. nowadays i start at the lowest heat setting with food in the pan, let the pan reach temp equlibrium, then slowly raise the pan temp until the desired cooking temp is reach.

It’s nothing specific to induction, but the colors may appear to be more pronounced.

I bought a blue steel baking sheet in my days of making puff pastry and using it to make Pithiviers, the French dessert. It would go into the oven, and 10 minutes later I would hear, “Boing!!” as the pan warped. The top of the pastry would be thrown to one side and the frangipane would end up on the pan. The solution, after many tries, was to use a normal aluminum pan.

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I roll the same way. Dang fine price for some well-made cookware. I appreciate CS the older I get. The CI is getting heavy. 10" is cool, but my bigger guys are heavy.

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As I get older I, too, prefer carbon steel. They are minimally lighter, but that leverage from a long, sloping handle is easier to use than the horizontal 4" stub of a handle on most cast iron. The fact that the handle is also wide and flat facilitates pouring from a Lyonnaise style pan.

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I also like that my larger pan has a “helper handle”, makes wrangling that thing a lot easier.

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It is funny to me that I have two large DeBuyer CS pans, 14 1/4" and 12". The larger one has no helper, but the smaller one does. The smaller is Mineral B. The larger is Au Carbone, which is thicker. The 14 1/4" Au Carbone is virtually a comal with a handle. Both get a lot of use. So does the 9". On steak night the biggest one is perfect for a skirt or two ribeyes. The 12" is ideal for a sirloin, a hanger, or two strips.

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deBuyer makes cs blue and black steel pan. I believe the surfaces are hardened but not certain. I have a blue steel deBuyer “granny pan” or country pan, which is like a flat bottomed wok. It’s s actually black, so I figure “blue” relates to the treatment method.

I’m with you. I have a CI that doesn’t have the helper and dang that bad boy’s hefty.

Case-hardened.

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What do you use it for most? Have you tried it for paella?

I have an old thin steel paella pan that works better on the BBQ because it has no handle. The big pan is great for cooking burgers along with some grilled onions and griddled buns. It comes out for dishes that involve a lot of browning and for browning larger cuts. It is overkill, but it is great for things like pork shoulders. It is ideal for plate sized very thin pancakes.

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I’ve left my carbon steel pans on high heat for 4 hours by accident, and they barely noticed it. Were molten red, but didn’t even warp. Those things could withstand a nuke, so dont worry. I use them daily.

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