A carbon steel fry pan wiped with the tiniest bit of oil releases beautifully. I just made fried eggs in one. You can either work at seasoning it by simply using it and cleaning it without vigorous abrasive scrubbing or continue using the smallest bit of oil, butter, or both. The brand that gets the most airplay is DeBuyer but Mauviel is good as well. I like my “no name” carbon steel pans just fine. They are inexpensive. They can also take extremely high heat, such as searing a steak. Strongly recommended. Their typical Lyonnaise shape has wide, sloping rims. So shop based on the size of the floor, not the total diameter. Even thought they can be heavy, the long, slanted handle provides far better leverage than the short horizontal stubby handles on cast iron.
It looks awesome. I was hoping to get a decent one for less than a hundred dollars. Maybe that’s not possible. Ours is 15 years old at least. We use it a few times a week so maybe worth a splurge.
@chienrouge my oldie but goodie though not a simple cooker. I’ve had mine for 20 years now, still runs great and looks au courant! It’s like a trusty Toyota/Honda, just keeps going and going… I think I paid $169 back then for a 10 cuppper. You can definitely find them selling for much less than the MSRP.
I know the OP has decided on a true nonstick, but for others interested in the topic, another option is bare aluminum. Aluminum seasons well. The ones offered by the Pot Shop of Boston are intriguing but not cheap. It appears the largest is 10". Made for omelettes.
@chienrouge
To @ScottinPollock’s point, PTFE and PFOA are different. Teflon is PTFE. PFOA is a chemical for making PTFE, but your final product of a Teflon pan will not have PFOA. Can you share your thought? What exactly you want to avoid? If you don’t mind Teflon cookware and only want to avoid PFOA, then we can recommend those. If you don’t want Teflon, then we will omit those.