Howdy folks. I have a pan I inherited from my roommate. It is heavy, conducts heat absurdly well, and if really like to know what it’s made of. As you can see in the picture, some parts of the pan got scrubbed off and you can see a little orange color peek through. Maybe it’s done kind of copper inside? Is it safe to cook with the innards exposed this way? There are no brand or label markings on the pan. It is unparalleled when it comes to searing and I’d like to get a bigger one.
Honestly Joon from looking at it seems like a standard / stock commercial or industrial pan. The only thing throwing me off is the copper peeking through, I’ve seen a ton of these but I’ve never witnessed one with copper peeking showing.
If you don’t find what you are looking for here, you know what I would suggest you do? Take your pan to Johnson’ Restaurant Supply on 33 in Neptune, only a few minutes from where you live. I bet they would be able to identify it for you. (Joon and I live local to each other I’m not some kind of super stalker!!!)
Good luck solving your mystery!
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Is it possible that it is a carbon steel pan without seasoning, and reddish/orange is the rust? Anyway, it is pretty easy. Get a magnet. If the magnet strongly attract to it, then you have a carbon steel pan, and it will need some seasoning.
I mean… it is possible that this is copper pan and the surface is tinned. However, people only put tin on the cooking surface, not all around. So a copper pan with tin would look like this: exterior copper and interior silver.
Also you can rub it with a papertowel, and if the orange comes off… then it is rust.
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Wow. I’ve been using this pan for years and I can’t believe I never noticed it’s a copper pan. The bottom has a bunch of crap on it and I always thought it was the same color as the pan surface. Nope. It’s orange. I guess it’s tin lined copper?
The orange stuff started showing after an overly aggressive steel scrub. And some times I get green spots on the pan which all tells me it must be copper. Is it safe to cook with the tin surface peeling like this?
Also, I did find a stamp on the pan that says “fabrication francaise.” I may have to start getting copper pans now…
Wow. It looks like a copper pan afterall (since the bottom has clearly revealed it). At first, I thought your bottom is some other color. So it seems that your cooking (interior) surface is tin and your exterior surface is burned on oil/food – appears black.
I recommend you to re-coat your copper pan. Tin is probably the most popular choice, but there are others. This will minimize copper leaching to your food. Although a healthy adult can handle copper, copper has a toxicity effect. Currently, your pan only shows very small amount of copper, so you are ok.
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Is it that copper color all long the outside as well as the bottom?
Just curious, how much approximately will be the cost to re-coat this pan?
It depends on the size. Different vendors also charge a little different, but I would think >$50 is a given for this pan.
East Coast Tinning is a well known shop for retinning: "Our retinning charge is $5.00 per measured inch and we charge a nominal fee for return shipping. "
It has a little app to estimate the cost. If you have a 10 inch fry pan with a 1 inch height, it estimates about $60.
Rocky Mountain Retinning is also the same prize range: “The cost of retinning copper cookware, which includes polishing, is $5.00 per inch. Larger items over an 18 inch total will be charged $8.00 per inch”
http://www.rockymountainretinning.com/retinning-and-polishing-of-copper-cookware.html
Of course, you can always try to do it on your own, especially you have numerous copper cookware.
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With all due respect - That’s funny as hell.
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I have a feeling that your roomate inherited it from the parents, and he probably has no idea what it is neither. Want to return back to him?
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Yes Fabrication Francoise is a fairly well known brand and it sometimes has a stamp in the outline of France. They usually sell middle weight copper and it’s usually tinned. Yours seems to have stainless rivets (they would be worn off on the inside if tin over copper) .
Also, I don’t think it’s tin, I think you would have worn through it faster. It could be nickel, which is much harder but thin and will slightly tarnish. Tin would have tarnished more. And tin melts at 475 F, another reason I don’t think it was tin. You can’t sear with tin unless you’re extremely careful.
Also the fact that there is no tin up over the edge makes me think it might be nickel. Nickel was used just prior to stainless steel becoming available as a lining. The better nickel coating was applied with a sort of sputter gun and was polished afterwards.
A little copper showing thru is O.K. if you avoid acidic food. Anything green is outright poisonous and should be washed off before cooking on.
In any case, tin linings can only be soaked or heated with water and maybe some baking soda or washing soda to help break down the grease. Only a sponge or dish towel and dish soap for the scrub.
Your choice for re-lining is only tin or pure silver. Silver doesn’t melt but is about as soft as tin and usually not applied as thick as hand wiped tin. Silver can be done at a good plater, and it needs to be at least 15 microns (or more). Nickel isn’t used anymore, it’s expensive and is not normally ‘plated’ on. Also there is more awareness about contact allergies with nickel.
You can buy a new or maybe a used stainless lined copper pan. Make sure it’s 2.5 mm thick (that’s actually 2.3 mm copper ands .2 mm stainless. Falk USA normally has decent sales during the holidays. The other major brands for good stainless lined copper is Bourgeat w/ iron handles, or Mauviel, which is often sold in the thinner and grade copper. You need to be aware of that and look for their M’250 line.
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My guess is also Nickel. Get some bar keepers friend and scrub your pan and it will look like new. I would keep cooking in it as that amount of copper showing through won’t hurt anything. Nice pan!
This not only appears to be a tinned copper pan, but it also appears to be a top-quality pan. What is the thickness and diameter? How much does it weigh?
The tinning is marginal. If you are only using it as a skillet, you needn’t worry. If you are regularly simmering highly acidic things like tomato sauce, it’s time. If a general purpose pan, it’s on the cusp. This is probably worth retinning.
For a hint of what this could look like, hit the bottom hard with oven cleaner and get rid of that carbonized stuff.
Please post more photos.
See what Kaleo said and if you don’t want to spend $ retinning you can send that puppy my way!
That is a copper pan with a tin lining. The lining is thin in places and the copper is showing, enough so, that you should have it re-tinned if you want to use it safely. As heavy as it is, it is well worth the money to re-tin the pan.
Baumalu.
Very good but not top quality tin lined copper.
