Of course you are correct. But i cook every night. Seared red meat, reduction sauces. For 50 years. I am not a hobby cook, I am the cook. And clean up crew. I cut corners where I know they don’t show. And I avoid issues that I can work around.
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I love a nicely crusted, cold red in the middle cooked in a carbon steel pan with butter and sauced with a red wine reduction loaded with salt, pepper, and shallots. I notice no off tastes, only deliciousness. I think hanger or skirt are the best, but a wagyu sirloin isn’t too bad.
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I’m all for going the extra mile in cooking, if it improves the taste.
But I’m also all for using the best possible cookware for what I cook, and over the last copuple of months I’ve realized my 5 carbon steel pans don’t cook better in one single area compared to the other pans I have in my arsenal.
So having to monitor how much you deglaze a pan, while making a reduction sauce, to avoid harming a seasoning in a carbon steel pan or a cast iron pan and by that risking the seasoning will interact with your sauce, is just not what I call intelligent cooking, when I can use a bimetal copper pan or a thick 7-PLY pan and do the job perfectly without having to waste my precious time on checking how much I harm a seasoning in my raw carbon steel pan (which I would honestly categorize as a total utter waste of time)
Enough said…and YES ! CARRY ON !
Wish I had your talent for seasoning carbon steel pans and your tastebuds, Tim.
But I don’t, and I taste a definite off taste in my wine sauces, when they are made in carbon steel pans.
Have you ever wondered why you never/rarely ever see a dedicated sauce pan in carbon steel or raw cast iron ?
Stainless tri-ply. I have two lovely Le Creuset skillets that do the job well.
No off flavor from iron, no worry about seasoning. The fond comes off easily in the deglazing step.
Sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go.
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I do not know thatI have ever seen a fry pan dedicated to making pan sauces. Fond is such an essential component. So it is necessary to sear in the pan that will be used to make the pan sauce. In restaurant kitchens you see clad stainless, stainless with disc bottoms, bare aluminum, and carbon steel. I think if your goal is a truly well seared and crusted steak or chop, using the fond to create a pan sauce, your best bet might be a thick disc bottomed stainless steel pan.
For sauces not built on fond, like pretty much any of the mother sauces and their variants, sure I have seen dedicated pans, extra fort tinned copper, preferably using a birch whisk. A silicone flat whisk is an acceptable substitute.
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Truth to be told, Tim.
If I only handwashed my carbon steel pans mildly and didn’t really scrub them as I do, I’m sure my seasoning would be more soild - but I’m in favour of rinsing my pans & pots thoroughly, and I knew that would be a problem with the rust-prone carbon steel pans, but I tried to make it work anyway.
As an owner of thick copper and thick PLY pans and a fan of ceramic/non stick pans, I still can’t find one single area where my carbon steel pans beats or are even on par with my other pans in my collection.
I just can’t.
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Apart from price of course 
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You’re right of course. On a budget carbon steel pans are really excellent value and will last a lifetime.
They are also quite versatile pans.
But from a pure performance perspective, carbon steel pans aren’t number one at anything, in my humble opinion.
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I personally use carbon steel fry pans the most. However, you do what works best for you. Carbon steel, cast iron or Stainless steel. Some people like carbon steel knife, and some people like stainless steel knife. Whatever best achieves your goal.
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Of course, Chem.
I also state ‘in my opinion’
Isn’t your unhappiness with carbon steel just a function of your seasoning regime? I believe you season a pan again each time after washing?
I actually had a phase where I also didn’t like carbon steel. Mine sat in a storage room collecting dust for years. Like you I hated bits of seasoning sometimes coming off, and just cooked in other pans instead.
What helped me was just forgetting about seasoning, and just use it. So, my tip for you would be to use the pan, clean well with water and a scrubbie after use, put in half a teaspoon of regular cooking oil in the dry pan and spread out with kitchen paper (do not heat!), and put it away for next time.
Otherwise, you have enough alternative pans for searing a steak…
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I’ve tried doing the oil thing without preheating the pan afterwards and this creates a bad odour from the oil, which goes stale
I gave carbon steel pans a try and they do put a great sear on a steak. But that’s pretty much what I think they can at their best.
As you say I have many better alternatives in my collection and soon will I add two new ones to the stable, based on advice from Pertti
Lagostina Lagofusion 24 cm & 28 cm frying pans with rolled lips.
I had these two on order some time ago.
But forgot to buy them.
I expect these pans to be the King of steak searing pans.
I wouldn’t say ‘better’ though. Better for you, yes, that I believe. You are above average sensitive to smell and cleanliness, so I guess for you stainless steel linings will always be preferable, whether it be clad, hybrid or copper. While for me, I also need to season for example rust prone steel cake pans exactly the same way.
Carbon steel is amazing though in how hot it becomes - giving you a perfect sear while being somewhat nonstick. The only other pan that can do this IME on gas is copper.
I’ve used the Paderno GG and while it is very good, and much more versatile than my De Buyer, if I had to choose one for searing I’d choose the De Buyer. Also, think about how Chinese woks are also made from carbon steel, and how they create wok hei.
The Lagostinas are excellent all-round frying pans, just like the Paderno and Fissler OP. On gas I still prefer bimetal copper over these though for searing a steak. But very curious how you will like the Lagostina versus the Proline.
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What happened to your prolines? Not liking them anymore?
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Nothing happened to them, Alexander.
I still like them - my wife not so much. They are heavier than carbon steel pans.
I do get a bit of polymerised oil stains on them but I accept it for what it is. The result of high heat steak searing.
They are a bit clumsy in design, but I really like their performance. Built like a tank performs like a champ.
But I believe there are better searing pans out there.
Lagostina Lagofusion, Fissler OP and according to Pertti , Padermo.
He is making a sauce in a separate pan here. Note that he isn’t really preheating the pan.
Look, a big part of the final result is also the cook and his skills. Meaning, different pan constructions can be great at searing, depending on the cook’s quirks and preferences.
Why not just have a few frying pans of different construction so you can enjoy the different characteristics?
Imho the Paderno GG 28cm paella pan is a stone cold classic, so that could be on your list. And then adding a 26cm old stock Mauviel bimetal copper, or Lagostina Lagofusion - since there aren’t that many 26cm pans. Then you can look at a 32cm Fissler paella pan, and then for 20/24/28 cm your Proline, De Buyer and/or copper Falk.
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Hi Claus, nice to hear you are considering the Lagostina hard now :).
I am not quite saying what is “better” on gas though, since I don’t even cook on gas. I would welcome you to try disc frypans also though for steaks especially since it would make a lot of sense to me on gas alike. For all I know I just might end up using copper for most anything, including steaks if I had gas though.
From a practical point, feelings aside, my personal opinion is though, that the Proline does not make any sense as a dedicated high heat steak pan for you, IF it polymerizes oil on the sidewalls and makes cleanup annoying. Then same with any copper if it happens on high heat. Why hit oneself in the foot. I have experienced this also on induction, so I can imagine its worse on gas on high heat. But I dont generally use very high heat personally to avoid it on my cooktop.
For gas I think, I would want a Fissler as “dedicated” HIGH heat steak pan. This is because I think it would not polymerize oil on the sidewalls, like Proline etc. Certainly won’t on induction. It would be more than even enough on the floor to boot on gas I’m sure, more than Proline or bimetal copper, FWIW on gas. FWIW indeed if your cooktop is evenly providing good amount of heat anyway…
There is the thicker yet Paderno, but I think you’d like the look and feel of it even less than Fisslers, which you have never really seemed to show very much affection towards. So I can’t personally see that you would love using a Fissler or Paderno any time soon, even if you might see they are doing well for you. I could be wrong also though.
The Lagostinas are your best bet IMO for disc. They look and perform well. Wether you like to use them then, whole another story :), which I would be interested to hear. The Lagostina has aluminum in the sidewalls and could so be the nicest general use disc pan for you also. It maybe might polymerize oil also on the sidewalls if you are blasting heat… Though. I suggest it for you as the nicest of disc pans for general use, and I am sure it will make a fine steak.
I mostly do my steaks in said Lagostinas, without any super high heat. No polymerizing issues this way. I don’t do pan sauces in carbon steel or cast iron. I have used them mostly if I dont.
One day I will try what @am47 does with his cast iron, a preheat in the oven for a nice sear 
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Hi Pertti,
Thanks for your invaluable advice on Reddit !
Now I’m left with a tough decision - sell both my Darto’s and De Buyer Mineral B Pro pans or keep two ?
If I decide to keep two, which ones should it then be ?
A Darto and a De Buyer Mineral B Pro ?
Two Darto’s ?
Two De Buyer Mineral B Pro’s ?
I’m keeping my small Matfer Bourgeat 22 cm carbon steel pan, that’s for sure. It’s a fun little pan and it’s seasoned to perfection.
I actually find the handles on my two Darto’s a bit flimsy.
I prefer my De Buyer Mineral B Pro’s, but the Darto’s are good fun pans too.
Decisions……decisions
Tough call, but if you ask me its the keep two haha 
. I should also sell something though, but I have places for them, kind of, so I don’t absolutely have to. There is some fluff though in my collection indeed and a bit of a downsizing would not hurt.
The Darto long handles have some tiny little bend due and are flat one piece design, I think that’s what you mean. It perhaps doesn’t feel so sturdy to hold in that sense vs the cast stainless handles of De Buyer. They are very charming and nice though.
I don’t know which of the childs I would sell
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