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Staub all-purpose cast iron skillets and frying pans are so essential they may never leave your stovetop--excellent for traditional fare or your most ambitious creations. Each pan has an elegant beech-wood handle and a smooth bottom suitable for all heat sources and resistant to scratching delicate surfaces
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Technical Details
- Black Matte Enameled Interior for durablity means no seasoning required.- Smooth Enameled bottom that works on any cooking surface including glass tops and convection.
- Requires no seasoning and will not discolor or rust
- Restaurant tested and proven to be the best in the industry, chefs use it everyday in thousands of restaurants world- wide.
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By Anthony Voci
First order of business. People who complain of the weight of Staub cookware should not be allowed in the kitchen. Cast Iron has to be thick to distribute heat evenly, otherwise a thin bottom pan will cause scorching and burning. It's a shame we Americans have to be told that. Staub is the finest cookware made in the world. They stand against a world of trash products that are designed to be thrown away and repurchased just to be thrown away again.
Now the caveat.
This seasoning explanation is actually a response to a person who gave an uneducated one-star review on this pan that misleads the potential buyer. So, this is now my edited review and explanation.
There is a lot of very inaccurate information on seasoning pans and cleaning pans. First I'm going to make a logical statement that is supported by elementary chemistry. Like dissolves like, only oil dissolves oil. Let's proceed with that fact. Water, or deglazing by boiling water in a pan, does not clean a pan. It can't. Water cools the surface of a pans as it boils away forming thick layers of tar to form on the bottom of the pan. Yet people think this cleans the pan. The worst thing one could ever do to clean a pan is pour water in it. Interestingly enough, we all know this yet we proceed with our compulsion to pour water in our pans.
Below is a seasoning process that I do to break in all my enamel cast iron pans. I own a lot of Le Creuset and Staub. Over 20 pieces. I own and sell Vollrath non-stick cookware for a living and I do cook.
Now as a general rule of thumb this step should always be followed in all cookware every time you cook right before you cook as long as it does not violate or screw up a recipe.
1. ALWAYS wipe about a tablespoon of generic olive oil in a cold dry pan even if you are boiling water to make pasta. Why even if boiling water you are asking? So you don't get calcium rings at the water line and starch burns in the bottom of the pot. Use generic inexpensive olive oil because you are wiping it out of the pot. You are not adding flavor or calories to the food. And olive oil means olive oil. Not canola or vegetable oil. Don't be cheap. Don't be defiant.
2. Always wipe your pans with paper towel or a dry rag when you are done cooking while the pan is still hot to warm. Never let a pan cool before you clean it. Never. What's interesting is you think this is crazy yet you know unconsciously I'm right. Here's why. When grease and oil is heated it thickens and degrades. Solids form. That's why olive oil begins the cooking process with no cholesterol yet at the end of the cooking process you end up with cholesterol. Now, as the cooked oil cools it SOLIDIFIES at room temperature. I call it tar. A gummy tacky substance that continues to degrade and harden every day you cook it. Tar is not water soluble and must be scoured out of a pan. You knew that you just didn't connect the dots. After many cycles of cooking and cooling tar becomes black. Now it's mostly carbon. Carbon is what cover cast iron skillets. Carbon is not a nutrient. Carbon is a carcinogen. Moreover, the burned up protein and fat that comprise the black carbon crust of improperly cleaned pans bind to sugars in the blood in a process called glycation. Glycated solids in the body are the solids - or radicals - that cause the health problems in diabetics. It's not the sugar that hurts diabetics - it's what the sugar attaches to in the blood - denatured protein and fats - that causes blindness, neural myapathy, retinal damage, and demyalination of the nerve sheath. Tar is comprised of these denatured solids. The point is when sugar attaches to proteins and fats in the blood through the process of glycation the human body suffers insidious internal damage. It's an insidious process that you are not aware of until you are older and the process has gone too far. Keep tar and carbon out of your food. Not only will your pans work better so will you.
Now to the gory details of a proper seasoning process. It is a process so strap yourself in. Enamel is porous. If you burn food into enamel you are depositing carbon deep into the pours of the pan. These pans will not work very well if carbon sits in the pours. So, how do you prevent that? You must understand that cast iron does not need much heat to get hot. Always remember to use low heat to keep food from scorching. The seasoning process is actually teaching you about heat control as well as seasoning the pans.
Enamel MUST be seasoned properly despite Staub's claim they never need seasoning. You MUST follow this closely or it will not help. Warm the pans on low heat and massage olive oil (2mm in bottom of pan) into the enamel with a dry cotton rag being careful not to burn your fingers. Warm means warm, not hot. Olive oil means olive oil and duck fat means duck fat. No substitutions. Turn up the heat after a few minutes to medium low being careful to never smoke the oil. The oil should shimmer at most but not smoke. Smoke means tar and carbon are forming. If black or brown stuff comes off the pan onto your cloth you have tar on the pan and it must be cleaned using this method. Soap does not remove this. Like dissolves like. Oil dissolves oil. This seasoning process is NOT the curing done to cast iron but you are depositing oil deep into the enamel pours as you massage the oil into the pan and "gradually raising the temperature." Curing means you are deliberately leaving tar and carbon on cast iron to keep it from rusting. Curing only applies to cast iron, not enamel. You are opening the pours "slowly." If done too quickly you will burn oil and deposit carbon into the pours and you will hate cooking on these pans and rightfully so. Don't be lazy with this process or impatient. Do this for about 10 minutes minimum. Fifteen would be better. The process of slowly bringing up the temperature is "schooling you" on how these pans take heat. You cannot put a lot of heat into cast iron because they "hold" a lot of heat. Aluminum pans do not hold heat meaning they cool very rapidly in comparison. Now turn off the heat and let the pans cool at their own rate "all the while wiping the pans with olive oil." DO NOT WASH. Repeat this at least one more time minimum the next day. Have patience. Three times would be a charm.
Now, buy a whole duck. I don't care if you don't like duck and no, chicken will not be an adequate substitution. You don't have to eat it. You will learn from this process that duck fat is the fat of the gods. Cut the duck up into leg and thigh quarters and breast leaving the skin on. The skin must be left on. Set aside in a bowl all the fat and gelatin trimmed off the pieces not used. Now, take the pan and season it with two tablespoons of olive oil on low heat. Then once warm, not hot, add the duck fat and gelatin. Let it melt into the pan. Massage it into the pan just as you did the olive oil. Once the fat renders on low turn up the heat to medium low and add the meat. It should sizzle a little. Pay attention. Only a slight sizzle. Move the meat around the pan and render (melt) the fat out of the breast and legs. Get a feel for the heat as you move the meat. Remember only a light sizzling. We are not searing, we are seasoning. We are putting the highest quality fat into the pours of the pan. The manufacturer cannot season pans at the factory nor can they teach you about heat control at the factory. You learn to control the temperature of the pans in your kitchen. This is not about a duck dinner but you can eat it if you want. This process creates a learning curve and brings you way up the curve. If you "get it" in the end you will own and cherish these pans for a lifetime. Once you season the pans 2 to 3 times with olive oil and once with duck fat you will truly intuitively understand enamel pans. Enamel pans should only be washed in warm soapy water and immediately dried. Once dried they should have a beautiful sheen to them. Almost a shine or glow. NEVER SCRUB IN HOT WATER, NEVER SCRUB WITH HARSH ABRASIVES. The blue teflon safe scrubby only, never the green scrubby. Where you will go wrong is applying too much heat and not seasoning with olive oil before cooking. Always wipe olive oil into a dry cold pan before cooking. Never use Pam. Now that you have a better understanding as to how enamel takes heat you will be able to make eggs on low to medium low heat. I guarantee this process because it's what I do. The French do not make Enamel Cast Iron to spite the rest of the world. Our problem - being Americans - is we are not taught to cook because our parents, our culture, taught us nothing about the process of cooking. Specifically, heat control. I discovered this process on the job through mindless repetition doing my job. Then one day I got it and it all made sense. No one taught me this. I discovered it cooking 10 hours a day 10 days in a row 25 weeks year. Do the math.
Good luck.
By Golfing Fool
I went with the overwhelming positive reviews (though all mentioned how heavy as it is cast iron). I thought I followed the seasoning directions but am going to try again.
The handle length does make the heaviness harder to handle. I am a good cook but not great nor do I cook all the time. So perhaps I should have known how much food sticks to the pan --- but it surprised me. Not too hard to clean if you soak.
I just ordered a nonstick hard andonized as I guess that's what i wanted and didn't realize. I did not send back since I got a great deal; too heavy; shipping costs make it not worthwhile.
By D. Handros (Gainesville, FL USA)
I have not used this pan yet but I'm sure that like all my other Staub products that it is Second to None in it's Awesome cooking at low temps and super easy clean up. My wife has completely switched to staub cookware after I converted her to this great cookware. We have a gas stove that is fueled with propane and prior to using this cookware bringing a big pot of water to a boil and then maintaining it was pretty much not possible. If you shop around for what you need in the Staub line you can rest assured that you will be cooking with world class cookware that will last you a lifetime and can be passed along to your children for many generations to come!!! Just do your homework and you will see that all the top chefs settle for nothing less than Staub for their needs period!!!
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