Switched from stainless to carbon steel pans 6 weeks ago and my omelets finally don't stick

I was fighting with my eggs every morning until a regular at the bar who used to work at Le Bernardin told me to ditch the non-stick and try carbon steel, after about 2 weeks of seasoning it with flaxseed oil the difference was night and day, has anyone else had better luck with one metal over another for delicate proteins?

2 comments

2 Comments

butler.mark1mo ago

What kind of oil are you using for seasoning? I've been down this road and found flaxseed oil makes a beautiful seasoning but it flakes off after a few months if you cook acidic stuff like tomatoes or deglaze with vinegar. My own experience says grapeseed oil holds up way better for the long haul, plus you can cook a bacon and potato hash right after the eggs and not mess up the seasoning. For delicate stuff like fish too, I actually keep a cheap nonstick around just for flaky white fish because carbon steel still needs a little butter or oil to get that perfect release. But yeah, for omelets once that seasoning builds up a few layers you're golden for sure.

patel.daniel1mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah totally! I actually went through the exact same thing with flaxseed oil. I fell for that whole internet hype about it giving you that perfect black mirror finish and it looked amazing for like a week. Then I made some tomato sauce and it was like the seasoning just gave up and flaked all over my food lol. Grapeseed oil is where it's at for real. I've been using it for about a year now on my main carbon steel pan and it just gets better and better. I do the same thing with a cheap nonstick for fish too, no shame in that game. Once you get that grapeseed seasoning built up thick enough you can practically fry eggs in there with barely any butter. It's night and day compared to flaxseed.