Merten & Storck 10" Pre-Seasoned Carbon Steel Frying Pan Skillet | Natural Nonstick with Use, Induction & All Stovetop Suitable, Grill & Campfire Safe, Even Heating, Indoor/Outdoor Use

I have been a user of cast iron pans for over 15 years. Many of the cast iron pans I have are very old, and were crusted pans that I had to strip the crud off them and season them before they could be used. Some are newer preseasoned pans that I often stripped the seasoning from them to season them again. When I discovered the carbon steel pans, I was intrigued as these pans are much lighter than cast iron. As a point of reference, I also have a number of Le Creuset and Staub pans and Dutch ovens that I love, but are also very heavy and relatively expensive. Before buying, I usually do research to find out about products I am not familiar with. In my research, I found out that materials used in carbon steel and cast iron pans are basically the same except that carbon steel contains 99% iron and 1% carbon vs. cast iron that contains 2%-3.5% carbon and less iron. The additional carbon causes cast iron to be more brittle, so pans are made thicker to help prevent breakage which also makes them much heavier. Since both have a high iron content, they must be oiled to prevent oxidation and rust. Both have pores that absorb oil when heated, hence the creation of the non-stick properties through "seasoning", but the pores in carbon steel are microscopic and much smaller than the pores in cast iron. Because of this, much less oil should be used to season carbon steel than cast iron. If you use too much oil, or do not remove the excess oil as the pans cool, you will end up with a sticky residue on the pan. This is true for both carbon steel and cast iron, and both require some simple maintenance by heating them and coating them with oil after each use. I, personally, use Crisco All Vegetable shortening. A couple reviews mentioned flaking of the surface after use. These pans come preseasoned and coated with a layer of wax to prevent oxidation (rust). The layer of wax must be cleaned off per the instructions before the first use. This is done by washing them in warm soapy water and wiping them with a scrubby sponge to get all the wax off. If this isn't done, the wax will flake off when used the first time. At this point, I truly love these pans and will likely sell some of my treasured cast iron. So, what do I love about these pans. 1 - They are so much lighter in weight than cast iron. 2 - These pans are nonstick with the seasoning already on the pans and only gets better with time and proper seasoning after each use. 3 - Carbon steel, as well as cast iron, will continue to look like new if cleaned and seasoned after each use. 4 - Heats and cools much faster than cast iron. For both, medium to medium high heat is all that is needed. 5 - Can be used on the stove and in the oven as well as an induction cook top. 6 - Since carbon steel cools faster than cast iron, it is less likely to burn foods that are not immediately removed. 7 - Nest together well and take less storage space than most other pan. 8 - Can stack together and use metal utensils without the fear of scratching them. In conclusion, I would definitely recommend these pans if you are willing to take the time to maintain them. If you can do this, they will last for years to come. UPDATE 03/31/22: I have 3 of these pans in 8", 10", and 12" sizes, and the two pictured are the ones I have used the most. In the last 4 weeks, I have used these pans quite often, and so far, they are totally non-stick and have not changed in color as I expected them to. Maybe it is something in the way I take care of them. After using them, they are washed with soap and water without any scrubbing. I totally dry them by heating them on the stove to open the pores of the pan, and then add a very small amount of Crisco oil on a paper towel to coat them with oil. After a couple more minutes of heating, I use a paper towel to remove any excess oil. As they cool, more oils beads on the surface of the pan, and this is again wiped off. Before I store them, I wipe them again with a kitchen towel. Although I fully expect these pans to change color over time, it's possible they stay looking nice by not letting excess oils stay on them. I do know that leaving excess oil on these pans or on cast iron pans will cause a sticky residue to develop. Built up oils on these pans or cast iron will cause them to look really cruddy and will reduce the nonstick capabilities of both. UPDATE 4/07/22: Today, I found out something about carbon steel pans the hard way. Cooking acidic foods in a carbon steel pan removes the seasoning. I made brats with sauerkraut in one of my carbon steel pans. I browned the brats, and then added the sauerkraut to the pan to heat it with the brats. The pan was fine until I cleaned it and found that part of the seasoning was gone. The pan was down to the bare grey metal in spots. Although this doesn't damage the pan, it has to be heated, oiled, and cooled a couple of times to season it again and regain the nonstick qualities of the pan. I also want to mention that when searing meat, you need to get a good sear on the meat before turning it. If you don't, the meat will stick. UPDATE 5/13/22: I have added pictures of my 8" and 10" pans that have been used quite a lot since I got them a couple of months ago. I am extremely happy with the nonstick quality of these pans and that they are so very much lighter than my cast iron pans. After every use, I season them as described previously, and so far they haven't changed in color. Personally, I believe this is because I don't let the oil burn on the pan when I season it as I have also found this to be true with my cast iron pans. All of my cast iron is an even dark black color and also nonstick. In the past, I have had a couple of cast iron pans change color when oil had been left on it for too long and burned. Although the color of the pans will get darker with use and seasoning, I don't think they have to become ugly if the patina is developed evenly. I hope this review was helpful for you. I will update the review if my opinion changes.

1 year update: I happen to stumble across this listing again and it seems like the reviews are very polarized so I want to do an update and share a tip for people having sticking issues. Firstly, this is still my daily driver in the kitchen. In regards to this pan specifically, I think it's a perfectly good carbon steel and reasonably priced. That said, I have struggled with the non-stick performance and was nearly ready to give up on it before stumbling upon a "hack". So like I said originally the factory seasoning works quite well. However, that started to fade after a few weeks or so. After awhile I got annoyed and tried to apply new layers of seasoning. This is my first carbon anything pan so these attempts had varying success (seems like the best was leaving it in the oven for a good 20-30 mins and leaving it in there to slowly cool). Regardless, even if it worked great for a few days or couple weeks, it always faded again. Seemed like the "gets better with time" didn't apply to carbon steel or I was doing something wrong. I started calling it the "all stick pan" and at one point was trying to apply a seasoning layer every week or two. I bought a flexible metal spatula and this was a big upgrade. Much more effective at releasing stuck on food. Annoying that it's necessary but hey it works right? However, I noticed that simply running that spatula over the pan to remove food bits made the pan more non-stick the next time I used it. This was my first clue that I wasn't cleaning aggressively enough. Now I have a friend who loves his cast iron and he's anti-soap. He does what I'm now calling a "hot water deglaze". As soon as you're done cooking and the pan is still piping hot, throw a splash of hot water in so that it boils very vigorously. I'd only very seldom done this bc the instructions say let it cool slowly (presumably to prevent warping). However, one night I deglazed while making a pan sauce. I'd made the "mistake" of not using my stainless for that. The pan was being pretty sticky at that point. But the next morning I made eggs and boom! Super non-stick as if I'd just seasoned it. So it seems like the issue is thin layers of baked on food residue that don't come off with normal scrubbing. I've noticed some foods are more problematic than others (eg meats, and I think mushrooms). The hot water deglaze removes the remaining grime layer. Now whenever the pan starts getting a little sticky I just do a hot water deglaze after cooking and it's been great. Some of my excess seasoning layers have flaked off and it's forming a nice patina (black area) underneath. Hopefully this tip helps for some of the people struggling with sticking issues. To address warping: I did have an issue with that and I ended up pounding it out with a rubber mallet (while hot). It sits flat and stable now but does have a high spot in the middle and the oil pools around the edges as others have shown. Don't really want to pound it the other way so idk what to do about that. I just try to tilt the pan a bit to spread the oils before tossing food in. Doing the hot water deglaze hasn't caused any warping. Since I pounded it out it's been stable. Original review: Was shopping around for a cast iron and discovered carbon steel. Never heard of of it before, nor owned a cast iron, but I like the idea of it being lighter weight and heating up faster for daily use. I like the idea of a smooth surface too. Note that probably a lot of my comments pertain more to carbon steel in general than this specific pan. Pros: pre-seasoning is great. The pan is very nonstick right out of the box, on par with typical nonstick pans. It's very light and responds quickly to changes in heat. The instructions say you don't need to oil it regularly but I'm doing it anyway. But I like knowing that if that step gets skipped on occasion it's no big deal. It has a smoother surface and requires less oil than cast iron. Also, the handle doesn't get hot under normal usage which is nice. Cons: I think the biggest con here is that the pan is actually too thin. Great for lightness and responding to heat, but it warps very easy. Won't matter much on a gas stove but I have a glass top and that means poor contact, hot spots, and being annoyingly unstable (always wants to spin). You have to try to heat the pan slowly to avoid warping. And of course lack of thermal mass isn't as good for searing meat (cast iron is better for that). It's actually thinner and lighter than my stainless pan (has layers of copper and such). Also, the first time I used it I was using metal tongs and I ended up getting a nick in the bottom of the pan. Hasn't adversely affected anything but it seems like I'll have to stick to silicone cookware or flexible metal. Overall great pan and is now my go to.

This review is of the 10 inch frying pan pros: It really comes with all the promises that they make. It is pre-seasoned, really. It is just as good as nonstick as long as you use oil, not butter only, to cook anything. It is lighter than cast iron by a good bit. It is heirloom quality. You could dent this pan or even fold it in half and still heat it back up, bang it back into shape re-season it and it will still work. If the rivets got damaged you could grind them off and re-rivet the handle and it would work just fine. The very first try out of the box I cleaned it up and I heated it up to very hot to burn off any contaminants that might have been on it and then I proceeded to fry not one but 6 eggs with less coconut oil and butter than I use in my normal Teflon pens (I combine the two because butter keeps the oil from beating up and spreading evenly across the pan surface). Not only did the eggs not stick, I mean I didn't even have to use a spatula for any small stuck areas, it simply slid around in the pan like a brand new ceramic. Not only did it perform perfectly but it also flipped all six eggs, perfectly. Because of the taller sides and steeper angle of the sides I didn't think it would work but again to my amazement it worked perfectly. Can't really say enough positive about my experience so far. These cons are not really cons in context. But to provide a good context you need to know that carbon steel is substantially heavier than stainless steel or aluminum but on the plus side much lighter than cast iron even "lighter built" cast iron. The handle is a very heavy duty steel handle (and here's the only thing I can say that's negative about the pan is that the handle is not really that comfortable to hold, but I knew what the shape was going in and that's on me) and probably didn't need to be that heavy duty, but it is and it does get hot is if its under heat for quite a while or at high heat. I'm going to make some slide on wooden covers but that's because I can. The pan heats up way faster than our cast iron stuff and does hold its heat for quite a while. The texture is very smooth compared to cast iron and I'm very happy with it. If you're looking for a way to buy once and own forever. Looking for a way to get away from repurchasing ceramic and eating ceramic and Teflon when they break down then I can't recommend anything better than this pan for its shape and consistent durable construction, this company For availability and price. I'm not excited about having to re-season and pay attention to that process. But everything has a pain, pick your pain. I'm no longer interested in wondering if I'm eating Teflon or having to repurchase 30 to 40 dollar pans every couple of years or as soon as my children or others who use the pans cause a scrape.

I wanted something around 8-inches. lighter, not stainless, aluminum or Teflon coated. Have those already. Smaller for single portions, and I wanted carbon steel. This pan was reasonably priced compared to others I viewed so gave it a try. I like the thickness/gauge and feel like it's a well-made pan. The pre-seasoning makes me wonder. Trying to add to coating/seasoning just results in oil beading up and not really covering surface. The oil or butter acts like when it’s used in non-stick coatings like teflon.So what is it? This happened after heating then scrubbing with SOS pad and scalding water to take off any shipping coating. Even after failure to add seasoning the pan is non- stick slick. Egg slid around easier or as easy as teflon with some melted butter in pan. If I knew more about the pre-seasoning I might give it a 5 star or a 1 star depending on what I found out. 🤞it’s not toxic. EDIT: Been awhile now using pan. Really decided I like carbon steel. Stored all the teflon/ non-stick skillets. One concern I had was the factory seasoning. Believe all the factory seasoning is now gone. So now it doesn’t have that suspicious perfect looking seasoning. It is seasoning and developing normal use coloration. I have seen some think carbon steel “non- stick “ is like the usual teflon or other non-stick coatings out there. It isn’t!!! That does illicit some negative reviews about carbon steel skillets. Some negative reviews on carbon steel skillets is rust which I haven’t experienced on this pan. But FYI carbon steel isn’t dishwasher safe!!! After using for awhile I found this skillet is nice and light. Heats up quickly and can cook on a much lower flame setting. Egg test is a pass. But had been from the start. For what I paid it’s been outstanding. EDIT: after dipping into carbon steel for a skillet with this one I upped the ante , did a lot of research and now have a couple of Debuyer mineral b skillets. Compared to this skillet they are much thicker gauge resulting in weight close to cast iron. Awesome skillets. They are also about double the price of a Merton & Stork. A question I had. France or China? Who do you trust more on composition of steel used? France recalled some Matfer because of heavy metal leaching. But they were OK for sale in USA ? Doubt if China is more concerned than our own government about things like that. EU seems to care though. I still think this was a cheap way to see if I wanted to change my skillets to carbon steel.

UPDATE 12/20/2024: I loved the 10" skillet so much, I bought the 12". They are my goto skillets, without a doubt. I use them daily, many times more than once per day. These are the only pans that I use to make eggs. So, my Merten and Storck fry pans have been used dozens and dozens of times. I've ordered an induction range which will arrive day after tomorrow. These pans will work great on the induction cooktop. I'll update with info on how they do with induction and how I have to adapt. I was making tuna patties tonight in the 12" pan. To this day, both pans are non-stick, and I mean so darn slippery that it takes a spatula plus another implement on the other side to flip anything. Even fried eggs just slide around. The pans are almost too slippery. I detailed how to season the pans to keep them nonstick in my original review. I've learned that after reheating and rubbing oil on them a few times that it becomes unnecessary. They'll stop soaking up the oil. When you see this, then simply wash them under hot water (when they've cooled down) and dry. I rarely use dish detergent. I have a BLUE 3M scrubber that I use. I only use the BLUE, because it's non-scratch. If I think the pan needs more, I'll put a very small amount of Dawn on the scrubbing pad, wet it in hot water, wash, rinse, and dry. That's all there is to it. I've had no issues with rust. My pans hang on the wall. You can see where oil has polymerized in a couple of places on the cooking surface. This is correct and what it's supposed to do. Don't scrub it off! It's a part of the seasoning. There are 2 things I never do: 1. I never soak the pans. 2. I never run cool or tepid water into a hot pan to clean it. I always cool them down. Original review: I've read reviews where people think these pans are coated with a nonstick material; they aren't. I've also read that you should treat them like cast iron; you DON'T. Here's the right information. First, the pans may have a bluish hue. It's not from an applied finish. When you heat carbon steel, you get blue heat marks. Certain metals will so this when heated. You see it more readily in silver colored pans and it's natural. These pans are extremely preseasoned. I fried eggs over easy this morning, and they slipped around the pan so much, I had a hard time turning them! This is how you want these pans to perform. I have a carbon steel wok (that was Not pre-seasoned) and I've never had one thing stick in it. Unlike cast iron, you should wash your COLD carbon steel pan, using dish soap, rinsing well. Never ever put a hot pan in cool water; it'll warp. After washing and drying, sit your skillet back on the stove. Turn it on to medium-low. Heat the pan. When the pan is hot, use a paper towel to apply cooking oil. You can use olive oil. I think a higher temp oil is better, like corn or vegetable oil. Don't let the pan overheat. Just rub the oil around. You'll see it disappear into the pan. When the pan isn't taking anymore, turn off the burner. After the pan cools, simply wipe off any excess oil and put it away. That's all there is to it. Don't put in the dishwasher. Just hand wash with dish soap, dry it, heat on a burner and apply oil. It'll stay extremely slick. BTW, if you buy a pan that isn't seasoned, it'll come with a coating of shellac on it to protect against rust. You have to heat it on high heat and burn the shellac off, scrubbing the soot. When you're done, the pan looks like these pans, black with a bluish hue. The 10" skillet is a nice weight without being too heavy. The metal handle doesn't get hot when cooking on the stove. These are very nice pans!

I bought the 8" on a whim after nuking years of carbon buildup off of my workhorse ~10" carbon steel pan (I don't know the brand, just that it was made in Japan, and that I bought it for around $37 at a local Japanese grocery chain in Southern California). My 10" was always just a bit too big for eggs and omelettes, and as it's slightly convex by design (intended to flatten out when heated), at lower temperatures it retains its convexness, causing eggs to make a run to the edges and making omelettes a bit awkward and uneven. Also in my arsenal is a smaller, 5" cast iron skillet, which is perfect size for a single egg, but it also takes forever to heat up and too small for omelettes. Enter this 8" Merten & Storck. I find it to be the perfect sidekick to my larger carbon steel pan. While small, the steel on the handle is quite thick, giving the whole pan a bit of heft. The pan definitely does not feel cheap, in fact, the fit and finish feels a bit nicer than my MIJ 10", which is quite spartan and no-frills in comparison--I'm guessing it was intended for use in Japanese commercial food service and not really in home kitchens. The size is great for omelettes, and I managed to do a perfect french-style omelette in it--no browning, slightly runny in the center! This speaks to its properties regarding thermal conductivity and retention. While some people have noted the thinness of the steel, I find it an advantage--it doesn't take long to evenly heat the pan up, though it won't retain heat as well as thicker carbon steel pans or cast iron. While on the topic of heat, since I'm mainly using this for eggs, omelettes, and the occasional stir fry, I haven't tried to use this pan with the burner on full blast like I would my thicker/larger 10" CS, cast iron skillets, or CS wok. Thus, I can't speak for how warp resistant it is, but I would be a bit wary. I'm guessing this was mostly intended for medium to low heat (though I'm sure it can handle more). Of note is the pan's finish. Merten & Storck claim that it comes pre-seasoned, but considering my previous Japanese carbon steel was preseasoned (which I'm 100% sure of, as I've stripped the seasoning down to raw steel and re-blued many times), I'm not convinced they're completely telling the truth. Rather than a dark, glossy finish, the Merten & Storck is rather matte, and considerably lighter--it's almost a cold, gunmetal grey, with a bit of blue in it. At first, I thought that I either didn't remove the protective wax coating completely, or that the pan was actually coated with Teflon, as water and oil beaded up much like you'd expect with other nonstick coatings. However, there is no horrific off-gassing when smoking hot, so I'm pretty sure that it _is_ raw carbon steel underneath. I'm convinced that the pan is actually nitrided carbon steel, which, from what I've read, tends to give the surface high lubricity (in other words, a naturally non-stick surface). After using the pan a fair amount for about a week, I've noticed some slight discoloration, which means that it _is_ developing a seasoning, albeit rather slowly. You just won't be able to season this pan as you would a traditional carbon steel pan, as any oil you try and spread on it will simply bead up and wipe away. Ultimately, I find this to be a non-issue. Since the point of seasoning is to offer corrosion resistance and to prep an even surface which will prevent sticking, nitriding should naturally accomplish both of these things. Just be aware that more care might need to be taken to retain the nitriding, as it seems it's less resistant to pitting than regular carbon steel. In other words, you probably don't want to be slamming metal utensils against it like you might do on a CS wok. Other reviewers have brought up the fact that this pan was made in China. I've no qualms with this, my carbon steel wok is Chinese made, and is a total workhorse. I find the pan to be a great value, and I'm quite satisfied with my purchase. If you just need a little pan to use and abuse, definitely consider this one. EDIT: OK, so I dry roasted some chiles, tomatillos, and tomatoes in this pan for salsa. Being acidic, the tomatoes and tomatillos definitely stripped away some of the surface steel, but I wasn't cooking a whole sauce so it only affected small areas. The pan is now taking seasoning properly on the bottom, but still exhibits some hydrophobic qualities on the sides and some areas on the bottom edge. Still wonderfully non-stick, and my eggs are turning out perfectly. Added some photos to show how it looks now, and in comparison to my Japanese CS pan.

I have used several other carbon steel pans, some that are way more expensive, clad, etc., seasoned them exactly as per instructions, and have had mixed results. Almost every time, at least some of the seasoning comes off on the first cook (I always start with eggs). Over time it does get better, but it's been far from perfect. That's how cast iron and carbon steel go and I accept that. Takes time. That said, I am actually quite surprised, pleasantly, by this pan. True, it does come pre-seasoned, but I've used this pan probably 30 times so far and it has been 100% non-stick with zero flaking. I've only used it for eggs and omelettes but it has performed flawlessly and there is really nothing I could ask to be improved upon. I will say I'm almost afraid to cook a steak or burger in it - the true test - for fear of it flaking or sticking, because it's performed so well so far and I don't want to ruin its perceived perfection heheh. But im so happy with this one that I ordered the 10" and I'll throw a steak in that one and put it in a review. But for this pan, I really can't even find anything to nitpick about. It still looks brand new as the day I got it, no exaggeration. I've been meaning to see how the use of utensils affect the pan, but of all the times I've used it I've never even needed a utensil. I just flip the eggs by flipping the pan. 100% non-stick without the slightest hint of anything wanting to bind to the pan. It behaves like a brand new chemical non-stick pan would. Crazy. At the risk of sounding like I work for this company or something, I'll end my rave review here. It really can't be beat for the price in my opinion.

Long review, skip to bottom for video notes Merten & Storck, what can I say? Name brand, good reputation, high quality, never owned or used one so I bought this 10" pan. I like bare metal, blueing it and seasoning it myself, total time takes 10-15 mins, I do it myself so I know it's done right. Unfortunately it's a lot harder to find a quality non-seasoned pan within my budget so I went with M&S 10" pre-seasoned pan for $30. Upon arrival it was packaged well, looked nice and seemed to be pre-seasoned well. Washed it, dried it, put it on the burner, added oil and started cooking! Dropped in an egg and it was perfect, beautifully done over easy, nice color, whites cooked thru and yolk was over easy consistency flowing out smoothly when the yolk was cut. That was the test! Finished up with some breakfast meats and enjoyed a well cooked breakfast. At this point I'm super happy with this pan! Next day went to cook another fine breakfast. Added some oil and it all went to the edges, WTF happened? It warped! Yeah, read the reviews about this issue. I was so dissapointed. Nope, not a newby, first use was med to med-hi, so heat shouldn't have been a factor. So I shopped for a rubber headed mallet and looked for a suitable sized plywood so I can fix it, price wise it was more than half the cost of the pan. Not cost/time efficient as it would take at least 30 mins if not a few hours to fix, if it warped again it's more time, so I started looking for a new pan. A 12" Tramontina popped up, another name brand cookware for $10 cheaper, so I got the Tramontina made in Brazil. (get the Brazil mfg one if you can) I've had the Tramontina for over a month now and this is exactly the performance of carbon steel pan that I expect. Note: both pans were pre-seasoned and while very good, in the video you can see where it flaked off both pans. So what do I use the M&S for? Oven use such as corn bread, skillet pizza, etc. Also for deep frying despite not high enough sides. I highly advise to buy another brand. If you can use a 12" get the Tramontina, as it's $10 cheaper, 2 inch wider, has thicker gauge steel and better seasoning process. It also is heavier. Also, this pan works on high heat without warping. Ideally when I have time I'll remove the pre-seasoning and redo it my way. Video notes: Overcast day so I apologize for the lighting, I held up the pan so you can see the warp, in any case I put water in the pan and you can see the warp is convexed. Side by side you can see Tramontina has a thicker gauge.

La poêle est solide, semble très bien faite. Cuire des tomates l'a décoloré, c'est normal car elles sont acides. Avec une petite touche d'huile rien ne colle. A voir avec le temps, mais je suis très contente avec les premiers essais. La seule chose qui me derange est leur contract légal, il y a trop des provisions bizarres qui me font penser qu'ils vendent un truc dangereux, qu'ils savent que c'est dangereux et qu'ils se lavent les mains en disant que si ça tombe mal, ils n'y sont pour rien même s'ils le sont... Bizarre, comme j'ai dit. C'est une poêle, pas un paquet des cigarettes.

Matériau excellente qualité. Facile à nettoyer et surtout pas trop lourde

I seasoned my pan before use the first time and had no issues. However after cooking 4 pieces of salmon it has left stains even after washing it immediately with hot soapy water, salt and a sponge. I never had this issue with my cast iron from Lodge so it's weird how this seemly now has a permanent stain! And no I feeling NOTHING when touching the surface, so it's clean to the touch.

Una sartén excelente. Las de acero al carbono como esta son las que hay que utilizar para una alimentación sana. Muy recomendable. Solo necesita un curado inicial, y sartén para toda la vida.

Sartenes de muy buena calidad, el recubrimiento con el que vienen de fábrica funciona muy bien, y si los cuidas correctamente tienes un sartén muy útil que durará mucho tiempo