BK 10" Black Carbon Steel Induction Frying Pan

Can tell this'll be with me for a long time. totally worth. Super non-stickSomeone said it isn't flat, at least the 10-inch I bought is. I put it against tempered glass (known for being very very flat) and it had noticeable suction.

Very good product, worth every penny! It is very light compare to cast iron, and lighter than Lodge carbon steel pan I have. The pan keeps the heat very well and warms up extremely fast. Nothing sticks, and it gives very nice crust. I’m very satisfied and recommend this product!

This a great pan, as it has most of the good features of cast iron, without being so heavy. I really dropped one star for the idea of using a cast iron handle for this pan. Why cast iron and not any other lighter metal material? Cast iron is heavy! Why use a heavy handle for a not so heavy pan??? The pan is heavy, not as heavy as a similar cast iron, still heavy partly because of the infamous handle.Other than this complain, I really like this pan. It's easy to use, easy to clean. When I got the pan, I washed in some soapy water, dried it, used to bake some potato peels and a teaspoon of oil. I dumped the potato peels, washed the cooled pan with plain water, used a paper towel to dry it. Then I used a very small quantity of oil (less than a tsp), spread it as thin as possible using another paper towel. and that's all. I did some roasts, meat veggies, works very well. I have not tried eggs, as the pan is too large for 2-3 eggs. Maintenance is very similar to cast iron. Like cast iron, this pan works with induction stoves. Hand wash is mandatory.

Where do I start?! This truly is a great pan PERIOD. When I received the pan I didn’t trust their method of just washing with hot water and wiping with a sponge to remove the shipping wax or whatever it is BK uses to seal the pan from corrosion. I used the hottest water I could stand with heavy duty latex kitchen gloves on, a mild natural kitchen detergent and a BLUE scrub pad NOT the green rough ones. I scrubbed this pan top to bottom for the better part of 10 minutes excluding the handle. I then used the Matfer method of seasoning the pan once again. I say once again as BK states it is pre-seasoned but I scrubbed it well and wanted a clean seasoned pan done with a method I have used and trust. You can go to the Matfer site for particulars but their method uses oil, salt and potato skins for 15 minutes on medium heat to clean and season the pan.At the end of the seasoning process and after the pan cooled, I ran straight hot water over the pan and noticed what other novice cast iron/carbon steel pan users/reviewers mentioned, it appeared as though their was a bit of waxy residue left in the pan. So I repeated this process once again and after the second seasoning, technically the third, the residue was gone and it was BEAUTIFULLY seasoned. After the hot water rinse the residue was gone and the pan was darkening a bit perfectly just the way it should.I wasted ZERO time trying until the newly 3x seasoned pan out. I added some oil to the pan then added two of the four potatoes I used the peels from to season the pan to give it a ride. The pan cooked FLAWLESSLY with ZERO sticking at all! The potatoes floated around in the pan effortlessly as easily as my Lodge carbon steel pan and my coast iron pans do. I had so much fun cooking these, I finished them up and quickly cooked the other 2 leftover potatoes with the same perfect results.I then realized you can’t have all these potatoes without bacon so I sliced up some of my homemade, uncured, cherry smoked bacon. I added the bacon to a COLD pan and let some of the fat render to assist cooking itself in (I cook bacon like this all the time). Well guess what?!?! It cooked the bacon flawlessly with ZERO sticking.Of course I couldn’t stop there so I said to myself, “SELF, what goes great with bacon and potatoes better than EGGS?” Nothing of course and eggs, especially fried, are pretty much the measuring stick for cast iron and carbon steel pans. So I heated the pan up on medium and once the butter was sizzling just a bit I added two eggs and hoped for the best. After about 20-25 seconds I gave the pan a quick pop and a jiggle and lo and behold, the eggs slid around the pan as if it was teflon coated with oil in the pan. The fried egg test is kinda the gold standard of testing a cast iron and/or carbon steel pan and with three seasonings, two pans of potatoes, one pan of bacon cooked this pan passed the test with flying colors.I have several things I wanted this pan to be and it has all of them. The pan is GREAT for flipping!! I was able to flip the potatoes without hesitation and quite easily. The sides, unlike my Lodge carbon steel, lend themselves to flipping. The sides are higher than my Lodge as well allowing me to add two of the medium sized potatoes without crowding the pan. I would be able to cook 4 fried eggs without hesitation. I bought this pan for my boys to use as an everyday pan vs. the teflon coated Calphalon they currently use (they say the cleaning process for a CS is too hard).Overall I would HIGHLY recommend this pan to anyone that either uses carbon steel or cast iron already or someone who wants to get away from the teflon, chemical filled garbage and they EDUCATE themselves on carbon steel and/or cast iron and it’s care and use. YouTube is FILLED with great videos on the seasoning and care process even though it is VERY simple.I definitely will be ordering the other available sizes from BK soon without hesitation and so should you. I hope this honest review from a seasoned carbon steel/cast iron user helps better than some of the other nay sayer reviews on these great pans.

Okay, it's important that before you go moving into the world of carbon steel that you understand some basics of steel.Steel is an alloy meaning it is a combination of iron, carbon, and (sometimes) chromium/nickel. The higher the carbon content the harder it becomes. The addition of chromium/nickel is what makes things "stainless steel" it softens it, and makes it more resistant to staining (obviously) and rust.So, these pans are basically a cast iron pan with a higher concentration of carbon. This makes them harder, which also makes them easier to manipulate into a thinner shape. What it does NOT do is makes things resistant to rust. If you're looking for something you can leave in the dishwasher over night you really have to keep to stainless steel (even non-stick pans shouldn't be put in the dishwasher). This also means that if you are looking through reviews for a carbon steel pan and there isn't at least SOMEONE who gives it a 1 star review complaining about rust, you should really move on, something is hinky.This also means that there are other responsibilities that come with carbon steel pans. Because there isn't a non-stick coating, the pans are very sticky, soooooo, you have to add your own non-stick coating in the form of polymerized oil. This is what "seasoning" means. You heat oil to the point where it undergoes a chemical reaction and forms a solid, basically it forms a thin layer of plastic from the "burned" oil. There are a zillion tutorials on how to do this on the internet, but very few of them actually talk you through what's actually going on, understanding that point above was very helpful to me.All of that sounds like a gigantic pain in the buttocks, why not go with non-stick, right?? Well... kinda. Personally I just threw out all of my non-stick pans (okay, that's a lie, I kept 1 for making eggs). Non-stick pans really need to be replaced every 2-3 years (ask the manufactures, they'll tell you), and they really can't kick up the heat too much because it can cause "off gassing" which is a different kind of chemical reaction where the plastics in the non-stick coating turns into a gas which can be toxic to humans, and potentially lethal to smaller animals (birds in particular). This makes non-stick pans much more expensive in the long run, and it prevents you from doing fun things like putting the pan in the oven, or getting a really nice sear on your proteins.All in all, carbon steel is more versatile than non-stick, almost as non-stick as an actual non-stick pan, MUCH more non-stick than stainless steel, and if treated nicely will last long enough for your grand children to make meals for their children with. When you first get your pan it will look as it is pictured on Amazon, as you use it it will come to look like my attached picture. Learn how to care for them and you'll never look back.