Blue Steel - Care & Use

De Buyer Blue Steel

The Facts - Care & Use

Many chefs throughout the world would not use anything else.  For frying, browning and sealing food, blue steel is perfect.  Steaks, Chicken, Omelettes, Crepes, Pancakes, the list is endless. For that "Char Grilled" look and more importantly taste, blue steel pans offer you what French restaurants and homes have known about for decades.

Blue Steel is not a coated metal.  It is steel that has been heat treated to protect it from oxidization (rusting).  This heat treatment turns the steel blue.  Of course, the pans need a little looking after, rather like a carbon steel wok or pan, but you will find it well worth it.

When you get your blue steel pan home, simply wash it well in hot soapy water, pat dry with kitchen paper and place on your hob or stove.  Add 1 1/2 tbsp of cooking oil, heat up for about 3 minutes then carefully wipe with kitchen paper.  Be careful not to burn your fingers, blue steel heats up very quickly.  Your pan is now ready to use.

You will find the more you use your blue steel pan the better it gets.  Remember a good steel pan is one that has become black after being used several times.  After cooking, wash in hot water without detergent, dry immediately and re-season as above, and store in a dry place.  The frying pans in the range have a bell shaped rim, which is rounded to enable food to slide easily from the pan to the plate.  This shape also allows food to be "flipped" using just the handle, for that professional look.  This pan is called a Lyonnaise pan.

Other items in the range include Crepe pans (pancake), Blini pans, oval frying pans for fish and a huge range of paella pans with two side handles.  All come with professional gunmetal silver handles, so beloved by chefs the world over.

They can be used on all heat sources including induction and don't worry about using high heats; these pans will last you a lifetime, getting better after every use.

Happy cooking!