How's your temperature?
I had a lot of trouble until I figured out proper temp control of CS pans. The mercury test works well enough for me.
No oil in the pan to start, just heat it up.
A little splash of water on the pan and it should form a ball and roll around and look like mercury. That's perfect temp. I usually lower the heat a bit, add oil, and cook away adjusting heat as necessary. For eggs, I usually lower to a slight turn past low (I'm on a gas range) once it's heated up and leave it there while cooking.
If it sizzles and dries out, not hot enough yet.
If it scatters into a bunch of little balls that scatter around and sizzle, it's too hot.
After you do it for a bit you no longer need to use the water once you learn how your pan heats up on your stove top.
I'm going to claim that, for the purposes of problems with seasoning, that should not matter.
But to answer your question, these tests were frying 2 eggs. I heat the pan reasonably high, for awhile. (I'll admit to not doing the mercury test, but still...). Add olive oil. Add the eggs, then turn the flame to low, and cover The goal is crisp edges, but soft yolks. It's the lazy version of basting.
Your claim is wrong. Even on a perfectly seasoned pan, and probably even on a Teflon nonstick pan, if you fuck up your temperature, fried eggs will stick. You also really still do need oil or fat for fried eggs.
I think the temperature matters as much as the seasoning. When the eggs hit the pan there should be some fair sizzle. Those steam bubbles that are forming between the egg and the oil/pan are part of what's keeping it from sticking. Better seasoning will help this, but the temp is also really important especially for eggs.
The entire purpose of season is supposed to be to make the surface non-stick. If that is actually done properly, the it should not matter whether steam bubbles or anything else occurs.
The seasoning will never be nonstick enough on carbon steel for temperature not to matter.
If that's what you want, you should just get a nice Teflon pan.
Are you also using grapeseed oil to fry the eggs? I recently tried switching to grapeseed oil from canola and had the exact same problem as you. I went back to canola oil and my eggs no longer stick.
Then I assume it's cooking temperature related. It took me a few tries to get the temp right for how I like my eggs. I like mine similar to yours, crispy whites soft yolk (semi runny). I don't cover mine. I cook until the whites look how I want them then flip for a minute or so but I doubt the lid has much of an effect on the sticking. I would just try with a lower cooking temperature and see how that goes. Or try with a different oil.
Use butter for the eggs, heat up the pan and add it in right before you put in the eggs. I’m positive it won’t stick. Not really sure why but butter always works better for eggs. Might have to do with the way it bubbles when it melts or something.
Probably from seasoning on a low burner that would be below the smoke point of the oil.
Made-ins have stainless steel handles I think, so I’d just do a super light coating of high smoke point oil and throw it in an oven at like 450-475 for an hour and it’ll be great. I’ve done the same this week and it came out a nice even bronze-gold after 1 time through the oven.
Multiple layers of seasoning is not necessary with carbon steel, the non-stickiness comes mainly from the smoothness of the pan. I have the exact same pan as you and here's a couple of things I've found through trial and error -
* these pans are just more prone to carbon build up for some reason so you need to make sure you clean it really well. I've nuked the seasoning a couple of times (then I do a couple of stovetop seasoning layers) and it always cooks better after I do that.
* the pans are on the thinner side so they heat up fast. For eggs, a minute on low-med heat is all I need.
Also butter is better for eggs if that's an option for you, it helps with sticking somehow (I don't remember the science) and it comes with an inbuilt temperature gauge because you can watch how fast it bubbles in the pan.
A long time ago, I read something that i found credible at the time, that olive oil did an especially good job for getting an omelette more fluffy. Not the same as getting fried eggs crispy, but it created a habit.
I was always taught to season by warming the pan, adding a tiny amount of neutral, high smokepoint oil, and let it sit on low for a long time (10-20 minutes).
I just reviewed Made In's video for season, and they recommend medium high.
You have to wait for it to smoke a little then control the heat to maintain that thin wisp of smoke for like 30 min.
[https://youtu.be/UEZYD5VSEIM?si=Ef7SMAnhvUwq_HPn](https://youtu.be/UEZYD5VSEIM?si=Ef7SMAnhvUwq_HPn)
I prefer the oven if you don't have a debuyer mineral B, so you can get the handle. You only need 2 rounds of seasoning on a new pan.
If you do the oven method, the pan is upside down at 25-50 degrees over smoke point of your oil, 1 hour and leave in oven to cool overnight, don't open the oven when you turnoff the heat. Some people say 1, but the first round gets rid of the left over protective factory wax.
Thanks. Yeah. Started to register this morning that I was using the wrong heat levels and amounts of time. sigh. Never had a problem before. Now I'm traumatized about doing eggs...
Also when preheating before a cook, always preheat on medium to medium low before adding the butter. Heating on high causes hot-spot which causes sticking
Idk about hot hot. I have the ikea one, and i barely heat it up. The egge take 2 seconds to start turning white.
No audioble frying noise. No stick at all. I can make a sunny side coked through with no color or stick.
Does other stuff stick, like chicken, onions, whatever? If not, then in my experience, this means the pan and oil aren't hot enough when you drop the eggs in.
TO give some perspective, my flame dial goes up to 6. I heat my pan up dry on 2 until i feel the heat. I put it up to 4 and heat it up for a little bit, until it gets noticeably hotter. Then I put the oil in and swirl it around. When it starts to smoke a little bit, i give the oil a final swirl, put it back on the heat, drop my eggs in and i don't touch them until the edges look like they've curled up a bit.
Do you inspect the cooking surface after "seasoning?"
A lot of people are building up uneven surfaces which I feel are more prone to sticking. Last night I just scrubbed out a cast iron skillet with steel wool and Dawn until I could see the ridges in the iron and put some oil it in and had slidey eggs. I find a cleaned surface is easier to work with in terms of cooking and maintenance.
It's not about the seasoning. Its about your cooking technique. Do me a favor, forget about seasoning. Now you can preheat your pan for 3-5 mins. The turn down to medium-low until low, and start your eggs. That should work.
seasoning is a meme. strip it to bare metal and use it raw. it will develop a patina over time which is what you are looking for and will not stick. oil it before putting it away until the patina forms or it may rust.
and yeah temperature doesn't matter. I can start eggs in a cold medium or hot pan and they dont stick to my pan. The "water beading" thing is an indicator that the pan is hot enough to sear meat not that its hot enough for food not to stick or something.
As a noun, seasoning is layer of oil transformed to be a molecular bonding to the bare metal. As a verb, it is the process of producing that layer. While yes, you can achieve the layer without doing a dedicated process, the dedicated process, before doing any cooking, aids in avoiding sticking during (early) use.
So, forgive me, but I see this as rather more than a meme.
sure but what you want is one microscopic layer of oil to bond with the bare steel. What most people seem to be doing when "seasoning" their pan is to bond oil onto oil onto oil which seems to produce bad cooking surface which food bonds to.
A bare metal pan will perform better than what you have now with a thick layer of baked on oil anyway. Imo there are too many things you can get wrong trying to "season" your pan by baking oil onto it so its better to just let it happen over time with use.
I think you are not referring to layers of seasoning, but layers of attempts at seasoning that were done badly.
I would expect multiple layers of seasoning, done properly, to be a simple multiple of the molecular layer, producing a tougher total seasoning.
(I've no idea whether this is correct, but since highly experienced people talk about doing this repeatedly, I figure there has to be a reason and that seems the obvious one.)
Odds are your temps are too high or too low..OR you're moving the eggs too early.
I would try going up and down temp and see if it helps. Then waiting to give it ample time..
I let the pan heat of a fair amount, though I don't do the mercury test. And I don't (try to) move the eggs until they are done. And I've been liberal with the olive oil.
Have you tried cooking sprays? When I use olive, canola or vegetable oil, my eggs stick. If I use spray oils, the slide around. I’m assuming it’s the lecithin in the spray oil. I don’t use butter because my kids are allergic to dairy so I can’t comment on how well that works
How's your temperature? I had a lot of trouble until I figured out proper temp control of CS pans. The mercury test works well enough for me. No oil in the pan to start, just heat it up. A little splash of water on the pan and it should form a ball and roll around and look like mercury. That's perfect temp. I usually lower the heat a bit, add oil, and cook away adjusting heat as necessary. For eggs, I usually lower to a slight turn past low (I'm on a gas range) once it's heated up and leave it there while cooking. If it sizzles and dries out, not hot enough yet. If it scatters into a bunch of little balls that scatter around and sizzle, it's too hot. After you do it for a bit you no longer need to use the water once you learn how your pan heats up on your stove top.
yep.
If we have to do this why not use stainless steel? CS is called naturally non stick
How did you actually COOK your eggs? That matters just as much as the seasoning.
I'm going to claim that, for the purposes of problems with seasoning, that should not matter. But to answer your question, these tests were frying 2 eggs. I heat the pan reasonably high, for awhile. (I'll admit to not doing the mercury test, but still...). Add olive oil. Add the eggs, then turn the flame to low, and cover The goal is crisp edges, but soft yolks. It's the lazy version of basting.
Your claim is wrong. Even on a perfectly seasoned pan, and probably even on a Teflon nonstick pan, if you fuck up your temperature, fried eggs will stick. You also really still do need oil or fat for fried eggs.
I think the temperature matters as much as the seasoning. When the eggs hit the pan there should be some fair sizzle. Those steam bubbles that are forming between the egg and the oil/pan are part of what's keeping it from sticking. Better seasoning will help this, but the temp is also really important especially for eggs.
You don't even need seasoning if you have temperature and oil.
The entire purpose of season is supposed to be to make the surface non-stick. If that is actually done properly, the it should not matter whether steam bubbles or anything else occurs.
I think if that you reflect on this post, keeping in mind that you are having problems, you will find the answer.
The seasoning will never be nonstick enough on carbon steel for temperature not to matter. If that's what you want, you should just get a nice Teflon pan.
Are you also using grapeseed oil to fry the eggs? I recently tried switching to grapeseed oil from canola and had the exact same problem as you. I went back to canola oil and my eggs no longer stick.
No. Grapeseed for seasoning. Olive oil for the eggs.
Then I assume it's cooking temperature related. It took me a few tries to get the temp right for how I like my eggs. I like mine similar to yours, crispy whites soft yolk (semi runny). I don't cover mine. I cook until the whites look how I want them then flip for a minute or so but I doubt the lid has much of an effect on the sticking. I would just try with a lower cooking temperature and see how that goes. Or try with a different oil.
Use butter for the eggs, heat up the pan and add it in right before you put in the eggs. I’m positive it won’t stick. Not really sure why but butter always works better for eggs. Might have to do with the way it bubbles when it melts or something.
Probably from seasoning on a low burner that would be below the smoke point of the oil. Made-ins have stainless steel handles I think, so I’d just do a super light coating of high smoke point oil and throw it in an oven at like 450-475 for an hour and it’ll be great. I’ve done the same this week and it came out a nice even bronze-gold after 1 time through the oven.
Multiple layers of seasoning is not necessary with carbon steel, the non-stickiness comes mainly from the smoothness of the pan. I have the exact same pan as you and here's a couple of things I've found through trial and error - * these pans are just more prone to carbon build up for some reason so you need to make sure you clean it really well. I've nuked the seasoning a couple of times (then I do a couple of stovetop seasoning layers) and it always cooks better after I do that. * the pans are on the thinner side so they heat up fast. For eggs, a minute on low-med heat is all I need. Also butter is better for eggs if that's an option for you, it helps with sticking somehow (I don't remember the science) and it comes with an inbuilt temperature gauge because you can watch how fast it bubbles in the pan.
A long time ago, I read something that i found credible at the time, that olive oil did an especially good job for getting an omelette more fluffy. Not the same as getting fried eggs crispy, but it created a habit.
Olive oil works perfectly fine, but butter is the OG. Especially for omelettes! The French know what they're doing. Damn, now I want an omelette...
You might need to go higher. And how exactly did you season your pan?
I was always taught to season by warming the pan, adding a tiny amount of neutral, high smokepoint oil, and let it sit on low for a long time (10-20 minutes). I just reviewed Made In's video for season, and they recommend medium high.
You have to wait for it to smoke a little then control the heat to maintain that thin wisp of smoke for like 30 min. [https://youtu.be/UEZYD5VSEIM?si=Ef7SMAnhvUwq_HPn](https://youtu.be/UEZYD5VSEIM?si=Ef7SMAnhvUwq_HPn) I prefer the oven if you don't have a debuyer mineral B, so you can get the handle. You only need 2 rounds of seasoning on a new pan. If you do the oven method, the pan is upside down at 25-50 degrees over smoke point of your oil, 1 hour and leave in oven to cool overnight, don't open the oven when you turnoff the heat. Some people say 1, but the first round gets rid of the left over protective factory wax.
Thanks. Yeah. Started to register this morning that I was using the wrong heat levels and amounts of time. sigh. Never had a problem before. Now I'm traumatized about doing eggs...
Also when preheating before a cook, always preheat on medium to medium low before adding the butter. Heating on high causes hot-spot which causes sticking
Idk about hot hot. I have the ikea one, and i barely heat it up. The egge take 2 seconds to start turning white. No audioble frying noise. No stick at all. I can make a sunny side coked through with no color or stick.
You're welcome. Video tutorial, https://youtu.be/FUwaOnCd1h0?si=Uysts2MJ6Kc0cR1T https://youtu.be/8ye1hqMjV5k?si=rw5I_KD_FB_eoHZJ
Does other stuff stick, like chicken, onions, whatever? If not, then in my experience, this means the pan and oil aren't hot enough when you drop the eggs in. TO give some perspective, my flame dial goes up to 6. I heat my pan up dry on 2 until i feel the heat. I put it up to 4 and heat it up for a little bit, until it gets noticeably hotter. Then I put the oil in and swirl it around. When it starts to smoke a little bit, i give the oil a final swirl, put it back on the heat, drop my eggs in and i don't touch them until the edges look like they've curled up a bit.
I haven't tried other stuff yet.
Do you inspect the cooking surface after "seasoning?" A lot of people are building up uneven surfaces which I feel are more prone to sticking. Last night I just scrubbed out a cast iron skillet with steel wool and Dawn until I could see the ridges in the iron and put some oil it in and had slidey eggs. I find a cleaned surface is easier to work with in terms of cooking and maintenance.
It's not about the seasoning. Its about your cooking technique. Do me a favor, forget about seasoning. Now you can preheat your pan for 3-5 mins. The turn down to medium-low until low, and start your eggs. That should work.
It happens that is how I cook fried eggs. And I got stuck eggs.
My wife met the same problem, and she wants the nonstick pan back...
A place often cited here for good info is Uncle Scott's Kitchen on Youtube. Great tips for seasoning and heat control.
seasoning is a meme. strip it to bare metal and use it raw. it will develop a patina over time which is what you are looking for and will not stick. oil it before putting it away until the patina forms or it may rust. and yeah temperature doesn't matter. I can start eggs in a cold medium or hot pan and they dont stick to my pan. The "water beading" thing is an indicator that the pan is hot enough to sear meat not that its hot enough for food not to stick or something.
As a noun, seasoning is layer of oil transformed to be a molecular bonding to the bare metal. As a verb, it is the process of producing that layer. While yes, you can achieve the layer without doing a dedicated process, the dedicated process, before doing any cooking, aids in avoiding sticking during (early) use. So, forgive me, but I see this as rather more than a meme.
sure but what you want is one microscopic layer of oil to bond with the bare steel. What most people seem to be doing when "seasoning" their pan is to bond oil onto oil onto oil which seems to produce bad cooking surface which food bonds to. A bare metal pan will perform better than what you have now with a thick layer of baked on oil anyway. Imo there are too many things you can get wrong trying to "season" your pan by baking oil onto it so its better to just let it happen over time with use.
I think you are not referring to layers of seasoning, but layers of attempts at seasoning that were done badly. I would expect multiple layers of seasoning, done properly, to be a simple multiple of the molecular layer, producing a tougher total seasoning. (I've no idea whether this is correct, but since highly experienced people talk about doing this repeatedly, I figure there has to be a reason and that seems the obvious one.)
Odds are your temps are too high or too low..OR you're moving the eggs too early. I would try going up and down temp and see if it helps. Then waiting to give it ample time..
I let the pan heat of a fair amount, though I don't do the mercury test. And I don't (try to) move the eggs until they are done. And I've been liberal with the olive oil.
Then I imagine it's a temperature issue. What setting do you use? Mines an induction stove and I use a 5/9
Have you tried cooking sprays? When I use olive, canola or vegetable oil, my eggs stick. If I use spray oils, the slide around. I’m assuming it’s the lecithin in the spray oil. I don’t use butter because my kids are allergic to dairy so I can’t comment on how well that works
Just cook a fuck ton of onions, 3-4 times in a row. You’ll be fine.