Journal

The First 30 Days with Your Carbon Steel Pan

The first month with a carbon steel pan is a calibration period. You're learning the pan, and the pan is developing its surface. What feels like a temperamental piece of equipment in week one is o...

How to Get a Restaurant Sear at Home

Restaurant sear has a specific look: deep browning, crisp edges and the feeling that somebody knew what they were doing. At home, the same result comes from four unglamorous habits: dry the food, ...

How to Cook Eggs in Carbon Steel

Cooking eggs in carbon steel is a rite of passage. It can also be breakfast, which is the more useful outcome. Eggs are delicate, quick and unforgiving of a cold pan. The good news is that the met...

The Carbon Steel Wok: Why It's the Most Versatile Pan You're Not Using

The wok is one of the most enduring cooking vessels in human history, used across East and Southeast Asia for thousands of years. The Western kitchen adopted it more slowly, and many home cooks st...

Why Food Sticks — and How to Stop It

Food sticking to a pan feels personal. It is not. Sticking is usually a small cooking message delivered dramatically. The pan may be too cold, too hot, too dry, overcrowded or dealing with food th...