After Cook's Illustrated wrote a positive article on carbon steel pans, I wanted to give them a try. Old school like cast iron, induction compatible, virtually nonstick -- what's not to like? These Darto pans from Argentina are beefy, and after seasoning, nearly as slick as nonstick.
The Cook's article caused a run on the highest-rated Matfer Bourgeat skillet, and opportunistic vendors jacked up the price exorbitantly. Some reviews complained about quality control in the fabrication. I started looking for other brands.
We've got a well-stocked kitchen with plenty of skillets, but wanted to try carbon steel. Most of ours are aluminum: Calphalon I bought when I first started kitting out my kitchen, and big nonstick ones from restaurant supply stores. But we'll be moving to Barcelona some time in the future, and our kitchen will have an induction cooktop which won't work with aluminum; we'll need something ferrous, something with steel. Cast iron's super heavy, and our favorite All Clad pans -- a sandwich of steel and aluminum -- will work, but they're really pricey. Carbon steel should do the trick.
The Cook's article claimed carbon steel heated evenly, had enough mass to be able to sear beautifully, weighed substantially less than cast iron, and -- once seasoned -- would be as nonstick as grandma's old Lodge or Griswald cast iron. Like cast iron, the steel isn't intimidated by metal spatulae and other tools -- we wouldn't have to pamper the pans like Teflon and its clones. Cook's has a video review which is informative (especially since the original article is hidden behind a paywall).
We went out to a local restaurant supply store, and after prodding, they found a carbon steel skillet. It was dirt cheap, maybe $10 or so. But it was also super cheap feeling, thin and light, and felt like it would warp with serious heat. We gave it a try and were surprised that it performed quite well, and was fairly slick without any seasoning at all. This certainly wasn't a pan I'd want to depend upon, but it made me more committed to looking for a good carbon steel manufacturer.
While watching one of the food-nerd videos on Chef Steps, I saw they were using an induction cooktop and they mentioned the pan was from Darto. I notice the handle wasn't attached with rivets, but was one continuous piece of steel -- I loved the aesthetics, but more importantly, it meant it would be a lot easier to keep clean. The community forum in Chef Steps seemed quite positive as well. So was the forum in another food-nerd site, Serious Eats.
Good, I'd found my manufacturer. All Darto pans are made of 3mm thick carbon steel: really substantial. Prices on the US portion of their website were quite reasonable. Problem is, Darto is in Argentina: these pans are heavy, and shipping is big addition to the price.
Some of the comments in fora indicated that Darto had been able to reduce shipping costs, but they were still high. I ran some numbers for a couple larger skillets to get some advantage on shipping. When I checked back a few weeks later, I noticed they had a set of 5 pans for a combined price of $199. This was less than 2 or 3 pans with the required shipping. "Such a deal!" as my parents say.
Coincidentally, it was nearly my birthday and my folks were looking for something to get me. What do you get for the cooking-obsessed couple that has everything? A nice set of Darto pans with free shipping would be fantastic. Thanks so much, M&P!!! (I noticed while writing this that they've dropped the price of the set to $169; even better for you, gentle reader.)
After the PayPal payment went through, the pans arrived in just a couple of days, via DHL. Great service.
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| Each pan came wrapped in a burlap bag, very attractive |
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| Three larger skillets and two smaller ones; the 2-handled "paella" is really cute and seems perfect for making the provoleta we'd enjoyed in Buenos Aires |
They came with no care and feeding instructions. I knew they might be coated with manufacturing oil or some other lubricant to keep them from rusting during storage and transit, so I washed them thoroughly. But more importantly, I knew they'd have to be "seasoned" like cast iron, but there were so many conflicting guides on how to do this on the interwebs. I finally stumbled upon a Spanish-language video from Darto that I followed; it was a bit unusual compared to anything else I'd seen. Heat the pan just until hot, turn off heat. Add a tiny amount of oil to a paper or cloth towel and apply the thinnest possible coat to the warm pan, wiping out any residual oil. Then heat until smoking and hold on highest heat for a full 10 minutes. Let cool. Repeat this process 10 more times. Seemed like overkill, but I wasn't going to argue with the manufacturer.
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| Seasoning 5 Darto skillets, an older cast iron pan is on the back left for comparison |
The process did take a while but I spread it out over a couple days. I just left the pans on the cooktop so I could do them next time it was convenient. It's good we have a vent hood that really does suck: this process makes a lot of smoke. The burners and pans generate a lot of heat, and keep generating heat since their thermal mass holds on to the heat and radiates it out slowly. Don't even think about touching them, even the handles, while this is going on. During this process the carbon steel took on an attractive blue-black, almost iridescent color in the base.
Irene was the first to use them and messaged me at work that they were in fact quite nonstick -- great news (I was so jealous). This morning, I gave the biggest skillet a try, making a French omelette. My technique is not as good as Julia Child's or Jacques Pepin's, but I was delighted the omelette didn't stick, even though it included cheese: success!
Check out this other video from Darto where they're cooking fish and getting gorgeous sear, looks yummy.
I think we're really going to enjoy these Darto pans, here on our gas cooktop, and in Barcelona on induction. They're a good investment.
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