A carbon steel griddle is a pan for life - one that only gets better with time.
Still, there are some things you should be aware of when cooking in this fantastic pan - and especially you should avoid warping your carbon steel pan.
Follow these 3 simple tips to avoid warping your carbon steel griddle:
1. ALWAYS heat the pan slowly
We start with the most common reason why carbon steel gets warped.
Carbon steel is 99% iron - and iron expands when it gets hot. If you heat your pan too quickly, you risk warping it.
Therefore we recommend:
- Heat the pan on low heat for a couple of minutes (2-3 out of 9 on induction)
- Raise the temperature to medium heat, also for a couple of minutes (5 out of 9)
- Now raise the heat to your desired cooking temperature
- Add oil (neutral flavored) shortly after and let the oil reach the same temperature as the pan
- Add your room temperature food
2. Take food out of the refrigerator in time
It's often something many forget in the rush of everyday life - but nevertheless you get both a better cooking result and take good care of your pan with this simple tip.
Take your food out of your refrigerator in time!
When you're going to cook your steaks, you should aim to take the steaks out of the refrigerator an hour before they are to be cooked, so they reach room temperature.
Why?
You already know that iron expands when it gets hot - and then of course the opposite happens when the pan gets cold, so you should avoid that!
Therefore, you should avoid placing an ice-cold steak on your hot pan - both because you risk warping your pan, but also because you get a worse cooking result.
Read how to cook the perfect steak here→
3. Never cold water on a hot pan
A housewife tip that you surely already know
Cold water on a hot pan is a no-go!
In fact, it's rarely necessary at all to use water to clean your carbon steel pan.
