MauvielM'Steel Black Carbon Natural Nonstick Frying Pan With Iron Handle, 11-in, Suitable For All Cooking Surfaces, Made in France

This was my first Mauviel carbon steel pan, but I own several De Buyers already. I must say, I really like this one and might actually recommend it to most people over the De Buyers.This pan is a little thinner than the De Buyers, but just barely. It's still sturdy and heavy and will retain heat, just not quite as perfectly. I can imagine for some uses people would prefer De Buyer, and actually in the very large sizes I might recommend De Buyer (or the Mauviel paella pan, if it's thicker, not sure), because unless your burner is huge having the thicker material will make the large pan heat more evenly. For 11" and less, I'd recommend the Mauviel because it's a little more responsive to heat changes and it's a little lighter, making it better for eggs and for tossing vegetables, etc.As some reviewers have noted, the handle on mine was a little bit rough at the edges when I first got the pan. I sanded it down using one of those diamond-coated steel knife sharpening blocks, but I think any sanding paper would probably do fine. This isn't a necessity, it's not sharp or anything, I'm just a perfectionist. I note this because I think Mauviel could do better at sanding down the corners themselves in the future. It took me about 5 minutes though, so not a big deal, and then I seasoned the handle with a very very thin layer of oil to help protect from rust since I'd exposed a little bare metal along the edges. All that being said, the handle is actually one of my favorite parts of this pan and I hope Mauviel never changes it (other than to just sand down the corners a little haha). De Buyer has been driving me crazy with their new handles. The silicone one on the new Mineral line sometimes gets sticky in the oven and then trapped particles of my dish rag or something.. I'm not sure, but the point of a steel pan is to have a plain steel handle that can go in the oven without thinking twice. Mauviel captures this perfectly (so do my older De Buyers, for what that's worth).Finally, I wanted to note that customer service for Mauviel has been very responsive to my (perfectionist) inquiries about the material of the rivets. I got an answer, and it's stainless steel, which is great. I was confused because the rivets weren't the same material as the rest of the pan, but the customer service person talked to the warehouse head and got me an answer very quickly. So, here's to good customer service! I'm planning to buy one of the deeper Mauviel saute pans in the 11" size next and can't wait.Overall, I think this pan really embodies the essence of a french carbon steel pan - it's extremely, extremely versatile and will last forever. It's beautiful and it's very fun to cook with. The 11" size is perfect for most uses in my two-person household and is my most frequently used pan. I have a smaller De Buyer that I use for eggs, frying spices, or cooking a single steak sometimes so I'd recommend the 9.5" size as well if you don't have something comparable. Larger pans will harder to manage with one hand or to toss food with. I actually have a 14" De Buyer carbone plus paella pan (very similar to Mauviel paella pan from what I can tell), and that's been good as a "large" pan because it's easier to wash and fits in the oven well.Final note in this long review - it took me a very long time to understand the "non-stick" properties of carbon steel and cast iron. It really has more to do with cooking technique than the material itself, unlike teflon. Google how to "season" stainless steel pans and how to cook with them and you'll be well on your way to "non-stick" cooking. The carbon steel IS a lot less sticky than stainless, but the techniques are similar for reducing sticking - they just work better on carbon steel basically. A lot of it has to do with having the pan hot enough first, so that it creates a steam-layer or else seals the food fast enough to prevent sticking. If your food is really wet, it cools the pan down and get more a "steamed" exterior to the meat or vegetable your cooking (which also sticks more). So it helps to dry things off a bit before tossing them in. Don't add too much to the pan, either (at least not all at once), since that also cools it off. Thicker pans seem more "non-stick" because they hold heat better, but a lot of this is just technique. As I've learned more, I've managed to cook all sorts of things without them sticking. if things stick, look at your technique though - not your seasoning. It doesn't need to be black and perfect for it to work. For instance, if you're trying to get potatoes not to stick, I find it helps to rinse and briefly soak them first to get off extra starch that would otherwise make a sticky layer on the bottom of the pan, but be SURE to dry them after (see above note) so they don't cool down the pan and stick anyway. The water also mixes with the starch and creates a sticky residue, and having them dryer helps reduce this. Stir, shake, or toss every few minutes when you first add them until the potatoes get hot on all sides, then turn the heat a bit lower so they don't burn and just shake the pan every once in a while to turn them. Finishing them in the oven works well too, for thicker pieces of potato, or if you're cooking a bunch at once. Anyway, all of this is to say "don't freak out about the seasoning" - that's not what makes them non-stick, it's 99% about technique. It does help to have a little oil in the pores of the metal, which is why Mauviel's instructions have you heat oil in the pan for 5 minutes when you first get it. It won't blacken the pan, but it'll help prevent sticking. If it starts to stick again later, clean the pan really well (use soap and a rough sponge, I don't care, and then do this oil soak thing again). It's like seasoning stainless in that sense - the black patina may help and make it better, but you can cook potatoes on day one if your technique is good and you follow the instructions for an initial seasoning on day one. I do like to season the outside of the pan with a few extremely thin layers of oil to make it blacken (for looks) and prevent rust, but I let the inside's seasoning develop with time from cooking. Don't worry if a bit of it comes off too from making a pan sauce - it comes and goes and that's normal (like in a wok). The residue is inert as far as I can tell and won't hurt you or change the flavor of things. I think it's basically just tiny particles of burnt food. I wouldn't boil down something acidic for a long time (like simmering tomato sauce), but a simple pan sauce is totally fine.

The media could not be loaded. This was my first carbon steel pan. It replaced a non-stick T-Fal pan that I had for years. My first cooking experiences with it have been very positive. After seasoning it was just about as non-stick as the pan it replaced. It has the most even heat of any pan I own and I liked the shape of the sides that make it easy to scoop, toss, and fold. I initially found the handle a little awkward, but I came to appreciate that it sits well above the flame on a gas stove.The biggest challenge was getting the beeswax off the pan. The instructions say to wash it in hot water, but I didn't want that much wax going down my drains and potentially solidifying later. I used a plastic scraper (like a credit card) to remove most of the wax. I then attempted to scrub off the rest. If I had to do it again, I would have turned up the temperature on our water heater because I just don't think it was hot enough. The wax softened with the water at 110F, but was still very difficult to remove. I think hotter water would have done a better job.After thinking I had all of the wax removed I followed the seasoning guide from Prudent Reviews on YouTube. I did not follow the Mauviel seasoning instructions because I wanted to season all surfaces of the pan in the oven. The pictures show before seasoning and after seasoning. The darker blotches after seasoning were the invisible bits of wax that burned during seasoning. Fortunately, those bits were mostly in areas that aren't cooking surfaces, like the top edges. However it does highlight how much wax was still there even though I thought I had removed it. This was my fault, the Prudent Reviews guide tried to warn me!After seasoning I did the obligatory fried egg test. It released very nicely and I got the egg just the way I like it. It has really impressed me with other dishes too. I'll be interested to see if it warps over time, especially since a flat induction cooktop is in our future, but for now it is in great shape. I couldn't ask for anything more from a pan.