Curing Darto (carbon steel pans)

Just having received a couple new Darto skillets, it's time to cure those bad boys. I watched the video Darto has (in Spanish) and took the time to translate the the instructions. It's fairly straightforward now that I have the translation. But in having translated, their instructions say to repeat the process 10 (yes, 10) times. It's not all that complicated to do but that's fairly time consuming, considering I also have a half dozen paella pans to do as well as two skillets.

Cooks Illustrated suggests using oil, salt and the peelings from a couple potatoes, cooking the mess up for about 10 minutes which they claim will do the trick after one treatment. https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/9588-seasoning-carbon-steel

Since many of you already own and are using your Darto pans, any suggestions/directions you could give me?

#darto

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whenric

I'm in the same boat. Did coat #1 in the oven last night. FWIW, the first issues of Milk Street had a thing on carbon steel. They copy chinese technique of 'mini season' prior to each cook. 1 teaspoon oil, cook over hot till smoking, then wipe it out with paper towel, then cook.

pd3ski_278514

Damn just lost another post..

So 🎬2

I skipped the skins method cause I scrubbed the manufacturing oils off with solvent (lacquer thinner outside for ventilation) then took a small piece of 220 grit paper to smooth any nicks down. Then I went straight to the oil treatments. After about four to five cycles they started to get slippery 😊

John Fischer in another post said he used lecithin to good success... I've not done this but I believe him for sure.

I cleaned/oiled 2x23 and a 27 and I will tell ya my left hand took a beating 🤚🔥 flipping those brutes around!

Well worth it!

Glad you finally got them!

adey73

I've got lecithin, avocado oil, rice bran oil, olive oil and veg oil....

If I use all these different oils will they generate different polymers?

wolfiegirl

Curious as to why you cleaned the pans with solvent instead of just good ol' soap 'n water. My pans are very smooth upon arrival so it didn't even occur to me to need to sand them down. Anyway, I guess there's more than one way to skin a cat (sorry cat lovers). As long as you got where you were going with your pans, more power to ya!

wolfiegirl

I'm in the midst of doing the two skillets as Darto dudes instructed. It's not that big a deal but I can see it's gonna take the better part of what's left of this afternoon. I'm using canola oil. Darto suggested using corn or sunflower oil but since I don't have either, I went with a neutral tasting oil. I'm not sure if I'm going to do this process completely with the six mini paella pans. I might do the oven thing and then what Wes suggested doing a 'mini seasoning' each time I use them. Hey! Mini-seasoning for mini-pans!

fisher23

I used the potato skins, salt and oil for the first time, moved them around a lot. The salt helped remove any residue in the pan. Then one time of 1/4 soy letcithin and grape seed oil and that was it. Applied a thin coat inside and got it as hot as I could on the burner. Then a thin coat inside and out and put in the oven until they quit smoking, did the last step all of them at once as hot as your oven will go. That was all I did and eggs slid around well. After each use, wash like cast iron, no soap, then a very light coat of oil.

wolfiegirl

Letcithin.....I've got powdered but not liquid. So is that usable?

fisher23

I wouldn't, it will just clump. I used liquid soy letcithin.

pd3ski_278514

This is crazy .. this now the second time this particular post has not taken.. wth?!

I used the thinner because I do woodworking and it's in my shop and cleans the junk off fast and efficiently. The sandpaper was used because two of my pans had a couple of nicks (seemed like egg grabbers for sure) that were raised a tiny bit in the cooking area.. no bueno...so I just spot sanded them smooth... no biggie.

He's a little sensitive about "cat skinning" 😸

wolfiegirl

Exactly.....wth with your posts not posting??

Smart to sand out the 'egg grabbers'. Better to do them before the tedious task of curing. Oh, and sorry again to your kitty cat.

whenric

I've never used letcithin before for this purpose, nor seen it referenced. Can you illuminate me?

mike.minasian

So if you read closely after the first two attempts it says do it 10 more times or cook a lot! I opted for the latter. Haven't had any problems. I think I did 2 or 3 rounds of it before giving up.

fisher23

Letcithin is what is in most cooking spray with the oil for release. It quickly turns into a polymer. I learned about it here a few years back, I can't find the comment right now. You only want to use it one time at the onset as it can build up to quickly. It give you a head start. I did it and liked the results.

adey73

Just seasoned my 23 & 27.

27 is perfect using same technique as Brandon recommended but my 23 is blotchy and the base of both pans have congealed oil on them.

Can I restart or any ideas how to recover the 23 blotchy-iness and get rid of the mess of both bases?

adey73

First Darto sear. Very impressed.

Thanks to everyone who has advised me about these pans!

Merry Christmas

Jack_Mayer_85396

Yum, looks terrific!

wolfiegirl

Beautiful!!!

ppax86

Hi there!

I just purchased a few pans and was wondering if you could share the instructions for seasoning and spare me translating? Much obliged! I have never done this before so trying to not compromise the new toys.

wolfiegirl

The instructions are fairly simple. I used the www to translate most of the instructions and with the exceptions of a couple terms, here is what I was able to find out:

wash the pans well with soap and water, rinse and dry
heat a pan until warm to the touch (20 seconds maybe?)
put a small amount of oil (they recommend corn or sunflower oil; I used canola)

on a paper towel and wipe the pan well inside and outside

heat the pan up so that it gets really hot...takes about five minutes
turn off heat and let pan cool down
repeat process 10 times (yes, 10!) or after three or four times, use it to cook

Those are the instructions as per Darto. I used one of my pans after about four sessions and found that food was still sticking. Dang it. So I did the process as per America's Test Kitchen, using oil, salt and potato peels. It did a fabulous job of seasoning plus removed the bits of protein that really stuck to the pan since it had not yet been well seasoned enough to use at that point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWNl-uJD0Uo

Hope this helps get you started!

ppax86

Thank you so much for taking the time to write out the directions. I saw the test kitchen process, but wasn't sure if it worked as well as what you described above. Given you indicated it did, I might try this with my smaller pan first and try the other method with my larger one. Thanks again!!

wolfiegirl

You're welcome! Have fun!

Janie_Angus_444216

I emailed the people at Darto about curing the pans because I had a question about the oil. I wanted to know if the oil made a difference. I mentioned in passing that repeating it 10 times was going to take all day.

The guy wrote back, No, No, you don’t need to repeat the process 10 times. Only four.

I said but your video says 10. He said, I know, four is sufficient. I asked him if he was sure. ;-) He said, 4X, that’s all that’s needed.

wolfiegirl

NOW he tells me.....LOL!

ppax86

Oh Brydie, I could just hug you! Followed the video link you provided and just finished seasoning my pans. It worked brilliantly! I bought 2 pans, and both were able to fry an egg on it and slip around like it was wearing ice skates playing on a rink right behind the Zamboni! I bought a carbon wok a few years back and never could get it to season well. I will be doing this method with that over the weekend to see if I can improve that as well. Absolutely LOVE my shiny new Darto pans! Thank you so much for your help!

ppax86

Don't know, but I just used vegetable oil and it worked really really well.

wolfiegirl

Thank you and you're welcome!

Shura_Kelly_534623

Thank you so much for this!!!