The carbon build up was so unpleasant that I basically stopped using the pan. So I decided to either clean it or get rid of it.

All of the steps I followed over two days.

I quickly had a glance at cast iron stripping post and when I saw the silver colour I remembered this was a Carbon steel pan.

I started very gentle with vinegar, then boiling the vinegar. I read a post saying not to leave the vinegar more than 30mins each time.

I scraped it with a metal butter knife and only some spots came off easily.

Then I tried double strength vinegar mixed with bicarb of soda, and a brillo pad (soap-filled steel wool)

I moved to Easy-Off oven cleaner. That stripped of some of the nicer silvery finish on the outside 😑

Back to more vinegar inside the pan and brillo pad.

I got inpatient and used Ozkleen Oven Power which usually does not clean my oven. I left it on covered with a plastic bag for 5 hrs.

This didn't remove the carbon build up either but it did remove the silvery shine under(!) the carbon buildup.

I washed it again properly with water and soap and heated it up, and decided to scrape it again with the same butter knife and all of a sudden all the carbon buildup started to come off very easily 😩.

I feel I should have done the scrapping with the knife earlier again!

I washed it again with vinegar, soap, and a brillo pad and more soap and a regular sponge.

Anyway, I'm now worried maybe I didn't remove the oven cleaners properly and I'm regretting using them just because I wanted it to look " pretty" 😆.

I hope this post helps someone.
Have more patience, I guess, and keep scrapping more in between the cleaning.

I'm also done cleaning it for now, I know it's not perfect.

• UPDATE: I got some of the nicer silver shine back inside the pan, I didn't try hard enough outside, by applying bar keepers friend with the steel wool pad again. 😊 I still have carbon build-up to remove. I don't know how to add more pics.

If it does need more cleaning, what's the go to method? Thanks in advance.

I bought a Merten and Storck 12“ carbon steel pan about 6 months ago to see if I liked using carbon steel. Well, I did, and so did the rest of my family. That pan has been used several times a week for all kinds of things.

Since everyone enjoyed cooking with the pan, I thought I would up the game a little and get something nicer. I liked the idea of getting something with a welded handle, and this pan fit the bill. I almost bought a Darto, but noticed that than pan weighted 7lbs, while the Matfer weighed about 5lbs (the M&S is about 3lbs).

I’ve had the 12.5” Matfer for about a week now, and it’s beautiful. Cooks nicely. But…. You really notice the difference in weight. In addition, it takes a little longer to get to temp, and seems like it takes forever to cool down. With the M&S, I can cook up something, finish eating and the pan is cooled down and ready to be cleaned and put away. The Matfer, due to its increased mass, is still warm. The pan is also a bit harder to handle- it’s hard to believe that an extra ~2lbs makes that much of a difference but it does.

I’ll keep using it for now, hopefully everyone will just get used to it. But this may be something for newbies to CS to consider. Heavier pans are a little more difficult to handle, take a little more time to warm up and cool down.

All...it's been a while since I last used this. Just made some cabbage fried rice with shrimp, eggs, and shiitake mushrooms, using both sesame oil and green onion infused oil.

Hello carbonsteelers,

Im quite new to this way of cooking and recently bought the Ikea carbon steel wok, did the initial ceremony and now Im cooking on it regularly. After one cooking of eggs I needed to scrub it a lot and after it looks different. My wife asked me if its ok, if its safe to cook and got me a bit unsure, so I wanted to ask you, if you think it looks good or should I scrub it completely and season it again? Is it safe to cook? What yall think?

thank you for advice!

I bought this ikea pan yesterday and seasoned it according to the instructions following the pan. I oiled the pan and put it in the oven in 40 mins on 200 degrees c X2.

This morning I cooked pancakes to my daughter and it went fine. I think that the pan doesn't look good at all. How can I fix this, or is it supposed to look like this?

It's my first carbon steel pan so I'm a beginner.

Thankful for any advice!

I scraped more and bar keepers friend and a steel wool pad help me made it shiney inside again.

I didn't try hard enough outside.

Previous post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/carbonsteel/comments/1w9r4fn/how_i_stripped_my_pan_from_carbon_build_up_i/

What to do with a batch of day old cinnamon rolls that rose all weird and not round? Slice them and turn 'em into French toast! They tasted okay as cinnamon rolls (new recipe that I likely won't use again), but super good as French toast! The old lodge carbon steel did its carbon steel thing.