
Cookware
De Grassi carbon-steel skillet, 26 cm
The pan we use most nights.
In stock, ships from Toronto in 1–2 business days
This is the skillet Marc replaced his flaking nonstick with in 2020, and it is the one we still cook eggs, steak and roasted vegetables in. Carbon steel behaves like cast iron once seasoned: a slick, dark surface that releases food and sears hard. It weighs about half what a cast-iron pan of the same size does, so you can actually toss vegetables in it.
It arrives with a factory seasoning and a thin protective wax you rinse off. Your first few cooks build the real patina. Eggs may stick early on; that is normal and it passes. By the second week most people stop reaching for anything else.
- Material
- Blued carbon steel, 2.5 mm
- Diameter
- 26 cm cooking surface
- Weight
- 1.4 kg
- Cooktops
- Gas, electric, induction, oven
- Handle
- Riveted steel, stays cool-ish
- Made in
- Quebec, Canada
Care & use
Wash by hand with hot water, no soap if you can help it. Dry it on the burner for a minute, then wipe a few drops of neutral oil around the surface. Never leave it wet in the rack.
- Reseason if food starts to stick: thin oil, high heat, cool, repeat.
- Not dishwasher safe. The dishwasher strips the seasoning and rusts it.
Good to know
Carbon steel will rust if you leave it soaking or wet. If you want a pan you can ignore, this is not it. If you want a pan that outlives your kitchen renovation, it is.
Living with a carbon-steel pan
The pan arrives bare, under a thin factory wax you rinse off. There is no non-stick coating to protect — you build the slick, dark surface yourself, and that is the whole point. Cook fatty things first: bacon, sausages, potatoes in oil. Each cook lays down a little more seasoning, and within a week eggs slide.
Once it is seasoned, treat it like a good cast-iron pan. Get it properly hot before food goes in, and it will sear a steak or a scallop hard and release it clean. Deglaze with wine or stock, wipe it out, and it is ready for the next thing. The one rule that matters: never leave it wet.
What’s in the box
- ✓The 26 cm skillet, factory-seasoned and waxed for shipping
- ✓A one-page care card — the same four steps as the diagram
- ✓Plastic-free packaging, recyclable moulded pulp and paper tape
| Carbon steel | Non-stick | Cast iron | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard sear | Yes | No | Yes |
| Weight (26 cm) | 1.4 kg | ~1 kg | ~2.6 kg |
| Needs seasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Lasts decades | Yes | No | Yes |
