Tired of eggs sticking to my pans... what pan to purchase?

Well seasoned cast iron is virtually stick free.  Takes some maintenance, but works well.  I like the older Wagner and Griswold pans that have machined interiors, although many people appear quite happy with their Lodge pans.

While I have cast iron pans that I can use for eggs, personally, I generally use a T-Fal Pro pan and simply replace it every couple years.  They are cheap and work well for the few items where a non-stick pan is most handy.  If you don't use very high temps, the coating is less likely to degrade.

All clad no questions asked the smaler ones are amazing use very little oil if any, never wash just wipe out with a soft cloth will last forever bomb proof pans and if they scratch up season them like cast. 

Yes.  You're doing something wrong.  I'm not sure what, though.  Possibly preheating too fast so the pans have hot spots, possibly cooking too hot or too cold, possibly not using enough grease, possibly the pans are scratched or have food cooked into them, etc.  Could be lots of things. 

Seasoned carbon steel is just as non-stick as cast iron, but lighter and easier to manipulate.  Cast iron is superior at "holding the heat," a quality which isn't really important for cooking eggs.  In fact, cast takes so long to preheat evenly, I'd rate it as "not that great" for the task -- especially if we're talking omelets or scrambles. 

There are a lot of good carbon pan makers, Vollrath and Matfer are two of my three favorites and very good indeed.  My current carbons -- which are pricey but which I like quite a bit because they're so substantial and the handles are so comfortable -- are De Buyer "Mineral."

Good luck,

BDL

+1 to what BDL said. I bought a De Buyer carbon steel pan a couple weeks ago and it's one of my favorites already. All you have to do is wash it really good, I used the potato peel method, and season it. It only took one seasoning and it's non-stick, I cooked eggs that weekend

My 9 inch  teflon coated pan is only teflon pan I have . When it gets old or badly scratched I dump it and get a new one. Or I remove handle and use in the oven for heating single service anything.

I'm a fan of well used cast iron for eggs... sunny-side up, over easy, or scrambled.  Ya do need a touch of some kinda fat in the pan.  Have a t-fal pan... and just end up chasing the eggs around... broken yolks on "dippy" eggs.  Nice, black cast iron... spatula slips right under for flipping.

I just got this new catalog and it has different brands of pots, pans and the like. 

I have been google-ing GreenPan®, it looks pretty good, but I’m not too sure about it yet.

Neighbor bought one. Kind of lightweight but a million dollars worth of hype and advertising. "AS SEEN ON T.V  type junk item.

$19.95 plus shipping $7.00 Second one FREE? just pay more shipping and handleing  $8.95  so that makes the deal 2 for $36.00 ??

BDL has given great advice.

I use De Buyer "mineral" pans for years and they are excellent for eggs and especially omelets. They have french "lyonesse" shape & handle, so it's very convenient to flip eggs with tossing, fold omelets and slide cooked eggs off the pan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohegirlinaz 

I just got this new catalog and it has different brands of pots, pans and the like. 

I have been google-ing GreenPan®, it looks pretty good, but I’m not too sure about it yet.

     

Urgh don't. I got one of the "better" GreenPans a few years ago. At first I loved it, and thought I had discovered the new, secret non-stick pan that you could heat really hot, etc.... but within only 2 or 3 months the coating came off. I threw it away after 6 months. 

Ever since I have cooked eggs, crepes, pancakes etc.... in a seasoned carbon steel pan and absolutely love it.

A warning about seasoned carbon steel: if you are using an electric range, you may have some problems, depending on the design of the pan and the range. The problem is that the heat doesn't lick up the sides.

Although the first seasoning of a new pan is very important, I think that regular care and especially wiping of a pan with oil after each use is a key to well-seasoned carbon steel.

In my opinion, carbon steel holds initial coating quite weakly compared to cast iron. Just because carbon steel is not porous as cast iron and it can hold relatively thin layer of polymerized oil. In it's turn, it's quite easy to damage this layer when cooking. Wiping with very thin layer of oil after each use solves this problem because oil is getting polymerized due to contact with oxygen, and as a result we get very persistent coating that consists of many layers of polymerized oil.

A follow up.  I picked up a de Buyer Mineral 12" pan to play with.  Interestingly enough, it weighs more than my Wagner 12" cast iron pan.  5 pounds 15 oz. vs 5 pounds 6 oz.  For sake of comparison, a new Lodge Logic 12" cast iron pan weighs in at 7 pounds 5 oz. (uff da!)

So if weight is an issue, the de Buyer 12" carbon steel pan is decidedly lighter than a Lodge cast iron pan, but heavier than a Wagner cast iron pan.  I would expect that it would also be heavier than a Griswold cast iron pan as they have similar castings to Wagner (and are even lighter in some models).

Of course carbon steel has different heating properties than cast iron, but in some cases may not also have the virtue of less weight.

Pohaku,  What is the diameter of the bottom of your 12" de Buyer pan?

The de Buyer pan is 9 1/4" diameter on the bottom interior.  The Wagner pan has steeper sides and is 10 1/4" on the bottom interior.

Thank you!