Update: I tried a different way to sear scallops and it went sideways

So last week at the restaurant, I was in a rush and decided to try searing scallops in a carbon steel pan instead of my usual cast iron. I figured it would heat up faster. I got the pan screaming hot, put the scallops in, and they just... stuck. Like, welded on. I had to scrape them off and they were totally torn up. The thing is, I used the same amount of oil and heat I always do. I think the carbon steel just didn't hold the heat as evenly as the cast iron, so when the cold scallops hit, the temp dropped too much. It was a $30 mistake on that batch. I'm sticking with the heavy pan from now on. Has anyone else had a weird result from switching pans for a basic sear?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_harris7822d ago

Nah, I gotta disagree. I use carbon steel all the time and it sears just fine. The trick is you gotta let it heat up slower, not just blast it. Cast iron is so heavy it takes forever, but that slow heat is what you copied wrong. You probably shocked the pan. Let the carbon steel come up to temp for a solid five minutes, medium high, not screaming hot. Then add your oil right before the food. It works.

troy83222d ago

Okay but hold up, did you season the carbon steel pan first? Those things are basically just raw metal when they're new, they need a good layer of polymerized oil built up to get non-stick. A cast iron comes with that already set from the factory usually. If you just threw oil in a fresh pan and cranked the heat, it would 100% fuse the scallops to the surface.

aaronclark10d ago

The factory seasoning on cast iron is basically a marketing gimmick. It's so thin you should really strip it and start over anyway, so both pans start from zero. That initial layer they brag about comes off with one good tomato sauce.