Mauviel Made In France M'Steel Black Steel Splayed Curved Sauté Pan, 8"/20cm, Steel

This pan is my favorite thing in the entire kitchen.Use this everyday, perfect for 1-2 people.A bit lighter in weight than cast iron, super easy to rinse/clean after cooking, and you get the same great taste/texture as cooking in a cast iron pan!I also love the long handle.

Use it for general purposes, looking forward one da what I am looking forward to.

As a carbon steel pan this item is quite nice. Big and roomy; kind-of halfway between a wok and an ordinary saucepan, or a big version of a "chef's" pan. Heavy, but that's part of the appeal of carbon steel. Handle is quite long so it's a little tough to store. (Mine's the 11" version.)The item arrived in a severely distressed cardboard box barely held together with tape. Inside it was "protected" by some crumpled paper, but not nearly enough to actually serve as a cushion between the pan and the outside world. If you order one I suggest being prepared to take pictures of the box before opening in case yours fares worse than mine did (it's fine).The pan is coated with beeswax, and not a high-tech micro-thin coat of beeswax. There are literally blobs of beeswax on it when it comes out of the box. The stuff does not melt at hot tapwater temperatures. Boiling water works to some extent, but it's quite resilient. Because it's coated inside and out, putting the pan on the stove means you end up with a stove covered with beeswax. Use the oven method like the Mauviel website recommends. Thank goodness it's beeswax and not something that smells like poison gas when it gets hot.Poor packaging and annoying wax aside, carbon steel is a great cooking surface and keeping such a pan happy really isn't hard. Anybody with well cared-for cast iron will find it a breeze. I've found that avocado oil builds up a really good patina on carbon steel (I've got a cheap wok and a Matfer skillet also) and the surface really is amazingly non-stick. It also gets a sear onto meat that's better than any other surface I know of.

Originally ordered this for my mother after she used some of my M'Steel frying pans and really liked them. Unfortunately she wanted something for boiling/cooking smaller batches of pasta, so I ended up trading with her for a simple stainless steel stock pot about the same size. This pot is great for certain tasks, but if cook acidic food like a bolognese sauce or the like, it can take the seasoned surface off pretty quick. This kind of pan is much better for things like braising or frying when more fat is involved. Carbon steel is basically like a lighter weight cast iron pan, and needs similar care to maintain the non-stick seasoning. Stainless steel and/or enameled cast iron are better for all around use, but I really like having some carbon steel pots and pans in my arsenal. I'd say most cooks would get more use out of a carbon steel frying pans compared to a set of carbon steel pots.

It is a very sturdy pan. Excellent quality, very well made, thick gauge metal and heavy. This pan is more of a Saucier than a Wok. It is decently deep. I was looking for a pan with more wider/open sides for stir frying, which is why I will be returning this one. As the photos posted are not helpful in judging the shape and size of this pan. The capacity of this pan is approximately 3.5 quarts. If you are looking to invest in a good heavy duty carbon steel saucier I would recommend buying this one. It is good value for money and will last a lifetime. The only downside would be that, it comes without a lid. The dimensions of this are exactly as mentioned i.e. 9.5 inches diameter at the top, 4 inches depth.