Wonderful Crepe Pan
The Staub crepe pan is simple and traditional. It is made in France and is a wonderful, purpose-built pan. It is made from cast iron which is ideal for making crepes because it retains heat well. The temperature of the pan does not dip as severely when the batter is first dropped and the temperature stays virtually constant throughout the cooking cycle. A small 1/8 inch lip helps contain batter at the perimeter of the pan, but is low so that you can effortlessly get beneath the crepe to flip it.
Only a copper crepe pan is arguably better. A thick copper crepe pan (e.g. Mauviel) will not only hold heat like cast iron, but because it is more conductive, it will transfer heat throughout the pan surface more quickly than will iron. As a result the pan heats more rapidly and regains any lost heat more rapidly as well. The only downside to copper is that any peaks in heat will be transmitted to the food pretty rapidly. If that happens, pull the pan off the heat source for...
Great Pan After Seasoning
My mother bought this pan for me about 10 years ago in France. I'd tried to use it a few times but always had better luck with the non-stick crepe pans. After problems with non-stick coatings peeling off despite careful use (no metal, no scrubbing), I decided to make a serious attempt to switch my crepe-making to this pan.
I started by cleaning it per Blackirondude's amazing Black Iron Blog - oven cleaner and garbage bags for about a week followed by a really serious scrub with lots of soap and water. Then heated it slowly on the cooktop, increasing the temperature steadily until it was extremely hot. Gave it a quick swab with Crisco, then reduced the temperature and kept wiping off Crisco until it was cool and had a uniform coat. (Yes, it smokes up the kitchen.) Did this about four times over a week or two and ended up with a gorgeous black (non-stick) finish on the pan.
When I use this pan, I follow the Dude's recommendation of always heating the pan first,...
Beautiful pan, great crepes, but Pan is Heavy
Our friends from France had a similar French-made crepe pan that they make their crepes with. I thought I'd try this pan, especially because Staub creates such excellent cookware.
It is a beautiful addition to our kitchen. My only complaint is that it is heavy. If you like to swirl the crepe batter to create your crepes, this makes maneuvering the pan hard on the wrist. This crepe pan is meant to be left on the stove top while using the included wooden spreader for the batter--the manner people from Brittany say they grew up with.
We're going to get a second lighter weight crepe pan (for the tilt and swirl method) so that we can keep the crepes coming at home.
If anything, just looking at this pan brings back wonderful memories of a trip to France.
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