de Buyer
These pans are rocking our world!
Made in France from 99% iron (more on that later), these pans come with an organic beeswax finish and are just plain sweet. These simple and beautiful cooking tools, if cared for properly, will last a lifetime. They guarantee it.
But wait! What? Why? Who?!
Sorry, I get excited when I write about cookware. I’ll begin at the beginning.
The company has been around since 1830; they started as sheet metal manufacturers and moved into cookware. They only export a small portion of their full product line to the United States, but honestly these “Mineral Pans” are where it’s at. The cost-to-quality ratio is just awesome and they are a great marriage of the best qualities of both stainless steel cookware and cast iron. Don’t you just love “best of both worlds” scenarios?
These pans are sleek and relatively agile like stainless steel but they are heavier. The upside to their extra heft is that they retain heat like cast iron but because they are stamped and not cast, they are much thinner (2mm-3mm depending on the size of the pan) and thus way less clunky than cast iron.
de Buyer calls the line Mineral Pans because they are made of 99% pure iron (a mineral) which means that they get seasoned like cast iron. Any cast iron veteran will tell you that the beautiful patina that a good seasoning will garner is unmatched in it’s non-stick properties.
Another cool feature is that unlike most pre-seasoned cast iron that is protected from oxidation (rust) during transit and storage by a petroleum-based lubricant that really should be burned off before use, de Buyer uses an organic beeswax coating on the Mineral line that can be left on and in fact aids in the seasoning process. How thoughtful of them!
We stock 8, 10 and 12 inch pans in the traditional “Lyonnaise” style fry pan as well as a 9.5 inch “country pan” that has higher sides almost like a wok, but with a wider base. Any of these little wonders would make a great addition to your home collection or a glorious gift for the gastronomically inclined in your life.