De Buyer is a french manufacturer of cookware. While they are most famous for their carbon steel Frying Pan, their Crepe Pan comes in at a close second. Most people ask the question, is a crepe pan really necessary? In my opinion, if you plan on making any crepes, or just want a pan to make breakfast, the answer is yes! The low profile pan makes tossing and shaping the crepe easy. The non stick coating will also become more slick overtime, just like cast iron would. This review will look at the design features of the De Buy Crepe Pan and see how it compares to a standard pan.

De Buyer Crepe Pan Quick Summary

Categories	De Buyer Crepe Pan
Performance	Good
Colors	Black
Brand Awareness	Europe and America
Country of Manufacturer	France
Thoughts	A affordable crepe pan that performs much like Cast Iron. To get the best performance a proper seasoning need to be developed. The heat spotting issues means that you have to properly heat up the pan before you can make the perfect crepe.
Reviewed Cookware	8 inch De Buyer Crepe Pan

De Buyer Mineral B vs Blue Steel

De Buyer Crepe pan comes in many two different configuration, Mineral B and Blue Steel. From what I can see, the main difference is the thickness of the steel. Thicker steels means that its heavier and holds heat better. It should also be better at smoothing out heat spots. However, this also means that it heats up slower.

The way the handle is attached is also different. On the Blue Steel pan the handle is welded on. While the Mineral B uses rivets. Normally I prefer having rivets because they are more secure. But when making something as delicate as Crepe, the rivetless design is better. They tend to get in the way when you form the crepe.

The coating used is also different. Prior to shipping, the mineral B will use Beeswax to prevent it from rusting. While the Blue Steel pan uses black oxide to prevent the rust. Both pans needs to have it washed off prior to use.

De Buyer Crepe Pan Seasoning

Carbon steel will rust if you leave it bare. There are some user who complained that they received a defective pan because of the rust. They either washed it with a soap or did not dry it properly. To prevent this what you can do is season the pan. The coating will give the pan a nonstick coating and protect it from rust.

De buyer actually have a set of instructions to help you season the pan. It is the same process as any cast iron pan. Below is a set of instructions for your reference.

Instructions to Season De Buyer Crepe Pan

1) For the Mineral B pans, it comes with was a thin Bees wax. It is recommended to scrub it off with very hot water.
2) Dry the pan off with a paper towel then drop a enough oil to lightly coat the pan.
3) Turn up the heat until smoke starts to appear.
4) Discard of the oil, but be careful not to burn yourself.
5) With use, the seasoning will build up and become more non stick.
6) To quicken this process, you can cook potato peel with salt and oil. Repeat if necessary.

These are just some basic step to season your pan. When you wash your pan, try to avoid using soap. Instead, just rub salt with a paper towel onto the pan. This will remove any built up sediments. Dry with a paper towel then coat the pan with oil and heat it up until you see smoke.

Do not soak the pan in water nor should you wash it with a dishwasher. If you do this, the chances of the pan rusting will be pretty high.

De Buyer Crepe Pan Blue Steel Design

Handle

The handle is a very commercial like in design. It is very simple with a dipped recessed in the center. It is angled and raised towards you so that you can maneuver the pan easily. What I do like about the pan is the finishing on it, they gave it a glossy tumbled texture to it. This helps in providing grip when you hold the pan. On the top, De Buyer logo is stamped onto the handle. Interesting enough, it looks it is a sleeve that is slipped onto the pan. If you look at the hilt of the handle, there is the unfinished handle with a raised lip.

Rivetless Design

For the Blue Steel version, there is no rivet on the pan. It is welded giving it a flush design. For the mineral B, I assume that they used rivets because of the weight. However, I know that matfer bourgeat do not use any rivets on their pans, just the welds. I find it odd that they did not use the rivetless design on the more expensive mineral b.

Regardless of their reason, the rivetless is actually very important for a crepe pan. Since you are trying to get the perfect shape, having rivets there will just get in the way.

Shape

Crepe pan by design are different from your traditional frying pan. Their sidewalls need to be really low or non existent. On traditional frying pan, the slopes are low but they still need to be tall enough so that you can toss food. The only reason this crepe pan has a sidewall is to keep in the batter. It is not recommended at all to toss food with a crepe pan. More than likely things will go flying all over the place.

The real benefit to the low sidewall is the ability to flip and maneuver the pan. You can use a spatula to turn food with ease. The other benefit is the Traditional Crepe Batter Spreader. A frying pan will get in the way when you try to spread food with that tool. The crepe pan is low enough to let you use it.

Carbon Steel vs Cast Iron Properties

Carbon Steel is cast iron little sister. It performs similarly to cast iron with half its weight. Although this type of metal is not common american household, it is very common in the restaurant industry. It is considered to be the original non stick pan and because of its durability it will last pretty much forever. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other, but the finish on these pans are smooth. I know that some cast iron collector look for the smooth cast iron finish. Well, you can get that pretty much on any carbon steel pan.

De Buyer Crepe Pan Specs

Note:These measurement are done by me with the tools that I have on hand. The manufacturers have their own measurement guidelines and that should be assumed to be accurate. What I find on this review can vary widely due to several factors, such as ambient temperature, location, water, tool calibration, stove btu, etc..and should only be considered as my opinion.
Weight: 672 g
Rim Width:Around 8 inch
Base Cooking Diameter: Around 6.25 inch
Height: Around .75 inch
Thickness: Around 2.07 mm

Performance

To test the how well it distribute heat and how well it heats up, I perform a toast test where I place a piece of toast in the center than weight it down with a meat pounder. I heat up the pan for a total of 2 min then see the color of the toast.

As you can see from the test results, there is a significant amount of heat spots on the pan. Have you ever heard that the first pancake is always bad, that is because most cook do not heat up the pan properly. You should start off the pan on low heat for a few minute so that the pan will get a even heat distribution.

Thoughts

While De Buyer main focus seems to be restaurant professional their crepe pan is readily available to consumers. The design and shape is fairly unique as most other manufacturer do not make crepe pan. Mauviel do have their Own Version but that is for a different review. If you need a pan specifically for making crepes, I highly recommend this pan. The low profile lets you spread batter and flip crepe with ease. You can also use this to make eggs or bacon.

I hope you like this De Buyer Crepe Pan Review, If you would like to see more, please visit our Pots and Pans Review page.