Mauviel M’Steel Carbon Steel Cookware is Mauviel take on carbon steel cookware. Mauviel is most famous for their copper cookware. However, recently, it seems like they are expanding their line up to other types of cookware. One such cookware is the carbon steel. Most Americans have never even heard of carbon steel. But they are commonly used in restaurant. Much like Cast Iron, they develop a nonstick coating overtime. They also share very similar heating properties. This review will take a closer look at how Mauviel their m’steel cookware is designed. We will go over things like handle, shape and overall performance.

Mauviel M’Steel Carbon Steel Fry Pan Quick Summary

Categories	Mauviel Frying Pan
Performance	Great
Colors	Steel that Turns Black with Use
Brand Awareness	Europe and America
Helper Handle	No
Pouring Lip	No
Thoughts	Although similar in apperance to De Buyer, they are slightly different. The shape is what makes them a winning design. The gentle curve aids in tossing food with your wrist.
Reviewed Cookware	Mauviel 3651.24 M’Steel, carbon, nonstick fry pan

History of Mauviel Cookware

Mauviel was founded in 1830 in Normandy Village, Villideu Les poeles. Ernest Mauviel wanted to serve the hotel and restaurant industry by providing them with copper cookware. As time went on, so did their cookware offering. They diversify their cookware offering from steel, cast iron and even aluminum. Mauviel is still a family owned business with the 7th generation taking over in 2006. Valérie Le Guern Gilber currently runs the company. Her goal is to optimize the manufacturing of the company with a focus on capturing the foreign market.

Mauviel M’Steel Carbon Steel Fry Pan Design

This section will take a closer look at how the Mauviel M’Steel Carbon Steel skillet is designed. We will take a closer look at the handle, shape and general performance.

Handle

The handle shares the same design as other carbon steel pan manufacturer. It is a very industrial looking design, that has a focus on durability rather than asthetic. It is a single piece of metal with a slight divot in the center. On the top of the handle, it has Mauviel Logo engraved into it. Overall, it is almost the same as the other manufacturer such as De buyer and Matfer Bourgeat.

Shape

The shape of Mauvie M’Steel Skillet is what sets it apart from the competition. Instead of a straight angled sidewall like those of Matfer Bourgeat and De Buyer, Mauviel has a slight curve to it. This curve makes it easier for you to toss food. As it rolls upward, a simple jerk backward will bring it around. On Matfer or De Buyer, they will fall off more easily. Mauviel deserve a lot of praise for this. The way this is design cost more money to manufacturer. And this simple change makes a big difference in how it performs.

Thickness

Interesting enough, Mauviel claims that their cookware is 3mm thick. However, users are reporting that its only 2mm thick. While I wont say that Mauviel is wrong, I recommend using your best judgement here. My experience with manufacturer is that they tend to be pretty liberal with their rating. They usually have their own method of rating their cookware.

Mauviel M’Steel Carbon Steel Seasoning

Mauviel M’Steel cookware comes shipped with a beeswax coating. This is done so that it wont rust when it arrives to your house. Before first use, you need to strip it. You can do this by pouring or boiling it in hot water. The scrub it off with a steel wool.

Once the Beeswax is removed, you need to start seasoning the pan. If you ever seasoned a cast iron pan, it is the same process. I have listed instruction below for your reference.

1) Lightly coat the pan with oil Flax Seed is recommended but canola or shortening will work.
2) Heat up the pan until it smokes.
3) Remove excess oil and let it cool down. Repeat as necessary.

You can also fry potato peel and salt together. The more you do it, the better the seasoning will become.

Rust and Care

As stated before, bare carbon steel will rust. If you wash it with soap and strip the seasoning, it will rust. You should never wash it in the dish washer.

I recommend cleaning the pan with salt and a paper towel. You can use it as an abrasive. For really stuck on food, you can deglaze the pan with water. When it is still hot, splash some water onto it and remove the sediments.

If somehow rust start forming, You can easily remove it with sand paper. Or you can use a rust eraser. This simple eraser will latch onto the rust and remove it easily. I recommend the one by Sand Flex, its cheap and you get three in a pack. It also comes with different coarseness.

Importance of Rivets

Matfer Bourgeat and De Buyer blue steel famously have a no rivet design. It is touted as easy to clean and better. It’s not really. If you think about the design of carbon steel, you need to have it seasoned. When it is seasoned, its basically covered in polymerized grease. You do not want to strip that. For a traditional stainless steel pan, this might make sense. Since the edges of it will get caked in black grease. However, the goal of carbon steel cookware is to have it covered in black grease. Kinda defeats the purpose of it. Other than that, these pans comes with three rivets affixed to it. None of the two rivets nonsense that the copper cookware has.

Chemical Free and Safe

Carbon steel are a fantastic alternative to nonstick. They uses no chemical so it does not use PFOA of PTFE in its manufacturing. The only coating that it has is a beeswax to protect it from rust. You remove that was prior to use. You can rest assure that you will not die from use and its has a low carbon foot print.

Mauviel M’Steel Carbon Steel Fry Pan Thoughts

Although the Mauviel M’Steel looks like a copy of matfer bourgeat and De Buyer, they are slightly different. Namely the shape of their skillet is what makes them better. Instead of a straight windsor like design, the gentle curve lets you toss food with ease. If I were to choose between them, I would get the Mauviel version.

I hope you enjoyed this Mauviel M’Steel Carbon Steel Cookware Review. If you would like to see more, please visit our Pots and Pans Review page.