Does the accidental discoloring during seasoning impair my steel pan in any way?

Question

I recently entered the realm of cooking with cast iron and steel pans, and am still trying to find my way around it.

Last weekend I went about seasoning my first bundle of pans (De Buyer Mineral B) using an induction stove and corn oil. I put the temperature to around 180 °C (350 °F) and filled the pan with a little oil. Quite soon the pan started to warp a tiny little bit, therefore exposing the middle and moving all of the oil to the side. As expected the pan now displays a range of tempering colors.

In the end the seasoning did not work very well, I will have to do it again, but this time I'll probably be using an oven. However, I am afraid that I might have damaged the pan.

Does the accidental tempering of the pan impair it in any way?

Answer 1

A couple of points…

I wouldn't have expected a brand new pan to immediately warp, especially at only 180°. I don't use induction, but on gas I expect a frying pan to last at least a year before I have to stand in the middle of it to flatten it down. A good saucepan never warps, a good frying pan will a bit eventually, because it gets a lot of fierce heat.
I don't own any carbon steel frying pans (only a wok) for comparison, mine are aluminium or cast iron. Aluminium eventually warps; cast iron, of course, does not.

If you could see the oil moving to the edges due to the warp you had maybe 10 times as much oil as you should have used. Put some on a paper towel, wipe it on, then wipe off. Repetition using the tiniest amount of oil is the key. If you have a visible pool, then the pan will not season properly. If you leave it heated until all that oil eventually plasticises, you'll have one chunky layer that will drop off the first time you you fry anything wet, like tomatoes.

If your induction hob is heating unevenly, use the oven next time. Full-tilt, maximum temperature. You want the oil to smoke, not to cook. 180° is nowhere near hot enough. (Open windows, close doors.)

But to answer your actual question… no, a bit of discolouration is nothing to worry about. By the time you have it fully seasoned, it will be almost entirely black.