# DARTO carbon steel pan review



## Noodle (Jun 9, 2022)

Hi. This is a review of a carbon steel frying pan from DARTO I bought a few months ago. There are other reviews of this pan online, so I will keep this short—just thought I’d share b/c it pops up from time to time that people here are in the market for such a pan, and these seem to be a little less known. This is my first carbon steel pan. I have plenty of cast iron, but weirdly, nothing in the 10-inch range, so this was also an attempt to see if it could fill that gap. They’ve got a lot of sizes, but this is their n. 25 which is shy of 10 inches, but close enough.


The company is from Argentina and I bought it directly from them online. No issues whatsoever. They seem to have sales/specials pretty frequently, and mine came with free shipping and no tax. It arrived quickly via DHL, well packaged, and with a thick layer of oil/protectant. First thing I noticed: It’s awfully small !!







Just kidding. They also sent me a free keychain mini pan. (Cute, but not practical)


My first thought: this is a heavy pan. I hadn’t looked at the weight before buying, so it was a bit of a surprise—but it’s a good fill in for cast iron—and that’s a plus for me, maybe not for someone else. It’s 1827g with 3.5mm thick walls (listed as 3mm, but mine is definitely thicker) 38mm deep inside, and has a fairly perpendicular, not super sloped sides, so has a wide surface area compared to some other CS pans I’ve seen. I scrubbed off the protective coating and heated the entire thing over my gas burner until the color changed. Seasoned it with a couple thin coats of oil in the oven. Looked beautiful. 


Fried some eggs with it. Practically non-stick. And it stayed that way until I cooked some artichokes. No one ever told me artichokes must have a lot of acid or something in them, because it wrecked the look of the pan, and may have stripped off some of the seasoning. Not really sure, but I re-seasoned it. Doesn’t look quite as pristine, but works just as well, which is fine because I don’t like to baby my equipment anyway, and I love the look of a lived-in pan too. I’ve cooked a lot of stuff in there at this point: steaks, veggies, small roasts, and I have no complaints. It is all business but still comfy, with a seamless, non-riveted, pretty long handle that stays fairly cool unless it goes in the oven. Seems super durable. Bonus: you could also use it to effectively clunk the head of a burglar as in old cartoons on TV. 


Anyway, that’s it. Love the pan (the last picture is how it looks today). I’d consider it if you’re looking for a carbon steel pan, especially if you want a thicker/heavier option.


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## wabi (Jun 9, 2022)

I think Darto's are the sleeper of the carbon steel pan world. I love mine, and my DeBuyer and Mauvial were given away after I got the Darto's. They are pretty much indestructible, and with use have become nicely seasoned and are as non stick as my old Griswold cast iron. Two thumbs up.


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## jgraeff (Jun 9, 2022)

I have three pans from them and I love them.


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## Naftoor (Jun 10, 2022)

Heard great things about them, been wavering between the aus/us-ion pans and darto for a bit. 

When darto announced the no30 sauté I decided to jump on the presale, it’s about 3/4 lb lighter than a lodge cast iron of the same size, but steel has better thermal properties than iron. I’ll have to sit down and crunch the number but I suspect it should perform pretty similarly due to the better thermal properties of steel and how thick it is compared to normal carbon steel. Now if only they’d release a 9” equivalent in the higher thickness I could replace my lodge with a pan I don’t need to worry about cracking if it slips


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## btbyrd (Jun 10, 2022)

I have all of their first design of pans and the No 34 paella. Good stuff. Here's some frying chicken and searing endive.



I want one of the new No. 30 sautes real bad. A paella version would be nice too. And the keychain should be magnetized... it'd be cool on the side of a fridge!


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## boomchakabowwow (Jun 10, 2022)

you have got to season that tiny pan!! use a q-tip!!


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## Pertti (Jun 10, 2022)

Darto is the way for CS! Eternal with the one piece design, no rivets to get loose. Space saver with more floor for given lip diameter. Great rustic look.

I have the sautes 15,20,25 and waiting for the presale delivery of the n.30 4mm. Also the n.35 paella gets use all the time in the oven, sadly it's too big for my cooktop.

Only negative thing is the rather straight wall is not so great for omelettes and crepes, but it still works for them also.

The keychain pans belong on the fridge indeed


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## parbaked (Jun 21, 2022)




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## boomchakabowwow (Jun 22, 2022)

^^. Fun pic!


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## Tristan (Jun 22, 2022)

Thanks for the reviews, looks great


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## Jovidah (Jun 22, 2022)

How does Darto compare to deBuyer?


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## Pertti (Jun 22, 2022)

Jovidah said:


> How does Darto compare to deBuyer?


Assuming mineral B, B pro or carbone plus lines from debuyer, the differences are essentially.:

Dartos one piece design with a flat handle vs Debuyers riveted with a selection of handles and their characteristics.

Darto is thicker per spec in the smaller sizes as debuyer is specced at 2,5mm in 24cm and smaller. Otherwise both are "3mm".

The current Darto "sautes" have notably more floor space for a similar pan size. That makes the debuyer more spatula friendly to get under the ingredients with the more splayed sides though.

My Darto n.25 is more of a 24+ when I measure the internal wall diameter. They advertise 21cm as the floor diameter for it and it's about right for the flat, in the curve a bit more. In their catalog, Debuyer advertises 17,5 cm bottoms for their 24 cm and 20-21 cm bottoms for their 28cm b, b Pro and carbone plus pans.

Darto sautes are not very lid friendly due the handle.


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## Noodle (Jun 23, 2022)

parbaked said:


> View attachment 185494


What did you get?


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## parbaked (Jun 23, 2022)

Noodle said:


> What did you get?


Sauté n.20 
Paella n.25


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## btbyrd (Jun 23, 2022)

Some of my OG Dartos. 







The OG No. 34 paella. I love that thing.





The bottom:





All stacked up with a craptastic Matfer pan that I bought because Darto refused to make anything bigger than their No. 27 for years and years. I got rid of that Matfer years ago. I'll probably get the 4mm No 31 for the preorder because it's only $60 and I asked them to make it for so long. 






This is the old press where these pans were stamped.


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## wabi (Oct 25, 2022)

My 30cm extra thick pan arrived this morning...it's a beast. About as thick as cast iron. Seasoning it up right now, and will put it to use as soon as I can. I love the Darto pans.


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## superworrier (Oct 25, 2022)

US-ION/AUS-ION are another contender to Darto. Just ignore the marketing BS on their website (a lot of dubious health claims and they claim it's wrought iron - it's just regular carbon steel that is "wrought" (worked...)). One big downside is no keychain


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## darkamage (Nov 14, 2022)

I got the n30 a few weeks back too. Man, with 4mm thickness it's almost as heavy as my cast iron pan . I also have the n20 and they are great. I just wish they round the corners of the handle.
AUS/US-ION pan seem very nice but the price is double the Dartos. The Aus-ION deep pan looks very interesting but i already have cast iron dutch ovens for things i need it for.


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