Iwachu Iron Tamagoyaki Omelette Pan, Black

Should you want to perfect a piece of metal leave it to the Japanese. Best cast iron pan I ever used.I did season it once and may season once or twice again, although the pan looked ready to use out of the box. I washed it with a soft brush and steaming water, dried on the stove, applied very thin layer of grape seed oil and stuck the pan upside down into a 450-500F grill for an hour while baking potatoes.Polished much smoother than Lodge or most pans, true non-stick. Water and oil droplets bead. Cooked a couple of omelettes and sauteed steelhead and orange roughy- came out great, better than in any other pan. Nothing stuck, was easy to flip. The trick was to preheat the pan to 300F. Lodge always had stuck eggs and fish no matter how many times I seasoned it. Large enough to prepare 4-5 egg omelettes with veggies or 4+ jumbo eggs.Tried 6 large eggs with 3 oz of dashi, mirin and soy and lots of veggies- still came out great. Nice and fluffy with every rolling layer of eggs and colorful veggies distinctly displayed.275-300F seem to be the temp for tamagoyaki or anything, but I like eggs browned a bit. 250F should make an all- yellow tamago.The bottom is perfectly flat. Just the right thickness so the pan stops cooking and browning but keeps the food warm shortly after the heat source if turned off.Came with a users booklet in Japanese only but was easy to translate with Google Translate app.Few cautions from the manufacturer: when using on an induction plate warm the pan gradually. I set my cook top at 100F, few min later at 175F, then raised the temp to 275 and 300F. Super rapid heating from an induction top is not so good for cast iron.Metal spatulas may scratch baked in oil layers and will need re-seasoning, but I use wood anyway.Also beware of Chinese cheaper knock offs: they are not nearly as good and do not work as well.A lot of skillful hand time goes into making of this pan. The $65 bucks is inexpensive compared to other US made high end cast iron pans I saw. In Japan this pan sells for around $50, so we pay $15 more for freight and taxes. Feel it's good value since the pan is a pleasure to use and It will last decades.

although pricey as compared to other tamagoyaki pans, this Iwachu iron square pan is totally worth it's premium cost. The pan is made in Japan and of cast iron and comes with a pretty durable pre-seasoning applied to it. Although the surface is rougher than vintage machined cast iron, it isn't as rough as many non-machined cast iron pans of today. The coating hasn't been scratched or buffed off so far with the judicious use of household green scrubbing pads or with those stainless steel chainmail type scrubbers, too. With just a small coating of oil / butter, I've not had much issue with eggs (or anything else cooked in it) sticking to the pan at all. The wooden handle keeps cool and is removable if you want to put it into the oven for seasoning. The pan is sized to easily handle from 1-3 eggs: if you're doing more than that quantity, do them in batches. I've also used this pan not only for making tamagoyaki, but also things like burgers and burritos too as it's sized just right to make individual serving. It's also good if you want to make bento lunches for yourself: cook your tamagoyaki first and put it on the side, then cook whatever else is going into the bento - you can do an entire bento just using the 1 pan.For those of you not familiar with using cast iron, here are a few suggestions:1. Adjust your cooking method and heat control, especially if you want your eggs to come out that nice yellowy color vs browned. Pre-heating it for about 5 - 10 minutes on a temperature that is lower than you would normally use with other pans.2. It's pre-seasoning is built-up very well and seems to be pretty tough too, but don't put this into the dish washer. It's recommended to hand wash this pan (and any other cast iron cookware) and hand dry it too.3. Once hand dried, put it back on the stove on medium high heat to completely dry it out. Since it's hot now, it's a good time to do a maintenance seasoning coat by applying a very light coat of oil with a paper towel to the pan. Continue heating on medium high until you start seeing wisps of smoke coming from the oil coating - once this happens, your seasoning is formed and you can turn off your stove and leave the pan to cool.4. For glasstop stove owners, be careful that the pan may not sit super flat on your heating element. I got lucky with mine, it has only a slight torque that causes it to wobble slightly, but not enough so to the detriment of its use. For gas or coil electric users, there shouldn't be any issues (not sure about induction cooktops, however).Overall this is a great small pan and have loved using it and to me, it has been totally worth the money!

PRO TIP: heat this up on medium/medium low for 5-10 minutes before you start using it. You don’t want it too hot or cold. Unlike regular non stick, heat control/pre heating is necessary for cast iron/carbon steel/stainless steel to ensure no sticking. You’ll know it’s warm enough if you drop a droplet of water on the surface and it rolls around instead of instantly evaporating.This is more non-stick than any ceramic coated (non-Teflon) pan I’ve ever used, AND it’s more non-stick than regular Teflon pans that aren’t brand new. Basically the only thing more non-stick is a brand new Teflon pan. And that’s right out of the box!The quality is superb, the cast iron is VERY smooth (not bumpy like cheap Lodge pans) and it really makes a difference. I was shocked! It just looks and feels very lovely to use. After a light wash, I heated it up on medium, rubbing it with canola oil til the paper towel was clean and oil was smoking. It’s pre-seasoned amazingly right out of the box. I was worried about sticking in the corners and walls, but everything came off so cleanly that even my first omelette was a success!I will also be using this for making fried eggs, and it’s the perfect size for cooking other small things. I thought initially I was just going to use it for tamagoyaki, but it’s actually a very useful pan in a single/2 person household. It’s totally worth it!