Garcima 16-Inch Pata Negra Restaurant Grade Paella Pan, 40cm

I moved from Spain to the US and bought this to prepare paellas at home on an electric stove. The 30cm size matches perfectly the area of the heating element and serves 3-4 people. The bottom is flat and thick, ideal for an electrical stovetop. The high temperatures of the oil darken the pan, this happens in paella pans made of steel and does not affect cooking or flavor. The carbon steel also feels more durable and less prone to rust compared to iron based pans I've had in the past.Note not all the sizes are flat. The larger ones are a bit convex and suitable for gas burners only. My review is for the 30cm size which is completely flat.

Good pan.. Description was accurate. Bottom is heavy to spread the heat but pan is not to heavy to use like a cast iron pan. I seasoned mine in the oven at 475 degrees and it turned blue as would be expected. It did not warp. I plan on using mine for more than Paella and on a grill and open fire so i need the thicker bottom I wish the handles witch are nice would be more upright just for ease of use on a open fire but overall a nice pan

The Garcima Paella Pan arrived on time and in good condition. It was great to use and helped me produce a wonderful Paella. I look forward to using it often. It's easy to cook with, is a perfect size, and cleans easily after use.

I've had a 42 cm red-handle Garcima paella pan for over 30 years. It's almost always too big for the number of people I'm cooking for. It's the traditional Valencia shape and metal thickness: that is, it rocks on a flat surface, and you have to be very attentive to heat control because the metal is thin. It's a great pan; in fact, they're all great pans, but you should understand how they're different. The Pata Negra pans with the black handles are made of metal that's twice as thick as the traditional red handle pans. That means that the pan is more rugged, that it changes temperature slightly more slowly, and that it's somewhat less liable to get hot spots. Look at the product brochure I've scanned for you, and notice that most of the sizes are printed in black, but that four of them are printed in red. The red sizes don't rock when they're on a flat surface; they're made to be usable directly on an induction stove or a glass-topped range. The sizes in black have the traditional Valencia shape, where the middle of the pan is slightly depressed, the pan rocks, and you can't use it on an induction cooker without an adapter plate to turn it into a radiant cooking heat source. If they won't work on induction stoves, which are becoming increasingly popular, why keep making the Valencia shape? Because there are cooking techniques you can do with that shape that aren't possible if the pan is dead flat. The belly allows fats and juices to pool in the center of the pan. That means that you can use that part of the pan to color your proteins by frying them in oil, then push them up to the higher parts of the pan until it's time to start adding your rice and liquids. When the pan is completely flat, there is no particular place where the oils collect, so the way to use them is to brown your proteins a little at a time, grab the browned ingredients with a pair of tongs and put them aside on a tray to hold, and only after everything is nicely browned, then put everything back into the paella pan with the rice and the liquid. It's a different technique demanded by the fact that the pan has a different shape. Is this better or worse? Don't ask silly questions; just know what the attributes of the tool are. If you're always cooking on an induction stove, you'd be nuts not to get one of the flat bottomed pans. If you're cooking over a flame — gas, wood, or charcoal — both shapes will work for you, but you'll need to use different techniques on the completely flat shape than the traditional descriptions of techniques you may have read about when the demonstrator is using a pan in the Valencia shape . The important thing is to know that there is a difference, and to use a technique that will produce the result that you're looking for. By the way, there's a lot of whining in the reviews about the metal discoloring or rusting. If your pan doesn't end up black, it's because you don't use it. As for rust, after you've cleaned up, melt a little dot of lard on the clean, warm pan that you've just dried over your heat source, and use some kitchen paper to rub a thin film of lard all over the metal. My 30-year-old pan is black and mottled, and has never had a bit of rust.

Great quality.

I like this pan very much because it is great for not only to make paella but also host of other dishes. I use it to make Char Kuew Kak, (a Malaysian rice cake dish), murtabak, roti prata, burger and host of others. Just take a little extra time to season it in the beginning like you would season a wok, after that the cleaning is easy, rinse of any residue, dry it, then apply a thin layer of cooking oil and ready for storage. The pan had the perfect thickness to hold the heat.

This pan seemed nice at first. The second time I used it, the pan itself turned red where it sat on the burner. I had to soak off the food. When I started to scrub it, I saw that the whole pan had rusted. Very disappointed.

Great Paella Pan!!! We love it.