My Eggs Stuck Every Morning for 3 Years. A Chef Told Me the Problem Was the Size of My Pan.

The eggs tore the second the spatula touched them.

It was a Tuesday morning, same as most mornings since my youngest moved out. Two eggs, a splash of milk, into the same 12 inch skillet I'd used for twenty years of family breakfasts.

Except there was no family left to cook for anymore. Just me, a stove built for four, and a pan that size.

See the chef's skillet from this story →

The eggs spread paper thin across all that metal, the worn coating grabbed hold, and by the time I flipped them they'd torn into three pieces stuck fast to the bottom.

I scraped what I could onto a plate and ate standing at the counter, because sitting down for eggs that looked like that felt silly.

That was most mornings. Same cabinet, same oversized pan, breakfast for one person who deserved better than scraped eggs.

A pan that size was never going to work for one

A 12 inch pan for two eggs is like running the whole oven for one cookie.

The heat spreads out instead of in, so the eggs at the edges turned rubbery long before the middle set.

And after breakfast for one, I still had a whole oversized pan to scrub, every single morning.

Look closer

Two eggs, lost in a pan built for four

1. The torn edge. Where the worn coating grabbed and wouldn't let go.
2. All that empty pan. Heat spreading out past the eggs instead of under them, so the edges went rubbery first.

A Tuesday breakfast. The circle is magnified.

The worn coating made it worse

That old pan had been a good one, back when it cooked four servings every morning.

Twenty years later the coating had worn thin. Eggs that used to slide free now grabbed and tore.

I kept telling myself I'd replace it. Then I'd look at the shelf of oversized pans I already owned and buy nothing at all.

Sound familiar? Skip ahead and see the little skillet that fixed breakfast for one. See the Chef Joe Sasto Skillet →

Then my friend Diane had me over for breakfast

Diane lives two streets over and has cooked for one far longer than I have.

She waved me into her kitchen and lifted a small pan off the stove, no bigger than a salad plate, with a domed lid and a deep purple finish I'd never seen before.

Two eggs came out of it fluffy and tall, not spread thin at all, and the pan still looked almost new even though she told me she uses it every single day.

"It's the Chef Joe Sasto skillet," she said. "He helped design it for people like us."

I leaned in to look at the base, where a small signature was stamped right into the cast iron.

It was the Chef Joe Sasto Skillet with Lid, six inches across and built for exactly the kind of breakfast I make every day now.

I asked Diane to send me the link before I'd even finished my eggs.

What Diane showed me at her stove

She lifted the lid and walked me through it, right there while my coffee cooled.

Chef Joe Sasto 6″ Skillet

A little pan that does a lot

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1. The mustache knob. Chef Sasto's mustache is etched into the lid knob, and his signature is engraved into the base.
2. Domed lid. Cover it to set eggs, melt cheese or bake a little dessert.
3. Six inches across. Two eggs fill it edge to edge, so the heat stays under the food and they cook evenly from the rim to the center.
4. Smooth enamel, no seasoning. No nonstick layer to scratch, safe with tomato sauce and wine, oven safe to 500°F lid and all.

★★★★★

“This is a really nice small skillet. I cook my breakfast sausage and eggs in it, because its the perfect size. My eggs don't spread out like they do in a bigger pan. The pans cleans nicely.”

And it's a pan worth noticing

Diane turned it over to show me. Chef Sasto's signature is engraved into the cast iron, and his mustache is etched into the lid knob.

It's a small detail, but it's the kind of thing that makes a plain breakfast feel like somebody thought about it.

My eggs don't tear anymore. And breakfast feels worth sitting down for.

The skillet came on a Thursday. Friday morning, I cracked two eggs into it before the coffee had finished brewing.

They came out whole, fluffy and tall, nothing spread thin and nothing stuck to the bottom.

I carried the plate to the table instead of eating standing at the counter, because eggs that look like that deserve a seat.

On Sunday I put the lid on and let a little berry crumble bubble away under it while I read the paper. It took up one small corner of the stove the whole time.

The big 12 inch pan is still in my cabinet, for the Sundays my kids come home. But most mornings now, it's just me, two eggs, and a small purple pan that was sized for exactly this.

Black Friday sale

Small pan, chef-worthy eggs, and 20% off

Larder & Vine is taking 20% off the Chef Joe Sasto Skillet for Black Friday through Cyber Monday. No code needed: the discount is applied automatically at checkout.

$71.99 $89.99 applied automatically at checkout

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Claim my 20% off

• Free shipping on orders over $100.
• 30 days to request a return after it arrives.
• Ships fast, usually within 1 to 2 business days.

Who this isn't for: You regularly cook big batches for a family.