If you’re keyed into the goings on in the cookware industry, you’d know manufacturers are currently engaged in an arms race to create a better nonstick pan. The two types of “true” nonstick cookware—traditional PTFE (Teflon) and ceramic sol-gel—both have their own issues (we unpack them here and here), which have pushed brands and consumers to look for alternatives. With the release of its new Carbon Nonstick pan, Misen is the latest to bring a “new nonstick” to market.

So far, most nonstick innovations we’ve seen are just tweaks on existing cookware designs and materials that are accented with savvy marketing faff. Take Our Place’s titanium nonstick, which advertises itself as “the first coating-free nonstick pan.” In reality, it’s a titanium-coated pan with a textured surface that, according to Our Place’s materials, requires oil to activate its nonstick properties. By this measure, every stainless-steel pan could be considered a “coating-free nonstick”…but I digress.

That’s not to say these pans aren’t worthy alternatives. We’ve encouraged readers to swap nonstick for cast iron or carbon steel for years, though we know the care those materials require can turn many consumers away from them.

Which brings us back to this new Misen pan. When we first heard about it, the phrase “carbon nonstick” warranted a bit of an eye roll. Smart marketing, yes, but having tested other nitrided carbon-steel pans, I assumed there was nothing particularly novel here…or so I thought.

After putting it through our carbon-steel skillet test and living and cooking with it, my tune has changed. Though the Misen pan isn’t made out of anything new, it somehow performs more like a conventional nonstick pan than any other traditional or nitrided carbon-steel pans I’ve ever tested. I’ll explain how below.

How is the Misen Carbon Nonstick different from other carbon-steel pans?

The Misen Carbon Nonstick is a nitrided carbon-steel pan. Nitriding is a process where nitrogen is infused into the metal surface, hardening it and making it resistant to rust and corrosion. This solves a common pain point many have with conventional carbon-steel pans, which are vulnerable to rust when their seasoning is underdeveloped.

Other nitrided pans exist, like the Anolon Everlast and KitchenAid Nitro, which we’ve tested. Unlike them, the Misen pan is clad with an aluminum core, making it lighter and faster to heat. More than that, though, the Misen’s cooking surface repels moisture to a far greater degree, despite being made of ostensibly the same material.

Typically, when you put oil in a carbon-steel pan, it will spread out evenly across the cooking surface. The Misen repels it, much like how a Teflon or ceramic nonstick pan would (the other nitrided pans we’ve tested did not do this). Being made of carbon steel, the pan isn’t truly oleophobic (oil repelling) as it does continue to develop a seasoning over time. But out of the box, the nitrided surface is hardened and partially seasoned, meaning it doesn’t immediately absorb oil.