Yamada hammered iron fry pan

Yamada Kogyosho was founded in Yokohama in 1957, when the father of the current family began making cookware by hammering scrap metal drums in the years following the war. Now run across three generations, they remain the only manufacturer in Japan producing frying pans and woks using the hammered method. Their work gained a devoted following early on: the forged woks won overwhelming support in Yokohama’s Chinatown before gradually spreading nationwide, and today Yamada pans are a fixture in professional kitchens across Japan.

The hammering is not decorative. Each pan is struck over 5,000 times, a process that compresses and strengthens the iron while creating a subtly uneven surface that holds seasoning oil more effectively than a flat-rolled pan. This means the seasoning builds faster, bonds more durably, and the pan becomes increasingly easy to cook with over time. The iron itself, at 2.3mm thickness, delivers stable, even heat and brings out the flavor of ingredients in a way coated pans simply cannot match. Unlike non-stick surfaces that degrade with use, a Yamada pan only improves.