Seasoning a wok

[Zeppa]

Well, the saga continues. I have bought another wok at See Woo in London. It is from Hancock, www.londonwok.com. I saw them online last week but they had the longest delivery dates. The wok is exactly the same as the Wok Star one, that is, with a lacquer coating. That seems to be standard now. It comes in a plastic bag with long instructions, starting with filling the wok with water and boiling it for 5 to 10 minutes, followed by the long scrubbing process, with a steel wool scouring pad and washing up liquid or cream cleaner. This seems to assume that I do nothing to the outside of the wok. 

 

I did receive a reply to the email I sent to the Wok Star manufacturer. It says: 'don't worry, you haven't ruined you wok. After scrubbing, put oil in ...etc.' I donÄt think my problem was understood. My problem is not the oil seasoning, but the first scrubbing. 

 

I am not sure I need two woks. If the worst comes to the worst, I can take the first wok into the garden and treat it with nail varnish remover (acetone) -  flammable of course. But I think I will proceed with the second wok which I have not yet ruined. (I don't think I ruined the first one, but having scrubbed it for near on an hour I don't think the removal of the burnt-on coating would be a quick matter). 

 

Thank you for taking an interest. I am sure I could go on for years and it is very boring for everyone here! I did pick up a book by Jeremy Pang of the School of Wok in Foyles. He is a British-born ethnic Chinese who teaches Chinese cooking. He has written one called Hong Kong Diner, but this is an earlier one called Chinese Unchopped, I am sure a somewhat dumbed down introduction to Chinese cooking that is about my level, includes pictures about seasoning a wok (showing what looks like a harmless green pad), but also how to use a cleaver, and above all fairly simple recipes and great photos (I am trying to learn how to use a cleaver after I found those Hong Kong ones are available here)

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013R9H1G6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

[abcdefg]

15 hours ago, Zeppa said:

I am not sure I need two woks.

 

I hope you can return the first one for a refund. If not, maybe @anonymoose would like to buy it from you. (evil grin) 

 

That Jeremy Pang book looks like a good one! Wish I had written it.

 

Just for fun I got out the original box that my wok came in two years ago. Re-read the small instruction leaflet. They just said to wash it with hot water and then season with oil for about 2 minutes before the first use. Maybe the sort of protective coating you have encountered is something done for the export market. 

[anonymoose]

9 hours ago, abcdefg said:

maybe @anonymoose would like to buy it from you.

 

I don't do second-hand woks.

[Zeppa]

There's no doubt I can get a refund, but I can't quite make up my mind. I see lots of people have my problem and all woks I can find have this lacquer on them. I am sure the wok could be recovered, but it would take masses of scrubbing. I scrubbed it hard with Barkeeper's Friend, something I had never used. Eventually I decided to temper it with oil. It looked as if it had tears on it - the melted lacquer. See picture. I have scraped a bit of that off. Meanwhile however, the other wok may be in a better state - I boiled water in it for 15 minutes to soften the coating, and after that I scrubbed it (probably not enough). But how can I tell if the coating has gone? The first wok was 12" and the second 13" so not out of the question to keep both.

 

The best idea I have had is to see if I can pay a local Chinese restaurant to seal one or both for me. My smoke alarm did start at the end of the oil treatment, which I interrupted because I didn't like the look of it. They have the better gas stoves. Does that sound stupid? Can I be the only person unable to season a wok? 

 

Btw one of the photos makes the wok appear concave. That is an optical illusion! I just want to show the smeary bits. I believe the coating is not harmful, but I want it off.

 

[Zeppa]

@abcdefg: About the Jeremy Pang book - I'm sure you'd be interested to see it. But I should point out that in many ways it's not as good as what you provide on this forum, which takes us through all the stages of dishes and explains what might go wrong. I have the feeling you take us round the market in Yunnan and you also show a lot of pictures of what things look like. There's also all the information about tea too. I suppose if you published it in a book there would be a problem of space - it might have to be cut, which is not necessary online, we can just go from the alphabetical list and choose what we're interested in at any moment.

 

The reason I got the Pang book - I don't have any lack of Chinese cookbooks, and I have managed to restrain myself from buying All Under Heaven - is the simple dishes contained in it. It's very clearly set out for beginners and it has brief lists of what vegetables or spices or other ingredients you might buy first. Nice photos, too, for example of all the different dried noodles you can get in Chinatown, and surely geared to what we can get in London. At the back there are recipes like stir-fried pea shoots with garlic, glazed Chinese greens with oyster sauce, pickled carrot and mooli - these are scarcely recipes, and I am sure there are masses of them in Fuchsia Dunlop's books, but they are buried there among lots of more complex dishes. all the recipes come with photos and indications of time needed to prepare and to cook, and the ingredients in each dish appear to be the minimum, with occasional suggestions for alternatives. So I think it will encourage me to try more recipes. There are instructions on using a cleaver, too, although that kind of thing can be found all over the internet nowadays.

 

He uses a system he calls the wok clock, which simply means a big plate on which you place the ingredients for the dish, starting at 12 midnight with say garlic and ginger, then moving round to peppers (bell peppers), dried chillies, meat, sauce and so on. This is intended to make it easy for you to cook rapidly as you don't need to look at the recipe for the sequence of ingredients.

 

He has obviously been teaching Chinese cooking for about ten years so I am sure that makes it easier for him to decide what to write. I will look at the Hong Kong Diner book more closely when I'm next in a bookshop.

 

I can't really comment on the quality of the recipes. The only one I have looked at closely is called Sichuan-Style Aubergine. Ilike the Fuchsia Dunlop recipe she calls 'Fish Fragrant Aubergines', which you have online here too, but this looks simpler. I happened to pick up two of those long purple Chinese aubergines. But when I read the recipe he tells you to slice them lengthwise and cut into batons in the usual way. As an alternative you anc try using 8 to 10 small Indian aubergines. The photo looks like the Chinese ones to me though. And first you are to put oil on the auberginee and fry it in a frying pan on medium heat first. Only later do you use the wok. This strikes me as weird. He also has a stir-fried green beans recipe where the first cooking is boiling, but he does explain in a note that it's more traditional to deep-fry them first (as I thought) - he finds it rather much to use a litre of oil to cook one bag of beans (again, surely in a wok you might manage with less than one litre). 

[abcdefg]

2 hours ago, Zeppa said:

The best idea I have had is to see if I can pay a local Chinese restaurant to seal one or both for me. My smoke alarm did start at the end of the oil treatment, which I interrupted because I didn't like the look of it. They have the better gas stoves.

 

The lady in one of the videos you linked to above recommended doing just that. 

 

2 hours ago, Zeppa said:

There's no doubt I can get a refund, but I can't quite make up my mind. I see lots of people have my problem and all woks I can find have this lacquer on them. I am sure the wok could be recovered, but it would take masses of scrubbing. I scrubbed it hard with Barkeeper's Friend, something I had never used.

 

I would return this one for a refund and let the local Chinese restaurant help with the second one. 

[imron]

17 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Wish I had written it.

We're all waiting.

[LiMo]

Something interesting I've found is that seasoning a wok may be falling out of fashion among today's coddled urban youth. It's just a feeling, but I've come across a fair few young people like myself, from both Taiwan and China, who are completely unaware of what this process is (one friend came to the house and thought the woks were "dirty"); they cook with scrubbed clean woks or non-stick ones. After lengthy explanation or consultation with relatives they catch on, but it may be dying out. Anyone else have experiences like this?

 

Also, I've been having trouble with my wok. I tend to do what Shelley does but I've found the patina is coming off for some reason and I'm not sure if I should start again or try to apply a fresh layer over the holes. I got it from my dad and I don't know how he treated it initially, I took it upon myself to season it properly but I never really did the initial scrubbing and I don't know if he did it himself. Any advice?

[abcdefg]

@LiMo--

Quote

Also, I've been having trouble with my wok. I tend to do what Shelley does but I've found the patina is coming off for some reason and I'm not sure if I should start again or try to apply a fresh layer over the holes. I got it from my dad and I don't know how he treated it initially, I took it upon myself to season it properly but I never really did the initial scrubbing and I don't know if he did it himself. Any advice?

 

Post a picture when you have a chance. 

 

The question that I would ask is one about function more than about appearance. "Does the wok still cook pretty well? Does it let you sear over high heat without things sticking?" If the answer to those questions is "yes," then it's mainly an issue of cosmetics. 

 

If things are sticking to it enough to be bothersome, I would scrub it out well with hot soapy water using a steel scrubber (similar to the ones pictured in earlier parts of this thread) and re-season with a high-temperature-tolerant oil over high heat. (Canola oil or peanut oil.) 

 

What I do to maintain a deep, even patina is every day when I finish cooking, wash the wok in hot water with no detergent or only a little bit. Then I dry it over high heat and put in a few drops of cooking oil, spreading them around well while the wok is still on the flame. Thus it is ready to be put away in a completely dry and well-protected state. 

[Zeppa]

Quote

Also, I've been having trouble with my wok. I tend to do what Shelley does but I've found the patina is coming off for some reason and I'm not sure if I should start again or try to apply a fresh layer over the holes. I got it from my dad and I don't know how he treated it initially, I took it upon myself to season it properly but I never really did the initial scrubbing and I don't know if he did it himself. Any advice?

 

I have been reading a lot on the internet and a number of people have this question, but I haven't found any sensible answers. No one seems to know if the patina was too thick or if it had developed on a substrate of the burnt-on lacquer. Even if you wanted to remove that, it would be really hard work, I suppose. The lacquer is supposed to be food-safe. I agree with abcdefg, who has much more knowledge than I do, of course, that if it works it works. 

[Zeppa]

To continue my story: my two woks were of different sizes. The School of Wok one was 12" and the Hancock one 13". So I thought I would try to rescue the first one and then keep two, but it didn't really work. I will be sending it back. Today I think I successfully prepared the 13" one, which at least I had not burnt the coating onto. I don't suppose I've done a very good job, but it seems OK for me. 

 

The process was 

1. Boil some water in the wok, perhaps with a teaspoon of baking soda in it, 15 mins. or half an hour. 

2.. Give it a good scrub with a steel scouring pad like abcdefg showed. The wire wool was less good. In See Woo they had them only in packs of 30 so I didn't have one at first. 

3. Put the dry wok over a high flame, open windows, doors and ventilating hood, turning the wok over so the high sides are heated too. I used a UK gas stove. Electric would not do. If you can remove the wok handles, you can do this in the overn. The surface turns dark brown and then bluish grey. On one of my photos you can see this colour change where I am finishing off the high side. 

4. Season the wok with oil as fully described everywhere. This creates even more smoke, actually. One of my photos shows the wok after this, and then another shows me frying some onion, ginger and Chinese chives that I will move over the sides too before throwing them away. 

 

Comments: I am shocked at how many websites talk as if all you had to do was remove factory oil and don't mention lacquer. The Hancock website, London Wok, is good here. There is a good video showing Pauline preparing a wok. She is using a commercial flame (she seems to have a traditional stove there too and I think it is quite interesting to buy one of these high-heat burners with a gas tank (?) attached, just for wok cooking) and says: This will take me 2 or 3 minutes but will take you 5 or 10. They also have a list of instructions, not a 100% logical sequence, but they actually apologize 

 

"We are sorry about using the coating but it is the only way to stop the Woks from going totally rusty prior to purchase."

 

http://londonwok.com/wok-seasoning-tips/

 

My advice to anyone getting a new wok is to read up on it first. I wonder if all woks inside China are sold with this coating. 

[abcdefg]

Thank you @Zeppa -- You have made a sustantial contribution to the world's wok lore. 

[Zeppa]

@abcdefg: Youre too kind. I hope no one needs to benefit from it.

I looked at the instructions on the wok again. They have an illustration for scrubbing the wok showing a green sponge, just the sort of sponge that might have a white scouring pad attached. If the pad is white, it is the softest possible - totally unsuitable here.

[abcdefg]

On 4/3/2018 at 2:07 AM, Zeppa said:

I wonder if all woks inside China are sold with this coating. 

 

Good question, and I don't really know the answer. Let me see what I can find out over the next few days. When I was shopping for my present wok about 2 years ago, I asked questions in the stores I visited about what needed to be done before the first use 初次。I recall that it differed according to the type of wok, according to how it was made. Will try to find out more on the subject. 

 

 

[abcdefg]

For the last week or ten days I've been conducting an informal poll on this topic by just asking my local Chinese friends and a few people who sell food or operate restaurants how they go about preparing a new wok for its first use. The results are not scholarly or definitive, and vary all over the map. I've also queried three people who work in stores selling new woks. 

 

The only consensus is that it's no big deal. Everyone starts by washing it with hot soapy water. Some boil the water, some use a scrub brush, others simply use a soft dish cloth. Once it's clean, everyone seems to agree that you need to cook something oily over sustained high heat for a while. Some use a piece of fat pork, others use vegetable oil. Some do this "hot oil" step a couple of times instead of just once. 

 

Cheaper woks, made from stamped and hammered raw sheet metal 生铁 (instead of cast iron 铸铁) may require an initial scrub with a steel-wool type scouring pad to remove a thin protective coating that can taste bad. Same goes for most large restaurant-sized woks. Better home woks don't come with that stuff and they often arrive partially preseasoned. I've looked at woks costing only 50 Yuan up to ones costing a thousand. 

 

So everyone seems to agree on an initial wash or scrub followed by some version of an inaugural heating that allows fat to penetrate the surface of the metal, polymerize, and bond with it. After that it's a free for all; with no trace of hard science. Often it's a matter of "My mother did it like this" or "Waipo外婆 said..." 

 

Some people then go ahead with a stage three in which they cook jiucai 韭菜 (Chinese chives) and ginger 老姜，while others stir fry white daikon radish 白萝卜。You cook these beyond well done, and discard them after they start to blacken and smoke. Some swear by boiling water laced with vinegar, others add baking soda instead. I found one home cook, a friend of a friend, who boils Coca Cola, and another boils dilute soy sauce. 

 

Most of my younger friends don't have time to cook. Yesterday one summed it up wistfully with, "Back before my baby was born, I used to..." Now her mother lives with them and has become the de facto family chef. The ones who cook a little bit, pressured by demanding work schedules, often go with a non-stick surface that has been bonded to the metal in the factory. These 不粘 woks have less appeal for professional chefs or dedicated hobbyists, but are seen as being just about foolproof to use. 

 

This one is cast iron:                                                          This one is raw steel:

 

 

 

Ordinary supermarkets here may have fifty or sixty different woks to chose from, in a wide range of prices. Specialty cooking stores have even more. My older friends shop for woks by this "hands-on" route, while most of my younger friends buy them on-line from Taobao or JD dot com. 

 

 

[LiMo]

After looking at the examples above, I think I may have let mine get into quite a state. I've been hiding my shame but I suppose I'll finally post the picture here before I scrub it clean and start again.

[Zeppa]

Love the Heinz accessories.

[abcdefg]

@LiMo -- It may not be as bad as you think. Has this wok just been inactive recently? When you run your hand over the surface, is it relatively smooth? Lots of the brown "stain" may be perfectly good patina. I don't see any places that looks like rust. 

 

No need to take it back to bare metal. I would just give it a good wash with soapy water and a "curly steel" pot scrubber to remove anything which flakes off easily. Look back upstream/upthread for the kind @Zeppa uses in England. Here's the kind I use in China (purchased at WalMart.)

 

Then re-season it with a high-smoke-point oil such as peanut oil or rapeseed oil for five or ten minutes over medium flame, scrubbing the oil around while it's hot using a paper kitchen towel and chopsticks. 

 

 

Then each time you use it, after finishing the cooking, wash it with hot water (usually no need for soap) and an ordinary dish cloth or even a dish-washing sponge, whatever you normally use for washing cups, bowls and plates. Then set it on a medium flame for a few seconds so it dries thoroughly. Some people even invert it briefly during this phase. 

 

 

At that point, drip in a tiny amount of cooking oil and spread it around well. Don't use enough that it pools, just barely enough to be able to rub a fine coat of oil all over the inside of the hot pan. I use a paper kitchen towel for that. This preserves the finish when you put it away. Also prevents rust. 

 

When you want to cook with it again, just set it on the flame. Add your cooking oil when it gets real hot and spread it around before putting in the food. Local lore, local wisdom dictates that it's usually best not to add the cooking oil to a cold wok. I sometimes will "test" the wok to see if it's hot enough by sprinkling in a few drops of water, just shaking them off my fingers. If they sizzle, skitter and disappear almost at once, the wok is hot enough to add oil. If they take a few seconds to vaporize, the wok isn't yet hot enough. 

 

Sometimes these older pans are made with very good steel and do a better job of a stir fry than new ones which look all spiffy and photogenic. You wok probably has character, and has by now accumulated bonded minute traces of many very good Chinese meals!

[LiMo]

I'm very glad to hear that! I'm going to get some fresh peanut oil and give it a go. Cheers!