Title: The Care and Feeding of Woks
Categories: Blank
Yield: 1 Servings

A Wok That Can Rust Is a Wok Worth Cleaning by Joyce Jue

Recently, a reader wrote asking if he should throw out his rusty wok and start with a new one.

Keep it! An old wok that can rust is a wok worth owning.

Unless the cooking surface has deep pits from rust, a wok can be cleaned and reseasoned. It should stir-fry better than when it was new.

Wok Talk: Why an I writing about woks again? Because the "rusty wok" question is the one I'm most frequently asked, followed by: How do you season a wok??

If you want to feel like a Chinese cook and produce dishes that taste authentically Chinese, I highly recommend using a carbon spun-steel or thin iron wok for stir-frying. Both require initial seasoning, but regular use will maintain the seasoning and eventually produce a shiny black patina finish.

Chinese cooks are persnickety about their woks. It takes time, care and lots of cooking before a wok develops a patina -that almost impervious black coating found on well-used woks. the ultimate goal is for the wok to impart wok hay, an elusive pan flavor and aroma that is associated with Chinese restaurant dishes. Actually, wok hay comes from cooking over extremely high heat in a well-seasoned pan.

Finely Tuned Implement:

Once a wok imparts wok hay, it is respected like a finely-tuned instrument.

A well-seasoned wok is almost non-stick. I often stir-fry vegetables using just a thin film of surface oil. As the patina builds up, less cooking oil is required.

A wok is quite sturdy. It stands up to high heat better than any other cooking pan. It seems impervious to being banged or battered - I have accidentally dropped mine down four flights of concrete stairs and it came through intact with patina unscratched.

A wok's worst enemies are soap and scouring pads - they'll remove any seasoning the wok has acquired.

Until a wok takes on a shiny, smooth, black patina, the initial seasoning must be strengthened by frequent use of the pan, and fortified by an occasional light re-seasoning.

There is no shortcut to achieving a perfectly seasoned wok. It comes from use.

Seasoning: To season a new carbon spun-steel wok or to re-season an old rusty wok, thoroughly scrub it inside and out with soap and a steel wool scouring pad to remove the manufacturer's protective coating on a new wok, or the rust on an old one. Rinse thoroughly with hot water. Some manufacturers apply a coating that is hard to remove, so set the wok on the stove, fill it with water and boil it for several minutes until the coating dissolves. Pour out the water and scrub the surface clean with steel wool and soap.

Set the clean wok over high heat. Heat until a few drops of water sprinkled into the wok immediately turn into dancing beads. While the pan is heating, it will change from shiny steel gray to blue, purple, red and, finally, black.

Dip several sheets of wadded-up paper towel into peanut or corn oil and wipe the oil on the entire inside surface of the wok (you may want to use long-handled tongs to hold the towels). Reduce heat to low and let the wok sit over the heat for 15 minutes to absorb the oil - the color changes will continue and, hopefully, the bottom of the wok will darken. In time and with frequent use the entire wok will turn black. if the surface looks dry, wipe with another thin film of oil. Remove wok from the burner and let it cool.

Reheat the wok and repeat the oiling and heating process once more before using it for stir-frying.

S.F. Chronicle, 9/18/91.

Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; December 13 1991.

previous

next