My poor old wok had seen better days. The bottom had developed a dip, and portions have "peeling", and the poor fellow was pretty much ready to be retired. I think alot of the damage was due to a poor job of seasoning and care, on my part. When I got the wok as a gift a dozen or so years ago, I had no idea of what wok care, or seasoning consisted of. I had decided to get a new wok last year, but hadn't really made any effort to purchase one. Then I read a post on Barbara's blog; Tigers and Strawberries, that was a post on Asian Kitchen Equipment Essentials. In that post she mentions that The Wok Shop in San Francisco does Internet and mail order. The Wok Shop has always been one of my favorite places to visit, when in San Francisco, and I've bought a few knives, and other items. But I've always hesitated on purchasing a wok, and putting it in my luggage. But now, here was my chance. So I ended up ordering 2 woks from The Wok Shop. I placed my order on Tuesday, and by Saturday my woks had arrived!
I purchased a 14 inch Carbon Steel Wok($16.95), with a rounded bottom, and a 14 inch Cast Iron Wok ($14.95) imported from China. I decided to start with the Carbon Steel Wok. Grace Young's excellent book The Breath of a Wok, has several wok seasoning methods. One of the methods included in the book is Tane Chan's oven method. Tane Chan also happens to be the owner of the The Wok Shop, and sent me email wok seasoning instructions along with my order confirmation. So I decided to use that method.
"The wok is carbon steel and has to be seasoned to prevent it from rusting. The seasoning process is relatively easy to do. Just wash and dry your wok thoroughly. Coat lightly, interior and exterior with cooking oil. Bake in hot oven, 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Place in oven upside down. Remove from oven, let cool to touch and scour wok with an abrasive pad.
Scour the "seasoning" or patina away...like you want the wok back to its original finish. Wash, dry, coat and bake again...same process. Do this 4 times. After the 4th baking, you will not be able to scour the seasoning away...and that is the result you want."
The result?
The Wok had achieved a dark, golden, lacquer like finish. I don't quite know if it's perfect or not, but it seems to have worked. After cooling, I did the typical "pungent" post seasoning cooking. Using about 1 tablespoon of oil, I stir fried ginger and green onions until somewhat charred, making sure to "hit" all of the cooking surface. I cleaned my wok using the basic instructions from The Breath of the Wok. After this session, the wok had started to blacken.
Looks like I'm on my way....... Next we'll see how the wok holds up to the 50,000 BTU Big Kahuna.
Now the shipping for my woks had come to $13, almost the price of a wok. But I didn't mind, since I expect to have these woks for a long time. But I guess The Wok Shop felt bad about this, and included a few items with my woks.
I thought the back scratcher was a nice touch, the Missus was immediately drawn to it. A skimmer was also included, and I also received an email telling me that The Wok Shop was including the skimmer. The last sentence of that paragraph cracked me up:
"This skimmer is durable and will last a long, long, time. Dishwasher safe and boilable! (fyi...great for cat litter too!)"
I'm hoping they aren't expecting the skimmer to do "double-duty" after doing the cat litter thing......
The Wok Shop, fast service, they sound like good people, and they have a sense of humor too!
That they said it is "great for cat litter," means that someone had to have tried that spider skimmer in a litter box! Sick San Francisco minds!
Thank you for the step-by-step directions Kirk! I tried to season the last wok I bought at Ross, but I tried to season it on the stove, and it stunk up my non-ventilated, tiny, humid, and steamy apt. Out of laziness, I let it sit in the corner of the kitchen closet, where it gradually began to rust from the San Francisco humidity. (If you leave a bag of chips out for 1/2 a day, it will have absorbed all the moisture in the Bay Area air, and will be stale.) I'll try the next wok in the oven next time!
Posted by: Passionate Eater | Sunday, 21 May 2006 at 10:50 PM
Wow - I never knew you were supposed to do that. No wonder I always end up throwing my woks away after a couple uses!
Posted by: Colleen Cuisine | Sunday, 21 May 2006 at 11:43 PM
LOL! I love the extra "bonuses" :)
Posted by: Kathy | Sunday, 21 May 2006 at 11:48 PM
at only 15 bucks a pop, every ten years or so, i don't think i'll go ahead with my plans to open up a wok retail store anytime soon...
no wonder they charged you 13 bucks for shipping!!!
wok retailers need more people like colleen who treat them as disposable items.. ;)
Posted by: dietchilicheesefries | Sunday, 21 May 2006 at 11:52 PM
thanks for the wok shop tip! my poor old wok, which is probably around 15 years old, is started to suffer from peeling as well.
Posted by: dave | Monday, 22 May 2006 at 07:57 AM
Hiya Kirk,
Nice wok, and you are definitely on your way to having a wonderful wok. :) As I was reading I was wondering if you were going to try it out on the Big Kahuna! :)
DH has promised me a visit to the Wok Shop so I have been putting off buying a wok, but I don't see me getting one until next month. :( But I am so excited to have a nice relaxing trip to China town and the wok shop. I promised him that we would stop to get BBQ noodles for lunch. :)
Posted by: milgwimper | Monday, 22 May 2006 at 09:47 AM
Kirk,
I think we have the same wok! I too got mine from the wok shop (as a gift). And that set of utensils came with it too (except no spider).
I seasoned mine on the Big Kahuna. I use mine at least twice every week, so it's gotten a nice thin layer of black patina after only a few months of use. I hope it lasts me a lifetime.
Posted by: elmomonster | Monday, 22 May 2006 at 10:03 AM
THANKS Kirk! Perfect timing, I've been reminding myself to look for a wok! I remember passing by the Wok Shop in SF's Chinatown. I'm gonna check out the Wok Shop online instead of driving up there! Thanks bruddah!
Posted by: Oishii Eats | Monday, 22 May 2006 at 10:49 AM
Nice seasoning job!
I have a carbon steel wok that I've owned for a decade or more, but its seasoning is an absolute mess at this point--mainly because the seasoning info available when I first got it was, in hindsight, way inadequate. I really should strip it back to bare metal and start all over again, but I've been postponing that pain forever--pretty silly, because I'd have to go through the same rigamarole anyway if I bought a new one and started from scratch.
By the way, how about local wok resources? On my only visit to Chef City on Convoy, I was so focused on the cleavers that I can't remember a thing about the woks they carried. Any of them up to snuff?
Posted by: mizducky | Monday, 22 May 2006 at 01:58 PM
Do you have a photo of Big Kahuna somewhere on the site? I'm thinking about getting a big ol' outdoor propane burner. I've seen one at the homebrew shop that'll handle big kettles, and it'll probably work for a wok, too.
Posted by: Professor Salt | Monday, 22 May 2006 at 06:29 PM
Hi PE - The same thing used to happen to me back home in Hawaii, the humidity used to "kill" things. I thought the novel use of the skimmer was pretty funny.
Hi Colleen - LOL! I always knew I'd done a crappy job seasoning my wok, but it still lasted over 12 years. I just didn't know the right way of seasoning a wok until I read Grace Young's book.
Hi Kathy - I thought it was a nice touch.
Hi DCCF - I'm thinking there's room for a multi-tasking skimmer in your next film.
Hi Dave - You might also want to try Chef City on Convoy, though I didn't care for the woks there. I'm thinking that my wok will last for at least 10 years so the shipping really didn't bother me.
Hi Mills - You crack me up. The words relaxing, and SF's Chinatown don't really seem to fit in the same sentence. Though I used to love walking down to Chinatown early in the morning and watch the place come alive.
Hi Elmo - Wow first the Kahuna, and now twin woks. I'm just hoping to be able to use my wok honorably.
Hi Jeni - Still might be fun cruising through Chinatown! Though driving around there is crazy.
Hi Mizducky - I did the "bend test" with some of the carbon steel woks at Chef City, and thought they were kind of thin, and they looked uneven. But I'm sure they're some good ones there.
Hi PS - Here's are links to my previous posts with the Kahuna:
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2005/06/yosogreedyeastm.html
http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2005/12/midweek_misceal.html
I also ran outside and took a few quick photos and emailed them to you.
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 22 May 2006 at 08:49 PM
Oooh, you got new woks! Pretty!
I can't wait to see more posts about them!
(Thanks for the link, btw!)
Posted by: Barbara Fisher | Tuesday, 23 May 2006 at 02:27 PM
Hi Barbara - Well thanks to you, I found out that The Wok Shop did online business, so it's only appropriate for me to thank you!
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 23 May 2006 at 11:51 PM
Hi Kirk,
I need to purchase a new wok too, but I don't really use mine all that much anymore since I don't have a gas range here. *sigh*
Posted by: Reid | Wednesday, 24 May 2006 at 01:27 AM
Hi Reid - I used to use my old flat bottom wok on an electric stove in our old condo, was never as good as a gas stove, and you gotta make sure you have good ventilation, or all the msoke detectors will go off.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 24 May 2006 at 10:24 PM
you are the wok seasoning master.. lol!!!!!
Posted by: dietchilicheesefries | Friday, 26 May 2006 at 09:18 AM
Hi DCCF - Yeah some master....I had to read the "manual" to get it right!
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 26 May 2006 at 09:07 PM
Kirk,
LOL Oh you should have heard my father in law when we rode through Chinatown! LOL But I do have to say sometimes it isn't so relaxing when it is so crowded, but it is so vibrant. But then again I love the open air market kind of crowd, so *shrug*
Posted by: milgwimper | Saturday, 27 May 2006 at 03:14 AM
Hi Mills - It does seem like being transported to an entire different world.
Posted by: Kirk | Saturday, 27 May 2006 at 10:28 AM
I bought a carbon steel wok last year and foolishly tried to season and cook with it on my wimpy electric stovetop. The oil burned a few times, so had to strip it and try again... no good. It's just amazing that you got it right the first time!
Posted by: charsiubao | Wednesday, 31 May 2006 at 09:45 PM