I often take pictures of my food cooking in a wok so it was
no surprise when a couple of people asked about wok selection and care. Last
week, Man Nghi wrote this: “I have the heavy Chinese cast-iron wok at home
but often it is very useful to have a non-stick one too.” She’d seen one for
about $59.99 and thought it pricey, which led to this question, “Is that the
normal price for a good non-stick wok? I would ask my mother however she does
not own one.”
Her comments hit on a lot of points for
me, mainly that for decades, my mom didn’t have a wok at home. She stir-fried
in a well-worn deep cast iron skillet. Viet cooks tend to not be big on woks.
Chinese-Vietnamese people, like my friends Eric and Sophie Banh in Seattle, are more inclined to use them for
cooking Viet fare. I can totally understand why Man Nghi’s mom isn’t a Viet wok
user.
When I started out
cooking for myself and tinkering with Chinese food, I initially tried a regular
carbon-steel wok. My food kept sticking and I switched to using a large
nonstick skillet. In the late 1990s, I wanted to try the wok again but was gun
shy. I bought a nonstick wok for about $20.
The nonstick wok instantly made me feel
like a Chinese food pro. Slices of marinated meat slid around the pan with ease.
I turned out fabulous dishes as if I’d been using one for years. The trouble
hit when the bits of nonstick coating came off into the food I was cooking.
I
didn’t realize that you couldn’t heat the darn thing up at high temperatures
without consequences. Stir-frying is about high heat, fast cooking. The flecks
of black came off during a dinner party, as I was finishing up dishes to bring to
the table. I picked out most of the bits and hoped for the best. The next day,
I threw the wok away.
I didn’t cook with a wok until years
later, after I’d been inspired by reading Grace Young’s Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen. Grace was on a wok mission, arguing that
traditional woks worked best. Poking around a Ross Dress-for-Less one day, I
found the flat-bottomed wok you see here. As Tane Chan, owner of
the Wok Shop in San Francisco says, a good wok doesn’t have to cost much. My $20 wok
came in a box as a Joyce Chen kit and the unusual discovery of it at Ross of all places was akin to Asian cooking kismet (a cheap deal!). After assembling it, I threw away the other
accoutrements as I can’t figure out how to comfortably wield those long
chopsticks.
I followed Grace’s instructions to wash
then season the wok with a bunch of Chinese chives (the same stuff used in classic
Chinese dumplings!). Then I started cooking, blasting it with heat without fear
of nonstick coating fleck coming off.
Food stuck time and time again. Watching
me repeated scrape bits from the wok wall, my husband suggested that I buy a
new wok. “Because the sticking is suppose to go away,” I’d responded in
frustration.
Then I decided to deep-fry in the wok. Perhaps the oil would penetrate the
metal to hasten the formation of a nonstick surface? Plus, less oil was
required for wok frying and it heated up in a jiffy. About 2 years into using
the wok once or twice a week, there was a beautiful black coating in the lower
third. Food still stuck less, though stir-frying noodles or making fried rice
could sometimes be challenging if the noodles or rice wasn’t dryish.
I rarely washed the outside of the wok, which is why it looks slightly crusty versus the smooth interior. A fast scrub after each use with hot water and maybe a drop of soap was all it
took to clean up the wok. Then I dried it over a low flame while we ate dinner.
As the wok developed its patina, I found
myself using it more often, even keeping it out on the stove for days on end. I didn't just like it. I loved it. The wok naturally became nonstick. I was even
frying eggs in it, something I’d rarely do in my All Clad stainless steel
skillets.
One day last year I simmered a dish in
the wok and had to re-season the wok. I felt like I’d take a half step
backwards. But I just kept using it for stir-frying, panfrying, and
deep-frying. On one occasion, I slid the wok into the oven to hide it from
guests after I finished deep-frying a batch of wontons. I left it in the oven
overnight and the next day, turned the oven on to bake something. By the time I
remembered the oil-filled wok, the oven was hot. I carefully carried the hot wok
outside to cool on the cement patio.
When cooled, the wok and wood handled
had surprisingly developed a rich patina in the oven. A beautiful, unintended consequence. I’d
read that you can season a wok in the oven and I’d done it by mistake.
So what’s the advice on buying a
nonstick wok? Get a carbon-steel or lightweight cast iron one. It doesn’t need
to be expensive. To turn a cheap wok into a priceless piece of cookware, you
just have to use it often. Religiously, as if you’re exercising the wok and
your wok cooking skills.
If someone told me that the break-in time would take years, I would have been patient back in the 1990s. Had I truly realized that the fundamental idea behind
Chinese wok cooking is that it’s your go-to cooking vessel for all kinds of cooking methods, I would have understood that traditional Chinese cooks have 'nonstick' woks by using it at a super high frequency. My perception of the wok was that of a dilletante.
My long journey to achieving nonstick wok status required practicing a wok routine. A little blind neglect helped my cause too. To answer Man Nghi's question, the best nonstick wok is one you make yourself.
If you have wok experiences or questions, feel free to share.
Related post: 9 Recipes for Wok Workouts (I'm such an enabler, eh?!)
Gina
I had to get special pots and pans for my new portable induction burner. One of them is a ceramic non-stick wok by Lagostina, and I love it! I'm not sure I would have paid the full price ($99). It had to be small to fit the induction burner, but it's perfect for small batches.
On the other hand, if we had gas around here, I would want a "real" wok for sure, even if it meant a few years patient curing.
Suzette
I'm currently in the middle of a kitchen remodel, and will finally switch to a gas stove (in shopping, I did see the "chicken nugget" button feature that you blogged about last year!). I'm already researching woks to use on my new stove, so this is a timely post! Chinese wisdom says that deep-frying is the greatest way to season a wok, and never any soap!
Khanh Ho
Leaving woks, cast iron skillets and paella pans in the oven--even with just the pilot light on--is key. Also, if you have an outdoor set up: tongs and greased paper over a high flame creates a great start to a patina...
Dennis M Reed
Although I have several very well seasoned iron woks including a cast iron wok, I now usually use my GreenPan woks (I do "season" them after each use by heating oil until it begins to smoke and using a paper towel to spread the oil all around the wok). They work fine for my normal kitchen gas range. I would not use the GreenPan woks on a really hot wok burner. I would definitely try an Orgreenic wok if I could find one.
Aleta
I popped popcorn in my carbon steel wok to season it. It works beautifully and the popcorn is terrific, too.
ann
I have a carbon steel wok for over 8 years and I love it! Target carries carbon steel wok with the flat bottom for around $20.
Maggie
I make stir fries in my enameled cast iron Le Creuset style pan. Food doesn't stick if the oil is hot (though it doesn't need to smoke - that's not good for you), and it sears meat nicely, without me having to watch the pan like a hawk or stir frantically, as you have to with a wok. It's a slow, relaxed form of stir frying!
Maggie
Also, I find that heating oil until it smokes makes it taste a bit stale and overwhelms the natural flavours of the ingredients. For a clean, clear, fresh tasting stir fry, avoid super high heat.
John M
My Joyce Chen wok is now about 15 years old and it just keeps going. After each use, I always rinse/dry it quickly(no soap),low heat and light oil. When I cook, I do use a 60k btu burner, but I never let the oil start to smoke, I'll have the food in by then. Stayed away from non-stick since my utensils are metal and don't want it to flake off. But I also have my cast iron skillet that I do scrambled eggs in, so taking care of the pans to keep them non-stick is a way of life.
leah
When we remodeled our kitchen, we ditched the old '70s Flaire for an induction stove. I found inexpensive cookware for my stove at Ikea, including a cast iron wok. I seasoned it like a cast iron pan. I smeared the surface with vegetable oil and put it in a 400 degree oven for about an hour. Now I don't get rice stuck on it when I make fried rice.
Doug
Our carbon steel woks are probably 25 years old, if not 30. We haven't had to reseason them in years, and we routinely clean them with dish soap. The only thing I ever took away from Jeff Smith, the deposed Frugal Gourmet, was his saying "hot wok, cold oil -- food won't stick". It seems to be true.
Andrea Nguyen
Gina, you have a race-car wok. Wow. Thanks for letting us know about it.
Andrea Nguyen
Ha! about the chicken nugget mention. I didn't use any soap for years but once in a while when the wok is very greasy, I literally use a drop of oil.
Andrea Nguyen
You are an enabler. 😉
Andrea Nguyen
Thanks for the tip on eco-friendly nonstick pans, Dennis.
Andrea Nguyen
You are too smart, Aleta. That's brilliant.
Andrea Nguyen
So cheap! I can never believe it.
Andrea Nguyen
Nice tip, Maggie.
Andrea Nguyen
Definitely just below smoking works best.
Andrea Nguyen
Love it, John. Where the heck did you get a 60K BTU burner? Do you set it up outside?
Andrea Nguyen
Ikea sells a cast-iron wok? I'll check that out next time. Thanks for the tip on oven-seasoning the wok. Rice sticking to the wok is such a pain to scrape off, though I want to eat those chewy-hard bits.
Andrea Nguyen
Yep, heat the wok till hot -- letting its pores open up -- then swirl in the oil. Thanks for validating the use of a bit of soap!
leah
I'm not 100% sure that it's cast iron, but definitely made of some kind of iron because it's magnetic. This makes it work for my induction stove. It does need the same care as cast iron, though (and not shiny like stainless steel). Best of all, it's cheap. 🙂
John
I am a big time cast iron cooker but I got a really nice steel hammered wok for a gift one christmas....I only cooked bacon and high fat items in it for a couple months because I'm used to cast iron - all my cast iron pans/pots are extremely seasoned and nonstick to the point where all I need is a suitable wipe and everything lifts off - and this wok became wonderfully greased(I only bamboo brushed it with zero soap).
After about 2 years of owning a wok, its mangled, seasoned, and cooks amazingly....well, it cooks as well as it can to my stovetop's limitations - a quality wok'd meal will require HIGH heat otherwise it loses the "sizzle".
I've somewhat given up on using it(except for when I break out the propane burner) and returned to my cast iron cookware full time.
Just use cast iron and you'll never look back.