What's new

What the wok

Mike H

Instagram Famous
I have an older wok. No idea of maker or quality. Used last about 15 years ago when my toddlers would climb in it and use it as a sit and spin. I plan on chicken fried rice this weekend.

Any suggestions?

proxy.php



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You might want to clean it down to bare metal with a brillo/comet and re-season it if you are so inclined to give it a "fresh start" (aka suffering from OCD) but assuming there is no rust on it, it should be fine. It's kind of a pain in the butt to do, but it will give it a nice even brown/black patina of non stickness.
 

martym

Unacceptably Lasering Chicken Giblets?
Boil some water in it, dump it, clean it, and go.
But that’s just me.
 

Mike H

Instagram Famous
Thanks for the insights. I will try seasoning it tonight. I also saw the fried rice thread, lots of great ideas there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
I can't tell if you have actual rust on there or just some sort of patina. Even if it is rust, it's just surface rust and should be easy enough to handle.

The first thing I would do is just give it a good, hot rinse and wipe it as clean as I could with a towel to remove gums, dust, and other nasty what-nots. Then, I'd get it good and smoking hot and stir fry a bunch of onion or celery or something else cheap like that in there and just see how it comes out. Just heating it up like that can get rid of a bunch of rust.

If whatever you stir fry comes out good, you're good to go. If it tastes metallic or "rusty," toss that stuff out and give it another go. If that doesn't come out good, then you might want to look into a more aggressive cleaning and reseasoning.
 

Esox

I didnt know
Staff member
I need one just like yours. Its the vision I've had in my head of one for a while now.

I'd give it a light scrub with a stainless steel pad, rinse it and then get it smoking hot and call it ready to use. If you want it clean, use Bar Keepers Friend with the stainless steel pad. That will remove all seasoning though.

This worked out well for me. Replace the Cantonese noodles with rice, or do what I did and use some left over rice too.

Thanks. Its a bit on the hot side but thats okay. Sliced lightly cooked (parboiled) chicken breast marinated overnight in olive oil, basil, oregano, Worcestershire, black pepper and garlic with a dash of Malt vinegar.

3 green onions, half a handful of julienne carrot and what was left of yesterdays rice, maybe 3/4 a cup.

Chicken seared in a hot pan with peanut oil until it took some colour, carrot and onions in, noodles and water in, lid on for maybe 5 minutes stirring and turning. Rice in, well tossed, sauces in, heat up to boil off any remaining water and into the bowl.

Good stuff.
 
Brand name is not really important. Good size, carbon steel, I think you are in good shape. I was going to suggest stripping off any old seasoning with Bar Keeper's Friend and a scrubby sponge. Then, season as you would cast iron.
 

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
I usually have on hand various things that can work in stir fries including hoisin, tamari, mirin, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and samal oelek, plus sesame oil for finishing. Last night I had fully intended to make twice cooked pork from some leftover pork loin roast but went with a riff akin to Yu-Shiang instead. i cut the pork and some water chestnuts into little strips, sweated some minced onion in peanut oil, and tossed in the pork and water chestnuts. I added a spoon of hoisin, a splash of mirin, a splash of fish sauce, and a couple of spoonfuls of sambal oelek. It was not "authentic":(whatever that is), but it was really good over brown short grained rice.
 
Top Bottom