When I was 11, my Irish American stepdad came home with a $10 wok and a used paperback Chinese cookbook. Chinese food was a treat reserved for the rare occasions when we ate out at local Cantonese-style restaurants, so the addition of a wok to our home kitchen suddenly brought the prospect of crispy fried rice and sizzling stir-fries laden with bright green snow peas and tender pink shrimp to any weeknight dinner.
By Kristen Hartke
But before we could cook, the wok had to be “seasoned,” as described in a scant few sentences in the cookbook, to protect it from rusting. It later became my job to use a bamboo brush to carefully clean the wok after each meal (more on that later), before placing it back on the stovetop to dry over an open flame, also to discourage rusting.
Cookbook author Grace Young — a self-described “stir-fry guru” and “wok therapist” — did not grow up with the wok as a common cooking implement in her Chinese American home. “When I was 5, we moved into a new house with an electric stove,” Young says, “and my parents said it was too difficult to use a wok on that stove, so I never saw them cooking with one.” (We’ll get back to that, too.)
It wasn’t until Young was a student at the University of California at Berkeley that she decided to give woks a chance. It didn’t go well.
“I have a lot of empathy for the wok newbie,” Young says, recalling her own failed attempts at wok seasoning. “When I did it, I was reading these Chinese cookbooks where the advice was to smear the wok in oil and put it over high heat, but then the wok would become sticky and gummy. It can be very frustrating.” She eventually went on a quest to determine the best way to season a wok, devoting an entire chapter to it in her 2004 book, “The Breath of a Wok.”
So when I purchased a carbon-steel wok last year at the venerable K.K. Discount Store in New York City’s Chinatown, I knew Young’s advice could help me avoid wok anxiety — and I’ve never looked back. Let the wok therapy begin.
How to season a wok
Seasoning a carbon-steel or cast-iron wok is simply the process of coating the interior with hot fat to prevent rusting and create a natural nonstick surface. It takes only about a half an hour. You’ll need one bunch of scallions; 1/2 cup of unpeeled, sliced ginger; and 2 tablespoons of a high-smoke-point cooking oil, such as canola or grapeseed. If you have Chinese chives available, Young suggests using a bunch of them instead of scallions and ginger, as they are traditionally used by Chinese cooks for seasoning.
Thoroughly scrub the interior and exterior of the wok with dish soap and a stainless-steel scouring pad to remove the factory coating, rinse with hot water, then dry over low heat for a minute or two until there’s no visible water left.
For the next steps, be sure to open the windows and use the exhaust fan, as things may get a little smoky. Heat the wok over high heat just until it lets off a wisp of smoke. Swirl in the oil, then add the scallions, cut into 3-inch lengths, and sliced ginger. Reduce the heat to medium and stir-fry for 15 to 30 minutes, using a metal spatula or wooden spoon to press the scallions and ginger around the inside of the wok, all the way up to the edge; this helps remove any metallic flavor. If the mixture becomes dry, add up to 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil as necessary. (Young says some woks are more “thirsty” than others.) The metal may darken, turn yellow or orange, or get splotchy, but this is normal. Discard the scallions and ginger, then wash and dry the wok as described below. Your wok is now seasoned, and the natural patina will continue to develop with use.
How to clean a wok
Hot water and a kitchen sponge are all you need to keep a wok clean. No soap or dishwashers, please, which can affect the patina. Young first soaks the wok in hot water for five to 30 minutes, then uses the soft side of a kitchen sponge (with any soap rinsed from it) to clean the surface. Next she uses the reverse scrubbing side to remove stubborn bits of food. Don’t use a bamboo brush, Young advises, because it will destroy the natural patina. Rinse thoroughly, then place the wok back on the stove over low heat for a couple of minutes, until all the water evaporates. Cool completely before storing.
If it has been a while since you’ve used (or sufficiently cleaned!) your wok, Young recommends giving it a “facial.” Set the wok over high heat until a drop of water evaporates in a second or two. Remove from the heat, then pour 2 teaspoons of salt (any kind) into the wok, followed by 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. To protect your hand, use a thick wad of paper towels to gently rub the mixture around the entire interior of the wok. (The towels will turn brown; that’s okay.) Brush the mixture out and rinse the wok under hot water. Return the wok to the stove over low heat, and heat until the wok is dry and no water droplets are visible. Let cool, then store.
How to cook with a wok
Here are a few bonus tips on how to use your newly seasoned wok:
- A flat-bottomed wok works well on standard American stoves; carbon steel is great for gas burners, while cast-iron woks may heat more effectively on electric coil, induction and glass-topped ranges.
- When cooking, set the wok over high heat, then flick a drop of water in the dry pan; when the drop evaporates in a second, the pan is hot enough for cooking.
- Don’t worry about a few scratches, which will not affect the wok’s performance. People get stressed out, Young says, “but the scratches add to the wok’s character.”
- Woks are for more than just stir-frying. They can be used for steaming, boiling, braising, deep-frying, scrambling eggs, making popcorn — you name it. Young likes to reheat slices of pizza in her wok, uncovered, over medium-low to medium heat: “It makes the crust nice and crisp and melts the top perfectly.”
