Comments on: How to “Season” a Wok, Part II

By: joyce

joyce — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:21:22 +0000

ever since i read your wok posts, been on the hunt for an iron wok. finally tracked a hand-hammered flat bottom cast iron wok being sold in central china. the instructions for seasoning are slightly different from yours in that it says to rub the inside with salt and tea leaves prior to rendering fat. the smell of fat frying like that is something else ;P had to open all the windows of the flat to let the smell out. can’t wait to use it for cooking.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:10:35 +0000

Hi MM. I am defintely doing this wok seasoning activity come the weekend. I sucessfully brought back 2 woks after hunting them down in the Causeway bay market area. Please let me know how to clean the wok after using it to cook.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:02:25 +0000

Lee, hahaha, it probably would, there was a LOT of iron in the first frying… more than the average recommended daily allowance.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:29:06 +0000

will the resulting chicharon adhere to a magnet?

By: Vicky Go

Vicky Go — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:06:42 +0000

Some years back, my mom & I took cooking lessons at Monclair High Adult Ed. We lucked out because the teacher was Eileen Yin Fei Lo (one of her books on Dim Sum is a classic). The first thing she said was NOT to even try using a wok to cook Chinese dishes in USA homes w standard gas cook tops. She said that even with the adapter, the heat will never uniformly heat the wok surface because in Chinese kitchens or restos, the cooking units are big enough that the wok sits deep in it and more than 80% of the wok’s outer surface is completely exposed to the heat! She said to just stick to properly seasoned cast iron pans or the newer non-toxic nos-stick pans or heavy enamel or stainless steel pans w copper clad bottoms. As for steamers for dim-sum – she said it’s best to use the bamboo steamers but metal tiered ones are OK to use, too.