How to Season a Wok
Do you know how to season a wok to make it nonstick, prevent it from rusting, and extend its lifetime? When you buy a new carbon steel wok, it is important to burn off the residual factory oil and season it with cooking oil.
Yield: 1 wok
Cost: $1
Equipment
- carbon steel wok
- gas stove
Materials
- 1 bump dish soap
- 1 piece scrub sponge
- 4 tbsps vegetable oil
- 6 pieces kitchen towel
- 1 pair tongs
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash your new wok with dish soap and warm water. Use a scrub sponge to scrub off the residual factory oil or wax from the wok. Rinse with warm water, wipe the wok with a paper towel until completely dry.
- Place the wok on a gas stove, burn the wok over high heat, tilt and turn the wok to ensure every side is burnt thoroughly. It's normal to see the wok smoking. Burn the wok until it stops smoking, it means that all the factory oil has been burnt off.
- Reduce heat to medium low, add 2 tbsps of vegetable oil to the wok. Fold 3 pieces of paper towel together, use a pair of tongs to hold the paper towel to coat the inside of the wok with a thin layer of oil. Burn the wok over medium low heat, tilt and turn the wok to ensure every side is burnt for about 1 minute.
- Turn off the heat, flip over the wok, use the residual oil on the paper towel to coat the back side of the wok with a thin layer of oil.
- Hold the wok in the air for about 3 minutes until it cools down a bit. (Do not place extremely hot wok in your sink. The water in the sink will leave dark water stains on your wok.) Once the wok is not too hot, place it in the sink, allow it to cool down completely.
- Thoroughly rinse the wok with warm water, scrub off the residual vegetable oil with a scrub sponge, but do not use dish soap this time. Wipe the wok with a paper towel until completely dry.
- Place the wok on a gas stove, burn the wok over high heat. Depending on different materials of the wok, it might turn from black to blue, grey, or rainbow after it's burnt. Tilt and turn the wok to ensure every side is burnt and colored evenly.
- Reduce heat to medium low, add 2 tbsps of vegetable oil (or 1 tbsp of vegetable oil plus 1 tbsp of lard) to the wok. Fold 3 pieces of paper towel together, use a pair of tongs to hold the paper towel to coat the inside of the wok with a thin layer of oil. Burn the wok over medium low heat, tilt and turn the wok to ensure every side is burnt for about 1 minute.
- Turn off the heat, flip over the wok, use the residual oil on the paper towel to coat the back side of the wok with a thin layer of oil.
- Optionally, leave the oil on your wok overnight to consolidate the oil protective layer. Thoroughly rinse the wok with warm water, scrub off the residual vegetable oil with a scrub sponge, but do not use dish soap this time. Wipe the wok with a paper towel until completely dry.
- Place the wok on a gas/electronic stove, burn the wok over medium low heat for about 3 minutes to ensure it's completely dry. Now you can use your perfectly seasoned wok to cook.
Video
Notes
- Since a carbon steel wok doesn't have a nonstick coating, it rusts easily when exposed in a humid environment. Therefore, every time after you wash the wok, you should dry it up immediately and thoroughly with some paper towel. Then place the wok on a gas/electronic stove, burn it over medium low heat for about 3 minutes to ensure it's completely dry.
- Traditionally, older Chinese people never use dish soap to wash their carbon steel wok. My dad said that was because dish soap was kinda expensive in the old days. And they wanted to maintain the wok as long as possible, because that was expensive too. Nowadays, it's totally up to you. I personally don't want to see a greasy wok in my kitchen. So I'd aways wash my wok with a small amount of mild dish soap every time after I use it. Just make sure to dry the wok completely after washing it. And you can always season an old carbon steel wok whenever it starts to stick.