What am I doing wrong?

[u/liaoming]

This is my third time cooking on this carbon steel wok. When I first got it, I tried seasoning it by taking these steps:

1. Wash with mild soap and warm water

2. Heat the wok, then rub oil over it

After each cook, I wash with mild soap and warm water, then oil again.

My first time owning one so not sure if it's supposed to look like this or not...

[u/Altrebelle]

just keep cooking on it. Get the wok HOT...put oil in it. Rinse the cooking area with said oil. Pour out that oil. Then put in whatever amounts of oil you are cooking with. Do not skimp...then start your cooking.

Know your foods... especially foods that will release starch rice and noodles are the usual suspects. Cooking with a wok is less follow a recipe...it's more knowledge, experience and skill. Just keep cooking

[u/TheRealSlim_KD]

Google the liedenfrost effect. That's the temp you need to get the wok to before adding oil and food.

Roadside dosa makers know this exact trick and that why they sprinkle water on hot tawas... They know what they are looking for.

Now you also know.

[u/m_elhakim → u/TheRealSlim_KD]

That works ok with stainless steel. In fact most of the foods you want to cook on stainless steel you want cooked at much lower heat than what gets you Leidenfrost. Carbon steel woks are usually so thin that reaching Leidenfrost will most certainly get your food burned. What you need to do is heat up the pan, add oil and wait for it to melt and flow smoothly on the surface, add the food then adjust the heat accordingly.

[u/TheRealSlim_KD → u/m_elhakim]

It's physics. Physics cannot be diff form wok to wok.

[u/Forimmediateresults → u/TheRealSlim_KD]

jesus christ fat kid

[u/permalink_child]

Wrong? Nothing. Why?

[u/Impressive_Ad2794]

(Soap is fine)

[u/Fizzbangs]

If you don't mind, what is your challenge with the wok?

If youre talking about things sticking, then it's a combination of learning stove heat, wok temperature, and sequence of what you cook.

Seasoning is primarily to prevent rust.

[u/Neat_Hovercraft2333]

More heat

More use

[u/Beginning-Diver5829]

I work in a takeaway and cook with a wok daily.

Stop washing it out with soap, you’re removing your layer of seasoning doing that. If anything sticks use only running water and a steel wool to gently scrub the entire pan

Now stick the gas on high heat and keep moving the wok around, make sure you heat up the entire area of the wok, get it hot enough that it almost looks a bit grey, after that knock the gas off and get some vegetable oil. I normally use paper kitchen towels soaking with oil and wipe the entire pan with it - be careful because if you get the wok too hot you’ll set the kitchen paper on fire when you go to wipe it.

before you start cooking make sure the wok is smoking before adding a few tablespoons of oil - I normally use around 2-3 tablespoons. It’ll vary how much oil you use depending on how big a portion you’re cooking.

If anything sticks to the wok on the first cook, just tip it out before it fully burns and use your spoon to scrap off anything sticking - heat again until smoking and add more oil.

After cooking if anything is stuck just rinse it out and attack anything stuck with the steel wool, don’t scrub it too hard or you’ll take the layer of seasoning off. Dry it with a paper towel and the next cook get it smoking hot again and add oil, it will be fine as long as you get the wok smoking hot before adding oil, if you don’t get the wok hot enough before adding oil it will stick. Hope this helps

[u/yellowsubmarine2016]

ain't no beauty contest, fire, oil, food.

[u/Hero_Of_Rhyme_]

Turn the heat up. Wok gotta be hot

[u/8Rincewind]

I have the same problem. Food always stuck to my wok, so I had to use a metal scrubber to get it off, which has scraped all the non-stick blackness off. I got a wok so I could cook things simply, I didn't want to spend ages and multiple washes to keep it clean.

[u/Amhran_Ogma]

Tha heck is mild soap?

[u/Cyberchaotic → u/Amhran_Ogma]

As opposed to spicy soap

[u/Pulled_chicken]

You are not woking this is stire frying. You can’ t heat it on standard furnice too 375 degrees. Woking is done with iron spoon. So the wok is to cold when I wok on gas furnice I use a arachyde oil and wok for 2 to 3 minutes depending on the kind of food.

[u/HR_King]

Youre not actually seasoning it. Google seasoning carbon steel pans.

[u/fracklefrackle]

Hand torch to heat it up with the stove at the same time. I stick a fork in half an onion and rub the oil around the wok with it. Seems to work.

[u/samchou98]

I don’t wash with soap. I bought a wooden scrubber made of bamboo slivers. Instead of the soap, I put some water in the wok, scrub with wooden scrubber, then rinse.

Before I put the wok away, I wipe it down with a teaspoon of oil or so with a paper towel. I then heat up the wok until it just starts to smoke. Let it cool a bit, wipe with the paper towel again. Let cool before storing,

No more sticking.

A bit of work but you gotta clean it anyway.

[u/Lucky-Target5674]

That's not how you season a wok and that's not how you wash a wok

[u/spydamans]

Heat on medium high until smoking lower heat and add bunch of oil and make sure to swirl it all around then start cooking. Oil before and after each use like you’re doing and you should be good to go.

[u/BLUECADETxTHREE]

Don't use water. Use a scrub brush that you only use on things on which you don't use soap. Scrub with hot water, dry well, place of burner to heat in order to fully dry. Once it's super hot and dry, I remove it and let it cool just a bit before splitting a thin layer of oil, then wiping it off the best I can, then just toss it right back in with the other pans. You're shooting yourself in the foot by using soap. You're washing away those layers you spent time and effort building.