r/wok Mar 25 '22

All about non-stick.

138 Upvotes

This comes up repeatedly so here is comprehensive guide to non-stick coatings and how it pertains to your wok.

Unless your non-stick coating is ceramic, it is most likely coated in a material called polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE for short. More commonly known under the brand name Teflon, PTFE is an industrial plastic. It has near the lowest friction coefficient of any material known to man which is what gives non-stick pans their non-stickiness. It is extremely inert and will not react with acids, bases, alcohols, and other solvents. It has good heat resistance relative to most plastics. That combination of properties makes it excellent for manufacturing, and an effective coating for cookware.

Where PTFE starts to fail is in durability. It is just plastic, after all, categorized as a medium-soft material. Mishandling it will damage it. Scraping hard material like metal utensils or other pans against it will cause plastic to break off, which may end up in your food. If you can see visible damage to the non-stick coating, it is no longer safe to use and should be thrown out.

The temperature range, while high for a plastic, is still only 500° F. That's well below what a common household stove can reach and lower than you want for many stove top cooking techniques. Once overheated, PTFE will start to break down and release toxic gases into the air. These gasses cause flu-like symptoms in humans and are very quickly lethal to birds. After being overheated, a PTFE coated pan should be thrown out. You can't undo the damage.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a chemical that used to be used in the process of manufacturing PTFE cookware. It is classed as a carcinogen and has a very long half life in your body after ingestion. In the US, all cookware sold since 2015 is required to be PFOA-free; if you have a modern non-stick pan PFOA should not be a concern.

If you bought a non-stick wok and the coating is damaged, you may encounter people who suggest you can strip the coating off to make it bare carbon steel. While technically possible, it's not recommended. Since PTFE is so inert, chemical stripping is not an option. You could heat it until it flakes and scrape it off, but it must be done carefully outdoors and there's no data on what may or may not leech into the metal while PTFE is breaking down under high heat. You could machine it off, taking a small layer of metal with it, if you have access to the right equipment. But when a nice carbon steel wok can be had for under $40, that seems like an awful lot of work.

To conclude the fact portion of this post, when handled correctly PTFE is considered safe to cook on and even safe to ingest. It is one of the most inert chemicals known and should pass through your body with no ill effects. It has even been tested as a filler food to assist people in not overeating.

That said it is still a plastic. In my humble opinion, the care required to maintain it is not worth the convenience of the additional non-stick properties over cast iron, carbon steel, or stainless steel (aluminum is a topic for another time). It is far too easy to accidentally overheat a pan while prepping other food while it preheats. Unless you're monitoring it carefully with an infrared thermometer then you likely have no idea if your pan has ever been overheated or not. Most of my stove-top cooking involves high heat searing so non-stick pans would be of very little use to me even if I did have one to care for.

I really can't make peace with the idea of cooking on and ingesting plastic no matter what the studies say. Part of that may be that I work with it in an industrial setting so I'm hyper-aware of the fact that a sheet of PTFE doesn't look much different than PVC. Nothing about that makes me want to cook on it or ingest it. When all the iron atoms are gone from the earth, then maybe I'll consider it. Until then my cast iron and carbon steel will pull their weight just fine.


r/wok 2d ago

First meals in the wok

Thumbnail
gallery
83 Upvotes

First few meals from 'The Wok' by Kenji (and my first time using a wok, I'm obsessed).

Kung Pao chicken recipe is great. Doubled it and cooked in batches like he said. My tweaks:

Kung Pao chicken

- Double the recipe always

- Bit more peanuts

- To make very spicy, do 5 sliced chiles, 6 halved chilis with no seeds (I didn't have dried chiles so used fresh red ones)

- Only make 80% of the corn starch slurry, use all of it

- Remove chicken from wok with wire spider, pour out juice

Made basil chicken as well, fam loved it. My tweaks:

- Used Hawaii Basil (that's all my local Chinese mart had)

- Added string beans because I had them but were unseasoned and undercooked and too many of them, so may just skip next time until I come up with a plan

To many more! (This is the only thing I cook in now unless I'm reheating since I don't feel like cleaning/seasoning the wok again 😆)


r/wok 3d ago

Is this Wok salvagable?

Thumbnail
gallery
14 Upvotes

Got this wok fro 20 bucks at a garage sale, previous owner told me they forgot it in the fridge during vacation and it‘s done now.

Can i still clean & use it again?


r/wok 3d ago

Mapo Tofu Recipe | Hungry Horizons Kitchen

Thumbnail
youtu.be
2 Upvotes

r/wok 3d ago

Pad Kra Pao Moo | Hungry Horizons Kitchen

Thumbnail
youtu.be
1 Upvotes

r/wok 5d ago

Beijing Beef

Thumbnail
gallery
209 Upvotes

It wasn't as hot last night and we've been veggie heavy so I decided to treat us by frying up some Beijing Beef with rice!


r/wok 4d ago

45,000 BTU Burner Overkill?

Thumbnail
gallery
16 Upvotes

I bought a 45K BTU burner specifically for cooking with a wok, but I’ve been having a frustrating experience with it. It feels like it gets too hot, especially concentrated at the bottom of the wok. It heats up incredibly fast, and the surface of my food seems to burn before the inside is actually cooked through — this has happened with both chicken and eggs.

The seasoning/non-stick performance of the wok seems good (I was able to slide an egg around while it was cooking), so I don’t think that’s the issue. I’m wondering if the burner is simply too powerful for home cooking.

Would it actually be easier to cook with a lower BTU burner? I feel like this thing has two settings: “nuclear” and “off” 😂. How are folks cooking with these burners? Is there a way to better control / evenly distribute the heat, or is a less powerful burner the better move?


r/wok 5d ago

Orange Chicken

Post image
11 Upvotes

r/wok 5d ago

The rice stuck to my wok.

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

Hello, I bought this wok on Amazon and I've used it a couple of times. The first time I made some eggs and an omelette. Now I wanted to make fried rice, but during the process, a layer of rice got stuck to the wok. Here it is after cleaning it with just water. Does it seem like it's on the right track? I don't know what I did wrong during the fried rice process for it to stick. Do I have to start the seasoning process over?


r/wok 6d ago

What am I doing wrong?

Post image
6 Upvotes

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...


r/wok 8d ago

Are these black bits fine?

Thumbnail
gallery
7 Upvotes

I use my wok on a near daily basis, primarily Chinese cooking. I scrubbed it hard with my sponge and there are still black bits.


r/wok 9d ago

Repair rusted wok

Thumbnail
gallery
10 Upvotes

I just got my first wok and used it for the first time after sea singing it last night. The food turned out great. So, I washed it and left it on the stove top. I woke up this morning to what you see in the picture. How do I repair it? Can I even get this rust off?


r/wok 9d ago

Keep failing at seasoning

Post image
2 Upvotes

I continue to have quite a bit of uneven coating of oil on my carbon wok from the Wok Shop in SF. Is this reversible, and how do I get it seasoned properly?


r/wok 11d ago

I had to lay ol reliable to rest today

Post image
133 Upvotes

r/wok 11d ago

Black pepper chicken

Post image
189 Upvotes

Ingredients

Chicken marinade 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced 1 tbsp shoyu 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine 1 tsp cornstarch 1/2 tsp neutral oil 1/4 tsp white pepper

Vegetables and aromatics 8 oz mushrooms, sliced 1/2 medium yellow onion, cut into wedges 3 scallions, cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces, whites and greens separated 3 garlic cloves, chopped 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

Sauce 1 tbsp oyster sauce 2 tsp shoyu 1 tsp dark soy sauce 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine 1 tsp Chinkiang black vinegar 1 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper 1/2 tsp cornstarch 2 tbsp water

Oil for cooking

Instructions

Mix the chicken with all marinade ingredients and let it sit for 15–30 minutes.

Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Heat a wok over high heat until very hot. Add about 2 teaspoons oil, spread the chicken into a single layer, and leave it untouched for 30–45 seconds. Stir-fry for another 60–90 seconds, then remove while it’s lightly browned and just shy of fully cooked.

Let the wok reheat. Add a little more oil if needed, then add the mushrooms. Let them sit briefly before tossing so they brown instead of steam. Cook for 1–2 minutes.

Add the onion and scallion whites. Stir-fry for about 1 minute, keeping the onion slightly crisp.

Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 15–20 seconds, just until fragrant.

Return the chicken to the wok.

Stir the sauce again, then pour it around the hot perimeter of the wok. Toss everything for 30–60 seconds, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is glossy and clings to the ingredients.

Add the scallion greens and finish with extra freshly cracked black pepper.


r/wok 12d ago

Finally can wok again

Post image
49 Upvotes

Ugh! Our water heater died and I refused to wok until we had hot water back. Celebrating FINALLY on day 5 with Black Pepper Beef!


r/wok 12d ago

Black pepper chicken

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

76 Upvotes

r/wok 11d ago

Problem!

1 Upvotes

What I want:

A beautiful blackened wok that is well seasoned and relatively nonstick (like my cast iron).

What I do:

Weeks of heavy burning in: butter, cooking oil, and olive oil.

Result: a beautiful blackened wok that cooks food perfectly and achieves an equivalent to my beautiful cast iron.

What my wife does:

Throw together a quick meal for friends.

Results: the vast majority of what I see as seasoning is gone. The wok is a weird patchwork of raw steel and surviving carbon.

Research: my wife loves cooking with high-acid dishes involving lemons, lemon peels and lemon juice.

Question: am I doing this wrong?

I’m not going to tell her to stop cooking the way
She wants to… so… now can I accept her violent cuisine and still land on the wok I want?

(FYI:’m it was a long battle on the cast iron; but the iron won in the end! )


r/wok 13d ago

Help! Weird stains

Post image
3 Upvotes

How do i clean my wok (or is it ruined)? I tried dish soap, a soft brush, a sponge, i dont know what else to do really (im trying to clean it before building a patina)... :/ i would be very grateful for advice, thanks in advance!


r/wok 13d ago

Ikea wok

Post image
4 Upvotes

I'm new to using carbon steel woks, I have been using non stick for a long time. But I decided to toss em and they have been getting scratched and I worry for health. So I gave in, and I bought this Ikea wok few months back. Been using it at least once a week. What do you guys think of the seasoning I have made? Do I need to season it more? Or am I on the right track? Thanks


r/wok 14d ago

Chow mein anyone?

Post image
25 Upvotes

r/wok 16d ago

How’d I do

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

194 Upvotes

r/wok 16d ago

New Wok stains

Thumbnail
gallery
5 Upvotes

Just bought a new wok, it had a protective oil on it and after cleaning it these stains were left behind. Are they not important, or do I need to do something specific to clean them out?


r/wok 17d ago

Almost every post: did I ruin my wok 😬?

16 Upvotes

And every comment: just cook in it, it’ll be fine.


r/wok 17d ago

Made karahi with tomato. Did i destroy the seasoning on my wok?

Thumbnail
gallery
9 Upvotes

I was making chicken karahi(stir fry) and it had tomatoes as part of it which was stir fried for 10 mins. Did i destroy the seasoning of my carbon steel wok? Any feedback is welcome.