Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I finally got a wok for Christmas this year and I'm thrilled to get cooking with it. Just curious what some of the PPK's favorite dishes are the wok out with. I made yakisoba last night and I still have a ton of ingredients (cabbage, carrots, scallions, shrooms, noodles etc.) that I can work with.

Also, I seasoned my wok on the stove and only the bottom of the wok seemed to get that black color. Not all around. I saw someone online bake their wok to season it. Could I do that still or is it too late?

I got a wok for my birthday and have only used it once or twice, but it is super rad! I had no idea you had to season them... Mine is one of those greenware nonstick pans, do I still need to do that?

I wouldn't imagine you'd need to season a Greenware wok. Carbon steel ones you do need to season, though. Then it becomes naturally nonstick.

Good! Seasoning things makes me twitchy!

you season to make it nonstick, so nonstick pans don't need seasoning. woks are fun, but i suck at making stir fries for some reason.. and nickvicious, you can totally season it in the oven. you just give it a good scrub with soap, and then re-season it. and then you should avoid ever washing it with soap unless you want to re-season it.

Get yourself a good pair of tongs to make awesome stir-frys. You can also make really nicely cooked tofu/tempeh/seitan with just a shake of the wok. I make a lot of curries with my wok.

Are you working on an electric stove? I seasoned mine on an electric, but I had to literally pic it up by the handle and put the sides of the wok directly onto the heat. That's also what you do with a gas stove. From what I understand, when seasoning you are trying to get the heat/flame to blacken all parts of the wok if possible.

Mine had a few patches that didn't get totally black, but I've used it about three times since then and it's starting to get a patina. It's not nonstick at this point, so I have to use a lot of splashes of water, but I love it.

If you have Vegan Eats World, I recommend the takeout noodles and the drunken noodles. Both awesome!

Yes, I'm working on a electric stove unfortunately. I did tilt it a bit over the heat in hopes that it would blacken, but I got nervous about oil dripping out and starting a fire or something. And man, I totally need to get Vegan Eats World! The cookbook I've been looking forward to most all year and I missed the release.

Oh, I didn't put oil in it when I first seasoned it. I heated it up first, then wiped some oil with a paper towel and some tongs, then heated it more. It wasn't enough oil to really drip out.

Grace Young is the stir-fry pro...check this video from her about seasoning your wok.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZjkTPWBOf8

I've always been fond of using a large nonstick wok to make risotto. Not traditional wok food, but delicious!

A wok should be lightweight cast iron with two handles. Season just like you would any other cast iron cookware. I'm not even sure how you would use a non-stick wok. They shouldn't be used on high heat, but high heat is absolutely essential for wok hei.

You've got to have flame. If necessary, get a portable butane stove.

Woks are not just for stir frying. You can steam, pan fry, deep fry, boil, braise, or roast in a wok, too.

Sorry just can't help it.


Wok this way


yeah, I know it isn't a work but it is the only photo of steven near anything to do with cooking


Seriously though....I have nothing else to contribute but I love my Wok very much and have a good 15 years of seasoning going on so it is slick like teflon now.

exactly.

mine was bare steel when i bought it. i didn't do any special seasoning, really, just wiped with oil and turned it up high for a while the first time. over time, it's become non-stick.

i cook lots of indian food in the wok too, besides the usual chinese, indonesian, thai, etc etc.

a suggestion is to get a huge lid for your wok- i actually have a round cookie sheet that fits mine- that way you can do more than just stir fry.
however, again, electric is bad news for woks!!

[i love my wok so much that when i bought a new stove last year i bought one with a special wok burner, which may be ubiquitous elsewhere but here is not so common]

What everyone else said about seasoning (like you can just use it now to continue seasoning), but if I were you, I would still try and burn the sides a bit. Sometimes woks come with a protective oil coating that you should make sure and burn off. It might be difficult to do this with your electric stove, so I would put it in the oven. Also, if you're seasoning the old fashioned way, I think it's best to use a very light coat of oil. When I used too much oil in the past, my seasoning usually ended up flaking off later.

I use my wok every day and use it to cook almost all of my stove top dishes. I wash it with a cloth and water and then heat until dry on the stove. If the wok is very oily, like after frying something, I might use a bit of soap. I have a few spots where my spatula hits that aren't totally seasoned, but everything else is nice and black.

Yeah, I just did some research on this, in particular for my brand, and it says the same thing. Bummer! Well...I guess it's a decent sauté pan, then.

ETA: It was a gift and I never really asked for a wok in the first place, but I definitely would have done this research before buying if I had done it myself!

The no soap thing is going to be tough to get used to. Must resist the temptation to scrub it all the hell as I do with everything in my kitchen.

[like my cast iron, i use soap and a dish sponge on my wok too. you don't want to scrub off the blackened seasoning, but you do want to scrub off the random black bean sauce. i don't think swabbing out with a paper towel is good enough, honestly. when you wash, leave it upside down to dry.]

I got one of those bamboo brushes at the Asian grocery store and it works really well for getting the cooked on bits out of the wok.