The Best Way to Clean and Season a Wok

Hi, I am Eric, I'm a professional chef,

and today I'm gonna teach you

everything you need to know about woks.

We're gonna be talking about how to choose one,

how to clean one, how to season it,

and of course, how to cook in one.

Prepare to receive more wok knowledge

than you ever hoped to have in your entire life.

This is Wok 101.

At its core, a wok is a hot bowl.

It hugs food,

it keeps food cradled

in such a way that you can toss them differently.

You can also steam, you can braise, you can stew,

you can season and emulsify in a very different way

than from using a frying pan.

That's really what makes 'em special.

And there's a reason why woks play such a pivotal role

in Asian cuisine and history.

The thin metal is very receptive

to a scarcity of combustible fuel.

So you're always meant to be cooking things really quickly.

That's how you really need to think about the wok

when you're using it.

[bright music]

When it comes to woks there are so many options out there.

All sorts of shapes, sizes, materials, carbon steel,

cast iron, Teflon, all the non-stick ones,

they all have viable uses and they'll all get the job done.

So for a home cook,

I would recommend either heavier carbon steel or cast iron.

These are gonna be kind of unwieldy

for a restaurant or heavy,

they get tiresome to use all night.

But if you're just cooking a couple dishes,

they retain heat really well.

So you're gonna have better non-stick properties,

better heat distribution as you cook.

It's a little more challenging to do that

with thin carbon steel.

If not, finally that non-stick are great.

They're very simple, they're obviously very forgiving,

and you can still make great food out of them.

So this is a non-stick wok.

I think they're perfectly acceptable for your home cook.

People have their feelings about Teflon and plastics

and such like that,

but if you maintain it well,

these work great and they last a really long time.

Personally, I use these all the time.

I think they're very easy,

they make cleanup really easy,

so no shame about using it a non-stick wok.

This is a restaurant-style wok.

It's thin, carbon steel,

it's very light, it's inexpensive.

The handle is just riveted here.

This is what it looks like when it's brand new in the store.

It's not ready to cook on yet, you need to season it.

These aren't ideal for your home cook.

The firepower you have at home

is not really enough to keep this thing hot

and non-stick the entire way through.

These are better suited to a restaurant.

This is the same thing, only it's been seasoned.

So as you can see, it's a pretty dramatic difference.

It turning black is the oils carbonizing together

with the metals,

and hopefully forming a non-stick surface.

If you maintain this well, it lasts a really long time,

even in a restaurant setting.

This is the wok that Epicurious recommends.

This is carbon steel,

really great material for your cookware to be made out of.

It has almost all the same

heat retaining properties as cast iron,

but it's a lot lighter and easier to clean and maintain.

It's heavy but not too heavy,

so that means it's gonna retain heat,

but it's still able to be manipulated pretty well.

It has this nice angled handle,

which is ergonomically friendly,

and the wooden handle is great.

It's never gonna get too hot,

you're not gonna hurt yourself grabbing it.

It has a nice flat bottom.

This is good here for your electric tops

or even your gas top or induction.

And then it has a handle here,

so if you've got something heavy in it,

it's full of soup, full of stew,

you can just use a towel here to grip it here.

Easier to manipulate, safer, non-stick already.

You don't need to go through the process

of seasoning it at home.

I don't think there's any reason to spend more

than 50 or $60 on a good wok.

This one, for example, is about 50, 60 bucks.

You can get it online.

So for a lot of good reasons,

this is a really nice home wok.

[bright music]

Seasoning a wok means to create

a protective non-stick layer,

basically by burning the bejesus out of it

and adding a light sheen of oil.

That heat will cause the oil to bond to the metal.

If we did it right,

it'll stay non-stick for a very long time,

so long as we don't do anything too damaging to it.

What we have here is a round bottomed, unseasoned,

carbon steel wok.

Woks should never look kind of silvery

and chrome like this.

They need to be dark black

because that indicates they have been seasoned.

This is not ready to cook in.

This round bottom does not sit very well

on these western style burners,

so I am using a wok ring.

Very inexpensive, very handy.

To begin seasoning, turn on the heat. Wait.

So in a restaurant you would have this giant jet burner

that cradles the wok perfectly,

and you would turn on full blast

and this whole thing would turn black very quickly.

You'd add a light sheen of oil,

let it chill out, cool down for a second,

done, season.

That's a little harder to do at home

because you have this gas burner

that doesn't quite exactly fit the wok,

so you're gonna have to show some patience.

Let it heat up.

Especially this is like thicker, heavier carbon steel,

we're gonna take our time with it.

And let it just heat up until it starts to turn color.

And once we get there, we'll add a light sheen oil

and then hopefully we'll be ready to go, ready to wok.

We're looking to achieve a process called polymerization.

Once oil reaches a certain temperature,

it's going to fill the microscopic pores of the metal,

and what you're doing is developing a patina,

which is a non-stick protective layer

of carbonized metal and oil and fat.

We're getting there.

Look at that shiny iridescence getting a little darker.

We're gonna get the edges getting every edge ripping hot

until it turns color.

Okay, it's turned a blue purplish dark silver kind of color.

That means we're quite hot here, so be careful.

Turn your heat off.

All right, the light sheen of oil.

We're gonna get a bunch of paper towels here.

Moisturize your pan.

Basically what we're looking for,

it is normal to create a lot of smoke during this process,

so do this in a well ventilated area.

Metal is super hot right now,

so the pores are open

and that's only gonna be a short window.

And then as you let it cool down,

it's going to absorb all that oil

and form a beautiful non-stick layer.

Okay, so as you can see, pretty dramatic transformation.

It was this light silver color,

now it is distinctly dark blue/black.

It's only going to get darker over time.

That's what it takes to season your wok.

Look at that thing. Beautiful.

[bright music]

So when it comes to working with a wok,

90% of the work is done ahead of time.

You have all your ingredients, seasonings measured out,

everything ready.

The noodles are blanched.

That way everything comes together

in just about a minute or two.

Today I am making some stir-fried noodles.

A little bit of oil in.

The oil is readily smoking, that means we're good to go.

I'm gonna add some sausage

in first to render a little bit.

I'm gonna add my carrots.

The hottest part of the wok is on the bottom.

This flat bottom part, add my veg in.

I'm gonna keep tossing.

You're not trying to color anything too aggressively,

you're just trying to get it to cook and go snow peas.

So this is just what I like to add to my noodle,

but you can add whatever you like.

You're always moving stuff so it's not burning.

You can take it off the heat for a second if you need to.

Then I'm going in with the noodle,

and then you're rocking the wok,

going forwards and backwards, constant movement,

a little bit more oil, MSG or salt.

Constantly tossing, again, you don't want any color here.

You take it off the heat for a second.

I'm gonna add my seasonings.

I got my light soy sauce, I got my wine, Oyster sauce.

We're bringing it back on the heat.

I have my liquid seasonings here.

I'm gonna add it to the edge of the pan

just to cook down a little bit.

Moving it constantly.

A little bit of oil.

We're getting that hot flavor into it,

that wok hei, that breath of the wok.

Constant movement.

Best you can on your home burner.

I like to add scallions at the very end,

just to wilt them a little bit.

That's it.

A very quick, simple noodle stir fry.

It was really only about a minute or two of cooking

over really high heat,

and you're adding your ingredients in.

Each one requires a different amount of cooking time.

It's all about movement, timing, preparation.

You can make great stir fries.

[bright music]

Let's talk about cleaning your wok.

It should be a very simple process.

While it's hot, you just add some water to it

to steam off the crud.

There shouldn't really be that much

if you've maintained a nice non-stick coating.

You just give it a light scrub or rinse,

wipe it out, it will be dry, and that's that.

This wok has been poorly treated.

Some of this looks like oil, some of it looks like rust.

It is salvageable, but it is going to take some effort.

First step, put it on high heat and let it rip.

We are going to turn all this gunk into ashes.

It's a lot like maintaining a cast iron.

You don't need any soap.

You should be able to just use a steel wool ball.

We're smoking already here.

While it's hot,

this is the easiest time to scrub all this gunk off.

As you can see,

all elements of the wok require some heat to manage it.

Here we go.

[wok clunking]

All right, hope is not lost, it's coming alive.

So all this black dust that we're picking up,

it's all the grease and the rust that caked on.

We're scraping it off, turning into ash.

All right, I think I've scrubbed most of the gunk off.

So now all that's left to do, is to re-season this thing.

Bring it back to life and turn the heat off.

I'm gonna add a light sheen of oil,

swirl it around.

[wok clunking]

Kind of keep doing the same thing couple times.

You just need a little bit of oil.

I think the temptation would be to put a lot

and that's not what you want.

You want a very thin layer to get extremely hot.

That way it's going to go below past its smoke point

and it's gonna polymerize.

It's gonna basically turn into a non-stick coating,

kinda like we see here.

If you have too much oil,

it's gonna be too cool for that process to happen.

This is probably still gonna need a little time and love,

but from where we started, this isn't so bad.

We're getting back that dark blue, almost black patina.

With some more use and care, some more regular maintenance,

this thing will be as good as new.

Woks, hopefully you have better understanding

of how to cook, how to season, how to repair one.

A wok really is a wonderful

and investment for your kitchen.

Keep building your relationship with your wok.

[bright music]