In article >, Arri London
> wrote:
>Tucker wrote:
>>
>> I bought a wok the other day to use for stir frys, etc. I have a question
>> though. On the directions it says I need to place thre wok on the stove and
>> heat it with some oil until the protective coating turns soft, then rub off
>> the coating with a sponge. I did that, but I went away from the stove for a
>> couple minutes,a nd when I returned, what i presume to be the coating was
>> sort of pooled in the bottom of the wok. It was burnt, it looked like, so I
>> took it off the stove and rinsed it. This film coating is still on the
>> bottom of ther wok, and it looks burnt, but when I rub with my nail, it does
>> come off, revealing steel below it. Anyone got any tips on this? I';d like
>> to know the best way to get this stuff off.
>
>It is a steel wok? Scrub the wok with steel wool and washing up liquid.
>Rinse well and dry. Then heat it slowly on the cooker with some good
>cooking oil in it. Rub the oil around the hot wok every couple of
>minutes. Heat it just until it starts to smoke then turn off the heat
>and let the wok cool with the oil in it. When it's cool, wipe out the
>excess oil and it's ready to use. If there are no wooden or plastic
>parts on the wok, can heat in the oven but that uses more gas.

With those heavy cast iron frying pans the old recommendation was to
wipe oil over it then heat, then liberally sprinkle salt over the
hot oil layer and leave to cool. Finally, rinse the salt off in plain
water (no detergent). Once treated thus it only needed to be washed
in hot water after use -- again, no detergents.

Perhaps a steel wok could be treated much the same way?

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID