What am I doing wrong? I have not found a way to clean my wok so that
when I cook with it, it does not make a mess of the stove. I am not
talking about splatter; it seems to me that crap, smutz or whatever
from the bottom of the wok gets all over the stove.

I clean the work immediately after every use. I use a bamboo scrubber
and hot water to clean the inside. I wipe the wok clean with paper
towels. I heat the clean wok over the stove to burn off the moisture
and apply a thin coat of peanut oil to the inside

I've been cooking in woks for over 30 years, and never had a build-up
of anything on the bottom. It's pretty black under there, but nothing
that rubs off on anything. I suspect it's how you re-season your wok
every time you use it. Not sure why people do that, unseason it to
clean, then reseason it for next use.
Or it could be the material the wok is made from. I use a cheap Asian
spun steel wok, having read that they are as good for real wok cooking
as an expensive one. What is yours made of?

wrote:
> What am I doing wrong? I have not found a way to clean my wok so
> that when I cook with it, it does not make a mess of the stove.
> I am not talking about splatter; it seems to me that crap, smutz
> or whatever from the bottom of the wok gets all over the stove.
>
I don't understand your description. What crap, smutz or whatever is
on the bottom of the wok and how did it get there? I suspect it's
spatter, even if you don't notice it when it's happening. -aem

I believe my wok is a carbon steel wok. I cost me $15.00. If their is
some splatter on the bottom ( which is rare), I use the bamboo scrubber
to take it off. I am still looking for help , so please keep the posts
coming. Per this post, I am unsure of how putting peanut oil on the
inside gets me black stuff on the outside.

To my eye, I do not see any build up or trace of foreign material on
the bottom of the wok. Thats the mystery. Splatter would be the
obvious culprit; however, since it takes a while to clean the stove, it
has made me extra careful with putting things into the wok. Another
guess I have had is that, when I heat up the wok, and then place some
food or liquid into it, the resulting change in temperature causes
something to flake off the bottom. When the wok cools enough for me to
clean it, nothing will come off because it takes heat to cause it come
off in the first place. Maybe what I need is what do I do to the
bottom of the wok to prevent this from happening?

"salgud" > wrote:

>I've been cooking in woks for over 30 years, and never had a build-up
>of anything on the bottom. It's pretty black under there, but nothing
>that rubs off on anything. I suspect it's how you re-season your wok
>every time you use it. Not sure why people do that, unseason it to
>clean, then reseason it for next use.
>Or it could be the material the wok is made from. I use a cheap Asian
>spun steel wok, having read that they are as good for real wok cooking
>as an expensive one. What is yours made of?
>
Plain old spun steel, like yours. However, I've never had a "crap"
buildup problem. You mean INSIDE the wok or on the bottom?

I mean the outside of the wok, the side that gets the flame. Since I
have posted here, I have tried this experiment. I cleaned the bottom
of my wok and all my other pans with a steel wool pad. I have cooked a
couple of meals since then, and so far it looks to have solved this
problem. So, now my working hypothesis is, I had some spills or more
likely, when I was stacking my pots and pans next to the sink, crap got
on the bottom. I did a poor job of cleaning it off and subsequently
when I next cooked with the pan, the crap burned off and got on the
stove. The problem was much more noticeable with the wok because I did
the least effective job of cleaning its bottom. I was scared of
getting rust, so I did not want to scrub it. My ideas so far:

Don't stack you pans when there dirty. It makes cleaning them harder.

Do keep the bottom of your pans clean.

My next question is, if I have to scrub the bottom, outside of my wok,
what do I do to prevent rust and also not get crap all over my stove?

Thanks for the interest

wrote:

>I mean the outside of the wok, the side that gets the flame. Since I
>have posted here, I have tried this experiment. I cleaned the bottom
>of my wok and all my other pans with a steel wool pad. I have cooked a
>couple of meals since then, and so far it looks to have solved this
>problem. So, now my working hypothesis is, I had some spills or more
>likely, when I was stacking my pots and pans next to the sink, crap got
>on the bottom. I did a poor job of cleaning it off and subsequently
>when I next cooked with the pan, the crap burned off and got on the
>stove. The problem was much more noticeable with the wok because I did
>the least effective job of cleaning its bottom. I was scared of
>getting rust, so I did not want to scrub it. My ideas so far:
>
>Don't stack you pans when there dirty. It makes cleaning them harder.
>
>Do keep the bottom of your pans clean.
>
>My next question is, if I have to scrub the bottom, outside of my wok,
>what do I do to prevent rust and also not get crap all over my stove?
>
>Thanks for the interest
>

Oh, OK, sorry. Actually, I don't really ever bother with the stuff on
the bottom. Never had a big fire yet <G>. I just wipe it off with
plain water and don't worry about it. I just took a look at it, and
yep, it looks pretty grim. I've been using it for about 15 years or
so, though - no problems yet. When I clean the thing, though, I only
use plain hot water and one of those little plastic scrubbers that are
designed for cleaning baking stones. Then I stick it on a hot burner
to dry out, rub the inside with a little peanut oil, heat it up again
for a few seconds and wipe out the puddle with a wad of paper towels.
I don't think I've ever oiled the outside, and for some reason,
there's no rust. You'd think it would.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> I mean the outside of the wok, the side that gets the flame. Since I
> have posted here, I have tried this experiment. I cleaned the bottom
> of my wok and all my other pans with a steel wool pad. I have cooked a
> couple of meals since then, and so far it looks to have solved this
> problem. So, now my working hypothesis is, I had some spills or more
> likely, when I was stacking my pots and pans next to the sink, crap got
> on the bottom. I did a poor job of cleaning it off and subsequently
> when I next cooked with the pan, the crap burned off and got on the
> stove. The problem was much more noticeable with the wok because I did
> the least effective job of cleaning its bottom. I was scared of
> getting rust, so I did not want to scrub it. My ideas so far:
>
> Don't stack you pans when there dirty. It makes cleaning them harder.
>
> Do keep the bottom of your pans clean.
>
> My next question is, if I have to scrub the bottom, outside of my wok,
> what do I do to prevent rust and also not get crap all over my stove?
>
> Thanks for the interest

I treat my (new) woks inside and out the same way - after washing and
scrubbing them thoroughly ('Brillo' type wire wool pad) I get them STINKING
hot then go outside and carefully wipe over with some vegetable oil and
leave to cool. OR, I cover in oil first, then heat the wok on an outdoor
fire until it's smoking heavily. It makes a sort of natural heat resistant
varnish, and is more or less what has already happened to an older, 'well
seasoned' wok - stops them from rusting and makes them easier to wipe clean.
Also makes them look well used as a bonus, heheh...

Well, that's what I do anyway, right or wrong ',;~}#


Shaun aRe

wrote:
> What am I doing wrong? I have not found a way to clean my wok so
that
> when I cook with it, it does not make a mess of the stove. I am not
> talking about splatter; it seems to me that crap, smutz or whatever
> from the bottom of the wok gets all over the stove.

You don't mention what kind of stove. If it's gas your schmutz problem
could very well be from incomplete combustion from improper fuel/air
mixture... see to adjusting the air shuttle.

Sheldon