Review on Authentic Craft Wok: Traditional Hand Hammered Carbon Steel Pow Wok with Wooden and Steel Helper Handle (14 Inch, Round Bottom) – 731W88 by Dan Venegas

Superb traditional carbon steel wok. BUT - and I stress this - it MUST be properly tempered before use. None of the YouTube videos or comments I've seen understand this process, and you probably won't either. So read on. This wok cooking process is NOT actually "seasoning" - it implies some sort of cooking process. What is needed is a very high temperature tempering of the bright steel surface. This is metallurgy, not cooking! This is an ancient process used for blue steel. This is the same process used on vintage steel swords and gun barrels to give them a protective, rustproof black and blue finish. Let me explain the "burning" process that you need to do on your new wok. Carbon steel is chemically very reactive. It rusts - it reacts with oxygen and forms red iron oxide, Fe2O3, when it comes in contact with oxygen, like the oxygen in water H2O. Bare steel that has not been properly prepared will quickly form rust or red iron oxide. Unpainted iron also reacts with food moisture and food will stick to it. BUT the black iron oxide that forms on the surface of steel heated to HIGH temperatures is less reactive, more stable and bonds very well with oils. With good lubrication, the oil becomes embedded in the black iron oxide surface on the steel; This creates a non-reactive coating that protects the steel. So what you need to do is BLUE the steel - heat it to a very high temperature and allow the surface of the steel to oxidize into black iron, Fe3O4, also called magnetite. Again, this is not cooking. It's metallurgy! Let me repeat, when plain carbon steel is heated above 550 degrees Fahrenheit, it reacts with the oxygen in the air and the surface of the steel oxidizes to black iron oxide, Fe3O4. This black finish gives the steel a beautiful patina ranging from black-blue to aquamarine. This burnished steel or black iron oxide finish adheres quickly to oils. The oil coated, oiled, blued steel is highly resistant to rust and is also a non-stick cooking surface. And it's been used by blacksmiths (and Chinese cooks) for thousands of years to finish steel surfaces. The instructions that come with the wok will tell you what to do. Do that. But they are short. Here are the details. FIRST STEP, you need to clean the steel. It is coated with oil to prevent rust. You MUST remove all of the oil to reveal the bare steel surface. Use a dishwashing sponge as directed and wipe with dish soap. Allow 30 minutes for this. Scrub and rinse. Scrub and rinse. Take a white paper towel and wipe the surface dry. If there are still black spots on the paper towel, rub some more. You want bare steel, no oil stains. If it has oil on it oxygen can't reach the surface when heated and will oxidize the steel surface to black iron oxide, that beautiful blue magnetite finish you want. SECOND step - heating to HIGH temperatures. The instructions say to set the wok on high heat until the steel turns BLUE. Few understand what that means. It means REALLY heating the steel, really really heating the steel - all of that, the whole wok. This requires a very hot gas flame. To do this, use a burner with a capacity of 12,000 to 15,000 BTU (or higher). The grill is not hot enough, your oven is not hot enough. It's a big flame on hot steel. Most modern ovens have at least one large, high-efficiency burner. On my stove I can remove the diffuser top plate from the large burner and have a huge jet of gas - I use this for both browning and wok cooking. Go on. You may want to wear thick gloves when doing this. This is blacksmithing, not cooking. Keep animals and children away. If you touch this red-hot steel, it will not only burn you, it will brand you. With a jet flame of over 15,000 BTU, it took me 30 to 45 minutes for the entire wok to turn completely blue. Make a strong fire. Set the wok on a hot flame and wait. And wait. And wait. You must heat the steel above 550 F (about 300 C) before the steel will properly oxidize. You first see orange-yellow steel, then suddenly it looks "blue". This blue color represents the exposed surface of black iron oxide - black iron on the silvery steel below gives a bluish color. If you've cleaned your wok properly, there will be very little or no smoke. Smoking indicates you have improperly removed the oil which will burn and smoke and likely contaminate your steel surface. If you get a lot of smoke, STOP. Return to the first step and clean the steel of oils. Now observe how the blue area expands. Gently turn the wok to the hottest part of the flame, moving the wok very slowly so the blue transformation moves all the way to the edge. Slowly, very slowly, move up and down and circle over the fire, moving outward from the hottest blue edge, up from the center and expanding the blue area. When you're done, the ENTIRE surface of the wok should be beautiful blue steel. This is a black iron oxide coating on steel known as "bluing". If orange or yellow-orange stains remain on the wok, then you haven't fully reheated and transformed them. Heat them again until they turn blue. Okay, forge done. The factory could do it, I suppose, but nobody does. Chinese chefs know how to cook at high heat, and a wok lasts a lifetime, so you only have to cook it once in your life! STEP THREE. Follow the instructions that came with the wok. I'm just explaining. Let the wok cool down. If you put oil on this steel heated to 550 degrees Fahrenheit, you have a smoke kitchen! When it has cooled a bit, turn it back on to medium heat. Now lubricate it according to the instructions. This part can generate smoke. If you get a lot of smoke, turn the fire down. Use a heat-resistant cooking oil such as safflower oil, refined light olive oil (NOT regular olive oil), or peanut oil. Canola oil works too, but I hate the smell of hot canola oil. The black iron oxide finish you created on a blued carbon steel pan loves oil. It quickly combines with oil, hugs and connects with oil. And when coated with oil, it's a surface that won't stick or react to rust. Look at the color! It will shimmer with a bluish-blue tint rather than completely black. Cool the wok down a bit. turn it around Check out this beautiful blue-black magnetite surface you've created with the right temperament. It becomes darker and thicker on the hotter outer surface. Cover the outside with a thin layer of oil. Admire the beautiful color. Lubricate it with oil from time to time. That's all. You can now use the wok. It is properly tempered, blued; They have created a traditional rust-free and non-stick surface. Traditionally, you start the wok by cooking the onions and ginger. This "seasons" the surface. This is the only part of the process properly called "seasoning the wok"! I am attaching some photos. In the first, I added a faded blue sink fabric to bring out the color. Notice the turquoise blue tint of the metal? It is blued steel color. (I've cooked a few dishes in this pan, so there's some brown oil soot on the bottom.) On top of the wok, near the handle rivets, you'll see an orange to silvery area — well, an area I didn't quite bluish got. . It was difficult to heat this area sufficiently. So the job was far from perfect. But you shouldn't have many of these areas in a perfectly blued steel pan. The second photo shows the outer surface and its beautiful blue-black iron oxide finish. That's what you're trying to achieve in this process. The third photo shows my kiln burner at high heat with the top diffusion plate removed. It gives a real flash and I use it this way for wok cooking. I used this flame for the bluing process. Is it safe you ask? So until now everything is fine with me and the stove, thanks. But I can't give any more guarantees. Added a photo of a wok on a jet gas flame with the diffuser cover removed. Believe me, it's perfect for wok cooking. Addendum: Someone asked me about pen films. I added one more photo. The lower metal part of the handle gets very hot during cooking and is easy to slide over with your hand. Ouch. I do what our chef did in Taiwan when I was a kid fifty years ago. Wrap tightly with cotton. Take an old t-shirt, cut a piece three inches wide and fairly long. Wrap the metal tightly with a few turns of the cotton strip. Then put some old-fashioned friction tape on top to hold it in place. Tuck the top and bottom ends of the cotton under the foil. Coat the friction band with some cornstarch or flour to remove the sticky surface. It lasts a long time and can easily be repeated if necessary. Maintenance: easy. Never use abrasives (such as a wire brush) on the surface; This will remove the trim. Never use dishwashing liquid; This removes the oil layer from the bluing and allows the cleaning agent to contaminate the oil layer. You can usually clean the surface with very hot water and a dish brush. It truly is a non-stick surface when properly prepared and used. After washing, dry well and rub inside and outside with a few drops of vegetable oil. And of course do not store in a damp place. Loose handle problems, another addition: the wood of the wok handle dries out and shrinks, and the handle may come loose after a few weeks of use; it happened to me, others report the same thing. This is a common problem with wood from high humidity climates. To solve this problem, remove the two screws that hold the wooden handle in the metal sleeve, and then screw the wooden handle into the sleeve as far as it will go. Give it a few hard hits with a hammer to firmly insert it into the sleeve. Reinstall the screws. Corrected. Repeat later if necessary; My pen just needed a solution. The wood of the handle will eventually dry out and stop shrinking.