Chinese woks and cleavers

[sheetz]

However, prior to my cast iron wok, I did have a carbon steel one but even after seasoning, the wok gave a metallic taste to all the food I would cook in it.  Is this normal?  I did season it quite a lot and treated it with oil.

←

Did you do a lot of braising in it? That tends to eat through the layer of seasoning, especially if the food is acidic. I think carbon steel is best for frying and stir frying but not for things like braising or steaming.

[hzrt8w]

I agree. Although one can use a wok to do steaming, I would strongly advise not to. Unless that wok is already retired from stir-frying. Boiling water leaves a lot of calcium kind of deposit (from tap water) on the wok surface. Buying a separate steamer, which is pretty inexpensive these days, for steaming is better.

[XiaoLing]

Thank you!

I did do some steaming and braising but even before I did that, the wok left a metallic taste to my stir fries.

Maybe I didn't season it well enough. I'll buy one to try again though.

[jo-mel]

I agree.  Although one can use a wok to do steaming, I would strongly advise not to.  Unless that wok is already retired from stir-frying.  Boiling water leaves a lot of calcium kind of deposit (from tap water) on the wok surface.  Buying a separate steamer, which is pretty inexpensive these days, for steaming is better.

←

I have 3 round bottomed plain two-handled stainless steel woks(or some shiny metal) that I use for steaming. They hang by my stove and I use them for mixing all sorts of things --- meat loaf, salads, --- anything where I need good space for mixing. A little one gets the same amount of attention for smaller things. But they are perfect steamer holders -- sparing my seasoned woks.

Dejah -- I laughed out loud when you said --"just what I need -- another wok!" Before I could afford a wok, when we first married, I used a heavy iron pan and it was perfect -- except I couldn't lift it with one hand!

[nakedsushi]

No they are flat bottom - though they do have some round bottom with the 1 piece steel handles similar to the one hzrt8w didn't choose at the Wok Shop.

I've seen those 1 pc steel ones but they look like they're covered or coated in some type of shiny coating. I'm afraid of that flaking off and getting into the food or melting in high heat.

←

Are you talking about the coating that you have to wash/burn off before seasoning a new wok?

←

I'm not sure. The wok I'm talking about has the entire thing (handles, outside, and all) covered in some sort of shiny black coating that doesn't rub off. Are you supposed to wash/burn that whole thing off? How do you burn it off the handles? I see them a lot at restaurant supply stores, so I guess they should be safe.

[takadi]

My wok just died after five years of daily usage. The full story is here.

←

WHOA! How in the world does a wok get a hole in it??

[Fengyi]

My wok just died after five years of daily usage. The full story is here.

Strange thing was that when I went to buy a new one (and I searched everywhere), I couldn't find a round bottom one anywhere! And I'm in China!

In the end I chose the least flat. I think the fashion is changing - perhaps due to the emergence of the table top induction cooker. We love those hotpots!

←

This is probably too late to help - but the one place that I've seen the round bottomed woks here in Beijing is at the "professional" cookware stores - you know, the ones piled high with woks the size of bathtubs for toddlers and industrial jianbing makers (which I SO want to buy!!! ).

If there's one near you, you can still buy the 'oleskool' style ones there.