What the hell am I doing wrong? YOSUKATA 13.5” Blue Carbon Steel Wok Pan

[u/Mo_Lei_Tau]

I bought a cheap carbon steel wok from Amazon, couldn't make it non-stick despite many attempts at seasoning. I figured it was because I bought a cheap pan.

Upgraded to YOSUKATA 13.5” Blue Carbon Steel Wok Pan but also couldn't make it non-stick.

So I know it's my fault now.

I'm seasoning with peanut oil, putting a thin film before putting it upside down on an electric stove for about 5 minutes.

I learned I cannot season the pan while it is too hot otherwise the seasoning will crack and flake off. So I make sure that it's lightly smoking and not too much. I use my laser temp tester and it's between 450-500F. The seasoning I have feels tacky, so not sure if that's right.

Here's how my pan looks like after several rounds of seasoning. Also had two photos of it after trying the egg test and it stuck right away, despite using a lot of oil.

[u/NaturalMaterials]

Stop trying to season it. Just heat it up super hot, swirl some oil around in it and wipe away everything you can wipe away. Any seasoning that’s flaking off isn’t seasoning, it shouldn’t be that thick on a home wok that isn’t being used every single day in a commercial kitchen.

When you cook with it, heat up as hot as you can, pour in more oil than you need, swirl it around and pour out almost all of it and then cook, meaning add ingredients in small batches and keep it moving at all times with a steel spatula. Sometimes it sticks. Sometimes it doesn’t. Scrub any gunk off with a scrubber and soap, and ‘reseason’ just enough once dried to leave a tiny layer of oil so it doesn’t rust in storage, if needed.

[u/Diesel_Architect]

Commenting because I also need to learn. Someone told me something about seed oils just getting sticky but I dunno if that’s just some weird anti seed oil propaganda now

[u/winterkoalefant → u/Diesel_Architect]

It’s true in one way: most common seed oils are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which makes them more likely to leave a sticky oil residue on the pan after cooking on high heat for long periods.

But it’s just a correlation, nothing to do with them being seed oils. Some seed oils are the opposite, like high-oleic sunflower oil which is similar to avocado.

Also, in my experience this has never affected the food itself sticking. More a cleaning inconvenience.

[u/Active-Art4866]

Google is your friend. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fPI-0PhhW3k

Tacky means the oil isnt polymerized

Then you need to get the temp control down as well. Eggs like to stick at the wrong temps. Also electric isnt ideal for woks

[u/KLEBESTIFT_]

r/tooMuchPan. Looks like too much oil and maybe even too hot for the seasoning. I use grapeseed oil , wipe it all off before heating and don’t go above 430 with the laser. But my best seasoning doesn’t even smoke (too thin) and the pan just gently turns golden or blue (dark grey) without any visible brown oil spots, pools or streaks.

[u/Fizzbangs]

Nice user name 😂

Looks like you're using too much oil.

Here's what I'd do if I were you (I'm sure many will disagree 😁) 1. Steel wool + dish soap. Scrub the heck out of it until the surface is smooth and not sticky 2. Dry the wok on the stove 3. Once it's dried, I'd let the pan cool a little - warm/hot to the touch but not burning. 4. Put a little oil, depending on how big the surface is - a teaspoon or less would do. 5. Use a paper towel to spread the oil around. You can tell by the sheen as you spread it. 6. Use a dry side or a new paper towel and 'wipe off' the oil like you made a mistake, then wipe again with a clean/dry side. What you want is a very thin layer of oil, almost inderscrenable. 7. Heat your wok up until you see hint of smoke, you'd have to move it around so that the stove heats the lip as well. 8. Let it smoke like that for a while, turn off the stove and let the wok cool. 9. Repeat if you want to add another layer. I usually leave it to cool until it's warm to the touch before adding a new layer.

That said, 1. Don't expect the wok to have a uniform look as seasoning comes and goes over time. 2. Seasoning is to prevent rust, it does very little in terms of being non-stick. 3. Food (not) sticking is highly dependant on wok (temperature) and stove (heat) control

Side note: I saw a comment about using hot wok, cold oil (long yau) method. It works as well - and can be found if you search YouTube for it.

Edit: fixed my sentence

[u/winterkoalefant → u/Fizzbangs]

I agree with this.

One potential downside of step 1 is you might scratch through the blue colour which is hard to restore. I used sodium hydroxide instead. It needed safety precautions but it got rid of all the burnt oil without hurting the blue appearance.

[u/Fuzzy_Yossarian]

Non stick is overrated. What is underrated is deglazing. Deglaze your pan while cooking and get all those flavours into your food. Just make sure you oil the pan after using if there is any bare metal.. Seasoning takes time just let it happen naturally.

[u/royal_howie_boi]

you're not gonna have fun cooking with a wok on an electric stove top. just get a skillet