Wok seasoning question

[Delat]

I tried to season a new wok and did a questionable job. I tried the oven method - wipe with a thin coat of vegetable oil with a cloth and stick in a 450F oven for 30 minutes, repeat. I thought I applied a pretty thin coat but seems like not thin enough as I got these squiggles where presumably the oil started trailing once warmed up.

Is this ok to call good, or do I need to scrub off all the squiggles and start over? Or maybe switch to the stove and apply a few more coats? Or was there possibly a lacquer coating that I missed? I didn’t do the “fill with salty water and boil” routine as it didn’t look coated.

 

[ian]

Might be lacquer or something. Mine came with such a coating.

With regards to seasoning, I’m of the “chill out and just use it” camp.

 

[coxhaus]

Don't feel bad I just bought a 14-inch Wok which I put it on my gas grill and I forgot about it. It stayed on the grill on high for too long. The wood handle turned to charcoal. A friend of mine is making me a new walnut handle.

You might try cooking some garlic and potato peels in oil and see if it cleans up.

 

[kpham12]

Maybe give it a good scrub with hot water and steel wool then try again. Wipe the oil until you really can’t tell it’s there anymore, I usually wipe it down with paper towel to absorb all the excess. Stovetop method works nicely too and is faster than the oven plus you can actually see if the oil starts to form droplets and give it another wipe down. But too many layers is usually a waste. Maybe one or two, then try and fry up a crispy egg or two. Use a liberal amount of neutral oil, swirl it around and heat until the oil starts to smoke, then drop the eggs in and if they slide around, you’re good to go.

 

[Michi]

When you gets spots like this, it's a sign that you used too much oil.

 

[Delat]

Ok, damn sounds like I need to start over. I’m going to boil water with some baking soda then steel wool scrub if necessary and start all over with thinner coats but on the stove this time. This is my 2nd wok and I have this bee in my bonnet that this time around I want to get the initial seasoning correct vs the dodgy finish I have on my current ancient wok.

The oven really turned out to be a PITA and a waste of time, honestly. I wanted even heat but just ended with a smokey house and all the little caked-on oil dribbles.

 

[dafox]

Do you have a turkey fryer burner? I used one of these, outside, to season my wok, worked great.

 

[BazookaJoe]

Did you do the high heat treatment to the steel first before the oil seasoning? Just did my wok using a 200,000 BTU propane burner, then oil seasoned in my closed grill because it was too big for the oven (16" wok).

Wok Burner (UK)

Check YouTube... many vids showing the heat treatment.

 

[aboynamedsuita]

Try wiping the wok with acetone and see if it removes any heat resistant lacquer. I’ve burned it off but it takes time, but haven’t tried scrubbing. One thing which seems odd to me is how the wok still appears mostly shiny aside from the oil spots, also, did you do anything different near the handle rivets (bottom of picture)? It doesn’t seem to have the same oil spots

 

[Delat]

Try wiping the wok with acetone and see if it removes any heat resistant lacquer. I’ve burned it off but it takes time, but haven’t tried scrubbing. One thing which seems odd to me is how the wok still appears mostly shiny aside from the oil spots, also, did you do anything different near the handle rivets (bottom of picture)? It doesn’t seem to have the same oil spots

Interesting observation, I hadn’t noticed that cleaner area by the rivets - I didn’t do anything there. I gave the wok a 15 minute boil with water + baking soda which didn’t seem to do much.

This weekend I’ll give it a rub with acetone, light scrub with steel wool, then try again with thinner coats of oil on the burner. The oil spots are perfectly smooth so I suspect they’re just a cosmetic thing, but for some reason I’m feeling a little OCD about the whole thing now. But if a couple mins with steel wool doesn’t take them off then I’m just leaving them alone and moving on.

 

[applepieforbreakfast]

I used Bar Keeper's Friend to scrub the lacquer off of my wok. Worked great!

 

[tripleq]

If you didn't give the wok a good scrub with steel wool before the seasoning that should be your next step which will remove the existing oil. If it was properly cleaned and this is what you ended up with you probably had too much oil and it pooled. If it isn't sticky you can go ahead and try another coat. Seasoning takes on a life of its own as we see in pro kitchens. It doesn't have to look perfect and unbroken to be effective. You could always try cooking with it as is to see how it performs.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

I scrubbed mine out really well and then put it over a hot heat source and went round and round the wok until it turned colors. It actually went to a blue hue for a bit. I think this is what really burned off the protective coating. It smelled awful doing it.

then I did a few wipes of oil and burned it in over the gas burner.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

Last week I tried to make something. Too much sugar in my sauce and it burned onto my wok. To make matters worse, I left it on the cold burner. Ate dinner, sat with my wife sipping wine. By the time I got to the wok it was bad. A hot mess. I put it on the stove top, washed all the other dishes and went on with my evening and eventually to bed. I’ll handle the wok in the morning.
the next morning I tried boiling water - nope.
I scrubbed it out best I could and fired up my wok burner. I burned the wok again. Whatever that was still stuck on turned to soot. I splashed in water and brushed. It came clean but wasn’t black anymore. Gray. My seasoning was gone. Ii let it cool, and oiled it and hung it up.
‘’today I made fried rice for an injured friend. My spotless wok was so non-stick. It was gray colored and i didn’t have anything stick To it. Not a grain of rice. No eggs either.
get it clean and go in cooking with a rocket hot wok. Stuff won’t stick.

same Idea when I wipe my grill grates with a brush and then a wad of paper towel dipped in oil. Super hot, super clean