Cleaning a wok?!

[acidrainy]

I've been told that you are not to use detergent on a decent wok.
Without using detergent, how exactly do you clean the thing?!

Just had a nice stir fry type-thing last night (was brilliant btw! ) but we are all staring at this thing wondering how the heck to clean it!

[Trash Man]

Just use warm water and you can get proper pads for cleaning woks with, you might have got one with you wok. I did with my Ken Hom jobbie. Whatever you do don't use a brilo/scourer pad type thing.

[Angus]

As above but you need to dry it when you've washed it and wipe some cooking oil around the cooking surface.

[petrefax]

if it has big lumps of stuff welded to it you can try salt to assist in removing this - cover the surface in a layer of salt & put it on a high heat for a short time the salt should absorb a lot of the crap & make it easier to rinse off when you wash it

i tend to buy one of those plastic dish washing brushes specifically for seasoned pans like my wok (basically stuff i don't want to put detergent anywhere near) i never put the brush near detergent either & use it only for cleaning seasoned pans - they don't tend to last long before they get really crappy & covered in oil, but you can give them a good blasting with boiling water to get most of it off & in any case they're usually 3 for a pound in most pound shops so you can just chuck em & start again when they get too crappy

[Nick]

If its not a non stick wok, then while its still hot from cooking chuck in a little water, swill it around and wipe out with a cloth. Return the wok to the heat immeadiately to dry and burn any stuck on stuff off. Then while its still hot, wipe it out with kitchen paper.

You can do this after you've eaten, just bring the wok back up to heat before adding the water.

Depending on how much you use your wok, I'd re-season it once a month or so. Any crud that burns onto the wok and stays there should be left on, as the Chinese saying goes "The darker the wok, the better the chef"!

[grand_witch]

Any lumps that stay burnt on will just add to the flavour!!!! Well thats what I told the Girlfirend.

[DaBeeeenster]

I oil mine with a little bit of sesame oil after cooking - helps to prevent rust and nasty build up of crud I find.

[Scrumpyjack]

Good Wok tips, I wouldnt be without mine

[Zak33]

However...before ALL of that...you have to "Prove" it....and thats what the salt thing is all about....its an age old pan cleaing method...it polishes the surface by gently scouring it.

Lots of salt.....lots of heat.....get a big wad of kitchen roll...to insulate your hands...and then use the salt to srub the living hell out of the inside....its abrasive as scouring, with no nasty colourings or chemicals....

them rinse with hot water...

then heat it until it is unfeasably hot.....before the oil goes in.....get it really hot....then in with vegetable oil (NEVER OLIVE OIL....NEVER...NOT IN YOUR WOK) and swill it round...carefull...this baby is HOT.....keep heating it and swilling it until the oil is blackening....

then pour oil into an old tin to cool and wipe out with a kitchen roll....it'll come off all horrible...

repeat with oil......hot....swill......darken oil......pour away...

took three goes for mine to get nice....then store it oiled...all that Deckard and the others says is what ya do......no soap.

Mr Hom once said , ref germs and no detergent...."If anything survives the heat of a wok it DESERVES to live"

then as time goes by...it goes darker and very very non stick

BUT...always heat your wok BEFORE adding oil, and cook in it very fast and very hot...its the heat that stops the food sticking IF you cook quickly Even egg (for egg fried rice) goes in HOT and is done in 30 seconds.


My £0.02

I've actually done that...../\..it really did work...

[Scrumpyjack]

Wow...thats in depth

[wol]

Why not olive oil then?


Im guessing you shouldnt do the salt thing for non-stick wocks?

[directhex]

olive oil supposedly turns cancerous at high temps

then again, i prefer the taste, so we use olive oil anyway

[wol]

Never realised! Oh well better stop using that then!

Wol

[Proplus]

The woks you guys tend to use now have a layer of that non-stick stuff on, which makes the thing harder to clean because you shouldn't scour it.

My restaurant still uses the old style, black as hell woks, and we scour away after every use. They're not that expensive, so we go through a lot of them in a year. I must have a over 50 of them spare lying around in our storeroom....

[Nick]

Yeah, I prefer black iron woks to non-stick ones, but can you get hold of them easily? I tell ya, they're like rocking horse poo...

If I ever get the chance, I pick up a couple at a time from Hoo Hings in North London, they're only a fiver each and last for at least a year or so. I've found they brown up food better and seem to get hotter quicker too, but I guess peeps have got to use what they have.

[wol]

Hoo hings in colindale?

All you can eat chinese upstairs as well

Wol