How to Season a Wok

A bright and shiny new wok might look great, but until it's seasoned it just won't give you the best results. The idea of the wok is to get the heat of the flame to the food in the quickest time possible, so the wok - especially carbon-steel woks are pretty thin and that's just how you want them. You want immediate changes in the heat source transferred to the food, so a well seasoned wok is required for best results.

When you first get your wok, it will smell like steel and machine oil, be greasy to the touch and is generally unfit for cooking. Start by cleaning the wok in hot soapy water and give it a good scrubbing with a scouring pad. This is the only time you should use soap to clean your wok. By seasoning your uncoated metal wok you'll help prevent food from sticking and rust from setting in. Avoid seasoning an already treated wok, that's any wok with a teflon or other non-stick coating, because this process will probably ruin the coating.

Here's how

1. To give a round-bottomed wok stability while you are treating it, place it on a wok ring. You'll find wok rings at Asian supermarkets for just a few dollars.

2. Coat the cooking surface of the wok with a healthy glug of cooking oil, like vegetable or canola. Spray and pour-on oils will do the job equally well. There's no need to use your best oil for this purpose because it will only go to waste. If you use a pour-on oil, spread it well with a piece of paper towel or just tilt the wok to coat the bottom and sides.

3. Allow to cool, then add a generous amount of fine salt into the oil-coated wok. Ordinary table salt is perfect. Sea-salt flakes will be too coarse. Use your fingers to cake the sides and base of the wok with the salt until the entire cooking surface is covered.

4. Next, turn on the extractor fan, open the kitchen windows, close the kitchen door and get ready for some serious smoke. Also, have a plan in case the smoke detectors go off, which happened to me!

5. Place the wok stand on the stove, turn the heat to high and place the wok on the stand for between 10 -15 minutes. Do not leave unattended and continue to move the oil around the sides by tilting.

Safety tip: The salt and oil mixture will become extremely hot and capable of causing a nasty burn, so take care and keep children, curious pets or roommates well away from the heated wok.

6. When the wok has cooled, tip the salt into the trash, wipe clean with some paper towels and REPEAT.

After two seasonings the wok should have an overall blackened appearance and be ready for cooking. After each use, clean the seasoned wok with hot water only (no soap or abrasive scrubbing, as it will strip the seasoning).

Over time the wok will become blackened and the more you cook with it, the better the seasoned surface becomes and the less oil you'll need to use. Unlike a teflon non-stick surface, a wok's seasoned surface will begin to add flavor to the foods you are cooking as it builds up. And you'll never have to worry about turning the heat up too high

Article Contributed by John Theo Jr.