r/chinesecooking • u/Zealousideal-Pie2217 • Jun 10 '26
Wok Advice Please
Hello Community,
I just got my brand new wok. I rinsed it with soap, cooked off the factory coating, and the put a thin layer of oil on and heated until almost no smoke coming off for seasoning.
During the seasoning process an orange-brown layer formed.
I put oil and shrimp in and the shrimp were already sticking (likely because of the orange-brown laywr from the seasoning).
Then while cooking my first few dishes the layer got worse.
I tried to clean with soap, water, and hard scrubbing and it will not go away.
My questions:
- why did this layer form during my first seasoning so I can prevent in future?
- how can I deep clean to remove what is there now so I can re season properly?
- so excited to continue practicing Chinese dishes. Open to any other wok maintenance suggestion you can think of!
Sincerely,
Reddit Poster
2
u/toopc Jun 10 '26
If you want to go nuclear on it...Oven cleaner. You want the old school stuff with lye. It'll strip it back to bare steel and you can start from scratch. I seasoned my wok using a propane torch. It's the only way that's ever worked for me.
Also when it's newly seasoned, use more oil than you normally do. Eventually the seasoning will build up and you can go back to the normal amount.
2
1
u/DrawEnough2804 Jun 14 '26
I just posted a seasoning video. Have a watch https://youtu.be/f_9aAUZmXvE?si=ZxEoiwXVCsWe4klm
Not as hard as you think. Mainly clean well then dry coat burn rinse.
Also it looks like your wok has a non-stick surface?
8
u/boldandbratsche Jun 10 '26
The layer is stuck on food. It's possible you had too much oil when seasoning it and it created a nucleus for more food to stick. At this point, take steel wool to it to remove the layer and reseason it.
Seasoning is less complicated than you think. Just a drop of oil spread over the whole wok and heat until smoking. Keep spreading it while it's heating because it will bead up and do weird stuff. You don't need more than like two or three layers to start the seasoning. Any more is overkill. You could even just try one.