Seasoned a new 14 inch carbon steel wok on the hob following instructions — heated it until it blued, wiped oil, repeated four times. It went a nice bronze colour. Weeks later the surface still feels tacky to the touch, like slightly gummy varnish, and food grabs onto it. It doesn't wash off with soap and water. What did I do?
Also, don't over-season a wok in the first place. Two thin rounds is plenty and then you cook in it — high heat stir frying builds seasoning faster than any deliberate process. The bronze you're chasing arrives from use.
If you have an outdoor burner or a barbecue side ring, that's the easy answer. Far more heat than an indoor hob and you're not filling the kitchen with smoke.
Domestic hobs are usually the underlying issue with woks. Home burners can't get a 14 inch pan hot across the whole surface, so the ring where the flame hits cures properly and the sloping sides stay tacky. Tilt and rotate the wok constantly while seasoning so every part gets time over the flame.
This. Ten minutes of slowly rotating the wok at an angle over a burner gets the walls hot in a way that just sitting it flat never will.
Once fixed, avoid long simmers of anything acidic in it for the first few months — tomato sauces will strip a young wok seasoning quickly. Stir fries and searing only for a while.
@carbon_steel_cam · 6mo ago · 3 replies
Too much oil that never fully polymerised. Tacky means the oil got hot enough to thicken and go sticky but not hot enough for long enough to turn into a hard film. It's essentially half-cured varnish, which is why soap does nothing.
To fix: scrub the tacky areas hard with steel wool or the rough side of a scourer plus coarse salt until the gummy feel is gone. You don't need to go all the way to bare metal, just past the sticky layer. Then re-season with a genuinely wiped-off coat and heat until the pan stops smoking, not just until it looks different.
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@levain_lorna · 6mo ago
Stopping when it stops smoking rather than when it changes colour is a much clearer signal, thanks.
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@carbon_steel_cam · 6mo ago
That's the whole trick on a hob. Smoke means the oil is breaking down and cross-linking. Stop early and you get exactly what you've got.
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