How to season a wok with James May | Ft. School of Wok

hello viewers this is jeremy pang and we are in school of wok if you can't see what they did there then you need to examine yourself very carefully rachel hogg is also with me we're going to learn about walks believe it or not we're going to start wok seasoning is that correct seasoning which is something i've never heard of and the first thing i'm going to do is get my wok out and show it to jeremy let's have a look right so i've had this for about a year and a half okay i've had no formal instruction apart from the chinese bloke who sold it to me who gave me a few tips it wasn't me it wasn't you it was a man named john lewis other department stores are available i've cooked quite a few things in it mainly sort of pseudo asian stir fries obviously and it looks like that that's actually pretty good looking ah i'm relatively impressed with that what do you think rachel do you think i mean yes is it fine it's almost there yeah the darker your wok the better it is that's what i wanted to be even yeah you'd want it to be a bit more even but did you do anything with it before you started using it i heated it up no i cleaned it because it was a new steel thing okay this is guesswork really but when i finished using it i rinse it with boiling water and i rub it with a very soft brush and maybe a tiny bit of washing up liquid and then i just dry it on the heat you're a wock master oh is that correct yeah you're absolutely right that's where most people go wrong they don't dry it it's carbon steel so it's supposed to you don't want it to rust of course which is why you dry on hob but you do want to burn it as much as possible well this is the the thing is the first couple of times i used it whilst it was still new let's just look at this so that we know that's my walk with some use but obviously not professional levels of use this has been used once a week say and this is a brand new walk yeah so you always would have you would have started with that color wouldn't you yeah it looked exactly like that the first few times i used it it did go a bit rusty then i started wiping it dry and rubbing a bit of olive oil in it with a cloth and then i thought no if i just it's designed to heat up quickly so just put it on the on the gas until it dries off wave it around a bit put it away you know i don't think there's actually a huge amount that we need to do to finish that off i think we can finish the sides off i've scrubbed it and we'll give it hard no it's all right to scrub it i think we'll give it another scrub but burn it again really well did you put a bit of oil on it before you burned it the first time yes yes so that little sheet of oil just burns that carbon layer onto it i think more this is something that scares me in cooking and it's it's probably a bit of a western thing but i'm terrified of things being too hot and i generally don't have the wok hot enough because he's got to be smoking hot yes before you add anything yeah but we'll go through this uh when we're cooking as well is that sort of being able to change the heat really quickly makes all the difference yes and different bits of it are at different temperatures aren't they this is something i said on the cooking show the reason this is such a versatile device and it was you know it's centuries old and it was used by nomadic peoples who traveled and couldn't carry a whole cupboard full of pots is it actually has the effect of being several rings on a hob so you've got the very hot one there then you've got those little rings where you put your baked beans for example is this not that you put babies in here but these are effectively the smaller rings because they're cooler this is very thin so heat dissipates very very quickly so that is where we're going to try and get your wok look at that you see so that's been that's probably about the same age as this wok but we've burnt it all the way around and it's that circulation of heat from that round bottom but also the movement so there you go if you're interested in cooking don't come to school of walk they burn everything taking it back to sort of basics for people that might not know what is the point of seasoning a wok at all very good question you don't have to season every what you've got obviously you've got non-stick woks which have a non-stick layer that be we do sell them but only because that's what people buy and it it's it's taken 10 years to be honest to get people coming here and going straight for a carbon steel walk as opposed to a non-stick walk the difference is it is it's exactly the same walk it's just got that non-stick layer on that layer can definitely come off over time yeah also you don't get the same sort of smoky flavor of it so the reason for seasoning a carbon steel wok is to create that sort of natural non-stick layer but even if you get a wok like ours is the round bottom rock over there you get it to that point you still need to know that heat thing if you put say an egg into a lukewarm wok it'll just stick to that wok no matter what wok it is if you put it into smoking hot wok or like the oil is smoking hot then it will want to jump out like you're dipping your toe into a really hot bath does it actually affect the flavor then this seasoning i guess it does yeah yeah it does because over time you say your carbon layer of grease essentially it's been burnt onto that wok over time and so you'll get more and more sort of smokiness and it's almost like you know when you're cooking with clay pots and things like that you get that earthy flavor yes like a proper tandoor for example makes things taste smoky yeah the way you explain the beans on the side of the wok kind of like a handle to me yeah i haven't done the beans in the water not that you'd admit publicly no only because i hadn't thought of it to be honest are you a great watch user rachel i should have asked you that earlier i don't have a proper one oh which is why i'm giving it a go with the nice clean one and starting from scratch you're going to start from scratch so i'm going to get you started straight away because this is taking a while so you take mine away well what we can do is whilst rachel's scrubbing will get you to finish off seasoning your wok yeah so yours obviously it's brand new so it's going to take a bit more effort i'd get the gloves on because there's a fair amount of washing up liquid in there and we don't want to ruin your delicate hands so we've got a metal scrub in there really give this a proper scrub all the way around inside and out my guess is that sticky label would affect the flavor quite drastically wouldn't it be good is that the test of me scrubbing it hard enough yeah make sure you want to really get that off okay so i'm going to move you over a little just so that you don't get burnt this will be just putting you to one side that's a good start already on yours james i think we can go straight into re-oiling that but you like re-oil it all the way around the base and then all the way around the sides cold yeah cold and then we'll get burning that and you'll see it change color yeah this is that's just vegetable oil vegetable oil yeah okay so however that's actually that's plenty just rub that all the way around give it a proper scrub get your elbows into it yeah make sure you look like you can see scratches into it okay it has got that manufacturing residue yeah residue that's it residue so would you always say use vegetable oil rather than olive oil it's got to be high heating that's why when i scoffed it at the olive oil thing because olive oil is quite a low smoking point and so you're trying to get this to a point where you're you're really smoking the wok up some people say you should never cook you should never fry with olive oil because it doesn't actually get hot enough it burns before it's obviously if you said that to you know a whole load of spanish people or greek people just kick your head yeah perfect okay so sorry before we go on in in places like um china and thailand what is the default oil uh corn oil ground nut oil yup those are those are the ones and peanut oil sometimes used a lot in restaurants i've tried peanuts oil yeah yeah but obviously here i mean there's a lot of peanut allergies as well now so yeah i kind of stay clear of peanut oil myself but um the highest heating oil which we use a lot for one of our customers is um is avocado oil but it's such a thing i'm not surprised yeah i think what is it guys one of the avocados in one box 20 avocados in one bottle and the bottle's not that big and avocados aren't cheap another reason millennials can't afford houses yeah so i'm going to eat we've got the heat on high big flames right we'll let it we'll let it burn and what you want to do is you want to let it burn to a smoking point and then let it smoke and then and then get it to a point where it stops smoking with the heat still on yes because what what you see in smoke is the oil that you just brushed out here we go okay yes right and as you see the smoke form wherever the fire is it will start to turn color and you'll see like the base of your wok starting to go blacker as we speak yes are we getting this can you see this camera people my wok is on fire can you see there you go yeah yeah look so that is now becoming as black as it's almost as if either your what toss is so good that you're sort of flicking food over there and it's like creating more heat over here or your hob somehow maybe it's because you're so tall you're maybe cooking yeah i could be i could dish like that a little but what you want to do is you want to make sure that every part of your wok goes to that color we're pretty much there on the base now and then where you probably the first time use it didn't do was you want to hold it up and do the same all the way around yeah no it's happening there now you can see it look it's it's going golden and then it'll go brown and then it will go black yeah and the fir if it was brand new so you'll see with rachel's on there it'll go all these sort of bluey like purpley pinky colors like a sheen is that actually tempering the steel then because those are the colors of tempering exactly right so i'll let you do that with the rest of your wok from here on in it's like watching a boiling pan of water is this a sort of fire and forget thing do you do it once again it was done yeah unless you're cooking like loads of like vinegary like acidy stuff in a new wok you should only really have to do it once but don't scrub it off so don't use the wire scrubber once you've seized it it's actually all right yeah because as you say you've got to after this there is some maintenance to it like a lot of people wash their wok whether it's with a scrub or a sponge and then just dry it with a tea towel and put it in the cupboard you can't do that it's carbon steel or rust after about 10 minutes yes so you're right in saying that you've got to dry your wok as soon as you finish cleaning it dry it on the hob if you're drying the hob it's basically re-seasoning itself at that point anyway yes i also find it incredibly satisfying to once i finish you know rubbing it with my soft brush to then put it on the heat and just watch the little droplets of water dance around and then they sort of yeah they moved themselves and then they just one of our customers called it the mercury ball effect it is like a mercury ball yeah exactly that that's what we think that's definitely great huh that's a good looking wok it's also extremely hot it's roasting my face this thing that annoys me about my own cooking which is clearly not particularly good is that i'm someone who generally likes undercooked things right so i like i like raw japanese type things i like crispy vegetables al dente pasta crispy things from the wok um but i tend to overcook everything because i'm neurotic i know i don't do it quickly enough i made a stir fry the other day and it took about 25 minutes and i thought that can't be right it should only take five minutes yeah i said on a domestic hob no more than three to five minutes but i'm going to sound to one side now and watch rachel mess this up so it's straight on straight on yeah because it will try no it'll dry it is it still really hot james yeah i was wondering because i've got this half-eaten sticky bow i'm just wondering if i give it a quick warm in my wok oh that's nice just warm up a piece of bread so the difference is obviously yours brand new so it won't be it won't get as black as that work over there what it will do is it will go to those sort of bluey pink sheen colors yeah you can see it turning now so it'll start brown and then it'll start to go we're doing this once and you have to do it all the way around okay and then we'll do the oil after that so it's two burns okay yeah obviously in between just let it cool because we don't want you to put your oil hands onto yeah the hot wok but it's nice and quick yeah this whole process 10 10 15 minutes max the only bit we're missing is probably that bit there we'll keep that up try not to burn the handle i was going to say do you ever set the handle on fire just so you don't burn yourself you want to let that cool for a couple of minutes once it's cool enough get a little bit of oil around brush that all the way around and then burn that again and then your wok will be ready to cook with as well i feel like a lot of people would be like oh i don't want to get my walk to that stage because it looks like it's burnt i think people have still kind of got that kind of wanting to keep their pans looking nice and clean people still are unsure you know where like how far they have to push it yeah the key is burn it properly burn it it's interesting you're talking about mums my mother would look at that and say that's a right mess i'd better clean that up until it was shiny but imagine putting my mum in your mum at the same time constant war of war i would just like to say whilst you're working on your walk do you have um like a sponge wipe because rachel's made a shocking yes i really have it's all over the floor you had one simple job you just had to wash a wok in a bowl a lot of people set their houses on fire in hong kong to be honest not a lot of people really cook in hong kong really because the houses the flats are really small but kitchens particularly are tiny right good food is so readily available yeah it's actually sometimes especially for one or two people more expensive to go to the market and buy the ingredients that are required than it is to go and eat some street food yes i've often maintained that actually cooking is foolish because why not just get a professional to do it for you it's like building your own television or you know you wouldn't do that so why cook your own food but it is quite good fun it has the added effect of making you appreciate a perfectly standard say chinese takeaway because once you've had a go at making one yourself you realize how good the the real yeah i mean in the takeaway you'll see that they'll have hobs like gas hobs that have like the minimums like 32 jets of three-phase gas yeah the real strong ones are like double that so 64 jets the three-phase gas is pretty strong heat because even this is warm now like well stir-fry in like three minutes in the restaurants you're talking like 45 seconds to a minute i've got to be honest that's one of the reasons i i like if i go out to eat i do like um asian sort of wok style asian food because if you go to a restaurant and you have a say a shepherd's pie they always claim oh you know you know we make a shepherd's pie and you order it and it arrives five minutes later and i know you can't make a shepherd's pie in five minutes but if you order a thai stir-fry and it arrives three minutes later you think well that is actually how long it takes to make so they are actually making that yes absolutely it can't possibly be pre-made no there's stuff that's like pre-prepared yeah yeah yeah pretty chopped pretty chopped or maybe pre-blanched in like some hot water but apart from that everything's fresh but that's done but you can see if you if we show the the comparison very much mine's got a bit of sticky sultana in it though yeah two years plus some sticky sultana and then brand new and you can see the color difference from a used wok versus brand new this is the first time i've ever been ahead of you in cooking right now so do we want to do a little uh mercury board test yeah let's go for it can we grab some light soy and grab some balls of mercury for us to cook the bloke who sold me this said that when you check that it's hot you splash water with your fingers and if it sits around it's not hot enough if it goes when it's gone you've actually got it slightly too hard when it's right it should take about half a second for the blobs of water to disappear is that rubbish no i think that makes sense yeah i'll show you what i mean can we just film in here all the time like compared to the bunker james yes this isn't the bunker yes all right the bunker i don't want to come to the bunker you don't none of it is epic or awesome or banging it's so that is still too cold the water is still sitting there it will evaporate there it goes but yeah that's close yeah i'd say another 15 seconds i say that's about right yes yeah you bang on because when i started looking at what i was looking at the non-stick ones because i had no idea what i was talking about and he saw me and he sort of sidled over with this in his hand and he said you want this one even something as sticky as dark soy which has quite a lot of sugar in it yeah it should do the same thing you see it doesn't skip quite a lot but as much but it creates the bubbles yes and there you go that's almost like a ball if you crack an egg into it if it bubbles up straight away in a wok then you know it's hot enough at that point you might not want it to be crisp up so you then have to change the heat after it's gone in yes by what lifting it off the first way would be lift it up yeah the second way would be stir like folding or stirring it's a stir fry you know and then the third way is like really like pushing and folding it in the real classic way is giving it a proper toss is that it is that a i've never done a wall right so it's a long push forward and a quick flick back the best way to practice that would be to get a tea towel wrap it up and then long push forward quick flick back you see and if it skips up then you're doing a good job that's a fantastic tip practice cooking with a tea towel right you want to try the tea towel i'll try the tea towel wok toss so it's a slow push away so that's a what's an omelet not bad not bad which way is it supposed to be less boaty that's better yes that's the one you want no that was that that was turned over did you see that it turned over is that there guys is how you season your work thank you very much that's um i'm very excited about cooking something because i'm expecting it to taste as good as my favorite chinese takeaway now guaranteed if not better like comment subscribe [Music] you

Channel: What Next?

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Id: CbWVzbeYjsw

Length: 19min 13sec (1153 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 26 2021