Seasoning really works...

So, today, I got a good - well, decent - carbon steel wok.

First step: clean it with a good steel wool pad - they coat them with an anti-rust coating.

Then, put a thin coating of cooking oil on, and heat it up - wipe with some paper towels from time to time, until you've got a bit of a dark coating on the bottom of the wok, and you're not picking up dark stuff on the paper towels. Don't expect the coating to be perfect and even (at least, not if you're like me :-) ).

What you're doing is getting tiny bits of oil to fill in the pores in the metal. These pores are where the real sticking occurs between a pan and food. Once those pores are stopped up, the food (mostly) won't stick. (

Side note: again, if you're like me, you don't want to think that you're trying to *coat* the pan with a layer of burned on-oil. You're not. Eventually, it'll darken more and you will kinda-sorta have such a coating, but it'll happen naturally, over time. Trying to force it will lead to having too much coating, which will flake off, leaving bare metal beneath. So, just a light coating.

And then... well, color me a bit surprised.

I could stir fry chicken - no sticking.

I could stir fry onion and carrot - no sticking.

I could make fried rice with fresh white rice - no sticking.

This new wok could end up being almost as dangerous to my waistline as my old deep fryer....