No Complaints!
I've never had a wok before (only recently got a gas range), but I do own several cast iron pans as well as a couple of de Buyer carbon steel pans so I'm familiar with how to use and care for these types of pans.
Seasoning was pretty straightforward, and I was able to cook my first stir fry with little sticking, which was mainly from cooking the chicken in cornstarch and a somewhat sugary sauce at the end, but overall I made a better stir fry than I ever did before I had a wok. The more I've used it it's started developing that nice patina. I've had to give it a "wok facial" (Google it) a few times to get some nasty gunk off but it just keeps getting better and better. It's mostly black and gray now, still blue up high on the edges where my flames don't reach. I can fry eggs and flip them in there without a spatula.
The weight is nice and I love how it's just slightly curved so it sits on my range, but it's not flat bottomed so you can still get a nice little pool of oil to fry with. It's pretty heavy and I a 38 year old male typically need two hands to flip it (always cooking for 4 though so it's fuller than it should be). Also the handle is kind of short and since it's so heavy your inclination is to grab up the handle closer to the wok, but since there is a decent amount of steel there you can easily grab too far and burn your hand. That's really my only complaint.
To the review about it just being blue paint, the blue coloring comes from a pre-seasoning process, the steel itself isn't blue. There is some manufacturing gunk on it (there is on every new carbon steel pan ever) so I'm not sure if that's just what the reviewer thought was chipping off, or maybe they got a lemon, I don't know. But the point is you could buy a blue carbon steel pan from any manufacturer and strip the blue color (seasoning) off if you really wanted to.
Great quality at real value
Great wok that has been visibly hammered while maintaining smooth surface and done so to a great shape. This is a round-bottom wok, but has worked great on a regular gas stove for me without a stand or any rings. The pre-seasoned wok comes with a beautiful and thorough rich blue oxidation that looks really great in person which I'm not too sure how you would be able to actually achieve on your own unless you really know what your doing. Regardless, with a good season on this pan the non-stick ability is really unbelievable. If you haven't ever seasoned your wok before, I highly recommend looking further into the process as the instructions included are a little bit vague. Below I included a few tips I think can help if interested. However overall, aside from the seasoning which can actually be a very quick simple process, one thing is for sure
and that is that I really find it hard to believe you'd be disappointed in this wok at all. The quality craftsmanship and material constituting this wok stands out and is able to compare well with much higher end woks for a great price in my opinion so I would definitely recommend it.
I happened to use the oven to do mine and the pictures shown are the result. The handle is set extremely firmly into place, however if you want to use the oven to season it it is possible. I would recommend the stove top if you can use a vent and open the windows as the oven method will still be smoky as well. I actually suprisingly happened to use both methods on my pan which I will explain why I did and what to look out for if interested. For the oven, if you can't get the handle off just leave the 2 screws off if you prefer or you can leave one in to be safe while transferring and wet a paper towel damply with water to wrap the handle with it. Afterwards covering in foil to keep the moisture in. This can be done while preheating oven to the first tempature at 200F. When it's ready, 15min to warm the wok for applying the first coat of oil to be polymerized, then is raised to 350F. While the temperature is rising, just barely douse a paper towel with oil and wipe down all the surfaces for a very thin coat. A little bit really does go a long way and thinner the better. After another 15 min once more at 350F the handle should be loose enough to remove at this point and the wok needs as much excess oil wiped off as possible with a clean paper towel because any excess oil will pull together and can form streaks and bake on an uneven season on the next step, which would hardening the oil by using the highest setting that your oven can go to for about 45 min to an hour. This process can be repeated several times to get a better season and the handle can be reinserted while remaining firm. If your using an oven, the result can vary based on oil type and tempature with greater time involved but can result in a very smooth surface. I unconventionally used coconut oil for the oven, but I feel you should use vegetable, lard, canola, or some recommend flax due to its low smoke point which is ideal. Although it's worth mentioning that in the oven, the wok will still smoke because your getting the oil above the smoke point, it's just preventing excess amounts of it smoking when first applying. Over the stove, the process is similar but much faster. This is done by getting your wok very hot. You then want to use the same light application of oil but while holding it on its side and applying only the area the heat is on while making your way around the pan. You can use tongs to do this to swirl it on and then quickly use a dry one to wipe it down again as much as possible. It will seem like you might be wiping it all off but a thin layer will remain. This will smoke off until all of the oil has polymerized then repeat until it is finished. Although there are two key things to watch out for while using this method. One is do not apply access oil or let it sit for too long before removing. This can leave a thicker not yet fully polymerized patch of oil that can ruin your non-stick coating and will peel away your season. This happened to me after finishing multiple coats in the oven and applying a layer of canola oil. However this is easily avoidable and you will definetly be able to tell if it happens. After this, I actually completely removed the first season using baking soda, vinegar, heat and steel wool. The other thing to look out for is over applying coats and overcooking the wok. It is definitely thought that the more coats the better, but this is best developed over time. One or two well applied layers will work great and can result in an amazingly non stick and gently darkened surface. You can definetly easily get this surface to a rich black, but repeatedly doing this on the high flame will actually burn the polymerized oil. It will seem okay, but will start to flake off once cooking and even though it's not more harmful chemicals or metal, you probably don't want this to happen so don't be afraid to reduce the heat some or reduce to around a medium heat once the process gets going.
Wow! This wok is a WOrK of art!
This bad boy is one impressive looking wok. It’s hammered deep dark blue steel. Love the welded handle base, non of that screwed on crap. The wooden handle grip is nice and thick too. The wok is large but not iron skillet heavy for its size. Very impressive wok, the best I’ve found so far. This is easily a $200 wok. It comes pre-seasoned, but I will still season it even more, several coats in fact. Can’t wait to cook my chow mien on it. I’ll also use it for everything else, like carne asada, heck, even fired eggs and bacon. It has a round bottom, so get a stove ring. I’m shocked I’m the first reviewer here, as Yosukata has plenty of reviews on their other woks. They offer the a black hammered wok too, but spend the extra $10 and get this dark blue beauty instead. A+++!!!
***Update*** Just made beef chow mien on it, and it was a glowing success! I seasoned it further. I tested a fried egg, and didn’t stick, success! Obviously after cooking with high heat with oils, etc, the bottom of the wok will change, it no longer has that dark blue, more like a black hue due to the high heat concentrated in the bottom middle, but it’s still smooth to the touch and it’s more stick free than ever. That’s the key, the more you cook on it, the more everything just slides off. I even made huevos rancheros on it! love this wok!!!
