Helen’s Asian Kitchen Wok, Premium Excalibur Non-Persist with Keep-Cool Handles, 14-Inches

Great wok for the money. Carbon steel, like cast iron, must be seasoned.
The wok is solid and the perfect size for the average family kitchen. It has a lid which is great. It weighs a mere 3lbs 7.1 ounces. It must must must be seasoned. Carbon steel will rust just like cast iron. Lovers of these types of pots know this and feel it’s worth the effort and the benefits outweigh the extra steps. Here’s what I did: I chose to season the wok inside and out. Only the inside is really necessary but each coat of seasoning will further darken and protect the surfaces.Scrub the wok with soap and water, and dry completely.Remove the long handle completely and to protect the non-removable helper handle, cover it with a layer of aluminum foil, a damp paper towel and cover the damp paper towel with another layer of foil.Then with a paper towel apply a (very) thin layer of oil to the surface to be seasoned. I use flaxseed oil for its low smoke point but vegetable oil will work fine.Put the oiled wok bottom up in a cold oven and set it to 500 degrees F (260C) or as high as your oven will go.As the oven reaches temp the (very) thin layer of oil will pass through it’s smoke point (and smoke! but no worries. open a window…) and the oil will carbonize and darken.When the oven reaches setpoint turn off the heat and let it cool down. You can open the door in a bit to speed up the cooling.When cool enough to handle re-wrap or moisten helper handle if necessary and repeat the process one or two more times; up to six times total if you feel froggy.This method works for cast iron even better. Six coats and a cast iron pan will be black as soot and outlast us all. For the wok i went with two coats for esthetic reasons mostly. It’s protected looks cool and will only get more non-stick with further use.The helper handle is permanently attached. The long handle is essentially a wooden tube with an extended wing bolt through the center. You screw the rod into the handle base through the wooden handle using the hanging ring. It’s quite solid once dogged down. The handle design allows for an fix to a minor annoyance for me. The acute angle of the upward facing handle end can be irritating with extended use but the can be rotated 180 degrees so the wider angle faces up reducing this effect. As a bonus the handle has “Helen Chen” prominently branded on to the top and it isn’t visible when rotated into the more comfortable position.

Se curo 4 veces como dice el instructivo y no sirve, se pega la comida aun con aceite.

Proper cooking in a carbon steel wok requires preparation and technique. Important to note is that seasoning a carbon steel wok is not like seasoning a cast iron pan; you’re aiming to blue the steel, then blacken it, forming a protective layer against rust. If you try to treat this like seasoning a cast iron pan, you will likely be upset with the results if you use this to do traditional high heat Cantonese style dishes; that polymerized oil seasoning will be destroyed at those temperatures.I use a 3,600W induction burner and have no issues getting wonderful wok hei in my dishes.Unlike thinner and cheaper carbon steel woks I have used, it has not warped on the bottom at all, despite many trips up to 580+*F (according to my infrared thermometer).If you treat this wok right, it is a wonderful tool. Note: The actual measurement is 13.5″ ish across, not 14 though. Price is a little steep compared to my old wok but it comes with a lid which is nice for this size of wok.