JOYCE CHEN Skilled Sequence 12-Inch Carbon Metal Stir Fry Pan with Phenolic Deal with

Great for the money
I look at the bad reviews here and have to shake my head at people who just have no idea what they’re doing. Someone posted a photo of how food stuck to their pan. A pan that’s shiny silver and obviously never seasoned. Somebody else said to season to a brown color, not burnt black. Look at the woks in any Chinese restaurant kitchen and they’re black.I’ve had mine for quite a few years now and it’s my everyday pan. It gets used for almost everything except for stuff that needs a wide, flat area, like cooking bacon, pork chops, steaks, etc. Seasoned it once and the seasoning has stayed fine over the years as it renews itself with every use. I can cook fried rice with not so much as a grain of rice sticking. Same with eggs. Just get it nice and hot, add a tablespoon of oil, swirl it around and then the food. Cleanup is very easy. A quick rinse and maybe a quick brush with a bamboo wok brush.Works great with my induction cooker. Heats incredibly fast, smoking heavily within 60 seconds even at only 50% power. The bottom has warped slightly but it’s still fine. It doesn’t sit completely flat, mainly because the weight of the handle makes it tip toward that side. Wish it had a lighter handle.

Excellent!!! Don’t give up!!!
Had an expensive non-stick pan and it started to stick after a year so looked for alternative and found carbon steel seemed viable so gave it a try. The pan is very good quality with medium weight steel and good, balanced handle. It has a flat bottom so it works well on my gas stove.The seasoning process took about an hour, but one thing that I did not expect was how much it smelled and the amount of smoke it generated. My kitchen and whole house smelled for 3 days afterwards. I probably used a bit too much oil.After it was seasoned, I tried stir frying some chicken with vegy and wow it made a huge difference. It used to take about 12 minutes to cook over medium heat using the non-stick pan (because high heat destroys the non-stick surface). With this carbon steel pan I was able to cook on high heat and it only took about 6 minutes and it was much more flavorful! It’s deeper so fits more ingredients and very easy to flip. A 3 course dinner took about 15 minutes to cook.Is it non-stick? Absolutely! After cooking I rinsed it in hot water and scrubbed with brush then put it back on the stove and heat for a few minutes to dry it up then coat the inside with a few drops of oil.For seasoning the pan, I would suggest using just enough oil to “coat” the pan and not so much that oil sits at the bottom otherwise it would turn into black tar. Just lightly coat it and burn for like 7-8 minutes until it starts to turn brown, not black. I have seen reviews where others do the seasoning on an outdoor bbq.Overall, very good quality pan and truly non-stick when properly seasoned and a healthy alternative to non-stick. From what I have read, it’s supposed to last a life time :)Edit: After a few uses the seasoning came off and it started to stick so I re-seasoned it and re-seasoned it until it got completely black from too much burned oil. Wife hated it and made me throw it away. I scrubbed it as much as I could with steel wool then re-seasoned. I think I have finally found the right way. Forget the instruction that came with it. Here’s what you do and it will take some time. Drizzle a tablespoon of oil in the pan and wipe it with a paper towel inside and out. Heat on stove until it starts to smoke then remove. Don’t burn it. If it burns and turns black it’s burned and you need to scub it out. Repeat the process about 2-3 times a day for at least 7-8 days. Then it will have a nice coat of seasoning. Now my pan is dark brown inside and black outside. I can fried an egg and make hashbrowns with minimal sticking which I use a spatula and it comes right off. YOU WILL NEED TO USE MORE OIL THAN NON-STICK PANs otherwise it will stick. I absolutely love my wok love love love!

After a few attempts at woks in the distant past thought I’d give this another try. Over the years I’ve become a seasoned home cook … and frankly tired of wrecking non-stick pans making anything Asian. Firstly I did extensive research on woks and how to season ones like this.When it arrived it had simple to follow instructions, right there, printed in large text on cardboard in the wok. As instructed boiled water in it, dumped that out, turned off the electric burner then cleaned the wok with hot water and a soapy steel-wool pad to remove the invisible protective factory coating. (The supplied instruction were excellent and I was also glad to have watched some videos before proceeding here.) Back on the still warm burner to wipe it completely dry, applied a thin layer of oil and some salt, removed the handle and placed in a 450F oven. Keeping a very close watch finally pulled it out when looking slightly copper coloured from the oil and wiped away excess oil/salt. Thought it looked a bit too ‘glazed’ from maybe having used too much oil in the oven so handle back on, used a soapy steel wool pad to remove some darker spots leaving behind most of what I could. Wiped dry again and finished the seasoning on a med-high burner applying abit more oil and slowly rotating the wok along it’s sides and bottom to distribute the heat. Looking copper again so removed from the burner, wiped off any remaining oil and let cool.Next night put the cleaned and seasoned wok on the electric stove-top burner set to medium-high. First made spicy pan-fried egg noodles and next, without cleaning the wok, vegetable and chicken stir-fry. All done gave it a quick rinse and sponge wipe in a little hot water no soap just to get off the larger bits. Wiped dry then back on the turned-off (but still hot) burner and applied abit of oil, wiped off any excess. Nothing stuck to the wok and there is no rust.Excellent product, well suited for 2-4 people and awesome quality that will last for many years (unlike non-stick coating pans). This will pay for itself many times over as now we don’t order in anymore … love this wok.

After a few month of use, the flat bottom becomes round, like a ball. As a result, it could not be used on modern stoves.Do not buy it.