“If you ask chefs what we use in our homes, most of us probably didn’t buy the pre-seasoned wok from a fancy kitchen store for $100,” says Melissa Miranda, chef-owner of Musang in Seattle. Miranda’s own wok, a carbon steel workhorsestars by his side in his Bon Appétit video for adobong pusit pancit (a dish of Filipino noodles with calamari and adobo). In the video, Miranda uses her wok to cook the alliums that serve as the base of the dish before quickly adding the diced tomatoes, calamari, fish stock and adobo sauce. “It’s very important to have all your preparation ready, because you can see that it is already starting to cook,” says Miranda. She then adds the wok noodles, which soak up the deliciously tangy base of the adobong pusit pancit, and give the dish a very awesome flip or two to combine.
Years of use and care have given Miranda’s wok a rich seasoning patina that acts as a nonstick finish, and its carbon steel construction allows the chef to use stainless steel tongs and spatulas without ulterior motive. “I remember growing up my mom ended up buying a nonstick wok and it was ruined,” she says. “If she used tongs, she scraped the bottom, whereas this one, she can take a beating.”
It’s clear that carbon steel is a staple material for professional chefs: it’s lightweight, durable, heats up in a flash, and becomes naturally nonstick with use. For all the attributes that endear the material to pros, Miranda thinks it’s equally suited to the enthusiastic home cook. “When you’re talking about Asian cuisines, you want that kind of char or smoky, high-temperature frying that you can’t really get when you’re waiting for stainless steel to heat up.”
Carbon steel woks excel in stir-fries (“The beauty of cooking quickly over high heat means you can’t overcook vegetables,” she says), but Miranda also uses hers for everything from stir-fries to fried rice and noodle dishes. “My team laughs at me, but I actually make pasta dishes in my wok,” she says. “It helps to have a large enough surface area to really get that integration of the sauce and the noodles, which release their gluten and starches into the liquid and make the dish creamier.”
The woks are offered with either a flat bottomallowing them to sit on a stove’s burner grate like any other pot or pan, or a Round bottomwhich requires a wok ring to position the wok as close as possible to the heat source. Aside from the “rounded vs. flat” and “carbon steel vs. non-stick” choices to make while shopping, the final consideration is whether to season your wok yourself or buy one. pre-seasoned.
While some may prefer the ease of a pre-seasoned wok, Miranda is ready to take the seasoning adventure on her own. “Seasoning is part of the wok story,” she says. Since carbon steel is vulnerable to rust, you should ensure your wok is completely dry before storing. Miranda dries hers on a stovetop burner and re-seasons it with a coat of cooking oil spray. “It’s kind of like cast iron that way,” she said.
While Miranda sourced her go-to wok – it’s one of several the chef uses in Musang’s kitchen – from a restaurant supply store, the San Francisco online outpost Wok Shop is another reliable source for woks and their accessories. Miranda also recommends in-person shopping: “You can go to Asian markets or stroll through Chinatown. They have such beautiful and beautiful pans. It takes a little extra elbow grease and a love of cooking with an unseasoned carbon steel wok, but it will last a lifetime.
