Stir Fry - oil catches fire
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powerplantop
Executive Chef
Seasoning helps to prevent sticking, not burning.
It just takes practice, you will get it.
>>seasoned enough
looking at the pix, I'd venture to say no. especially given the various rings & bands. typically "well seasoned" cast iron and carbon steel is near black and relatively even in color.
the earlier experiments may have been detrimental to the seasoning. i.e. - one way to "clean & deseason" a pan for a "fresh start" is to heat it way past normal temperatures. a trip thru the self-cleaning oven cycle, buried in hot coals, many methods used. basically anything organic is "burned away" by the high temperatures.
that the oil(s) ignited so quickly in your experiments is a good indication that the wok was seriously too hot. and fwiw, a "super burner" is not required to over heat an empty pan.
curiously, electrics - often mentioned as inadequate for wok cooking - may be more prone to the problem - see:
http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/11333/2/Buda_Ortins_ResearchPaper.pdf
as to the 'sticking' - two thoughts
first - meats/proteins do want to 'stick' when the hit a hot pan / grill. you may have seen recommendations like "wait until the burger/chop/steak/etc releases from the pan before flipping" - even on a well seasoned cast iron pan, meat will 'stick' for a short while.
second - there's a reason it's called 'stir fry' - anything that goes in the hot wok is immediately stirred / tossed before it has even seconds to 'stick'
although there are thousands of concepts ideas methods on 'how to season a pan' - I use the really dumb and simple approach - I just cook fatty stuff in it until it is 'nicely seasoned' - takes longer, things wantonly stick in the initial thru intermediate stages, but there's not a lot of user question as to when 'it's nicely seasoned' - at some point, more or less 'suddenly' - 'things sticking' is no longer an issue....
looking at the pix, I'd venture to say no. especially given the various rings & bands. typically "well seasoned" cast iron and carbon steel is near black and relatively even in color.
the earlier experiments may have been detrimental to the seasoning. i.e. - one way to "clean & deseason" a pan for a "fresh start" is to heat it way past normal temperatures. a trip thru the self-cleaning oven cycle, buried in hot coals, many methods used. basically anything organic is "burned away" by the high temperatures.
that the oil(s) ignited so quickly in your experiments is a good indication that the wok was seriously too hot. and fwiw, a "super burner" is not required to over heat an empty pan.
curiously, electrics - often mentioned as inadequate for wok cooking - may be more prone to the problem - see:
http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/11333/2/Buda_Ortins_ResearchPaper.pdf
as to the 'sticking' - two thoughts
first - meats/proteins do want to 'stick' when the hit a hot pan / grill. you may have seen recommendations like "wait until the burger/chop/steak/etc releases from the pan before flipping" - even on a well seasoned cast iron pan, meat will 'stick' for a short while.
second - there's a reason it's called 'stir fry' - anything that goes in the hot wok is immediately stirred / tossed before it has even seconds to 'stick'
although there are thousands of concepts ideas methods on 'how to season a pan' - I use the really dumb and simple approach - I just cook fatty stuff in it until it is 'nicely seasoned' - takes longer, things wantonly stick in the initial thru intermediate stages, but there's not a lot of user question as to when 'it's nicely seasoned' - at some point, more or less 'suddenly' - 'things sticking' is no longer an issue....
Cooking Goddess
Chef Extraordinaire
*sigh* She's a beauty, but she's not there yet pistos. It's going to take time and lots of cooking to get that fine patina sported by a properly loved wok. It took a number of years for me to get that Chinese restaurant look to mine. In the meantime be sure to clean the stuck food off without removing the seasoning. I found it best to put that screaming hot pan in the sink and fill the bottom inch or two with the hottest tap water you can draw. I would run the tap to bring the hot water up through the pipes to make sure it was ready when it would hit the wok. After it cools off a bit (usually by the time you've scarfed all your food) use something like a Scotch-Brite heavy duty pad to scrub the softened crust off. Be sure you don't rub so hard as to remove any seasoning though.This is my wok. It's only a few weeks old but this should be seasoned enough to prevent burning, right?
Roll_Bones
Master Chef
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