Stainless steel wok concern

[kenny1999]

I have a stainless steel wok that has been used for 20+ years as our family's primary tool of cooking and I always felt safe with it until I heard someone on TV say that stainless steel wok should not be used anymore if it's scratched because it will slowly release some carcinogenic chemical compounds from the scratched surface over time. However, he gave no further elaboration.

How does a scratched stainless steel look like? I could often find some light scratched lines on the cooking surface of the wok but it was probably made from the metal utensils during frying, what is the extent of the scratches
that will ruin the stainless steel wok?

 

[roadfix]

A few scratches here and there is not gonna kill ya... They can be hard to clean, if we're talking gouges...

 

[Andy M.]

This sounds absurd to me. Stainless steel is a solid metal. It's the same on the surface and all the way through to the other side. Pots and pans are made with food grade SS which is fully safe for cooking. Please ignore that advice. Your wok is safe to use.

If the person was talking about some other composition, that could be different. If they were talking about Teflon coated SS, I can understand someone saying that but that's also false.

Also, just woks that are SS or any pan shape?

 

[kenny1999]

This sounds absurd to me. Stainless steel is a solid metal. It's the same on the surface and all the way through to the other side. Pots and pans are made with food grade SS which is fully safe for cooking. Please ignore that advice. Your wok is safe to use.

If the person was talking about some other composition, that could be different. If they were talking about Teflon coated SS, I can understand someone saying that but that's also false.

Also, just woks that are SS or any pan shape?

Below are pictures of my wok. Would you help look at it and give some
advice.

The one on the TV was claimed to be a biology or chemistry Doctor..... that's why I was concerned...

btw, I am not sure if it's food grade or not, and we forget where it was bought either. It was bought in early 1990s, probably 30 years from now....




private image upload

 

[Andy M.]

Honestly Kenny, your wok looks pretty good for a 20+ year old pan. I would not worry about metal issues with this wok. If you have had no issues for 20+ years, you won't have any in the next 20.

There is no issue with scratched SS regardless of how deep the scratches are. The metal is inert and harmless as long as you keep it clean.

 

[Addie]

What Andy said. That wok looks just fine to me also. All my pans are made of SS and if I was going to get sick, it would have happened a long time ago. I have had SS pans for more than 50 years that were scratched from metal spoons and I am still alive and using my scratched up SS.

 

[pepperhead212]

Sounds like somebody wanting to sell you something else! Like others here, some of my SS pans are quite old - got them sometime in the 70s - and I'm still alive.

 

[gadzooks]

Sounds like someone tried to sell you on nickel poisoning from stainless steel cookware. Pure bs, don't believe it for a minute. It's an old lie, been around for a while.

 

[jennyema]

Stainless steel is stainless steel. 100% steel. Nothing leaks or leaches out.

Yours looks fine to me.

Scratched nonstick is more of a concern because a scratch can start peeing.

 

[Andy M.]

...nonstick is more of a concern because a scratch can start peeing.

I'm not cleaning that up!

 

[Just Cooking]

I hate when that happens...

Ross

 

[kenny1999]

Thanks all above, does anyone know if my wok is really made of stainless steel? from the look of the pictures?

It just doesn't look as shiny as other stainless steel wok. Could my wok be anything else otherwise than stainless steel, with the same appearance?

 

[roadfix]

Thanks all above, does anyone know if my wok is really made of stainless steel? from the look of the pictures?

Leave it outside, un-oiled, for a coupe of days and see if it picks up any rust.

 

[jennyema]

Thanks all above, does anyone know if my wok is really made of stainless steel? from the look of the pictures?

It just doesn't look as shiny as other stainless steel wok. Could my wok be anything else otherwise than stainless steel, with the same appearance?

Most woks are traditionally made of carbon steel, but that develops a black seasoning over time. Yours does not look like carbon steel to me.

 

[tenspeed]

Carbon steel is magnetic, 300 series stainless (most food grade stainless is 300) is non-magnetic, and 400 series stainless (a few 400 grades are considered food grade) is magnetic. If a refrigerator magnetic won't stick it is almost assuredly stainless.

 

[kenny1999]

Leave it outside, un-oiled, for a coupe of days and see if it picks up any rust.

what is un-oiled??

 

[roadfix]

what is un-oiled??

Do not apply cooking oil to wok.

 

[kenny1999]

Does this study from a government web suggest that the metal / nickel poisoning is real?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284091/

 

[Andy M.]

Does this study from a government web suggest that the metal / nickel poisoning is real?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284091/

kenny, have you experienced ACD?

 

[jennyema]

Does this study from a government web suggest that the metal / nickel poisoning is real?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284091/

But it has nothing whatsoever to do with scratched surfaces. Which is your professed concern.