# Getting black burning off inside of a wok



## Blue Hills (27 Nov 2019)

Anyone any hot tips?

It's NOT non stick - just plain metal.

So can use those steel wool cleaners.

Have been gradually scrubbing the affected area for a while on each clean but progress has stopped.

I have the hopeful idea that perhaps there's some harmless but effective household product I can heat up in it to kinda magically shift/loosen it but maybe a vain hope.

If a solution is forthcoming perhaps I can also use it on my various blackened bialetti coffee pots (tho they are aluminium I think).


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## Smudge (27 Nov 2019)

You shouldn't clean plain steel pans back to shiny metal. Let them build up the burnt on oil and that makes them non stick. Its how you season pans.
I dont clean moka pots either, i let them go black inside with the coffee oil and just swill them out. It makes better tasting coffee.


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## Profpointy (27 Nov 2019)

Smudge said:


> You shouldn't clean plain steel pans back to shiny metal. Let them build up the burnt on oil and that makes them non stick. Its how you season pans.
> I dont clean moka pots either, i let them go black inside with the coffee oil and just swill them out. It makes better tasting coffee.


 
Wot he said ^. You really don't want to be getting the black off. The tricky bit is building up the black layer in the first olace


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## PeteXXX (27 Nov 2019)

My old cast iron frying pan just needed some salt cooked in it every now and again. Definitely no soapy scrubbing!! 
Similar treatment might work on a wok as well, but wait for a wok expert to happen by to confirm. ..


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## Dayvo (27 Nov 2019)

Blue Hills said:


> Anyone any hot tips?
> 
> It's NOT non stick - just plain metal.
> 
> ...



That's exactly what I did this morning after the first use of our new iron wok. A brillo pad does the trick. Make sure you rinse afterwards very thoroughly as there will be loads of minute iron 'filings'.


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## Blue Hills (27 Nov 2019)

Profpointy said:


> Wot he said ^. You really don't want to be getting the black off. The tricky bit is building up the black layer in the first olace


interesting view from yourself and smudge.
Must admit I never bothered much before but was semi convinced by a certain person that the black stuff was potentially carcinogenic since it was burned on products of combustion.
Never going to have stuff sticking to a wok anyway due to the nature of the cooking system - I avoid non stick coatings as unnecessary NASA propaganda.
Re the moka pot that is only external anyway - was just thinking that if I was made aware of a wonder system I would clean those up. I never wash those in soapy water of course - just wipe.

Other views welcomed from wok experts.


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## Profpointy (27 Nov 2019)

I gather the burnt oil stuff, and blackened food generally could be somewhat carcinogenic, but that said, it mostly stays on the pan, so I'm inclined not to worry unduly. To much grilled or barbie'd food is supposedly bad for the same reasons


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## raleighnut (27 Nov 2019)

I keep ruining the 'seasoning' on mine by cooking Sweet and Sour in it, then I have to redo it with hot oil and kitchen roll so boiling Vinegar in it should get it off if that's what you want to achieve.


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## Levo-Lon (27 Nov 2019)

Stainless steel scourers, not brillo as they fall apart. 

These, get them in any store, or amazon

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/sainsburys-stainless-steel-scourers-x3?gclid=Cj0KCQiA2vjuBRCqARIsAJL5a-JVKCwQff4xB3qhrbwlgXGbRhOmTVlvY9-i4JADM4iLzPJtctSfGWMaAmi8EALw_wcB&storeId=10151&langId=44&krypto=UcflY5MoJ6wvARblkUHMaxZEFdaQgP+ZmsJA10lSMIEbKW47SYCR/EP1e+nNQ0Gwv6ubhIJI0ysk+OIx/Fj1Zw689tjIBOs61/WZN/k7/Pm9dwtu7jiXRzxZbdQmgWRl04kvuUbRbIu5I+x852G32UL2asFVo/u/EcZ4plIACwla21rmxvM36kLrOGQ4XmE+qC+FwusDYDCzw5x4/Pqs+3ylwxmK7wrVCnN99qjO5Yf/BP5yoKXbGHF5ZeF7ajrIU3QDbtxqtbgdaHzna5wVcch1bNc+7Pz/VmtSwEEJ8HoDAGALFSTy1pl1MHiYp8fBIFjfSAjXo7bYLCACpEfT6NXS+416O0u0q89uliwJdtA=&ddkey=https:gb/groceries/sainsburys-stainless-steel-scourers-x3


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## slowmotion (27 Nov 2019)

meta lon said:


> Stainless steel scourers, not brillo as they fall apart.
> 
> These, get them in any store, or amazon
> 
> https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/sainsburys-stainless-steel-scourers-x3?gclid=Cj0KCQiA2vjuBRCqARIsAJL5a-JVKCwQff4xB3qhrbwlgXGbRhOmTVlvY9-i4JADM4iLzPJtctSfGWMaAmi8EALw_wcB&storeId=10151&langId=44&krypto=UcflY5MoJ6wvARblkUHMaxZEFdaQgP+ZmsJA10lSMIEbKW47SYCR/EP1e+nNQ0Gwv6ubhIJI0ysk+OIx/Fj1Zw689tjIBOs61/WZN/k7/Pm9dwtu7jiXRzxZbdQmgWRl04kvuUbRbIu5I+x852G32UL2asFVo/u/EcZ4plIACwla21rmxvM36kLrOGQ4XmE+qC+FwusDYDCzw5x4/Pqs+3ylwxmK7wrVCnN99qjO5Yf/BP5yoKXbGHF5ZeF7ajrIU3QDbtxqtbgdaHzna5wVcch1bNc+7Pz/VmtSwEEJ8HoDAGALFSTy1pl1MHiYp8fBIFjfSAjXo7bYLCACpEfT6NXS+416O0u0q89uliwJdtA=&ddkey=https:gb/groceries/sainsburys-stainless-steel-scourers-x3


Wilko do them too.
https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-stainless-steel-scourers-6-pack/p/0178483


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## ozboz (28 Nov 2019)

Keep empty wok on the stove and heat up the wok to high.
Pour room temperature water into the wok.
Add baking soda to the water in the wok.
Bring the mixture to the boil.
Turn off the stove and soak the wok in the solution for a few hours.
Rub the burnt food residue with the scrubber and clean it thoroughly.

I came across this on the net 
Maybe it works


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## Fab Foodie (28 Nov 2019)

Pink Stuff. THE BBQ fraternity use it to bring ‘em up shiny.
But really the burnt-on layer is exactly what you want on steel or iron pans!
Teflon is the work of stan....


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## Fab Foodie (28 Nov 2019)

ozboz said:


> Keep empty wok on the stove and heat up the wok to high.
> Pour room temperature water into the wok.
> Add baking soda to the water in the wok.
> Bring the mixture to the boil.
> ...


Hot alkali is the method used by industry to clean industrial fryers/ovens etc. Soaking in clothes washing powder is also quite effective.


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## Drago (28 Nov 2019)




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## Archie_tect (28 Nov 2019)

ozboz said:


> Keep empty wok on the stove and heat up the wok to high.
> Pour room temperature water into the wok.
> Add baking soda to the water in the wok.
> Bring the mixture to the boil.
> ...




I find it helps to ring the Fire Brigade before I start the process as it saves time at the end.


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## MontyVeda (28 Nov 2019)

Just play around with various combinations of white vinegar, lemon juice, elbow grease, bicarb and a plain steel scourer.


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## PK99 (28 Nov 2019)

Blue Hills said:


> Anyone any hot tips?
> 
> It's NOT non stick - just plain metal.
> 
> ...



I'm confused as to what you are talking about here?

Black, crusty lumps of burnt food stuck to the cooking surface?
or
The black even surface of a seasoned iron wok or pan?

The former is bad: I put on the hob at max temp and then scrape off

The latter is good: 
Wiki:
_The seasoned surface consists of a polymerized and plasticized coating.
The process of heating a pan to cause the oil to oxidize is analogous to the hardening of drying oil used in oil paints, or to varnish a painting. But whereas the curing of oils is the result of autoxidation at room temperature for a painting, for a pan, the thermoxidized oil undergoes a conversion into the hard surface of the seasoned pan at the high temperatures of cooking.
When oils or fats are heated in a pan, multiple degradation reactions occur, including: autoxidation, thermal oxidation, polymerization, and cyclization.[14][15]
The surface is hydrophobic and thus highly attractive to oils and fats used for cooking and thus when used with a layer of oil prevents foods, which typically contain water, from touching and cooking on to the hydrophilic metallic cooking surface that lies beneath._


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## Blue Hills (28 Nov 2019)

Thanks for the quote PK but that's all a bit a beyond me.

It's not crusty stuff - just a thick black coating in some bits.

To tell the truth I can't see how it aids non-stick properties as I always season a wok after my (only infrequent) cleaning and the use of only moderate bits of oil and the stirring action prevents anything sticking - I have never had anything stick in a wok in my life.

I do note though that if I let the black build up too much my stir fried chicken bits do get somewhat covered in black bits which strikes me as not good.

Anyways will largely relax - shouldn't listen to Italians so much (esteemed mod excepted) - they can be notoriously fussy about non Italian food and somewhat hypochondriac to boot.


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## PK99 (28 Nov 2019)

Blue Hills said:


> Thanks for the quote PK but that's all a bit a beyond me.
> 
> It's not crusty stuff - just a thick black coating in some bits.
> 
> ...



Attached pic is of properly seasoned iron pan. Surface is as described in quote and is Teflon like in its non stickabilit






y.


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## Levo-Lon (28 Nov 2019)

Fab Foodie said:


> Pink Stuff. THE BBQ fraternity use it to bring ‘em up shiny.
> But really the burnt-on layer is exactly what you want on steel or iron pans!
> Teflon is the work of stan....




Poor Stan, he gets the blame for everything


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## PK99 (28 Nov 2019)

meta lon said:


> Poor Stan, he gets the blame for everything



Are you confusing Stan with Bill Posters?


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## Fab Foodie (1 Dec 2019)

Bought one of these in Aldi... £13 bargain. Weighty too....mild steel teflon-free loveliness :-)


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## Fab Foodie (1 Dec 2019)

Anyhow, here’s what I love about cast-iron and steel non teflon pans, a multitude of uses....











load ‘em up and shove ‘em in the oven....


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## oldwheels (3 Dec 2019)

Boil up a strong washing soda solution and leave to soak overnight. With rubber gloves scrub with stainless steel scrubber if needed. Season with oil after pan is dry.


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