I feel your pan....errr pain

michaelp

Gibby someone took Ajax with bleach to my favorite aluminum pressure cooker. I cried for days.

How frustrating! This happened to Lou's pizza pans once. Lou, you here to empathize?

"My wife and Sister in Law did me a favor one day and
cleaned the pans til they looked like new.Thanks Girls !!!
I had to start all over again. "

Gibby, just remember he meant well. No harm intended, he was just clueless. Now be careful, or you may lose your clean up crew. And you don't want that!

This is why I turn down kind offers of help in my kitchen .. yes I am anal about my cookware :)

Thanks - I feel better now!!

He's a great guy - but clueless as you say pkramer. Plus he gets kind of anal about cleaning certain things - not everything mind you - just certain things that he thinks might have the characteristics of a petri dish. I sent him an article about use and care of a wok - for future reference.

At least I could expedite my re-seasoning project by setting the wok outside in zero degree temp to cool down quickly between steps. And today's another day - it's all behind me now.

Fenworth:
And that was 100 Pans !!!!!

Gibby:
Feel better ???
Lou

Oh my.....I'm not only feeling better....now I'm euphoric....

My DH actually put a wire brush attachment on a power drill and used it to clean "all that old gunk" off the cast iron skillets I inherited from my grandmother.

Now, when I see that look in his eye, I hide the skillets when I leave for work :P

Ha-ha slowlane - I should be happy my DH doesn't do power tools.....that could be really dangerous.

How annoying! At least the wok seasoning is recoverable - annoying but before long it should be back to normal.

jessyf - Ajax on aluminum - that sounds like there could be permanent damage. I try not to have that stuff in the house.

Well all of you have a much different problem than I do. I can't get Norm to get any pans really clean! He would NEVER scrub with any powder type thing. And he doesn't even look for any scrubbie except the little nylon one I keep in the sink. I try really hard to show him that it takes more than one wash to get the oil off the salad bowls or the pans but it's hopeless. He actually tells me that you can't get things clean, or not greasy! Sigh. I just rewash stuff. He can load the dishwasher well.

I have never had this happen, but my father once took a wire brush to my mother's old second-hand frying pan. I think the pan was made of aluminium, but it could have been quite thin cast iron, beautifully burned-in and black all over. He was only supposed to do the outside, to make it look nicer, but he did the inside as well. It turned out that the black stuff had not only been making the pan non-stick, but it had actually filled up some shallow dents in the bottom of the pan. The pan never recovered and a few months later mom got her first Teflon pan.

Cloud: I don't have that stuff in my house. I had lent my PC out to someone! This same person cleaned out my Rommertof (sp?) clay cooker with steel wool. Sigh.

Gibby;
I know there is a lot of controversy about seasoning pans,etc.
I coated mine with Veg. oil and put them in the Pizza over for about 6 hours.
They say the Oil turns Rancid but I never had that.
It Carbonizes the oil to a non stick finish.
Do it as often as you can.
LOU

When I was young, ah younger, my mother gave me her old, black, deep, earthenware/clay? pie dish & I used it for several years for small casseroles, baking, etc & it cooked like a dream (I don't remember ever baking a pie in it though, LOL). Then I got my first dishwasher. One cycle & it was ruined. Before it had been black & smooth as silk - it never crossed my mind that this was a built up finish - after the d/w, it was porous & a light colored blotchy clay that obviously wasn't glazed. I still have it but I've never attempted to get that life time of seasoning back on it!

Antiquesilver:
Why ?????
Try brushing some veg. oil in it and bake on high heat,for a couple of hours.
If you get the same Patina as Original, do it again.
LOU

I did that to my sister once when I was in college. I was visiting and trying to be really helpful. Scoured them all out so they looked like new. She was nice enough not to say anything but a litle lame thank you. It took me years think that maybe I was a little clueless back then.

I hope he learned a lesson that he will remember. His remembering is the important thing. that was a shame.

gibby3000, if its a "steel" wok that you have had for 10 years (cooked a lot in it, "it's black"), you don't really have a problem at all! He just cleaned off the surface, not the pores probably. Just put some olive/peanut oil in it, get it smoking hot for a couple of minutes, swish it around, let it cool down, dispose of the oil, give it a light wash with a couple drops of Dawn and water, rinse well, dry very well,good as new!

However if it's a stainless steel/aluminum/Teflon coated whatever/ through it in the trash and go get a steel wok.
If it is not plain cheap steel it is junk!

"Good as new" - that's the whole problem, Change!

I thought it was the vapors from the Zatarain's liquid crab boil. However, maybe what we are witnessing is a "Don Quixote de la Mancha" syndrome.

Dan

fenworth , I have to agree with you in that there is no way to restore the steel wok except to use it for 10 more years. Our wok, which I have posted many pics of on this and other forums, has been in use several times a week for 37 years. It has never seen soap, a swish with a brush and very hot water and then wipe with peanut oil and heat for a second on a gas flame. There is no restoration process that will equate with use. c

Trailrunner:
Fenworth:
I agree with you both. Can't get back the Patina that was lost.
But she can start to season it by baking it in the oven, if this is practical.
Just like my Pizza pans . I had to start all over again.
But everything was not lost.

I never washed them with soap and water either.
James :
In the book, is there a "How to Season " ??? Besides cooking for 10 years.
Does it say anything about, seasoning in an oven for hours.

I don't want to stay in here and get into any of the arguements, you are in.

Especially, with people who have a lot of Hind Sight.
I don't know what that means, Just heard it before.
I'm one of the Stupid ones.
LOU

Trailrunner was a kitchen forum buddy of mine when we were redoing our kitchen - hers was slightly ahead of mine. She had posts of dinner being wok'ed with her temporary kitchen set up during the remodel, her range top was partly chosen for its center wok burner, her first pictures of cooking in her completed kitchen were using the wok and her recent anniversary post also showed dinner made in the wok that traveled for her marriage with her. Her credentials regarding wok use are well established IMO.

hawk, as fenworth mentioned, the book has a whole chapter on seasoning. It includes seasoning in an oven as well as other methods. Some woks have metal handles that don't take well to time in the oven. We got new woks when our kitchen was completed - they were pretty good after the first seasoning, but they definitely are still improving with use. Mine our pow woks (the kind with a long handle). I haven't tried, but I don't think the 14" would fit in our oven and I'm sure the 16" wouldn't.

Michael: Why not put on the gloves here, you won't have to get up to change Channels.
Lou

Some woks have metal handles that don't take well to time in the oven.

Oops! I meant to write: Some woks have wood handles that....

Sure wish this site gave us the ability to edit our posts.

Lou - Most of the methods are stovetop methods that involve a fat (either lard, pork fat, or oil) and Chinese chives. Some evidence is given that the Chinese chives have antibacterial qualities...who knows. A quick method is pretty much what Changeling described, sans the dish soap afterwards. And yes, she gives an oven method. 425, if I recall correctly, but I don't remember how long.

Michaelp - You may be onto something here. I'm trying to motivate to do my kitchen, so I've been back over to the dark side where, as you saw, they have no appreciation for caramelized Cheetos. I promise I'll try not to "bring it home" with me. ;)