What is Reddit's opinion of YOSUKATA Carbon Steel Wok Pan – 13,5 “ Woks and Stir Fry Pans - Chinese Wok with Flat Bottom Pow Wok - Traditional Chinese Japanese Woks - Black Steel Wok?

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Note that I placed an order for mine from the Wok Shop on June 7th. I haven't heard a single thing from them since placing my order (though note that I haven't been charged). I searched around after placing the order and discovered many people are in the same boat.

I ended up getting this wok from Amazon, and it has done great for me.

I picked up the Yosukata wok that he recommended in the book. I love it. Flat bottom, wide enough for everything I've cooked, carbon steel, and well-built.

YOSUKATA Carbon Steel Wok - non-affiliate Amazon link

Is it the Yosukata? Lotta reviews complaining about the coating flaking off. Your pic and a lot of the pics from reviewers on Amazon where the coating came off, the spots looks like the wok was never even blued.

In the size comparison for different Yosu woks, they have a "Semi seasoned" Yes. And a "Fully Seasoned" No. Maybe something was lost in the translation. Maybe "semi-season" just means a layer of protection from rust, but they included they ran it through 600f

Most of the reviews happy with the wok went through taking the coating off to bare carbon steel and then seasoning it. If that's bare metal on your wok, I'd go through and make it all bare metal.

It's just pre-seasoned:

https://www.amazon.com/Pre-Seasoned-Carbon-Steel-Wok-Pan/dp/B084DQYNNM

It's not actually black steel:

https://matferbourgeatusa.com/education/black-steel-guide/

"There is no difference in materials between cookware sold as “black steel” and cookware sold as “carbon steel.” Both are constructed of high-carbon steel. We call our pans “Black Steel” because that’s how they are referred to in professional kitchens in France."

Black steel is only used industrially (it's a high heat oxidation treatment), usually for pipes:

https://www.aboutmechanics.com/what-is-black-carbon-steel.htm

"Cookware can be called black steel, but the dark color is a product of an oil treatment called seasoning, rather than manufacturing"

Blue carbon steel is an annealing process:

https://madeincookware.com/blogs/what-is-blue-carbon-steel

Here's guide to bluing a wok, though it will obviously be lower temp than industrially and I don't believe it actually qualifies as annealing due to the lower temp. It's still useful for extra corrosion resistance and to aid in getting seasoning to adhere better:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RB67OAJ9IOLY9

Yosukata Carbon Steel Wok 13.5” Flat Bottom Black Steel This one has the high heat treatment step done for you. It weighs 1660 g https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B084DQYNNM/ They also sell an 11.8 inch wok if you need something lighter. –––––– A natural wok will be cheaper, you will just have to do the heat treatment yourself. https://smile.amazon.com/Kitchen-14-inch-Carbon-Bottom-Lidded/dp/B000OFREDC/ –––––– Whatever you decide, these or something else, get one with a helper handle, easier to lift

what do you mean pretty large? most home woks are typically 14" for family of four and because of the size of home burners. I recommend https://www.amazon.com/Pre-Seasoned-Carbon-Steel-Wok-Pan/dp/B084DQYNNM/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3VC4G6NKEATVF&keywords=yukasata+wok&qid=1655944346&sprefix=yukasata+wok%2Caps%2C66&sr=8-8&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840 its the one i use and love it.

Yosukata Carbon Steel Wok 13.5” Flat Bottom Black Steel This one has the high heat treatment step done for you. https://amazon.ca/dp/B084DQYNNM/ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hTnHuOk_mTg

A natural wok will be cheaper, you will just have to do the heat treatment yourself. https://www.amazon.ca/Kitchen-14-inch-Carbon-Bottom-Lidded/dp/B000OFREDC/

Get a flat bottom wok and it can be used on any cooking surface. Very few residential cook tops can handle a round bottom without using a wok ring and a round bottom would be a poor choice for electric as less surface would be touching the heat source. I did not buy a round bottom wok and I use a gas stove.

Get one with a helper handle. If the handles are wood then you will need to protect it from burning when seasoning.

Ones that come with a lid is useful for steaming and containing the heat. Get one that is 14 inches wide to avoid over crowding food. Nothing less than 12 inches. Advertising shows cooks tossing food but my guess very few do it, these things are heavy, the Yosukata weighs 1660 g. I just use a spatula to toss food.

There are plenty of cheaper ones and just as good. There will be cast iron, light cast iron and carbon steel woks. Don’t buy one with a non-stick coating.

I cook acidic foods such as tomatoes in a wok. Some will never do it as acidic foods will remove seasoning. Just clean it and oil it as per instructions. No rust on mine.

Thanks for responding! I’m pretty sure its normal carbon steel, not non-stick - this is the one I bought: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084DQYNNM?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details. The instructions were to wash thoroughly with a non-steel sponge to take off the manufacturing oil, and then season. I basically followed along with their YouTube video here, except with out the vegetables: https://youtu.be/WhKSVbEtx_c.

I’m wondering if because I was just using an induction stove, the at-home seasoning did not work. I was hoping to avoid any issue with that by buying a wok pre-seasoned, but perhaps I was too naive haha.

I have an induction stove and I got this one on Amazon. It's a Carbon Steel wok, but a bit pricy for a wok ($60). I love it though, definitely the best I've owned. Plus the handle comes off, so you can do your first couple of seasons in the oven if you don't want to smoke out your kitchen.

As far as seasoning goes, it's basically like cast iron, if you are familiar. You want to polymerize (essentially get it past smoking temp) a high smoke oil which creates a nonstick surface on the metal. In practice, you rub as little oil as possible into the metal and get it ripping hot until it smokes for a while. This is traditionally done on the stove, but you can do it in the oven if your oven gets hot enough. Then, just repeat once it gets cool enough, maybe 3-4 times. It wont be perfect, but every time you use it the pan will get more seasoned and become more non-stick until its as good as Teflon, if not better. However, rust will screw up your coating, so make sure you dry it completely when you're done cleaning it and don't wash it in the dishwasher (if it does get rusty you can just scrub it off and re-season though, so not a huge deal). Here is a video misen puts out about seasoning a carbon steel pan, for visual context.

Also, most carbon steel pans get shipped in a wax/oil thing to stop rusting, so make sure you scrub the crap out of it when you first get it. You'll want to use really hot water and a lot of dish soap to remove it.

Good point I should check what the asian supply/grocer has for that as well. I have zero experience keeping something seasoned so didn't know but just your explaination makes sense and gives me alot clearer idea what your actually doing by seasoning it.

I saw terms pre-seasoned thrown out for some of the woks I was looking at on amazon as just a quick browse. Like Yosukata one seemed pretty decent quality and said it was preseasoned, bit expensive tho. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B084DQYNNM/

Will keep my eyes open for other replies, and be sure to check with my local asian market.