Buy Fox Run 14-Inch Pre-Seasoned Wok

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I bought this wok because my non-stick wok started flaking and I didn't want to season a carbon steel wok. After reading so many reviews about apartments filling with smoke due to seasoning a wok, I wanted something that I can start cooking with easily. The wok was nicely packaged when delivered and came with instructions on how to prepare it for its first time use. First, you have to cook off the food-safe clear lacquer coating by heating oil on it and rubbing the wok with paper towels (sounds A LOT like seasoning a wok...). The lacquer was kind of hard to get off in some places and I tried heating oil and rubbing four or more times. There still seemed to be a little lacquer left on the sides of the bottom no matter how hard i scrubbed (but you can't scrub it with anything hard because you'll "rub off the seasoned coating"). So I gave up and just decided to cook with whatever of the lacquer was remaining because I was tired of heating oil and the lacquer's supposed to be food-safe. Other than that, the wok seems to be fine now. Steaming and boiling foods is not recommended in the wok because it will "ruin" the pre-seasoned coating. You also cannot wash it with soap or it will "ruin" the coating, so you should rinse it under hot water, rub it with a soft sponge or something, dry it by heating it on the stove, and coat it with a little oil before storing it away. It's a bit high maintenance compared to a non-stick wok, but at least you don't have to replace it as often (unless it starts to rust because you ruined the coating.)

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So I figured that perhaps the other reviewers were doing something horribly wrong with this wok and I decided to purchase it despite the bad reviews below.

Well, I knew that food may stick, since it's a carbon steel wok without any coating and while it's seasoned, it will need to be kept "lubed up" to work properly.

So when this thing arrived (the 2nd attempt as the first was missing the main handle that fell out of the box during shipping from Amazon) I followed the instructions attached and attempted to remove the "protective coating".

I heated some oil in the wok and tried to remove it but to no avail. The coating became gunky to the point that a oil coated paper towel was sticking to it leaving paper particles stuck to the coating. Wooden spatula was not helping either and the coating basically was stuck to the majority portion of the inside of the wok.

I finally gave up and tried lightly sanding it with a 600 grit sandpaper, knowing that since it's steel, I won't be harming anything anyway. What a surprise it was when after couple of strokes of the sandpaper, the surface of the sandpaper turned black and the blue hue of the "steel" inside the wok started giving way to a more familiar silverish color of the bare steel. I got really angry as apparently the blue hue turned out to be some kind of coating that covers the entire work. Worse, the coating was coming off as a black dust when sandpaper was used.

I didn't feel like returning this wok, since I expected a carbon steel, bare wok so I just continued with the sandpaper. After over an hour of hard sanding I finally got it to a shiny bare steel on the inside of the wok. We still cook in it and it actually is quite non-sticky when oil is used for stir frying.

If you're not prepared to sand down your wok, stay away.

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Similair to another review, the food-safe lacquer coating was an unbelievable chore to remove even after multiple attempts on my gas stove--and following the accompanying instructions. Much of the lacquer is still there and gummy. I'm also suspicious that it's actually "food safe" lacquer (I don't believe everything manufacturers claim). It smelled much like the chemicals I've used when refinishing furniture.

In trying to get away from peeling non-stick surfaces, I selected this wok because of it's "pre-seasoned" surface and for it's flat bottom and big handles. It's a light, easy to handle wok and the price is affordable as well. However, upon arrival, the big handle was wobbly(helper handle firmly attached). After trying it a couple of times with fried rice and pad thai, I found the cooking surface to be sadly disappointing. Food sticks terribly and requires large volumes of oil yeilding a greasy finished product. I have seasoned 3 cast-iron skillets over the past 20 years, and though they're heavy, I think I'm going back to them and tossing this wok.

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We followed instructions on how to get ready before first use. FORGET IT! It did it did not work.

WE had to do three times and the WOK now looks very old and not worth the time I researched to purchas it.

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The item came without its own packaging...just thrown in a large box with the other items I ordered. It was also without the long handle. Was a gift and person who received it may have a handle from an old wok to use that would work. Just disappointed in general.