So, this past weekend we had guests over to the house. William and guest cooked. I was happy about that. What I am not happy about is that they fried chicken in the smaller of my two woks and now the teflon on the wok is scratched because they used metal implements in my wok. It's stupid, I know, but I'm furious! I make a good living, but I am not a rich person. I was brought up in a family with two parents who came from very poor beginnings. My mom grew up literally dirt floor poor. I don't mean literally/figuratively, I mean actual dirt floors in the little wooden house in two of the rooms and the toilet was a hole in the ground with a wooden frame over it. Anyway, I was raised to take care of my things, no matter what they are. I was raised to believe that the way to live well and not have to worry is to be careful how you spent your money so that your money would last, and part of that is taking care of what you have so you don't have to buy it more than once. I have had those two woks for over a year and I use them easily three times a week because I have a passion for Oriental foods. I never use anything but wooden cooking tools in them. Up until this past weekend, both woks looked as though I had just bought them, not a mark on them except the slight wear on the outside bottoms from the burners. The insides were perfect. Now my wok is all scratched up on the inside bottom, and once the teflon has been compromised, the life span of item begins to seriously tick down because now the teflon will really start to come off. No happy!
Aw man, that sucks. Did they know any better? I received a beating for doing that to my mother's wok many years ago. I honestly didn't know any better, though.
That sucks. Beat them with one of your wooden spoons. And I know this is probably somewhat ridiculous...but I did just look at your user title and think that maybe it should be "Minister of Silly Woks." Incidentally, Google images has no results for the term "silly wok."
If anything positive came out of your angry announcement, Wrey, it's that you taught me to never use metal instruments in a wok. I had no idea! (Also, I support Freshmaker's idea. Silly woks. )
You can use metal things in a wok if the wok does not have teflon. The problem is the teflon. You should never ever use metal on any teflon item.
My wife knows this and she still goes after our Teflon cookery with metal utensils sometimes. I feel your pain, Wrey.
I bought a wok in Tesco the other week. It was shiny and new, and cost £20, which to someone on my budget is the wealth of the realm. I used it twice for noodle dishes, and then left my sister in the flat one morning as I had workmen coming in and I couldn't miss my class. I came back to find it scratched and filled with grease. What the **** did you do to my wok? Wok? You mean the funny shaped frying pan? I just made some bacon.
I am very careful who I let use my cookware. But I've never had a Teflon wok. Teflon just isn't that great for high temperature cooking - the finish degrades quickly. I'd rather have a well-seasoned high carbon steel wok. What I really hate is when someone misuses my cast iron cookware. That's what I use most for browning meats. Maintained properly, it's the best nonstick surface for that purpose.
Cog -- my good friend, Mr. Wong, agrees completely. Some of his woks are multigenerational hand-me-downs from China. They still work great and do not require special utensils for cooking. And, his wok fried garlic shrimp are fantastic! (Damn. Now I'm hungry.)
I agree with both of you fellahs. I live in Puerto Rico. I felt blessed just to find these woks. Therein comes the whole taking care of my things bit. Now, a follow up... I'm on lunch just now and I've just made a bowl of chicken noodle soup and as I pull out a vintage 50's Fiestaware bowl to serve myself the soup I look around and realize that the kitchen is split in two. All of my Fiestaware is in one cupboard. William won't dare touch it because he says I eyeball him when he's eating off of it. Another cupboard has all my Oriental serving stuff. William won't touch them because of the above mentioned reason. I have my own drawer for all of my knives. I have a set of ceramic blades which are not the most expensive ones around, but... ceramic! William will not touch them because of the above mentioned reason. Now the woks have joined the ranks of items that William won't touch. I'm forced to ask, is it me? Am I just a neurotic bizach?
On the one hand, who can blame you for wanting to protect your precious(es)? On the other, even Gollum only ever had one. I'm sure if you ask him he'll just say that's what he loves about you.
Cooks learn to protect their cookware, because it CAN be ruined by mishandling. Good cookware is hard to find, and very aggravating to have it carelessly destroyed. My daughter understands this. She has some top quality utensils from her time at a Cordon Bleu cooking school. I am honored that she trusts me enough to let me use it, but I still generally won't. And she respects MY cookware, and won't use items without having checked with me at least once. Most chefs keep their knife sets under lock and key.
so, who are you blaming? the guest, who may not have known any better? william, who we can assume should have, since he lives there [which i'm assuming he does]? or yourself, for not having paid attention to what was being done with your precious wok, or for not having sense/guts enough to tell them to not use the metal utensils, if you did notice them doing so? love and somewhat unsympathetic hugs, maia ;-)
I was unfortunately not there at the time. My task was to get the movies at the Blockbuster. Given the extend of neurotic behavior to which I have already admitted, I can assure that I would have been quite vociferous had I been present during the mistreatment of the cookware. I only just noticed the damage today as I was putting away dishes and other items after having washed them this morning.
Well, there have been horror stories of people - unaware that the black coating on cookware was intentional - taking a scourer to it until it was all off.... Actually, I'm pretty sure there's products around to repair scratches in teflon.
Wow...I just thought of a way to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse! Wrey, you should start "collecting" antique woks! Soon you'll have so many neurotically pleasurable "real" woks that you'll grow contemptuous of teflon and not care any longer about those scratches! Feed your face and your OCS needs at the same time. Win:win! LOL
I don't think it's you. People deserve to have their property treated nicely and taken care of, whether it be cookware or anything else. It's not unreasonable or neurotic to expect that.
Sorry to hear it. I love cooking and hate when other people damage my skillets/pots/pans. Cast Iron FTW!
ok, so now you know you should not leave the kitchen, when anyone but you is cooking, right?... you still can't honestly blame anyone but yourself for the damage, as it certainly wasn't done deliberately, just to torture you... so, don't harbor any grudges agin' either guest or housemate, as it's not worth ruining a friendship or relationship over... then accept the fact that you can't rule the universe, and get on with your life... and if the sight of the poor victim bothers you that much, give it away to some poor, wokless person and go buy another one that you can keep under lock and key... if you can't afford that, or stubbornly don't want to do it, then just write a nice, polite note that you can keep in the wok, telling any who use it to please use only the wooden utensils with it and explaining why...
