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What NOT To Cook in Carbon Steel

What NOT To Cook in Carbon Steel

 

1. Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce Based Stews

Tomatoes are acidic and can strip the seasoning of your carbon steel wok and even react with the steel, causing a metallic taste in your food. You can stir fry tomatoes for less than a minute, but avoid tomato stews that have a lot of tomato sauce sitting in the steel for extended periods of time. It's best to use stainless steel, enameled, or ceramic cookware for highly acidic stews.

2. Vinegar Sauces

Vinegar is another acidic ingredient that can strip the seasoning of your carbon steel wok. If you are making a sweet and sour sauce, mix the vinegar right at the end, just before you remove the sauce from the wok. This ensures that the vinegar is not sitting in the steel for a long time.

3. Lemon/Lime Juice

Citric fruits are also acidic. If your dish uses a lot of lemon/lime juice, add it at the end to minimize the time it comes into contact with the steel.

Essentially, you can use these ingredients, but you should pay attention to the length of time these acidic ingredients come in contact with the carbon steel. The general rule is that less than a minute is perfect.