I'm Making Spam Fried Rice in my New Wok (Patreon)

"There's a reason wok design hasn't changed much in 2,000 years."

Every once in a while, a piece of cookware stops feeling like a tool and starts feeling like a companion. My first wok—the off-brand carbon steel one I bought at a Target in 1999—was one of those pans. I loved that wok.

It was with me through two and a half decades of cooking for college friends, cooking for roommates, cooking for dinner parties, cooking for my own children and family. I tested every recipe for my cookbook, The Wok, in it. It carried the burns, scars, and seasoning of thousands of stir-fries, braises, and stews, along with hundreds of steaming, smoking, and deep-frying sessions.

My relationship with that pan is as long and complicated as the best friendships. I loved that wok.

So when the metal pin holding the wooden handle in place finally gave out a couple years ago, it hit hard. I could’ve fixed it by replacing the handle, I suppose, but I realized I’d rather keep the wok in its final form—scars and all—to preserve the memories.

I’ve been using and testing a variety of other woks since then and, to be perfectly frank, there was nothing particularly special about mine that any wok with similar specs couldn’t replicate.

Heavy-gauge carbon steel. About 13 to 14 inches in diameter. Flat-bottomed for Western ranges. A long handle on one side and a helper handle on the other. Many woks fit that description, and with care and proper maintenance any one of them will get you to dinner. There’s a reason wok design hasn’t changed much in 2,000 years.

My one quibble? Carbon steel is a little annoying to maintain. Not a huge pain. But reactive metal is reactive metal: dry it carefully, maintain seasoning, don’t let it sit wet, don’t treat it like stainless, or it’ll rust—sometimes even pit if you’re really careless.

Which led me to a question: what if you could get everything that makes carbon steel the perfect wok material—heat resistance, responsiveness, wok hei, that intense hot zone at the bottom with cooler zones up the sides, compatibility with gas, outdoor burners, electric, and induction—all with far easier maintenance?

Well, folks, it turns out I got the chance to build exactly that.

(You can order my wok here. For now, available for shipping in the U.S. only. Paid Patreon tiers can check this post for a 10% discount code.)

For the past year, I’ve been hard at work with the folks at Our Place refining the shape, balance, weight, surface, materials, and aesthetics of a brand new wok. We started with 3D-printed models and moved through over a dozen iterations of the wok itself before we finally got it right. (You’ve probably seen it blurred out in the background of a few recent videos.)

At its heart, it’s a carbon steel wok that meets all of my criteria. So what’s different about it?

The carbon steel is treated with a Super Nitriding process. Essentially, the steel is heated in a nitrogen-rich environment that impregnates the surface with nitrogen atoms, transforming its structure into something many times harder than raw carbon steel—and then it’s seasoned to a glossy, slick finish right out of the box.

In practice, that means it behaves exactly like carbon steel: it heats fast, gets screaming hot, and develops proper wok hei—but with a surface that’s unusually slick and durable. It’s not coated, it’s not toxic, and it doesn’t scratch away the way traditional seasoning can. You still treat it like carbon steel, but you don’t have to baby it.

It comes slick and ready-to-cook right out of the box (though like carbon steel, it'll also slowly pick up more seasoning as you cook in it) and has a tight-fitting lid for steaming, smoking, and simmering.

If you’ve read The Wok or watched my videos, you know why I keep coming back to carbon steel. It’s thin and responsive. Heat stays concentrated where the flame is instead of spreading everywhere the way it does in aluminum or clad pans. You get a super-hot zone at the bottom and progressively cooler zones up the sides, which is exactly what you want. Compared to cast iron, it heats faster, cools faster, and doesn’t weigh a ton. The one real downside has always been maintenance—seasoning, rust, the mild panic that comes from realizing you left it wet overnight.

The nitride treatment solves most of that without changing how the pan cooks.

You can take this wok to 900 or even 1,000°F without issue, which matters because wok hei isn’t just about oil smoking—it’s about direct contact between food and hot metal. You don’t get that through a plastic nonstick coating. This pan delivers it cleanly and consistently.

You can expect to see lots of wok action in the coming weeks.

You can order my wok here. For now, available for shipping in the U.S. only. Paid Patreon tiers can check this post for a 10% discount code.

Spam and Egg Fried Rice

For today, I wanted to make a dish where the wok itself is doing most of the work. I wanted the flavor of high heat, metal, and smoke to be the primary seasoning.

Spam gets a bad rap, but I’ve always liked it. It lasts forever, it’s salty and well-seasoned, and it crisps beautifully. (Also, it’s no longer cheap, which still surprises me every time I see it at the store.)

The fried rice itself is straightforward. Scrambled eggs go in first and slide right out. Spam renders and crisps in its own fat. Scallions bloom briefly. Day-old rice goes back in with the eggs. White pepper, salt and MSG for seasoning. A tiny drizzle of soy sauce goes around the sides of the wok so it hits screaming-hot metal and scorches immediately instead of soaking into the rice and steaming away.

It's a simple dish that really highlights the wok hei flavor you can only get with a hot, non-coated wok.

My old wok may be in its final resting place, but I wanted something I could keep using for the rest of my life, or even hand down to my kids.

Any piece of cookware can become personal, but this wok is one that has been personal to me since before it even becamse a reality. I hope it works as well for your life and your kitchen as it will for mine.

You can order my wok here. For now, available for shipping in the U.S. only. Paid Patreon tiers can check this post for a 10% discount code.

Recipe: Spam & Egg Fried Rice

Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.

What I love about this recipe:

The wok does most of the seasoning

Spam crisps beautifully and renders its own fat

Day-old rice fries cleanly instead of steaming

Simple technique, high payoff

Yield: 2-3 generous servingsActive Time: 15 minutesTotal Time: 20 minutesNotes: A ripping-hot carbon steel wok makes a big difference here. Day-old rice is strongly recommended.

Ingredients

For the fried rice:

3 cups cooked day-old white rice (about 450 g), chilled and loosened

3 large eggs (about 150 g), beaten

½ can Spam (about 170 g), diced into ½-inch cubes

2 scallions, thinly sliced (whites and greens separated)

2–3 tablespoons neutral oil (30–45 ml), such as canola or peanut

For seasoning:

Kosher salt, to taste

MSG, to taste

White pepper, to taste

1–2 teaspoons soy sauce (5–10 ml)

Method

Preheat the wok.Using a paper towel, rub a small amount of oil into the surface of a carbon steel wok. Heat over high heat until lightly smoking, then add the remaining oil and swirl to coat.

Cook the eggs.Immediately pour in the beaten eggs and cook, stirring and flipping gently, until just set but still tender. Slide the eggs out onto a plate and set aside. Wipe out the wok and return it to heat.

Crisp the Spam.Add the diced Spam to the hot wok. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and some of the fat has rendered, about 2–3 minutes.

Add aromatics.Add the scallion whites and toss briefly until fragrant, about 10–15 seconds.

Fry the rice.Add the rice to the wok. Return the eggs to the to the top of the rice. Break up the rice and eggs with a spatula. Toss and stir until the rice is hot and dry, adding a little more neutral oil if needed.

Return eggs and season.Add the cooked eggs back to the wok along with salt, MSG, and white pepper. Toss to combine.

Season and finish.Season with a big pinch of salt, a small pinch of MSG, and white pepper to taste. Drizzle the soy sauce around the sides of the wok so it hits the hot metal and scorches immediately, then toss to distribute evenly.

Finish and serve.Add the scallion greens, give everything a final toss, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve immediately.