Of course, in Chinese restaurants, they literally burn through woks in about a month or so–at home it takes much longer. I have nearly burned off the enamel in a couple of spots of my cast iron wok–it has taken me four years or so to do it. It also no longer sits level–I bought a flat bottomed one years ago because I had a flat burner electric stove to work with. A round bottomed wok might warp, but not enough to cause issues with cooking in it–it doesn’t sit level anyway.

Since these woks are not very expensive–around twenty-five dollars or so–having one last for four years means that I can certainly afford to buy one every four years or so.

Are there other brands/models out there that handle brown rice better? FWIW, my Zojirushi didn’t have a brown rice setting; only “Quick Rice,” “White Rice,” and “Porridge.”

NO SCRUBBING CARBON STEEL WOKS!

Don’t do it. Don’t go there. That is why it sticks.

Sorry I didn’t get to your question until now–I have been out of town, but I will answer you point by point, and in fact, may end up working all of this into a post.

Seasoning is basically, heating up the wok so that the pores in the metal open up. Then, oil is rubbed into the metal, so that it can soak in. This is repeated as necessary–honestly, it takes a long time for a good seasoning to build up in a wok. It is basically oil that has penetrated the metal and bonded to it, and it forms a natural nonstick coating.

You can do it several ways–but the easiest is to wash your new wok out to get all the machine oil that is used to keep it from rusting when it is boxed up to sale. Scrub it with soap this one time, and rinse really well. Then, heat up your burner to high, and pop the wok into it. Let the heat vaporize the water and boil it away. Then take whatever cooking oil you are going to be using–if you are not allergic to it, I suggest peanut, because of its high smoking point, its healthfulness and fragrance–and pour a small quantity–a tablespoon or two–into the bottom of the wok. Take a lot of folded up paper towels–folded up thickly, and using your wok shovel, start spreading the oil all over the wok. With your other hand, tilt the wok so that all parts of the wok come in contact with the heat, and keep rotating it and rubbing the oil in.

When it rubs in, you can add some more, and continue the process.

Then you let the wok cool, and any excess oil can be wiped away. You don’t want it to be sticky.

What does it look like? The oil, as it bakes into the metal, will turn the carbon steel at first a bit bronze-looking. It will have a golden hue. As you use the wok, and clean it properly (take the food out as soon as it is cooked, carry the wok to the sink, turn on the hot water, put the wok in the sink, and using a bamboo scrubber, scrub any leftover bits of food in the wok. Rinse well, then put the wok back on the stove, dry it by heat, and then rub about a half teaspoon of oil into it with folded up paper towels), this hue will darken.

After years of use, a carbon steel wok will burn black. That is what it is supposed to look like. It is not meant to be shiny! It is not meant to look like steel after it is seasoned. Don’t let your husband keep scrubbing the oil out.

I always suggest to people to deep fry something in the wok after they first season thier woks, because the hot oil bath really hastens the seasoning process.

Remember, seasoning is a process, not a “do it once and forget it” kind of action. It is a process–it is repeated over time. Old woks just keep getting better and better, and more and more nonstick as they are used and cleaned properly.

Now, as for the other equipment: that rounded wok-shovel looking thing is a wok ladle. In the Cantonese style of cooking, you use the shovel in one hand and the ladle in the other and you use both to stir fry. However, because Cantonese wok stoves are made for woks to fit right into and thus the wok is extremely stable, this action is much easier in China than it is here, where woks either sit flat on the stove, or perch unsteadily on a wok stand. That is why I don’t usually teach people to use the Cantonese method of stir frying with an implement in each hand–I do more of the Northern style, one-handed style of cooking, with just the shovel. In northern cooking, the wok has one long handle–and the chef holds that in the left hand and the shovel in the right, and use it to move food around, or he tosses it in the wok by being flashy and throwing food in the air. (I only show off like that sometimes.)

The wire half circle does fit on the rim as you figured out and it is used when you deep fry. You can set cooked items there to drain–that way the oil goes back into the wok. I have never used such a rack–I drain onto paper towels on a plate. The rack would just be in my way and it looks all precarious to me.

The two sticks that fit together like a cross are set into the bottom of the wok so that you can set a plate with food items to be steamed on top of it, with water in the bottom of the wok. You bring the water to a boil, and then you put the plate in, and cover the wok with the lid and you have a steaming chamber.

Or, you can use the crossed sticks to do tea-smoking. This is a technique where you put tea leaves in the bottom of the wok, along with rice, and then on the crossed sticks, a partially cooked duck or chicken, or other food item. You set the wok over heat, and the tea and rice begin to smoke, and you cover the wok and the smoky tea flavor permeats the fowl.

I hope you can jump into wok cooking with a little more confidence, now–just keep Mr. Clean away from that wok!