simonh.uk - cooking

Takeaway Beef Fried Rice at Home

2025-10-11T00:00:00+01:00

Homemade beef fried rice. Better than takeout!

As much as I like egg fried rice, I like beef fried rice even more. When I’m working away from home, I’ll usually try and find a Chinese takeaway and buy one. So once I’d perfected egg fried rice, beef fried rice was going to be next. Amazingly, this took only two attempts.

A Visit to the Butcher

My research had suggested that skirt beef was the best cut for beef fried rice. My butcher doesn’t keep it in stock but it could be ordered I was told. Nah. I needed some today. He said that rump steak would probably be better. I told him that as this was an experiment, I only wanted about £3 worth to have a play with.

When I got home, I sliced the beef pretty thinly and found that I’d easily have enough for two portions. So that’s £1.50 vs about £7.00 at a takeaway! Plus, they’re almost certainly using a cheaper type of beef.

Update on 2025-10-27:

After trying a number of different cuts of beef (topside, rump, sirloin), I’ve found that braising steak seems to work best. A £3 steak, like below will easily do three portions!

Braising steak is best

Make sure to bin the silverskin and any other gristle. Something many takeaways don’t bother doing!

As you can see from the photo below, that one small steak has now been portioned into three. One for today, the other two will get frozen

Beef Preparation

This is really simple. Put the beef in a small bowl and sprinkle on 1/8 tsp (ish) of bicarnbonate of soda. Mix it well. Then, sprinkle on about 1/4 tsp of cornflour and mix that too. The reason for using cornflour is that it browns the beef very quickly, adding flavour.

Next, add a splash of oyster sauce, a splash of superior dark soy sauce, and a small sprinkle of chicken stock powder. Stir it in. Finally, add a smidge of sunflower oil and stir that in.

I don’t use exact measurements for the beef as it depends on how much you’re using. You don’t want it to be soaking wet. You just want a thin coating on the beef. See photo below showing how mine looks:

Update on 2025-10-27

I’ve started adding a bit more bicarbonate of soda (1/2 tsp), mixing it all in, leaving it for about ten minutes, then washing the beef and squeezing out the water. This does seem to help tenderize the meat and will get rid of any soda flavour. I’ve also found that adding the cornflour at the end stops the beef sticking in the wok.

The recipe below is exactly the same as my egg fried rice recipe, except the addition of the beef. I’m putting it all here again for completeness.

Beef Fried Rice Recipe

Serves one

1. Prepare beef as above and leave to marinade for at least twenty minutes.
2. Whisk up a large egg, with a pinch of black pepper and white pepper
3. Chop up a bit of spring onion and white onion if desired (I do)
4. Heat wok on maximum temperature until starts to smoke
5. Add about a tbsp of sunflower oil and wait for it to smoke
6. Add the egg, and let cook whilst stirring. Should take about 30 seconds
7. When cooked, remove the egg and store in a bowl for later
8. Bring wok back to smoking and add 1 tsp of sunflower oil
9. Add the beef and cook until seared (one / two minutes)
10. Remove beef and put in the bowl with the egg
11. Add some frozen peas that you took out of freezer about 15 minutes before along with the onion
12. Cook for about another 30 seconds, stirring continuously
13. Add the refridgerated rice (1/3 cup jasmine, 2/3 cup long grain) and about a tsp of sesame oil. Let cook for another minute or two
14. Add the beef and egg back to the wok
15. Add 1 tsp dark soy / 1 tsp oyster sauce mixture, a pinch of chicken stock powder and cook for about 2 minutes
16. Add a pinch of MSG, trying to distribute evenly.
17. Cook for about another minute or two, stirring frequently. Taste and add another pinch of MSG if needed
18. When the rice is bouncing around, flying out of the wok, it’s ready!

Conclusion

This is a good as any takeaway cooked beef fried rice. Really. I know some people might think I’m living in cloud cuckoo land, but it’s true.

The main thing I’ve learned over the last few weeks, trying to master egg fried rice, then beef fried rice, at home, is that you must not use too much of anything. I messed up a few egg fried rices by using as much as a 1/8 tsp of MSG. That’s too much. You only need a pinch, and a second pinch only rarely. Egg fried rice, and beef fried rice don’t need any additional liquid. My family like to add curry sauce, but I never do.

If you buy a few “special” ingredients, you’ll save a fortune on takeouts:

Fried rice essential ingredients

Premium soy sauce @ £2.60
Oyster sauce @ £2.50
Chicken stock powder @ £1.80
MSG @ £1.60

So for about £8.50, which is nearly as much as one beef fried rice, you’ll be able to make dozens of fried rices!

Beef fried rice for lunch again!

Perfect Egg Fried Rice Part 4 Final

2025-10-07T00:00:00+01:00

Revision 4

See here for part 3

Well it’s been a couple of weeks since my fried rice last post, and that’s because I decided only to post again when I’d achieved my goal. This should probably be called revision 11 or 12! But I couldn’t be arsed with all the writing and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than read about experiments that missed the mark.

What I’ve Learned

The first thing to mention is there’s no one true egg fried rice recipe! Different takeaways produce different results. Some are (or seem to be) literally just rice, egg, MSG and a bit of oil. Others have peas, white onion, green onion, garlic, ginger etc. As I tend to favour simplicity over complexity, I’ve only added peas, white onion and green onion.

The Vital Ingredients

To get the best results, you will need:

Superior / premium dark soy sauce
MSG
Long grain rice
Jasmine rice
Sunflower oil
Sesame oil
One egg
White pepper

Optional Ingredients

As I wrote in an earlier post, I’d bought some oyster sauce and figured I might as well use it for my recipe. I also (eventually) managed to find some chicken stock powder in an asian supermarket. Both of these ingredients definitely add something so I’d advise you to get some yourself.

Wait! No Salt???

If you add salt to your rice as it’s cooking, I’ve found you don’t need it.

Egg Fried Rice Recipe (Revision 4)

Serves one

1. Whisk up a large egg, with a pinch of black pepper and white pepper
2. Chop up a bit of spring onion and white onion if desired (I do)
3. Heat wok on maximum temperature until starts to smoke
4. Add about a tbsp of sunflower oil and wait for it to smoke
5. Add the egg, and let cook. Should take about 30 seconds
6. Add some frozen peas that you took out of freezer about 15 minutes before along with the onion
7. Cook for about another 30 seconds, stirring continuously
8. Add the refridgerated rice (1/3 cup jasmine, 2/3 cup long grain) and about a tsp of sesame oil. Let cook for another minute or two
9. Add 1 tsp dark soy / 1 tsp oyster sauce mixture, a pinch of chicken stock powder and cook for about 2 minutes
10. Add a pinch of MSG, trying to distribute evenly.
11. Cook for about another minute or two, stirring frequently. Taste and add another pinch of MSG if needed
12. When the rice is bouncing around, flying out of the wok, it’s ready!

Notes and Tips

Cooking 2/3 cup long grain, 1/3 cup jasmine will yield two portions.

If you are cooking with a stainless steel wok, It’s imperative that you’ve properly seasoned it. You don’t want anything sticking with a fried rice

If you’re getting rice, peas other stuff flying out of your wok excessively, feel free to turn down the temperature a bit

If you’re not using oyster sauce, use 2 tsp’s of superior dark soy.

How much oil you add before the egg will determine how much it “puffs up”. I find about a tbsp is optimal

Be very sparing with the MSG. If you add too much you can balance it out with a bit of sugar. But seriously, just add a pinch at a time. That’ll give you the subtle, but unmistakeable takeaway / takeout flavour

Credits

I found the following Youtube videos very helpful for tips:

Ziangs: How to make REAL Takeaway Egg Fried Rice

Chinese Takeout Fried Rice Secrets Revealed

Conclusion

This recipe can go toe-to-toe with any Chinese takeaway, and I now prefer it to a bought one. Next on my hit list is beef fried rice. Stay tuned…

Perfect Egg Fried Rice Part 3

2025-09-21T00:00:00+01:00

Revision 3

See here for part 2

Wanting to finish off the rice I cooked yesterday, I decided to try adding some oyster sauce to determine if it’s a required ingredient. I went with Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand Oyster Sauce. £2.60 for 500ml seemed like a fair price.

Not sure of the ratios or quantities, I went with mixing a tsp of dark soy sauce with a tsp of oyster sauce. It smelled quite nice which I take as a good sign.

Egg Fried Rice Recipe (Revision 3)

Serves one

1. Whisk up a large egg, with a pinch of black pepper, white pepper, salt
2. Chop up a bit of spring onion. Sometimes called green onion
3. Heat wok on maximum temperature until starts to smoke
4. Add about a tbsp of sunflower oil and wait for it to smoke
5. Add the egg, and let cook. Should take about 30 seconds
6. Add some frozen peas that you took out of freezer about 15 minutes before along with the spring onion
7. Cook for about another 30 seconds, stirring continuously
8. Add the rice (about 1 cup) and about a tsp of sesame oil
9. Add the dark soy / oyster sauce mixture and cook for about 30 seconds
10. Add about 1/8 tsp of MSG, trying to distribute evenly and a pinch of white or brown sugar
11. Cook for about another minute or two, stirring frequently
12. When the rice is bouncing around, flying out of the wok, it’s ready!

The Taste Test

This was a bit of a surprise. I really thought the oyster sauce would completely change (improve) the flavour, but it didn’t! It did taste different, but not noticeably better. Very odd. It was nice, but it didn’t capture the “takeaway” egg fried rice flavour I’m aiming for. I don’t think your typical takeaway egg fried rice has any oyster sauce added. I know it’s used in many Chinese / Asian recipes, but not egg fried rice. For the purposes of this experiment, I don’t consider that it’s needed.

Conclusion

Strangely, I preferred revision 2 from yesterday. I think for revision 4, I’ll try using jasmine rice instead of long grain that I’ve been using (and keep everything else the same). Personally, I don’t think it’ll change much, but to be thorough, I’ll try it. And the oyster sauce won’t be used. I think it’ll have a place in my Chinese cooking but not for this experiment which is to make takeaway quality egg fried rice at home.

Perfect Egg Fried Rice Part 2

2025-09-20T00:00:00+01:00

Revision 2

See here for part 1

As the other half is working today, I decided to have another go at egg fried rice. There was only one problem, I hadn’t yet cooked any rice! Eek!!! The time was about 08:30 and I was taking her to work at about 10:00. An hour and a half. Did I have time, I wondered?

Let’s do it, I decided. It turned out we only had exactly one cup of long grain rice in the house. Perfect as I like to know my ratio’s when it comes to cooking. I’m a volumetric kind of guy, rather than a weigher. If I could determine how much MSG was needed for one cup of rice, well, two cups of rice is simply double.

My normal method for cooking rice is to rinse throughly, drain, let fully dry. Then, to fry in a bit of sunflower oil for a couple of minutes before adding the water and bringing to the boil. Today, I didn’t have time to let it fully dry but it didn’t turn out to be a problem. After the rice had cooked (full absorption method), I spread it out on a baking paper lined baking tray:

Twenty minutes later, it’d cooled enough to put in the fridge. I left it cooling for a couple of hours.

I had intended to buy a superior dark soy sauce as the normal ones are a bit thin. ASDA only had Lee Kum Lee Premium Dark soy Sauce, so I bought a bottle of that.

In part 1, I suspected that I hadn’t used enough MSG and had planned to use more. But now I thought that would be silly, far better to add a little, and only add more if tasting required it. I measured a 1/4 tsp and left it near the cooker.

The recipe below is nearly the same as part 1

Egg Fried Rice Recipe (Revision 2)

Serves one

1. Whisk up a large egg, with a pinch of black pepper, white pepper, salt
2. Chop up a bit of spring onion. Sometimes called green onion
3. Heat wok on maximum temperature until starts to smoke
4. Add about a tbsp of sunflower oil
5. Wait for it to smoke
6. Add the egg, and let cook. Should take less than 1 minute
7. Add some frozen peas that you took out of freezer about 15 minutes before
8. Cook for about another minute, stirring a lot
9. Add the rice (about 1 cup) and about a teaspoon of sesame oil
10. Add a dash of dark soy sauce and stir in. Add another dash if needed
11. Cook for about 30 seconds
12. Add about 1/8 tsp of MSG, trying to distribute evenly
13. Add about 1/8 tsp sugar and the spring onion along with a dash of light soy sauce. Taste and add a pinch more MSG or sugar if required
14. Cook for about another minute or two, stirring frequently
15. When the rice is bouncing around, flying out of the wok, it’s ready!

The Taste Test

Definitely better than part 1. The elusive takeaway flavour is unmistakeable and is 100% due to the MSG and sugar combination. You need both, MSG alone won’t do it nor will sugar alone. Yes, I have tried so don’t waste your time!

This is going to sound strange, but revision 2 reminded me of when you re-wok a takeaway bought egg fried rice the day after! I quite often do that and it has a slightly different taste to eating when first cooked. I like the day after taste.

Part 2 Conclusion

I think the better quality dark soy sauce definitely helped. I also think trying to distribute the MSG more evenly also helped.

I now suspect that most UK takeaways use a combination of sugar and MSG to get that characteristic flavour.

The plan for part 3 is to add a bit more soy sauce, a bit more sugar, and a bit more MSG. To be quite honest, revision 2 is certainly good enough but as I’m nearly there, I might as well keep going…

Perfect Egg Fried Rice Part 1

2025-09-17T00:00:00+01:00

How Hard Can it Be???

I love Chinese food. Always have, always will. Over the years, I’ve cooked hundreds of chinese meals at home. But, they always lacked something. They’ve always tasted anywhere between okay and bland. I think of it as a cup of tea without sugar. It’s just not the same at all. About a year or so back, I decided to see what I could do to make my own dishes rival the takeaways.

Looking for Help

Anyone searching for “how to make fried rice like a takeout” will find there’s lots of experts out there. Here are a few of the tips I noticed kept coming up:

You’ve got to use day old rice
You’ve got to use sugar
You aren’t using enough salt
Your hob won’t get hot enough
Yoo need to use MSG
You need oyster sauce

MSG must be the Secret Ingredient

When I was a kid, many moons ago, my Granparents always had salt, pepper and MSG on the dining room table.

We had it with everything!!!

MSG is described as a flavour enhancer. It’s main benefits is bringing out other flavours (or so they say). Having tried, salt, sugar, oyster sauce, and none of them making a blind bit of difference, I’m convinced MSG must be the secret ingredient.

Many Months Pass…

A week or so ago, we have a takeaway from our regular place that’s got new owners. I’m hoping thay’re as good, or better, than the old lot. They’re better I find out. Which leads me to be reminded of my desire to make my own better-than-takeway fried rice.

I remember seeing MSG in an asian shop I sometimes visit. I get a bag of 100g for £1.50.

Revision 1 – Today

Yesterday, I prepared the rice. Whilst I don’t think it’s essential to use one day old rice, I 100% agree, that your rice needs to have been cooled and refrigerated before you use it in a stir fry. After you’ve cooked it lay it out on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Shouldn’t take more than about half an hour to be ready to bag up, let cool some more, than put in the fridge.

Anyway, here’s my first attempt, using the MSG, today.

Egg Fried Rice Recipe

Serves one

1. Whisk up a large egg, with a pinch of white pepper, salt, MSG
2. Chop up a bit of spring onion. Sometimes called green onion
3. Mix 1 tsp dark soy, 1 tsp light soy, bit of salt, bit of black pepper
4. Heat wok on maximum temperature until starts to smoke
5. Add a couple of tablespoons of sunflower oil
6. Wait for it to smoke
7. Add the egg, and let cook. Should take less than 1 minute
8. Add some frozen peas that you took out of freezer about 15 minutes before
9. Cook for about another minute, stirring a lot
10. Add the rice and add about a tablespoon of sesame oil
11. Cook for about 30 seconds
12. Add the soy sauce mixture along with just under a 1/4 tsp of MSG
13. Add the spring onion
14. Cook for another couple of minutes, stirring frequently
15. When the rice is bouncing around, flying out of the wok, it’s ready!

The Taste Test

While I was cooking, I tasted a few times to see if the MSG was having any effect on the flavour. I wasn’t entirely sure! I’d only added less than a 1/4 tsp as I didn’t want it wrecking mu lunch (I was hungry). Near the end, I decided to add a pinch of demerara sugar as it seemed to be missing some sweetness.

I served it up into a bowl, and kept my fingers crossed.

Well, I found that some mouthfuls definitely had that elusive takeaway flavour. But some didn’t…

“Maybe I need to go up to 1/2 tsp of MSG?“
“Maybe I need to add the MSG before cooking?”

One thing I’m definitely changing for revision 2 (tomorrow) is getting some “superior” dark soy sauce. I’ve used it many times, but only had the normal variety todoy. The superior version, is darker, thicker and tastes better. Hopefully, using it will get me a step closer to my goal.

Part 1 Conclusion

This is the best egg fried rice I’ve ever made. It’s nearly like a takeaway egg fried rice, but not quite.

It’s like having a cup of tea with not enough sugar. Part 2 is coming tomorrow (hopefully)…

Homemade Peppercorn Sauce

2024-12-23T00:00:00+00:00

Why Have I Never Done This Before?

I love steak. Always have, always will. When I’ve cooked steak at home (on a griddle pan of course), I’ve just picked up whatever packet sauce is near the steak. I even once tried this:

It was not good. In fact, it was extremely not good. Just because gravy is acceptable in granule form, peppercorn sauce is most definitely not acceptable (trust me on this).

This Boxing Day, we’re mixing it up and instead of having a roasting joint like normal, we’re having steak, lamb and gammon (me, other half, offspring). We bought the steak and lamb from our regular, local butcher. It then occured to me that it was a bit silly to have such a fine steak with a peppercorn sauce, out of a packet. I mean, they’re OK. They sort of do the job of adding some flavour, but it didn’t seem right. I had looked into making my own peppercorn sauce some time ago, but never did it for some reason. Probably couldn’t be bothered. And then I decided…

Not this time. Not this Christmas.

The Ingredients

As with all recipes, there’s quite a bit of variation. However, most peppercorn sauce recipes have the following:

Brandy
Beef stock
Peppercorns
Double cream
Onions (or shallots)
Garlic
Dijon mustard

I like all of those ingredients so I bought them all. I’m thinking if goes well, and it tastes good, I’ll get two portions. One for this steak, one for another. The internet informs me that freezing homemade peppercorn sauce is completely fine.

The Cooking Bit

Oh dear. This didn’t go to plan, at all. Still, I managed to salvage the sauce and it’s delicious. Here’s what happened.

In a small saucepan I fried a finely(ish) chopped brown onion in a bit of sunflower oil and butter for about two minutes.

Next, I added two minced garlic cloves along with 2 tsp of whole black peppercorns. Some recipes suggest you pestle and mortar them. I decided not to. Fried this lot for about 20 seconds.

Added 2 tbsp of brandy and fry for 10 seconds.

Added 2 cups of beef stock. In my case this was OXO stock pots. Added a bit of freshly ground salt and pepper. Brought to a boil.

Added 2 tsp of dijon mustard and ½ cup of double cream.

Brought back to the boil

At this point the sauce looked like this:

Everything looked good I thought. All I’ve got to do now is simmer for about 20 minutes, until it’s thickened up. Give it a taste, marvel at my brilliance and put it in a jar to cool fully, ready for Boxing Day.

Well no, that’s not what happened.

I started simmmering at 13:18 (I always check the time). Twenty minutes in at 13:38, the sauce has not thickened at all. It’s like bloody water! And getting darker and darker. I forget exactly when, but I think this next photo was about forty five minutes in…

It’s got to be the cream! I need to add more!

I say to myself.

I add another ¼ cup of cream, turn up the heat and hope for the best.

Things are now looking a bit better but I reckon I’m down to a quarter of what I started with. Not half. I decide to put the sauce in a jar and probably have another go tomorrow, from scratch. After all, it’s my first attempt at peppercorn sauce, and I’ve got two full days before I need it.

An hour or so later, I wonder if adding another ¼ cup of double cream could save this batch? I mean, I don’t really want to start again if I can avoid it.

Energised by this new idea, I grab another saucepan, add the so far disappointing sauce and the extra ¼ cup of double cream. Mixing them together gives me this:

Not bad.

I cook for about five minutes, taste (nice), and put back in my jar:

Lessons Learned

Even a homemade peppercorn sauce that has gone wrong is better than anything out of a packet. Very rich, full of flavour.

Peppercorns soften up nicely. Maybe it was the extra cooking time.

It was worth it, even if it didn’t go to plan

Update on 2024-12-27

Well, it wasn’t sitting right that things had gone wrong so I decided to start again on Boxing Day. I made the following changes:

Used a frying pan instead of saucepan
- I believed having a wider cooking area would give better results and would make it easier to test that the sauce was thick enough:

I used a full cup of double cream from the outset (all other ingredients the same). Also, I simmered at about medium heat, instead of a very gentle simmer:

After the 20 minutes simmering, the sauce was ready as shown by the scrape test:

Did the all important taste test, and this was even better! As a bonus, I’ve also got two portions, as originally planned:

All that’s now left is a photo of this on the steak. By the way, I think this is the biggest steak I’ve had in my life. It wouldn’t fit on the plate (part of it is on top of the main cut).

If you’ve made it this far, you’ll be pleased to know that, finally, after a few days and a few mishaps, we’ve made it to:

Best Homemade English Muffin Recipe

2024-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

If at First You Don’t Succeed…

I like making bread. I make a fine loaf, even if I say so myself. I’ve had bread nailed for a couple of years now. At some point I thought I’d try muffins. They were bad. Awful. Dense, tiny, pathetic little things. Often under cooked, therefore uneatable. I lost count of how many muffins ended up in the kitchen bin. I tried lots of recipes and always got bad results.

Youtube Saves the Day (Again)

Everything changed when I watched a video on Youtube by a guy called Brian Lagerstrom.

I already have a dough recipe that works great for bread so I modified that slightly. What changed everything was how he cooks his muffins.

My English Muffin Recipe

Makes 4 large muffins

Ingredients

2 cups strong flour¹
1 cup warm water (for yeast)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
½ tsp dried yeast
1 tbsp of sourdough starter²
½ tsp sunflower oil
1 tsp of clarified butter³
¼ cup of coarse cornmeal

Method

Put flour into a large bowl, add the salt and sugar and stir in
In a small bowl, add water to the yeast (yeast is ready when bubbly)

Add the yeast to the flour and stir until it’s a shaggy mess. If it’s too wet, add some flour. Too dry? Add warm water.

Add the sunflower oil to the sides of the bowl⁴
Cover with cling film for about 20 / 30 minutes
Wet your hands and fold the dough a few times. This is important to build strength in the dough
After another 20 / 30 minutes, fold the dough again
Leave covered until doubled in size

Tip: In the winter, you can kill two birds with one stone (pun intended) — season your pizza stones / steels and use the oven warmth to warm up your dough!

On a well floured surface, shape the dough into four discs. Once shaped sprinkle cornmeal underneath and on top of muffins. Leave to rise again for 20 / 30 minutes

Sprinkle some cornmeal into a large frying pan and add the clarified butter and set to medium heat

Carefully move each muffin into the pan

Cook for exactly 5 minutes per side

Carefully flip the muffins to cook the other side

Remove from the frying pan and place on cooling rack

Slice muffins when cooled, place in grill

Behold the amazing nooks and crannies that will fill with butter⁵:

After both sides have been grilled, spread butter (plus whatever topping your prefer) generously on the muffin

Eat, and realise — you can never buy muffins again⁶

Notes

You can freeze these muffins to eat later. I just put mine in an airtight container (it’ll need to be large as these muffins come out big) and they get eaten quickly.

The other half and I have these in the evening. Re-heated under the grill, generously spread with butter (and vegemite in my case). They’re also great to have with raspberry jam in the morning. You could also take your sausage and egg muffins to the next level at lunchtime.

Footnotes

¹ I’ve also used 1 cup strong, 1 cup plain. Just as good as 2 cups of strong

² If you haven’t got a starter, use 1 tsp of dried yeast. I’d recommend making a sourdough starter though.

³ Brian uses a lot of clarified butter in his recipe. I find this makes them too damp for my liking.

⁴ By adding to the sides of the bowl, the oil won’t interfere so much with the dough rising.

⁵ The nooks and crannies are unpredictable. I think a longer rise after shaping gives more. Not certain though.

⁶ These muffins are so good that my other half and I eat them nearly every night. Far better than toast.

How to Properly Season a Pizza Stone

2024-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

You like cooking pizza and have done some research to find out how to up your game. Everyone says you need a pizza stone or better still, a pizza steel. Pizza stones are ~~half~~ a quarter the price of steels, so stone it is. The image above is how they look, brand new.

So you order one, it arrives, and you cook on it and are expecting this:

Or this:

But instead, you’re getting this:

What’s going on?

A few months ago, I decided to get to the bottom of this mystery.

The Beginning

When I first bought two pizza stones for about 8 quid each, I did my due diligance to ensure they would have a long, productive life. The instructions (in the form of one tiny piece of paper) instructed to wash in warm, soapy water when first bought, then clean as needed (i.e. if dirty). No mention of any need to season or anything like that. No text in bold proclaiming NEVER WASH WITH ANYTHING OTHER THAN WATER!!! as some people on the internet will state. So I followed these instructions.

Over the next few months, as I used them I kept thinking that they were hardly any better than the previous bog standard, circular baking trays I’d been using. It was starting to irritate me. Every now and then, I’d have a look on the net and the solutions seemed to be:

Domestic ovens can’t get hot enough
You need a pizza steel
Something is wrong with your dough

None of these are helpful in the slightest. I’m not changing my oven. I didn’t want a pizza steel as the stone was so disappointing. My dough is fine, thank you!

Improving Heat Transfer

Then, I stumbled on this video: Why Pizza Steels Beat Pizza Stones. The steel does beat the stone, but not by a massive amount:

My stones have never got close to anything like that. Yes, you can see that the steel does give better browning, even some leoparding in places. But I’d have been delighted with the crust / bottom of the stone baked one.

Look at this screenshot I took at about 06:40 into the video:

Look at the reflection on that stone! They’re not supposed to look like that. The reason it’s reflecting light is due to over ten years of use. All that oil, cheese, other stuff, seeping into the stone, getting hot and solidifying (curing). The whole video is worth watching, but I didn’t want to wait ten years to get mine like that…

Seasoning with Oil

So now I had a clue what would help, I got to work. I figured it should be similar to seasoning a wok, griddle, dutch oven. Essentially, you’re forming a layer of glaze for want of a better word that’ll transfer heat more effectively. Stone is highly porous, so I knew it’d take a few applications¹.

Here’s what I did:

Pour about a teaspoon of oil into the middle of the stone²
Using your hand, spread the oil evenly all across the cooking surface
Wait half an hour (most oil will have been absorbed)
Go to step 1
Repeat steps 1 to 4 five times
Place in oven and cook on full for at least half an hour
Leave to cool
Back to step 1

Repeat that lot whenever you can be bothered. I did this maybe twice a week for about four weeks. Here’s how they look now:

Not bad for a few weeks!³

Once you’ve got your stone to this state, you won’t need to apply a teaspoon of oil any more, or follow the seasoning steps. Instead, get a piece of kitchen roll, put a small amount of oil on it and wipe the surface before cooking on it.

Conclusion

If you want a great pizza crust / bottom, you’ll either need to do this, or get a steel (or wait ten years). I’ve since bought a steel and it’s true, they are fantastic. But, your stone can still compete with the new guy, if you follow this method. My stones aren’t going anywhere.

Afterword

The next time I do a pizza on one of these stones, I’ll add a photo below. Have fun!

Well, here is a demonstration of what you can expect. To be fair, I probably should have given this one another couple / three minutes in the oven. By the way, where the underneath looks white, that’s flour. I was getting some sticking while rolling it⁴, so had to put more on than I normally do!

Footnotes

¹ If you search for “season pizza stone with oil”, they’ll often do one application and call it a day. Not enough. You need the stone to absorb lots of oil. You’ve got to get that glazed, reflective finish!

² I use sunflower oil. Vegetable oil should be fine. Olive oil if you’re rich (£5 + per bottle)!

³ I should point out that these weren’t new stones. I’d been using them for about a year before seasoning using the method I’m detailing here. The majority of the cooking surface was still the original cream colour.

⁴ I’m doing a post about rolling pizza soon.