r/wok

Bought a cheap 3 burner stove from eBay for $125, surprisingly this works quite well. While not commercial 100k+ btu but at 80k, it gets the job done. I got the 3 burning version knowing I will probably not be using the middle one and it's only there so I have enough space to fit the 18" and 13" wok when I'm stir frying.

Hi,

I seasoned Wok for first time week ago.

today, my wok got pretty burned (food sticked to it). i

I washed it and reseasoned it. Should it look like that or I made something wrong ?

I followed the instructions that came with my Joyce Chen carbon steel wok and I ended up with this lovely dark splotch in the middle. Anything I can do to clean this?/ is the wok toast 😭😭

Rip wok.

Hello! I just received my first-ever wok yesterday and I'm super excited! The first picture is me seasoning it for the first time (I did 2 seasoning cycles with avocado oil), the second picture is after using it for dinner, then making popcorn for an evening snack, then fried eggs this morning. Looks and works amazing. I'm a home cook that loves cooking on stainless cookware, so the learning curve wasn't too crazy. This thing loves the heat!!

I’m a bit confused why it mentions using med to low heat and using non-metal utensils to avoid damaging the non-stick coating. Carbon steel is fine with high heat and metal utensils right? Also why does it mention non-stick fumes? Is this just language from their other products? I’m specifically trying to avoid teflon.

Hi y’all. Does my carbon steel wok look fine after my initial seasoning and first cook? Any comments or feedback are appreciated.

It's really hot the last few weeks so I don't wanna make a video showing the differences. But one thing is ace clear. You really need a high powered induction wok burner if you want to get towards high quality restaurant grade Asian food....

Pictured here is a standard 3.5kw (actually 2.5-2.6kw measured draw) on top wok induction burner 28cm diameter -4cm deep like you get around 100-120euros on AliExpress. Touchscreen is a pain in the ass and while it's leagues above the fully underpowered ones like Abangdun, Nuwave or other toys, especially the 120v versions, there's a huge step up to a 6000w (actually 5.3-5.4kw) restaurant grade unit.

That was my first buy but I just couldn't ever get it hot enough, tiny portions weren't even possible and the heated area with a ln effectively 22cm coil is too small.

So step up to a 6KW concave induction burner with magnetic slider. It again doesn't hit the real power levels but it gets to 5.3 or 5.4kw power. About 1/3 what I have seen and was allowed to use in a starred Sichuan Michelin restaurant in Shanghai for a dish and what I know is used by some high class restaurants in Taipei. Yes 15kw induction, foot operated power dial, and 46cm wok I've seen the chef do two portions at once, and get wok hei so good everyone would say they must have used a 200k BTU or higher gas wok burner. But with a little over actual 5kw power you can easily get restaurant grade wok hei without gas at home. You can dial it to the max for a few minutes to get oil actually self igniting but it's a bit of a mess indoors with fire alarms tripping virtually in your neighbours flat and even with great ventilation it will take a few hours for the smoke to really clear your flat.... What you do get that is virtually impossible on the small burner is crispy veggies, smoky taste from sauces/oil slightly burning off instead of half stir fried half steamed veggies which is about as good as you can get on the small burner. Price wise you look into about 160-170euros from Taobao or Alibaba,plus 30-40 Euros shipping, plus toll, plus VAT and plus the toll processing cost charged by your postal operator. All together like 300 Euros.

I have here now a 32cm, 7.5cm deep 6kw model with magnetic slider control. Yeah you could go for a dial but trust me the magnetic slider is much more intuitive and faster. The coil was wound at 26.5cm actual width but I plan to rewire it sometimes to 28cm or so to spread out the heat on the sidewall a bit more. But while it's easy to open the bottoms it's hard to take of the protective metal casing for rewiring the coil.

Yeah as visible in the introduction picture, you need a lot of space for it, and you will need to either hard wire it to 24A - 230v or you get a CEE plug combo so it stays mobile and your plug doesn't go up in fire... And you want at least 2.5mm² cabling or thicker all the way to your breaker box.

The wattages I measured are 500w on level 1 pulsing. 1000w pulsing on level 2, 2000w steady on level 3 then rather continuously up to 5.3kw. 500w is quite a lot for keeping dishes warm, that's not optimal but the pulsing is quite fast, so fast you cannot see it on a standard 1sec interval shunt meter.

The actual levels I use are usually 1,2,3 or 8. You don't really need any of the intermediary steps. If you want to keep something warm it's deciding 0 or 1... 2 is already easily hot enough to keep something cooking/steaming/frying and 3 is hotter than your Abangdun will ever get. Then whenever you need power it's flick the slider to max and get stirring fast. Yes you still may need to cook even single portions in 2 batches. Otherwise you end up with some ingredients burned with others just starting too brown. Say Sichuan green beans I make a single portion in two batches for the beans on max heat, then fry the rest on setting 3, then add back both portions of beans, up to max and add the sauces and dry it off.

What you do get is really crunchy veggies and meats that have nice char to them. Something basically impossible on any gas burner <50K BTU, and impossible on all the consumer grade induction burners.

What is not too like besides the size and the electric side? You really need a wok that fits. I always prefer my Yoshikawa 36cm over my Oxenforge 34cm for ease of maintenance and cleaning up. But the Oxenforge has a too big cold spot right in the middle here because it is too flat and bigger. The Oxenforge still has a small coolish spot of 3cm diameter or so right smack in the middle but that is not a worry. You would not be happy on a 36cm Oxenforge I believe as it will sit too high.

I somewhat need to hammer my yoshikawa into form, but not sure that will work smoothly. Too bad yoshikawa has no fully round version.

I've added some water boil pictures to show the difference. Yoshikawa has the additional handle, Oxenforge doesn't.

So yeah, you don't want a too thin wok on induction. You will inevitably miss some reactivity Vs gas an super thin wok, you will not be able to toss food, and you really need to find a wok that fits nearly perfectly. So get a 36cm diameter induction wok for 36cm wok. I'm not kidding for those 7-8cm deep cookers. The big advantage over the 4cm deep ones is much better heat up the sidewalls. You want it deep but it will make wok selection hard.

And why not save 10-20euro and get a version with knob? It's much harder to get the knob from 8 two 3 and being sure you hit 3. Any second you need to check is degrading your food.

So vs dedicated wok gas burners. I would say it beats any 50k BTU dedicated burner. If however you can install a 100k or stronger BTU wok burner, cook outside, it beats the induction burner here. My kitchen only has 25A-230v, so I cannot get a 18-20kw induction burner and the crazy ventilation you would want for it in my kitchen. This is the best compromise for me. It's a huge step up from the smaller old so called 3500w induction wok burner. But there's still enough moments where I would just like to have those 20kw instant firepower. Actually the chefs told me they prefer their 20kw induction over gas for indoor kitchen. They are even faster than 200k BTU gas, you don't have bad air quality and for their health it's just much better. Outdoors go gas, indoors just go for the biggest induction burner you can afford. It the pros can get a Michelin star for a Sichuan restaurant serving loads of stir fry dishes, you don't need to compromise your health and use a gas wok burner indoors. Also with gas you can use any kind of wok and showcase your tossing. You'll learn however to move food with spatula not much worse.

Oh yeah - takes about 5 seconds for my 2mm Oxenforge 34cm to hit 250° Celsius when empty. It took 15 seconds on the small burner. Even though it's only twice the actual power, it's three times as fast empty as there is less time for the wok to lose heat to the air.

Oh and another plus, it doesn't stop ever if you take the wok off. Cut power, plug it in it will always directly fire away on the level chosen if a wok is present. I think the consumer grade all stop and start making annoying noises to remind you they are on. Restaurant grade means your job to switch it off. No standby nothing. As soon as the metal gets contact it fires away.

Bartscher for example has a 5kw model. I'm sure it's good but the touch controls simply destroy it. That's why for a 3.5kw model I think GGM Gastro is as good as it gets (the one with a knob dial, they also have a touch one). Deeper is always better but makes it more problematic fit - meaning harder to choose the right wok.

Maiden voyage of the Eastman Kahuna 90411 yesterday- what a freakin beast. Wok hei set the wooden handle on fire, and by the time I made it through a few batches I had to be careful not to let the cinder fall into the wok. That handle was getting in the way on my tosses anyway…

First cook on my outdoor stirfry wok burner (natural gas). Really fun! It’s going to take some practice getting used to the intense heat - you really need to keep it constantly moving! Made a simple egg fried rice with some left over steak, used tallow instead of oil.

Went to the Queen Victoria markets (Melbourne) with a friend yesterday and after lunch on the way out got some oysters and a whole snapper.

I have usually done this with fillets of barramundi typically, but figured ‘what the hell’ so got the whole fish and set off home.

Not the best photos, but thought I’d post regardless.

Scored fish, added some salt and SX wine. Cut up a fair bit of ginger and scallion whites. Lay the fish on the ginger and some scallions, then had more ginger in the belly and then on top a little more + scallions.

Steamed on that large dish for ~14-15 mins (fillets usually take ~8 mins)… let the water run off after complete, add some soy sauce, top with greens of the scallions, and top with hot oil drizzle on top of the scallions…

Delicious, we ate it all.

Got around to my first attempt at Chinese sausage fried rice. Got the recipe from Gemini. Open to other suggestions for future lol.