r/wok

My 30 year old carbon steel wok is giving up the ghost soon (loose rivets) so I need a replacement. Much of my cooking ends up with wet sauces so it barely remains seasoned. I’m not inclined to do the long yau as I don’t want to waste oil and make a mess in a small kitchen. Would switching to stainless steel be just as much of a hassle, as I would spend more time cleaning? Cleaning being the oil spatters that polymerize at the outside edges of the pan. 🤔

Hello I am moving into a new home in a few months with an induction stove. I have a 12" matfer carbon steel pan that is warped and spins on flat surfaces, and a flat bottom CS Yosukata wok and I wanted to set up an outdoor kitchen with a propane burner.

I'm looking at the powerflamer 160 and the cuisinart cart but these look more like dedicated wok burners so I wasn't sure if the flame pattern + ring will work with the matfer (heat distribution+control+risk of warping, seating on the ring) or if I should look into a different style burner.

I just bought a 14" flat bottom carbon steel wok from Craft Wok for my mother for Mother's Day.

She enjoys cooking and cooks a decent amount of stir fry and always uses a fry pan or saute pan, so I thought she would enjoy having a wok.

Upon getting it, I'm very happy about the feel and quality of it and the stability of it when sitting on the range, but I have some concerns. First and most importantly, it is heavier than I thought it would be, even having known the fact that it is 4.6 lbs before I got it. Then, the flat bottom is larger than I expected which works well for stability on a gas stove but I'm not sure if it takes away from the traditional use of a wok or not.

All of this said, from reading about different woks, I'm happy about what I have read about craft wok and I don't mind spending a bit in that $60 - $100 ballpark for a good quality wok right now as a gift. However, she won't be able to toss this one at all. Is tossing essential to using a wok? From what I've read, lighter is nicer for tossing and handling but for western ranges, thicker and thus heavier is nicer since it will retain heat better.

Basically the title, I’ve been into Asian cooking for a while and want to up my game, and it seems like fish sauce is everywhere but I am vegetarian and don’t know what to use instead. Thoughts?

Thanks!

Just wanted to mention that I recently bought the 14" Strata 3-ply nitrided carbon steel wok after reading about it in this sub, and it's a fantastic find for my application. I'm cooking on an induction stove and I tried 2 other carbon steel works with no joy. They only heat up at the flat bottom and you can comfortably touch them an inch up the curved wall and they're barely warm. That really makes for a lousy stir trying experience.

The Strata has an aluminum layer sandwiched in between the outer carbon steel layers, and to my surprise, it makes the wok really hot all the way to the upper edge, even smoking the thin oil layer up on the slope. It's a must if you're on an induction stove!

The nitriding is just a maintenance bonus feature which I certainly appreciate.

By shear chance I bumped into this Subreddit, the pleasant r/wok , and finding so many asian cooking (specifically stir fry) enthusiasts. Just wondering: in China, in almost every home kitchen, because of the extensive daily cooking with stir fry, a range hood is compulsory. Otherwise, after less than a week you will find you kitchen cabinets, floor and ceiling covered with a thin layer oil due to oil vapor deposits.

For those in this subreddit who are not in a Asian household/asian kitchen, do you notice this problem? are you handling it in an alternative way? (e.g. you only do stir fry in an open-air kitchen)

Hey, basically in the title. I will use it mostly and exclusively on a regular electric stove, just curious about seasoning. I have no idea if the pre owner seasoned it. I read this post here, and am now wondering if it's enough to season it in the oven or if I have to "blue" it, as the article says.

Any input is welcome!

Stumbled over this: https://www.ggmgastro.com/de-at-eur/kochgeraete/geraete/mobile-tischkochgeraete/mobile-induktionskochfelder/induktionsherde-ids

That's actually cheaper buying them from Germany Vs getting the Chinese original on AliExpress. 165 euros plus VAT vs around 180 on AliExpress plus vat for something very similar (and 2 months shipping on the slow lane - as it's cainao for heavy goods which means either rail or freightship)

165euros for an I think actual 3.5kw unit in the 165mm height bracket with knob power control is great. Those are restaurant/catering grade and the shop is pretty well known in catering..

Definitely a level over the cheap Bartscher unit... Too bad they don't sell a 5 or 6kw one - but this is about the very best Chinese 3.5kw burners you can get, and buying it locally means even some sort of warranty unlike AliExpress. Yeah they are just some branded Chinese ones I think, but this is the highest quality 3500w package you can get and I think they actually hit 3500w unlike the smaller ones that actually only have 2500w with horrible electronics... Or could they actually

Actually they have mobile flat induction plates too which likely blow any of the cheap ones with undersized coils out of the water.

I used a flat bottom wok on a glass top stove for like a year and then gave up on it because it was so frustrating, and now I’ve been using it just for steaming dumplings. I’ve wanted to get a wok stove and a round bottom wok for like a year and a half or two years or something. And I finally did it! I ordered the Concord “the block burner max” (the double one with a regular burner and a wok burner), and got a round bottom wok, and I am so pumped! But most of the people in my life are like “🤷🏻‍♀️ cool!”.

I thought y’all might understand the excitement better. 😬

It’s arriving on Friday!!