Wok advice anyone?

Neil_Sedaka

Over the years, I've had a number of woks, all fairly low budget stuff.
All were non stick, Ken Hom, Uncle Ben's etc. that only last a few months, before the coating comes off.

I'm careful enough with them, as far as using wooden or plastic utensils and washing them with a nylon brush.

I think it's time I invested in something a little more robust, as I now find I'm using the wok for most of the cooking and it has pretty much replaced the frying pan altogether (although the cast iron, square grill pan, still gets it's fair share of use)

I'm a bit confused with the variety of woks on sale, should I get another non stick? a cast iron? an uncoated steel one?

Any advice much appreciated.

The Hill Billy

Get into the Asian Market on Drury Street & buy one of the steel woks they have down the very back of the store. You'll need to season it before you use it. I can pop over & show you how over a beer or two.

Actually, I'm in that part of town on Monday & can pick you one up if you want.

the beer revolu

Hill Billy wrote: »

Get into the Asian Market on Drury Street & buy one of the steel woks they have down the very back of the store. You'll need to season it before you use it. I can pop over & show you how over a beer or two.

Actually, I'm in that part of town on Monday & can pick you one up if you want.

+1 on that.
The best woks are the inexpensive ones in Asian shops but they are useless if not properly seasoned and really come into their own with prolonged use.

Scoobydoobydoo

I've had a couple of Ken Hom woks, they don't last long. Now I use the Tefal wok, very strong, lasts forever. There is no lid with it but I just use another.

Neil_Sedaka

Wow that was quick!
Thanks all for the advice.

Hill Billy, please do if you wouldn't mind.
If it has a lid, all the better, cheers.

The Hill Billy

Nay bother man. I'll call you with the price first to make sure it is within your price range.

If you're going native on this I'd also recommend a chinese cleaver like the one I have. Been using it for 10 years now & yes it is true - your fingertips do grow back!

Dizzyblonde

Hill Billy would you post the instructions for seasoning a wok please?

The Hill Billy

Give your new wok a good cleaning with a scouring pad & washing up liquid & hot water on the cooking surface & the outside.

When clean - dry thoroughly.

Place wok on the highest heat possible. Allow to heat up until you can feel the heat coming strongly off the surface of the wok.

Remove the wok from the hob & add a small amount (no more than a dessert spoon) of cooking oil such as groundnut or sunflower oil (not olive) & spread around the cooking surface of the wok. You can use a wad of kitchen paper to help spread it. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Put the wok back onto a medium heat for 5 to 10 mins until you start seeing a black coating develop.

Remove from hob & wipe with kitchen paper. You'll see some of the black coating on the paper.

Coat the wok with oil again, heat as above for 5 to 10 mins & wipe again.

Repeat another 2 or 3 times until the kitchen paper comes away clean after wiping.

When you've cooked with the wok after seasoning it - you should only use a damp cloth ot wipe clean after each use. No detergents or hard scrubbing!

catho_monster

I've got a cast iron wok, that i never got around to seasoning and it badly needs it.
does that kind of seasoning work on those too?

the beer revolu

catho_monster wrote: »

I've got a cast iron wok, that i never got around to seasoning and it badly needs it.
does that kind of seasoning work on those too?

Yup, same process

Planet X

Yeah, as said above re Asian Market Wok. Have one for years, brilliant. Cheap as chips. Never use detergent on it and let a patina build up on it. Lightly oil it after use also, they can develop rust stains. Any used cooking oil is fine.

Nice and light for one handed use.

The Sweeper

Also buy a bamboo wok brush. It's a load of bamboo strips tightly bound at one end into a handle. After using your wok, run it under scalding water and scrub with the bamboo brush. Then back onto the heat to dry it, then season again with oil, then wipe out with a piece of kitchen towel.

I have three carbon steel woks - they start off silver, and when they're well used they end up black. A proper seasoned coating works as well as a non-stick pan.

Also try seasoning pre use - heat the wok, put in a tbsp of oil, heat the oil, pour it off. Then add the oil you want to use for cooking - helps make it even more non-stick.

Neil_Sedaka

Again, many thanks for the advice all

Minder

Just in case there is any doubt - a carbon steel wok will be next to useless on an electric hob. If anyone has an electric hob, an iron wok with a flat base will give the same results as a steel wok on gas.

Dizzyblonde

Thanks Minder - I have an electric hob and had been wondering about this.

rubadub

I have an old flat wok that did have teflon. It started to come off and I scoured it off completely with an industrial scouring pad thing. I does start to rust if left wet though. Would the seasoning stop/help this?

I cooked everything on it, since it doesn't spatter as much with the high sides.

EDIT: seems it will help against rust, more here
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CastIronPans.htm

Minder

For an electric hob, a cast iron wok with a flat base is a good bet - something like this. The biggest disadvantage with a castiron wok is the weight - it's not easily moved around the hob.

The Sweeper

rubadub, depending what the material left behind on your old wok, yes, seasoning will stop it rusting - but to be honest, I'd be tempted to tell you to allow it go to the big saucepan kitchen in the sky and buy a new one. If you're on gas, and you shop in the right place, a carbon steel wok is extremely inexpensive.

One more tip on carbon steel with gas - don't buy a round-bottomed wok. Even if you have a wok stand, don't do it. If you ever get into an asian restaurant that has an open kitchen, look at what they cook on. They have huge cooking ranges, fired from below, with holes in them that the woks sit into. The woks usually sit in those holes up to two thirds of their depth, so there really is absolutely no chance of them tipping over. A wok stand just isn't the same thing and they strike me as bloody dangerous to be honest.

TheHairyFairy

We have a fairly decent gas range, but just cant seem to keep the wok hot when cooking with it. It seems as if we get it hot, then when we add the ingredients it cools down and doesnt regain its initial heat. Would this be down to the weight of the wok?

Minder

I doubt that the weight of the wok will matter too much - the heat will be dissipated by the ingredients as they cook - so it won't regain that initial heat - it then depends of the size of the flame. Any idea what size it is? Last year I watched the BBC2 programme Chinese Food Made Easy, Ching-He Huang used a 6.3kw single gas burner while out on location. I had just bought one of these and spotted it on the programme. It is about 2kw more than the wok burner on my hob and is very good, not least because the flame is applied to the wok in four rings.

rockbeer

On seasoning cast iron, I would suggest a slight modification on Hill Billy's excellent method.

Clean the wok as advised, coat completely with oil, then put it in the oven upside down. You want your oven on the lowest possible setting. Leave it there on a low heat for a couple of hours, and you'll find the seasoning will start to be absorbed into the surface of the metal. This slow baking really helps things along. The hob method is OK but it won't encourage the iron to absorb the oil anything like as quickly.

I always do the oven thing twice before I start cooking with a new cast iron pan, and the result is a perfect cooking surface.

Oh, and don't forget never to wash your cast iron in detergent, and to season it with a light coating of oil after every use. Treated properly it's the best cookware available. Who needs teflon?

rubadub

TheHairyFairy wrote: »

Would this be down to the weight of the wok?

I would have thought it should help. The bigger mass of metal takes longer to get to temperature and so stores this energy. Think of it in extremes, if you took a thin tinfoil tray and a thick metal tray out of the oven which can you handle quicker. Also if you had a candle you can get a pin red hot in seconds, a nail will take way longer. Things eventually get to around the same temp, but the pin will store/hold very little heat and cool much quicker than the pin. I have seen people advise to use heavy frying pans for steaks since it can hold way more energy. The flame size will matter too, being able to reheat it quicker.

rockbeer wrote: »

Clean the wok as advised, coat completely with oil, then put it in the oven upside down. You want your oven on the lowest possible setting. Leave it there on a low heat for a couple of hours, and you'll find the seasoning will start to be absorbed into the surface of the metal. This slow baking really helps things along. The hob method is OK but it won't encourage the iron to absorb the oil anything like as quickly.

This sounds good. I was thinking it is more suited to a wok too, my wok was thin and I expect the sides would not have been heated nearly as much as the rounded sides, as the heat just escapes off the large surface area. In the oven it is going to be very even all over.

The Hill Billy

FYI - A 13" wok in Asia Market on Drury Street set me back only €11.

garbanzo

Gas is your only man for a wok and you just can't get the same result on an electric cooker. You really need a high powered gas jet under it though. We changed cooker last year and I have a 3.5KW wok ring. It is brilliant. Obviously nowhere near the 6.3KW mentioned earlier but it does the job for me. Stir fry's twice a week . . . yum yum.

There is an excellent asian shop in Rathmines (Dublin 6) down near St Mary's school which does excellent utensils and ingredients.