Conference turris::cooks

    I just watched The Wok Man (a paid broadcast).  He
    claims his hand hammered wok can be used on any 
    cook surface including electric stove, portable
    electric burner and barbecue grill.  He said
    you don't use the ring when you are doing stir
    frying you only use it to keep the pan from 
    wobbling when it is full of something like 
    maybe oil when you are deep frying.
    
    I have a ceramic top stove and I asked at the
    home show if a wok could be used on it and was
    told by The Wok Man, NO.  Otherwise at
    $39.99 it looked like a good investment.  As
    soon as I can afford to get rid of that ceramic
    top stove that I DO NOT LIKE, I'll go for the WOK.
    I might even go for it sooner and try using it
    on my jenn-air grill.
    
    Judie
    
    

I just put my wok directly on the burner of my electric stove, and it stays
just fine.  I only use the ring for storing the wok in my cabinet when it's not
in use.  I

    I have one of the woks that .1 mentions.  I've been extremely pleased
    with it myself.  I have an electric stove and the wok balances nicely
    on the burner.  It's a pleasure to use.  See topics 623 and 2066 for 
    more wok related info.
    
    Regards, Larry

    
    Get a steel wok that has a flat bottom.  I have a heavy, flat-bottom steel
    (not stainless steel, not teflon-coated, just "regular" steel) wok that
    works great on my electric stove.   It doesn't require a ring at all--it
    simply rests on top of the element.  
    
    I can't remember the manufacturer offhand, but it could well be Joyce
    Chen.  The cost was between $25-35.  I got it at Lechter's.
    
    If you're used to wok cooking on a gas stove, the transition to an
    electric stove does require you to adjust your technique.  But it sure
    beats doing without.  And if I ever get lucky enough to have a gas
    stove again, I'm confident that the flat-bottom wok will work just as
    well as the traditional style.
                                                             

  Re: -.1  

  Joyce Chen does make a flat-bottomed wok.  I don't recall where I heard it,
but in theory the flat-bottomed woks are supposed to be "preferable" for
electric stoves.  They're called Peking Pans, and the ones by Joyce Chen
have a "non-stick" coating on it.  Though, we still manage to get stuff to
stick :-)  Any kitchen store (The Kitchen, Kitchen Etc,...) should carry
them.

--Sharon

    Re: -.1
    
    	I guess my wok is not a Joyce Chen pan--it definitely does not have
    a non-stick coating.  I bought a "no frills" wok on purpose--it's just
    a plain, heavy steel wok.  It takes so little effort to keep it cleaned
    and seasoned, and best of all, I don't have to be super-careful not to
    scratch the surface. 
    

    
    I have both a Joyce Chen flat bottom wok and a heavy steel wok. Hands
    down I prefer my steel wok.  As .6 stated, you don't have to worry 
    about the finish etc.
    
     The steel wok cleans very easily and gets a nice seasoned patina
    to it with use.  Actually, the Joyce Chen wok is pretty beat now 
    and we did take good care of it.
    
    - Larry

    When I bought my house I was faced with the same problem. I went from
    a gas stove and a very well seasoned wok to an electric stove
    and a disappointment. I asked in this notes file and somebody
    recommended a flat bottomed steel wok from William Sonomas. They
    didn't have the store at the Burlington Mall (MA) at the time so I
    got it mail order and have never been sorry.
    
    I was told that it is an authentic wok, flat bottom woks are used in
    Northern China.
    
    

    
    A traditional (round base) wok uses less oil than a flat bottomed one
    for stir frying. Hence the results will *not* be quite the same.
    Furthermore a round bottom wok on a "soft" flame has direct heat well
    up the sides - a flat bottomed pan on an electric range will only have
    direct heat on the flat base - again the results will differ slightly.
    
    Faced with an electric range at our home my wife bought a heavy 14"
    "sautierre" pan (this is a deeper version of a saute pan - about 3"
    deep) that she uses for almost everything. However for one or two
    dishes it just won't do - it doesn't get hot enough nor does it have
    the overall even heat. For these jobs we bought a large bottled gas
    ring from a professional kitchen equipment shop and a 18" round
    bottomed wok. With the gas full up the flames rise over the edges of
    the pan but full control is available...  (We compromised slightly to
    save money - the ring we bought is in fact intended for a large soup
    pot, not specifically for a wok, but you can buy purpose built wok
    units that have a built in ring to hold the wok and a ring that
    includes a "jet" in the middle to avoid the possibility of a cold spot
    in the centre of the ring of gas flames. - one of these is more or less
    essential if you want to balance a large wok and stack of bamboo
    steamers on the gas burner, but not really needed for stir frying.)
    
    /. Ian .\
                                                                      

I have several Wok's.  A large (14") round bottom with ring, a med  (10") round
bottom with ring, and a small (8") round bottom with ring. Preveously I used 
them all with and without the ring.

About nine months ago, I bought a Joyce Chen flat bottom Wok, not a peken (sp?)
pan, but a real steel Wok, since I already owned a simalar sized (14") Wok, I 
bought only the Wok, no cover, or misc assorted other parts. Since this Wok
has entered my house, I can't remember the last time any of the others have
been used (I have given the med size away). I have a gas stove, and find the 
flat one much more convient, and it heats faster and hotter. This Wok, has even
replaced my hot air corn poper, since it's so convient.

So I vote for the Joyce Chen flat bottom Wok, I think it was priced around $16
for the pan only, and $32 for the whole kit (pan, cover, and assorted ect.)

    I have one of those wok's mentioned in .1 & .3.  I like it but not 100%
    satisfied.  The lid (dome as they mentioned on tv.) does not fit as
    nicely as the one on tv looked.  And it does take some time to heat up. 
    I have an electric stove and don't use the ring.  They say the ring is
    only for balancing.  For the money, it does the trick.  But if I were
    to do it again, I don't think I would purchase it, I think I would
    invest a little more money and get a steel round bottomed wok.
    
    Joyce
    
    p.s.  I would recommend not buying a wok unless it has a heavy wooden 
    handle.  Stir fry cooking is like *flash* cooking using very high heat,
    therefore a metal handle would conduct the heat in could result in an
    accident.

I had used a standard round bottom wok for years (7+), on a gas and an electric
range.  Last summer my wife bought a Caliphon (Caphilon??) wok for me for my
birthday.  They come in two sizes and I prefered the smaller of the two.  They
aren't cheap.  The small one is a bit over $50 at Lechmere here in Nashua.
Anyway, I love it.  It is flat bottomed. However, being heavy aluminium, it
transfers heat up the side very well so that it simulates the heating pattern
of the round bottom type very closely.  It does not have any anti-stick
chemicals on it which is my preference, and if maintained properly, food never
sticks.  The secret is never wash *any* wok with soap, and allow it to get 
*very* hot before adding peanut oil.  Then let it heat up even *more*.  The oil
should be allowed to pass through the smoking stage before adding the
ingredients.  A Thai friend of mine turns her stove on high and then starts
a load of laundry while it heats up.  I swear the thing is almost glowing
when she adds the oil!  Then she starts a load in the dryer while that heats up!  
That may sound a bit extreme but her food is among the best I have ever had.

The correct spelling is "Calphalon".

--PSW

re .12

My (Thai) wife often gets a fit of the giggles when watching cooking shows like
"Yan can cook" when the teacher says "get the oil hot" and she rolls about
laughing saying "that oil's cold"

so I'm not surprised about the timesharing activity whilst the pathetic western
technology gets wok and oil hot enough to cook.

Perhaps you should tell your friend that you can buy *real* wok gas burners from
stores that specialise in equipping restaurants. They get the wok and oil hot 
without taking quite so long :-)

/. Ian .\

RE: .14

I got a Birwag outdoor propane gas burner for doing Cajun blackened dishes, etc.
This burner puts out 35000 BTUs.  I find that it's excellent for getting wok
and oil really hot for oriental stir-frying.  The only drawback is that it
gets a bit chilly doing cooking in the winter here in New England.  K-Paul's
sells these things mail order.

--PSW

    We ended up buying one of those woks from the wok man on tv. $39.
    and we think it is a super wok. I would buy another if anything happens
    to this present one.  We tried an electric one and it didn't work and
    ended up with a tfal wok pan for $24, but it just wasn't big enough.
    We usually have the burner set on either high or med high for this new
    wok. If I had a complaint, I would say that the handle to the utinsels
    aren't big enough for my hands.
    
    mike
    

    Did I mention this elsewhere? Apologies if I have...
    
    Anyway, Joanne and I have 4 woks between us, two double handled steel
    ones, one with a single long wooden handle (also steel), and a Maxim
    electric. We use the double handled woks for steaming or making soup
    and such in. The long handled wok gets used for stir frying when we
    need more than one wok at a time. The Maxim gets used most of the time
    for stir frying because it heats up the fastest, especially after
    adding food to the pan. Our normal, domestic, gas stove doesn't put out
    enough heat to get the wok hot again after adding food to it. It is
    also an old enough stove that the adjustment mentioned somewhere in
    this file can't be done to it...
    
    I remember seeing one of Ken Hom's shows and there is a scene from his
    visit to a Buddhist temple. They had huge woks and the when a wok was
    removed from the burner the flame was high and sounded a bit like a
    small jet engine...
    
    	Marty Sasaki