Wok skillet suggestions

I don't want to buy a set of cookware. I already have too much crap.
I want to buy my wife a couple decent items without breaking the bank.
Maybe around $50 each.
Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Robert

It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for something that looks good in your kitchen I don't know. If you are looking for more function, Go to an Asian grocery store most will carry a selection of woks. You don't need a thick three ply for a real wok. The idea is thin metal and really high heat in order to maintain the foods nutrients. I also suggest while you are there picking up a Chinese clever, I find them much more functional than a chefs knife and they are usually less than $15

I could care less for looks. Thanks for the tip!

You want a flat bottom wok if you are using it on a standard stove. The wok rings don't work that well and you want as much contact with the heat as you can get. I would stay away from stainless unless you plan on using it solely for steaming. That leaves cast iron (think thin and somewhat breakable, not Lodge-like) and carbon steel. I would go with carbon steel myself. You need to season it like any carbon steel pan. Check here:
http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/woks/woks.html

There are 2 principle kinds of woks - Pow woks and ones that aren't Pow. Pow wok cooking is from northern China where you think of constant flipping and movement. You probably want the other kind. Here is a hand hammered flat bottom with loops on the side:
http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/woks/wok-hand-hammered.html
and here is a flat bottom black steel with handles:
http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/woks/wok-carbon-steel-wood-handle.html

I also recommend the book Breath of a Wok by Grace Young. You will learn more about woks than you probably want to know.

I second the Wok Shop as a good vendor and for review products. But, depending on where you are, you can probably find what you want locally.

Thanks for the tips, I guess I'll look around locally. We have a hella Asian part of Houston on the west side.

My experience with woks is that buying a good one isn't always enough. When I worked in a Chinese restaurant, the stoves had special fixtures that put out heat like a blast furnace. I bought a fine wok, but never was terribly satisfied with its performance at home. The problem wasn't the wok, it was the heat output of a home cooktop. That's why woks often turn into dust collectors!

So what does that mean for me with an electric stovetop?
Different kind of wok, no wok, just curious?

wolfrb said:

So what does that mean for me with an electric stovetop?
Different kind of wok, no wok, just curious?

Click to expand...

For best success, you would need a flat bottom wok. According to the Grace Young book I listed above, perfectly acceptable wok cooking to get wok-hay is achievable on home stoves, gas or electric. To replicate, perhaps, some Chinese cooking you may have had, they have special burners they use with woks. These things are like jet engines and the cooking happens so fast. Tom is absolutely correct in that regard. There are home versions using propane, but the people I've talked to haven't used their setups regularly enough to make it worth the cost to me.

If you are interested in wok cooking, take a look at the Grace Young book I mentioned and check out the recipes. They were developed specifically for home stoves using a flat bottom wok.

From my experiences it's not even worth trying to cook with a wok on an electric stove, or most gas stoves for that matter. You need at least a 10,000 BTU burner and most home stoves can't put out the heat necessary for that type of cooking.

If you really want to cook in a wok get a propane turkey fryer. You'll have to cook outside but they can crank out the serious BTU's necessary for wok cooking. This has worked well for me and I can make some pretty impressive stirfry.

Chinese restaurants do have special stoves with special burners that go to a temperature that regular home stoves cannot even hope to attain. Having said that, I think you can do just fine on an electric stove with flat bottom woks. I have three woks. Two have the longer wooden handles; one smaller one has no wooden handle but two small iron loop handles. One with the wood handle I use for steaming - veg, fish, dim sum and the like. Water does not need 10,000 btu to boil and steam. The small one with no wood handle I use to deep fry. Oil is hot enough at about 350-375 (depending on what I am frying). Again, 10,000 btu is not necessary unless you want a really dandy range fire. The other one with a wood handle I use to stir fry. I crank up my range to full high. While I do not get the "wok breath" effect that Chinese stoves achieve, it is sufficiently hot to keep me jumping to make sure nothing burns. I am certain that my stir frying is not as good as some Chinese restaurants, but I have fun and have no one complain about the food.

Chinese restaurants fry the food for 1-2 minutes in clean hot oil, then place in boiling water for a few seconds to finish, then drain. The boiling water helps to rinse oil off the surface resulting in cleaner tasting food. Place food into hot wok with a little oil and add the sauce to coat.

The chinese grocery stores carry some flat bottomed woks that have a coating made of marble or eramic it is mottled looking I've had one for 2 years and can fry an egg in it without oil and have it not stick.

I've also got a cast iron wok I really like