Dopers, what can you tell me about stir-fry wok cooking? I’m told it takes a stove that can produce a lot of heat; that you need a good wok; that there’s a ton of prep work and a relatively short cooking time in an oil with a high smoke point.
Can you cook acceptably on a wok on your stovetop at home, or is it not hot enough? Dare I put a wok onto a gas barbecue grill instead?
Would it be easier to simply cook stir-fry in a cast-iron skillet? I’ve done that before with passable results, nothing restaurant-quality. I just worry about having another piece of specialized equipment around that’s only good for one thing, you know?
Specialized? We use our woks for quite a bit of stuff. I originally wanted a quick and dirty way to season the wok (anodized steel, not the coated stuff) so I started deep frying in it instead of in a pot. Now we prefer it to pots - it uses less oil and batches are easier to get out of the grease in lump sums (unless the pot has a dedicated frying basket). With very little oil a nicely seasoned wok will put out some awesome home fried potatos.
For stir frying just don’t be afraid of the heat. I have always used a normal stovetop and had no troubles. The stovetop has always been set to the highest temperature as the bottom surface of the wok needs to be the hottest. The advantage of the wok is the sides which are cooler the farther up one goes so not all the food has to be in contact with the hot cooking surface at once. Another great advantage is that due to the roundness it is easy to slide the wok around and stir the food faster and gentler than using a utensel (which could damage the food). Plus when other folks see you flipping a wok around and food flying up and back down into it they think you really know what you’re doing. Throw a dash of alcohol in there while the wok is nice and hot, shake it around over the fire and let the alcohol flash off and it is real impressive to the audience (also imparts a very pleasant and very subtle char flavor to the food, but mostly I do it for show)
When you are done try not to wash the wok too much, just throw some water into a hot wok and wipe it down with a rag. Don’t want to disturb the developing stick resistant coating.
Oh, and just about any oil works but something with a high temp range seems to work a little better, like peanut or sesame.
A true wok won’t get hot enough on an electric burner, because there is so little contact. You can get a modified ‘stir-fry pan’ which is a big flat bottom with woky edges, so you can flip and stir vigourously like a normal wok.
My gas stove has one larger burner it works well for woking. I’ve seen some cooking shows that suggest a very large propane burner would be needed to heat the wok to traditional cooking temps. That or setting it onto a pile of white hot coals on a charcoal grill. I’ve never tried that but have been temped.
As for ‘tons’ of prep work. The cooking takes place so quickly every ingredient needs to be prepared a head of time. And yes you often spend more time chopping than cooking.
I have also found a wok makes a wonderful pop corn popper (this only works if you have a lid for your wok or cover it with extra large foil.) Almost no burnt kernels and you use much less oil than when using a large flat bottomed pan.
I switched to a 12" skillet after several years of using a wok on natural gas or propane burning stoves. The thick metal on a nice skillet holds the heat better. As Jimson Jim pointed out, a normal stove doesn’t get as hot as a wok burner. My stove has 10,000 BTU burners (and one smaller one), but most the wok burners I see advertised are in the 30,000 to 40,000 BTU range, and I’ve seen at least one that was 120,000 BTU’s. I’ve seen video of people using some kind of open topped, side-fired, woodburning ceramic wok burner, but I’ve never been able to find one. If I could find one of those things, I’d set it up out back, get another wok and give it another try. I’m not saying you can’t use a wok on a normal stove, but I get better results with the skillet.
As for prep, with a little practice, it won’t take much time at all. With a decent chef’s knife and cutting board, you should be able to slice and dice and julienne your way through huge piles of stuff in just minutes after a couple weeks practice. I have everything cut up and all my spices and sauces lined up on the counter before I start the cooking.
Most people’s home kitchens don’t have a good enough overhead fan to deal with the smoke and burnoff from real wok cooking temps anyway. The whole house would smell for weeks.
I tried to use my wok on my gas grill (Weber Genesis, 3 burners). Even with everything maxed out, and the lid closed, it wasn’t hot enough.
I get good results on my gas kitchen stove. To contain the splatter, I cover the surrounding surfaces with damp towels (not too close, you’ll singe the towels.) The range hood fan and both bathroom fans will keep the smoke alarms from going off. Rather than trying to scoot the already cooked food up the sides, I gave up and started taking some out to a nearby dish. When all the meat and crunchy veg is cooked, I throw in some liquid; broth, wine, or water. Then the spinach or cabbage leaves go on top of everything, and I cover it up to steam the leafy stuff.
Yes, it’s more hassle. Sometimes, I get lazy and use a big skillet instead.
ETA: Even if you have Aerosmith blasting on the stereo, don’t Wok This Whey. Too much heat for whey.
Tell me about it. I had to buy and install a range fan that could handle that kind of flammage. But you haven’t had Chinese food until you have had home-cooked kung pao chicken.