I’ll go with KellyM on this issue. A traditional wok permits immersion deep frying without having to use a gallon of oil. In China this is a big issue because oil is a costly food stuff. Another benefit of a round bottom wok is that the more shallow wall slope permits draining fried food there. Most flat bottom woks have steeper wall angles that do not allow this.
Another agreement with Zenster. I have an electric stove and use the traditional wok and wok ring.
Works great.
I have an electric stove and flat bottomed Calphalon wok. It works OK, but it’s hard to get the metal of the wok heated enough on the sides to really do any serious cooking. All the heat is at the bottom and in my case the oil in the bottom is very quickly overwhelmed by the water draining from the veggies and soon becomes an oily steamer. I rarely use it anymore. I just quickly skillet cook the veggies.
The thing with woks is, the more heat, the better. An Arky has the right idea, outdoor gas cookers are wonderful for this sort of thing. No wok ring necessary, and once you cook like that, it’s hard to go back to the comparatively wimpy stovetop. My old roomate from Hong Kong gave me his, and I’ve been very happy. He went out and got an even more powerful cooker, that is basically an upright flamethrower. It’s so hot he has to hold it with a towel soaked in water every few seconds.
My advice is that, if you cook on the stovetop, never try to toss your food in the wok. I’ve observed that if you take it off the heat just a bit to flip it, you’ll have much lower cooking temperatures. Leave it on the burner all the time and just stir with a spoon.
This is probably more a matter of opinion than fact. Since it’s about cooking, I ll move this thread to Cafe Society.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
I use my wok on our new gas stove which has one “high power” burner. It works quite well there, although the stove manufacturer says not to do that.
I would love to have a proper wok setup, but I rent and cannot justify the necessary modifications to my kitchen to set one up.
Thanks, neuroman! I’ve been working on my efficiency – five posts with just one click is a record for me, but I consider it a personal challenge to keep improving that number.
On the subject of electric stoves, the only problem with them is they have a slower response time. You can certainly cook just as well on electric as on gas, you just have to plan ahead.
On the subject of gas burners, I’ve heard of people putting the wok in the garage over an industrial-strength flame, an “upright flamethrower” as Avumede’s roommate used. That kind of heat needs to be out of the house.
On the subject of flat-bottomed woks, I say curses to the lot of you! I’ll never be happy with my flat-bottomed wok again!
Are you gonna stir-fry food tonight?
Ah, down beside that red gaslight?
Are you gonna make me beef chow mein?
Flat-bottomed woks,
You make the wokkin’ world go 'round.
Never use soap on a wok that has been seasoned. The soap will bind with the seasoning and ruin it. If you let soap touch a seasoned wok you will have to scrub it out with salt (or sand; I prefer salt because it washes clean) and reseason it.