Shopping around for them online I see a lot of them are Teflon coated. That doesn’t seam right to me. Can you get a proper sear from a Teflon coated wok?
Also, should I go round bottom with a ring? (I have an electric stove.) Or flat bottom? Or one with it’s own heat source?
Avoid teflon woks. Any heat high enough to get “Wok hei” is going to do nasty things with teflon. Unfortunately for you, electric stoves are also terrible for wok cooking, but no everybody can go out and switch to a proper gas stove, so the best you can do is get a flat bottom steel wok. That way at least as much of the surface area as possible will be in direct contact with the stove ring for maximum heat transfer.
I should add that even most gas stoves found in homes do not produce a flame nearly high enough for proper wok hei, but there’s techniques to compensate for that.
And if you are still wondering what wok hei is - Wok - Wikipedia
This is the main thing. I acquired two woks over the years and they might have been perfect woks, but neither one of them was worth shit to me because I’ve never had burners big enough. Neither one of them’s been out of the closet in 15 years.
Don’t get one; as others have said, unless you have the stove to use it with, you’re not going to get much benefit.
I do stir-fries in a stainless-steel pan. I do, however, covet one of these types of setups. That’s what you truly need if you want to do wok-cooking at home.
According to Alton Brown, what you really need is a jet engine.
Get one that’s hammered with dents in it. This helps hold the food along the sides for steaming.
Sense of humor, strong hands, a big smile… what?
That’d be a wok to remember!
I got my hand hammered wok from The Wok Shop. They sent some free stuff with it- a rice paddle, a strainer, and a collapsing back-scratcher.
I don’t think there is a perfect wok. My wife, who is both Chinese and a helluva chef, has to swap her’s around at least once a year.
Although I don’t think you can go wrong with a big ass flame and a cast iron wok.
Chow mein.
Yeah, cast iron can somewhat mitigate a weak flame because if you preheat it enough it’ll get really hot and hold it’s temp and you’ll still get some wok hei.
Carbon steel is ideal if you have a big ass burner like Athena linked to.