# Wok talk (help me buy a wok) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082 "2008-02-10T22:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/1 "2008-02-10T22:01:18Z")
I’m browsing over at [The Wok Shop](http://www.wokshop.com/) because I am tired of making stir-fry in my electric skillet - it just doesn’t taste right. But I’m utterly clueless about wok selection. I know I do NOT want a stainless or a “non-stick” wok, which leaves carbon steel or cast iron. Can anyone give me the rundown of the benefits stainless vs. cast iron? I lean toward cast iron by natural affinity but I am sure there are things I am ignorant about. I should add that I cook on propane. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/2 "2008-02-10T22:16:14Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] I’m browsing over at [The Wok Shop](http://www.wokshop.com/) because I am tired of making stir-fry in my electric skillet - it just doesn’t taste right. But I’m utterly clueless about wok selection. I know I do NOT want a stainless or a “non-stick” wok, which leaves carbon steel or cast iron. Can anyone give me the rundown of the benefits stainless vs. cast iron? I lean toward cast iron by natural affinity but I am sure there are things I am ignorant about. I should add that I cook on propane. [/QUOTE] My advice is, don’t buy a wok. Buy a good skillet with fairly high sides and a flat bottom, much more suitable for an American stove. Cook’s Illustrated or America’s Test Kitchen are good sources of information. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/3 "2008-02-10T22:25:29Z")
[QUOTE=vison] My advice is, don’t buy a wok. Buy a good skillet with fairly high sides and a flat bottom, much more suitable for an American stove. Cook’s Illustrated or America’s Test Kitchen are good sources of information. [/QUOTE] I have an excellent early 20th century Griswold cast iron skillet - several in fact - and find that they do not quite get the job done. The shape, for one, is all wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/4 "2008-02-10T22:26:35Z")
i have one like [this](http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/woks/wok-wood-handles.html) and I have an electric stove. It works great and it’s very low maintenance once it’s seasoned. Remember three things: -for cooking, heat it to the approx. temperature of the hobs of hell -don’t wash with soap. Soak it in water to loosen stuck on stuff after cooking, then scrub with a plastic scrubber -once you’ve washed it, put in back on the stove on low heat to dry it. Otherwise, it can rust. Damn.Now I covet [this guy!](http://wokshop.stores.yahoo.net/casthahapwok.html) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/5 "2008-02-10T22:29:21Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] I’m browsing over at [The Wok Shop](http://www.wokshop.com/) because I am tired of making stir-fry in my electric skillet - it just doesn’t taste right. But I’m utterly clueless about wok selection. I know I do NOT want a stainless or a “non-stick” wok, which leaves carbon steel or cast iron. Can anyone give me the rundown of the benefits stainless vs. cast iron? I lean toward cast iron by natural affinity but I am sure there are things I am ignorant about. I should add that I cook on propane. [/QUOTE] Wikipedia has some good information: > [@](#): > > Currently, carbon steel is the most widely used material. Steel woks are usually inexpensive (often made of reclaimed materials) relatively light in weight, have quick heat conduction, and reasonable durability. However, carbon steel woks are more difficult to season and the carbonized season is easily removed in newer woks, both making food more prone to sticking to the wok. Carbon steel woks vary widely in price, style, and quality, which is roughly based on ply and forming technique. The lowest quality woks tend to be single ply and stamped straight from a piece of steel. These woks have a higher tendency to deform and misshape. Cooking with them is also more difficult and precarious since they often have “hot spots” due to uneven heat distribution. Higher quality woks are almost always “hand hammered” and made of two sheets of carbon steel which are formed into shape by “ring-forming” or hand forging. The real purpose of hand hammering is to create small ridges or dimples along the sides of the wok. These ridges are used in the frying technique of the chef.[citation needed] > > Two types of cast iron woks can be found in the market. Chinese cast iron woks are thin (~3 mm) and weigh about the same as a carbon steel wok of similar size, while western cast iron woks tend to be thick (~9 mm), tend to be heavy, and require very long heating times. Cast iron woks are superior to carbon steel woks in heat retention and uniform heat distribution. They also form a more stable carbonized layer of seasoning which makes it less prone to food sticking on the pan. However, both types of cast iron wok also have some disadvantages compared to carbon steel woks. Chinese-style cast iron woks, although quicker in heating and relatively light, are relatively fragile and are prone to shattering if dropped or mishandled. Western-type cast iron woks are slow-heating and slow-cooling, which makes temperature control more difficult. Furthermore, heavy western cast iron makes the tossing action required in stir-frying and bao difficult for smaller chefs. ---
**Author:** ![ForumBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@ForumBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForumBot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/6 "2008-02-10T22:46:30Z")
You want carbon steel, no smaller than 12", with 14" being ideal. Don’t buy pre-seasoned, either. The round bottom (‘pow’) style is the best, but if you have an electric stove don’t feel bad about settling for a flat-bottomed one; they work fine. If you can, find one that comes with a lid. I’ve never used a “hand-hammered” style wok, and although [this](http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/woks/wok-our-hand-hammered.html) looks very nice, I would be concerned about food getting caught in the grooves and burning, so be careful. If you’re not particularly strong, get one with a handle on the end. It’ll take up extra room, but it’ll ensure you don’t spill food everywhere. I don’t use one, but I’ve got a lot of practice (worked in a Chinese restaurant for over a year, work now in another kitchen that occasionally uses them). ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/7 "2008-02-11T00:14:59Z")
The Other Perfect Master has some [tips](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season9/thai/padthai.htm). ---
**Author:** ![ForumBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@ForumBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForumBot)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/8 "2008-02-11T00:44:00Z")
Meh to Alton Brown’s advice. Nothing bad, but he lost a couple of points by saying that thin layer of crap that comes on Woks will just go away in time. That doesn’t go into the air–that crap goes into your food! To clean that layer of gunk off, fill the wok about 2/3 full with water and bring it to a boil for 10 minutes. Then run over it with a soap and steel wool–really scrub the shit out of it, you want to be absolutely sure you’ve got only steel there, and _then_ go about seasoning. I seasoned my wok three times before cooking with it. If you don’t do a good job, food will stick and you’ll have to take a strong abrasive to it, taking off all work you put into the first seasoning job. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/9 "2008-02-11T02:58:54Z")
Hmm, I’m leaning toward the carbon steel now (I also think I like the pow style), but I’m concerned whether the metal on these is thick enough. I know that the Wok Shop is pretty highly regarded though. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/10 "2008-02-11T03:29:27Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] Hmm, I’m leaning toward the carbon steel now (I also think I like the pow style), but I’m concerned whether the metal on these is thick enough. I know that the Wok Shop is pretty highly regardsed though. [/QUOTE] I love The Wok Shop. The retail store is in San Francisco’s Chinatown. i buy all my Chinese cooking crap there. Personally, I find the thin carbon steel woks to work fine. Just make sure you have a burner that will throw out the BTU’s, or at least, constrain the quantity of ingredients to be commensurate with your firepower. I bought all my nieces and nephews woks from The Wok Shop last Christmas. My sister the grinch has since canceled gift giving to the kids. i still suspect that she had some bizarre objection to me giving cooking gear to her daughters. Of course, she’s the one with the $100,000 kitchen who can’t cook worth shit. That diatribe aside, what I did notice was that the cheap woks I bought had raised rivets on the handles. Try to make sure that the rivets or welds are ground flat or rounded on the cooking surface, or else they willl interfere with cooking and cleaning. Also, pick up a spatula and a ladle (insert Doper joke here) while you are at it. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/11 "2008-02-11T03:49:08Z")
**Darryl** , thanks for your input - I highly regard your opinion. I am slightly concerned about my stove putting out enough BTUs. It does seem to have issues with uneven heating, which is partly why I’ve used an electric skillet for stir-fry in the past. It may be time for me to invest in a separate heavy-duty propane burner for higher-heat applications. **Cheez\_Whia** has always said that woks are great because you can do freakin’ everything with them - but can I use it on my charcoal grill? The AB transcript that \*\*Oslo Ostrogoth \*\*linked to mentioned it, but I’d like a first hand opinion if anyone has one… (And **Darryl** , your nieces and nephews are quite lucky! The Griswold skillets I mentioned above were a quite delightful gift from my favorite aunt. I cherish them beyond most of my possessions.) ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/12 "2008-02-11T07:02:29Z")
[QUOTE=ForumBot] Meh to Alton Brown’s advice. Nothing bad, but he lost a couple of points by saying that thin layer of crap that comes on Woks will just go away in time. That doesn’t go into the air–that crap goes into your food! [/QUOTE] Good point. I’m sure that I would burn off any factory gunk several times before I would trust food to it. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/13 "2008-02-11T07:50:57Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] **Darryl** , thanks for your input - I highly regard your opinion. I am slightly concerned about my stove putting out enough BTUs. [/QUOTE] Thanks **Queenie** , what the hell happened to the Bruins today? Oh well, so long as they make it to the tourney, they’ll be OK. I’ve been told that some stoves can be retrofitted with a higher BTU burner. I’ve got a '50’s era Wedgewood, and the guy I bought it from told me this was possible. Generally, it has been adequate for all my experiments as far as firepower goes. From what I’ve seen, most electric woks suck due to the thermostat kicking on and off, thus not providing an even consistent temperature. Perhaps newer electric woks do not have this design flaw, but IMHO, gas is the only way to go. If you’ve ever been to a hole in the wall Chinese restaurant with an exposed kitchen, you know they aren’t fucking around with the heat. Oh yeah, and you’ll need a lid and a wok ring also to support the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/14 "2008-02-11T13:27:13Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] Hmm, I’m leaning toward the carbon steel now (I also think I like the pow style), but I’m concerned whether the metal on these is thick enough. I know that the Wok Shop is pretty highly regarded though. [/QUOTE] That’s where I bought mine. It is the hand-hammered traditional style made of carbon steel. I bought the 16", and wish I’d bought a smaller one. It cooks great, though! Lids can be bought separately. ---
**Author:** ![ForumBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@ForumBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForumBot)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/15 "2008-02-11T20:15:05Z")
And make sure you’ve got a good vent or a window nearby. Woks put out a lot of smoke. Not usually enough to set off a smoke detector, but enough to leave your kitchen hazy for a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![StinkyBurrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@StinkyBurrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StinkyBurrito)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/16 "2008-02-11T21:50:10Z")
My smoke detector go off ALL THE TIME! Between the wok and the cast iron flat top griddle/grill, I smoke my house up all the time. I have no vent or hood to use. Try making a chicken breast on the indoor grill without a hood sometime :eek: Anyway, I have a 14" carbon steel flatbottomed wok. It’s great but it has a wooden handle. I wish I would have gotten the metal handled kind so I could season it in the oven. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/17 "2008-02-12T00:23:16Z")
[QUOTE=Cheez\_Whia] That’s where I bought mine. It is the hand-hammered traditional style made of carbon steel. I bought the 16", and wish I’d bought a smaller one. It cooks great, though! Lids can be bought separately. [/QUOTE] I probably need a 16" though for my crew. Especially when the damn teenagers are around. **Darryl** , I blame the Bruins’ performance yesterday on midterms. I know that what I’m blaming all MY problems on this week anyways. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/18 "2008-02-12T01:17:10Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] I probably need a 16" though for my crew. Especially when the damn teenagers are around. [/QUOTE] The one I bought is [this](http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/woks/wok-hand-hammered.html) one. The lid is sold separately. They sent a bunch of stuff for free along with it: rice paddle, spider, burner ring, and a back scratcher. I had to buy a steaming rack at the Oriental store here. You can always buy a 14" with lid, and I’ll trade you in June. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/19 "2008-02-12T01:57:59Z")
Ah yes, The Wok Shop. I wander through it every single time I’m in San Francisco. I love their woks. You should be pleased with whatever you get- I like carbon steel, 14-16". ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082/20 "2008-02-12T02:45:22Z")
Oh, sweet jeezus, I have to go to SF and get [this!](http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/hard_to_find/hard_to_find_thairice.html) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wok-talk-help-me-buy-a-wok/437082.md?page=2)