Wok cookery chat

We have pizza and outdoor cookery threads and there is a wealth of opinion/knowlwdge on woks and cooking with them…

@sumo @Tenderloin and the other suspects

I'll just leave this here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjGvM1_2S-g

And watch this guy use a flat bottomed wok on an induction burner, and putting his food prep on a perfectly functional wok burner to his left...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_xL8TxxX2k

Nice thread, DJ.

Question for those better-versed than me (and I probably already know the answer...). Domestic gas burner - no way around the heat not being fierce enough is there? I have tried leaving the wok a long time to get smoking. But it still loses too much heat during cooking.

Heavy cast iron woks can do a decent job, as they retain heat and don’t cool down as fast when you introduce new ingredients.
You have to cook differently though as you can’t move the food with your spoon more, rather than moving the pan.

I’m in. I’ve got a traditional wok but I’ve literally never mastered keeping it non stick. It’ll be ok for a bit and I’ll think I’ve cracked it, then BAM something will cremate itself to the surface and I’ll have to scrape it back to bare metal and start again.

Excellent, thanks. I shall have a look at some not-too-expensive cast iron then!

I think part of the way Chinese kitchens keep them non stick is by using huge quantities of oil.
Or at least a huge ladle or two of oil, swirl it around, and pour out into the oil container.
Also regularly deep and shallow frying in it, being constantly in use, scrubbing clean in water without detergent and immediately reusing.

I’ve never got my traditional wok fully non stick either, but I also don’t use it at least 9 times a day.

I bought a cast iron wok years ago, as long as it isn’t washed with washing up liquid it remains relatively non stick. Also I have found that adding water to the pan helps with keeping things from getting burned on.

If using an induction hob try putting kitchen towel between the hob and the pan it enables a bit more pan movement without risk of scratching the glass.

That’s actually a great tip, as I can see the cast iron completely fucking up an induction hob. Does the kitchen towel not start burning when the cast iron gets to 300+ degrees?

Clean the wok with a bamboo brush.

I'm no wok expert in the slightest, nor on induction hobs, but a plumber's soldering mat might be useful in this instance. E.g. https://www.wickes.co.uk/Rothenberger-Soldering---Mat-6-7022/p/118698

Hasn’t so far but I have never used my heat gun to check its temperature.

I would disagree, with a mild steel wok it is all in the initial seasoning, then washing with just water and a wok brush then drying on heat and wipe with oil/dripping.

Either have a wok burner on your job, or use a camping stove.

Like this.

Cleaning with a wok brush in water and wiping down in oil is fine, but I think that regular use is still important when combined with that.

Got one of those. Never thought about it! Ace. Thanks.

Too small. Buy an outdoor propane burner.

And a fire extinguisher.

I’ve used these for camping for over a decade and did all our cooking on it for a couple of months during lockdown 1 when we had no kitchen. They are excellent, but they don’t kick out as much heat as the big burner on a gas hob. If you only have electric though, get one!

I read this as Woke Cookery Chat.

My big wok is well non stick now, seasoned it properly first time and never washed it with soap. Can never keep it hot enough though as it's too big to use the big burner at the back properly, and even that's not a proper wok one.

De buyer huge wok here. Flat bottomed and too big for the induction tbh but still works if you crank up the heat and the oil.

Thought that that the butane camping burner kicks out alot more heat than a methane natural gas burner.