Merits?
Japanese woks are pricey, Chinese woks are cheap. Am looking for a good wok for life, hopefully it will last longer than me
Japanese or Chinese Woks?
LurvinOZB on 19/11/2019 - 18:25
Comments
Merits?
Woks as far as I've known them, are pretty straight forward pieces of iron. What exactly would justify a high price?
Carbon steel woks are cheap as chips and when you season them properly, will last a lifetime. The key is the seasoning, not where it's made.
curious, is seasoning with salt?
No, oil and heat. Check out some youtube videos.
Oh right thanks
Haha no, I had the same confusion when I first started cooking. No, seasoning a wok refers to the layer of oil/grease that remains on the wok surface.
Hint (that I learnt from experience): don't wash a wok clean to the point that it's no longer greasy - you're washing off the seasoning at that point.
Lol oh right thanks
Hey mate, in my opinion:
The best wok is a light, carbon steel wok. Most cheap, traditional woks are these. It takes heat on very well, very quickly, making it reactive to your stove which is what traditional wok cooking is all about. Also easy to handle, unlike heavy cast iron woks or pans (they have their place, but it ain't this).
The cheap ones you can buy in places like HK or even a lot of chinese supermarkets typically fit the bill. Make sure the wood handle is nicely fitted to the metal handle socket, as that's usually where the cheap ones skimp out. The other option is just two short metal handles but I don't like the way they handle - more chances to burn yourself.
Don't get a flat bottomed wok - you may as well just buy a traditional frying pan. If a rounded bottom doesn't fit well to your stove, you can typically get little metal rings which help it sit better. The rounded bottom gives you more even heat distribution, the ability to deep or shallow fry with less oil, and more control over your ingredients in the wok as well as the temperature of different parts.
My wok cost me like 10 bucks for a reasonable sized one, brought it home from the cookware stores in HK. It has lasted me maybe 5 years and shows no signs of slowing down. My mum has one that's probably 30 years old, has been neglected, and it's still doing good. You need to thoroughly clean it first, as they are usually coated in a nasty substance which stops the carbon steel from rusting. Then you go through a seasoning process which is not difficult - there are plenty of tutorials online. Much like cast iron / carbon steel pans, you coat the wok in a very thin layer of oil and heat it up, repeating this several times until you have a dark sheen on the steel. As you cook, the seasoning builds up. Certain types of cooking (very acidic food) can feck that up, but it's easy to re-season. I have done that maybe once or twice in five years. The main factor in the wok lasting a lifetime is just treating it right. Clean it while it's still semi-warm, or at least make sure you do it the day you use it. Coat it with a thin sheen of oil after cleaning to keep the rust away. Proper care = a cheap wok that lasts forever.
Important consideration is size - hard to pick out without holding one in person. I got mine when I was living on my own and it's definitely pushing it for cooking larger meals for two or three. So getting an adequate size is important.
If you are cooking on an electric stove, probably not worth it - you'd need a flat bottomed wok and as I said, a pan is simply a better option there. You want a chunky gas stove, but really you can make it work with any type of gas, even a little butane portable stove. My normal stove does plenty well.
Source: love cookware, have a bunch of cast iron and carbon steel and nice shit I like to take care of and cook with every day.
I'm considering a Summit Kogyo Beijing wok or a Yamada Kogyo Beijing wok from Japan (each of them cost over a hundred AUD shipped excluding import GST), or a cheapo Chinese wok from the local Chinese grocer. Currently using Chinese woks at home and am wondering if Japan made ones are good for the money.
I use a jet wok burner occasionally when I want to replicate the wok hei flavour profile from the stir fries so those Chinese ones do not toss well and are kindda undersize.
I now have like 6 woks of different sizes and types … flat induction ones, round bottom ones, cast iron, carbon steel … Number 7 got returned to Costco. It was a Cook-Pal Beijing wok thats pretty shit for its price ($160 thereabouts). The handle screws in and is horrible. Although I'm not a master of seasoning woks, I do know enough to season a wok and the Costco one failed to impress even after seasoning.
I don't like those ones to be honest.
They use a type of nanotechnology to form the steel. Who knows what is actually used to produce it? Although it may not contain teflon, it may contain some sort of teflon-infused-iron compound (in other words it's like those illicit drugs which are transformed to be legit). This data is not required to be reported to the consumers, just like how the chromium levels in stainless steel don't have to be released to the public.
Prefer using the traditional cast iron woks for this reason.
To be honest if you are going to buy one of those, you might as well pickup the garbage ones at Target. They look no different and perform pretty much the same.
By the way, the lifetime warranty on that wok isn't worth it. It's just puffery. You can't expect stainless steel not to rust under the right conditions. I think you'll also find it hard to get it replaced in the future, especially if it looks like any ordinary wok.
Don't take my word for it, ask some chefs at your local chinese restaurant.
The answer to your question is contained in the first sentence of your post.