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Woks and Stir Fry PansWok and stir fry pan resources and guides
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Wok Materials
Serious chefs prefer woks that are made of cast iron or carbon steel.
Opinions are evenly divided over which of these two materials provides the best surface for wok cooking. Both can withstand very high temperatures and retain heat well. Cast iron woks, like all cookware made from this material, must be seasoned before using.
Stainless steel cookware sandwich a layer of copper or aluminum between stainless steel sheets. These woks look beautiful and work as well as cast iron or carbon steel, but they are generally much more expensive.
Woks are also available in aluminum and Teflon, although these are much less desirable materials. They are not suited to cooking over high heat, and will quickly become unusable with traditional Wok cooking.
Flat or Round Bottomed Woks?
In order to be used with modern stoves, many woks today come with a flat bottom, rather than a rounded one.
Other models come with a metal ring to stabilize the base.
Restaurants often have special gas stoves where the woks sit in a recess above the heating element, which prevents heat loss around the sides of the cookware.
It is also possible, though less than ideal, to use woks with electric stoves.
Electric stoves usually do not reach the levels of heat that are needed for traditional wok stir frying or searing.
However, woks can be used on lower heat for braising, steaming, and for cooking soups and rice.
What is a Wok?
A wok is a deep bowl-shaped pan made
of metal. A traditional wok has a 14 inch diameter and
is made from carbon steel. It takes a while to heat up
but then retains the heat for a long time.
It allows a small amount of oil to be
heated to a very high temperature. Food is fried in the
oil and then sat on the deep sides (which are slightly
cooler) to stop cooking and keep warm until serving.
Woks have been used in cooking for thousands of years in
China, and are now very popular in the Western world as
well. Traditional woks or stir fry pans are made from
heavy metal, such as cast iron, and have a rounded
bottom and curved sides.
Woks can be used for
stir-frying, deep frying or steaming. They were designed to be used over fires, searing food
very quickly at high temperatures to seal in juices and
flavors.
The curved sides remain cooler than the bottom of the
pan, allowing foods with different cooking times to be
heated simultaneously.