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Customer Rating:

Summary: A Real Wok
Comment: I have purchased many cooking tools from the Wok Shop. It is always a pleasure buying online from the Wok Shop. In fact, I used to live in Berkeley, 30 minutes away from San Francisco Chinatown where the actual Wok Shop resides. Yes, the Wok Shop is a real cookware shop, not a cyberspace storehouse. It is a real authentic Chinese cookware store, not a tourist shop. Most of its customers are Chinese. If you have a chance, you should swing by and visit. It is a nice little store filled with helpful people and unique items. Yes, they speak English too. The Wok Shop always promptly ships out your goods. Usually, you will get your goods in about 1 week (from my experience).

This is a nice carbon steel wok, made in USA as well. I had used larger size before, but now I prefer a 10-12" wok for ease of control. I prefer the wood handle, because it acts as a very good heat insulator and it is less slippy than some plastic handles. The wok is relatively thin, but sturdy. Thus, it is not very heavy. Tossing foods is easy with this wok. A carbon steel or a cast iron cookware must be seasoned before using, and it need to be seasoned occasionally. After seasoning, the wok becomes stick resistant. If you own a cast iron skillet, then you pretty much know this. Seasoning a cookware can be time consuming, but it is also rewarding. If you are new to stir fry and have never seasoned a cookware before, then you may want consider learning with a nonstick wok first.

You may ask why go through all the troubles to season a cookware, why not uses a nonstick wok? The reason is simple: taste. Just like a nonstick skillet cannot match a cast iron skillet, a nonstick wok cannot match a carbon steel wok. To stir fry properly, you must cook your foods (especially meats) at high temperature in a short period of time. Nonstick cookware simply cannot handle the heat requirement. Stainless steel, carbon steel and cast iron can. The problem for a stainless steel wok is that it cannot be seasoned, so meat sticks to it very easily. Not only this is a challenge for cooking, but it is also a problem for cleaning. A cast iron wok is fairly well-respected. It retains heat well and it is also stick-resistant when seasoned. However, it is heavy and its heat response time is slow. In order words, it is difficult to toss foods with it and it takes a long time to heat up and cool down. This is why carbon steel is the most popular material for Chinese wok. It is inexpensive, light weight, and has a relative good heat response. It is also stick resistant when seasoned. Is it perfect? No. It takes time to season and its seasoned coating (patina) is not as durable as that on a cast iron cookware. Keep in mind, its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages. I just want to make clear that there is no "perfect cookware" and a cook need to know the strengths and weakness of his/her cookware. I have recently wrote a review on the Calphalon One Infused-Anodized 10-Inch Stir Fry Pan. It is a good pan as well. It has some advantages and disadvantage comparing to this wok. You may also want to consider it.

Finally, it is useful to purchase a bamboo wok brush for a carbon steel wok or for a cast iron wok. Every now and then, small amount of foods will stick to the cookware. Unlike a stainless steel wok, you should not use steel wool get the foods off. It will just scratch up the patina. You want something softer. Your fingernail works, but you really do not want to do that all the time. Therefore, a bamboo wok brush is prefect. It is hard enough to get most of the stuck foods off, and sofe enough not to scratch the cookware. Bamboo also has antibacterial property, so you do not have to clean a bamboo brush very often. If you do not know where to get one, the Wok shop also sells them as well. Of course, you do not have to have a bamboo brush, a dish brush will work as long as it has the right hardness to it.

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Editorial Reviews:

This heavy 14-gauge wok is an easy and fun to use. The natural, blond, wooden handle and side spool handle allows the cook full command of the wok. The flat bottom wok is designed to sit directly on an electric stove or ceramic stovetop to take advantage of all the heat. Wok cooking is done with high heat. The flat bottom wok also works very efficiently on a gas stove. If cooking with gas, the same wok is available in round bottom. Wok measures 4" in depth. Cooking recommendations: 12" for up to 5 people, 14" for 6 to 12 people, and 16" for over 12 people. Must be seasoned.