Chemiker wrote:
>
> On Sat, 18 Dec 2010 17:04:24 -0600, "Pete C." >
> wrote:
>
> >
> >Chemiker wrote:
> >>
> >> On Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:18:35 -0600, "Pete C." >
> >> wrote:
> >>
>
>
> >> I believe you're thinking of restaurant woks which are super big and
> >> use after-burner-like gas flames to drive them. Thousands of years of
> >> wok history, and no sign of after-burner heat sources! Peasants used
> >> them over stone fire rings, and the fires were fed with twigs. It
> >> works. Worked then, works now. It's a very efficient vessel to cook
> >> with. Let the flames begin.
> >>
> >> Alex
> >
> >Sorry, you are confusing "works" with "works as designed". You can
> >certainly cook food in a wok placed on an inadequate heat source and it
> >will cook the food, however it will not cook it the way a wok is
> >intended to cook it. And no, historically you don't find the 50,000
> >BTU/Hr wok burners of today, what you do find is wood or charcoal fires
> >with comparable temperatures and BTU outputs being used.
>
> Um, maybe I am a fool, but are you saying that 2000 years ago these
> simple vessels were "designed" to run at 18000-20000 BTU? Certainly
> those temperatures were available, because they made steel for swords,
> but I can't see your average Joe Chu, rice farmer, wasting precious
> fuel to get to those heat levels.

Fuel was not "precious" in those days, it was readily available.

>
> I don't think you understand legacy cooking at all, especially when it
> comes to woks. These things were designed or evolved to meet the needs
> of the poor shlubs who actually used them, not some Chinese Benihana
> of 2000 years in the future, who had natural gas. When these things
> were developed, they used charcoal, wood and straw as fuel. Get a
> life!

When was the last time you measured the temperature of burning charcoal?
(hint 1,200F+)

>
> Alex, who wonders just who was the genius whose "intent" was behind
> the design of the wok. Who was this celestial wok-designing engineer,
> my friend? Do you have a name? was it God? Bill Gates? Who?

I'm afraid your feeble brain can't handle the truth. Continue believing
your fantasy that only in the last century or two did people have the
intelligence to know how and why to cook at high temperatures and
produce cookware to take advantage of it.