Re-post from uk.food+drink.chinese

Hi,
I'm having a serious go at Chinese cooking and I'm getting a round
bottomed wok and stand. I have a fairly standard hob (whirlpool AKG
085/BR/02). The local shops only have light wire stands that would move
about on top of the Grating and to not provide enough clearance above the
burner of the grating were removed (The bottom of the WOK touches the
burner). The cooking shop I went to locally indicated that this stand was
just for storing the wok not cooking with but the local Chinese supermarket
seemed to imply this was OK (though there were some communication problems
here so I may have misunderstood) and so does http://www.londonwok.com/,
though I have to say it all looks a little fragile to me. Ideally, the stand
would sit directly on the hob, allowing the wok to be as close to the flame
as possible. This must be a common problem - anyone point me at a solution ?

The burner protrudes 33mm from the base of the HOB, I am also purchasing
a new wok.

Also, The largest burner on the HOB is rated at 3000W (nominal). Is this
powerful enough to give the wok hai flavour ?

Cheers for any help,

Bruce.

On Jul 22, 8:52*am, "anern" > wrote:
> Re-post from uk.food+drink.chinese
>
> Hi,
> * * I'm having a serious go at Chinese cooking and I'm getting a round
> bottomed wok and stand. I have a fairly standard hob (whirlpool AKG
> 085/BR/02). The local shops only have light wire stands that would move
> about on top of the Grating and to not provide enough clearance above the
> burner of the grating were removed (The bottom of the WOK touches the
> burner). The cooking shop I went to locally indicated that this stand was
> just for storing the wok not cooking with but the local Chinese supermarket
> seemed to imply this was OK (though there were some communication problems
> here so I may have misunderstood) and so doeshttp://www.londonwok.com/,
> though I have to say it all looks a little fragile to me. Ideally, the stand
> would sit directly on the hob, allowing the wok to be as close to the flame
> as possible. This must be a common problem - anyone point me at a solution ?
>
> * * The burner protrudes 33mm from the base of the HOB, I am also purchasing
> a new wok.
>
> * * Also, The largest burner on the HOB is rated at 3000W (nominal). Is this
> powerful enough to give the wok hai flavour ?
>
I hope you're getting the carbon steel wok. Avoid the stainless and
the nonstick. Either round or flat bottom will work. Round bottom is
more traditional and facilitates stirfrying but flat bottom is more
stable and usually sits closer to the heat source, hence gets hotter.
Either the steel or wire stand will work, assuming the wire version is
sturdy enough to support the wok when it is loaded with soup or deep
frying oil. Position it so that the larger diameter side is up, if
your burner configuration will allow it. This will put the wok
slightly closer to the flame.

The home stove burner will not produce the kind of flame that a
commercial kitchen uses both in btu's and in terms of how deeply into
the flame the wok sits. You will find it difficult to achieve 'wok
hai' but it is possible, at least some of the time. Once the wok is
well-seasoned, give it plenty of preheating time -- wisps of smoke
should begin to appear before you put anything into it. Then do not
overload it, as the larger the quantity you put in the more it will
cool it down. For a typical 14" wok, no more than 1 pound of chicken
or 12 ounces of beef at a time is what Grace Young recommends in "The
Breath of a Wok," which I highly recommend to you. It's better to
stirfry in batches if that's the only way to keep the heat up. In a
meat and veggie stirfry I will usually do the veggies first, remove
them, let the wok reheat well, then do the meat, construct the sauce
if that's called for, and then add the veggies back to finish.

One more tip: when you put meat in for a stirfry, don't begin
stirring/tossing immediately. Put the (well-drained) meat in all in
one layer to the extent possible and let it sear briefly before you
begin moving it around. That will maximize your chances of getting
that elusive 'wok hay.' -aem

anern wrote:

> Re-post from uk.food+drink.chinese
>
> Hi,
> I'm having a serious go at Chinese cooking and I'm getting a round
> bottomed wok and stand.

Round bottomed woks make the wokkin' world go 'round.


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Need a new news feed? http://blinkynet.net/comp/newfeed.html

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:52:13 +0100, "anern" > wrote:

>Re-post from uk.food+drink.chinese
>
>Hi,
> I'm having a serious go at Chinese cooking and I'm getting a round
>bottomed wok and stand. I have a fairly standard hob (whirlpool AKG
>085/BR/02). The local shops only have light wire stands that would move
>about on top of the Grating and to not provide enough clearance above the
>burner of the grating were removed (The bottom of the WOK touches the
>burner). The cooking shop I went to locally indicated that this stand was
>just for storing the wok not cooking with but the local Chinese supermarket
>seemed to imply this was OK (though there were some communication problems
>here so I may have misunderstood) and so does http://www.londonwok.com/,
>though I have to say it all looks a little fragile to me. Ideally, the stand
>would sit directly on the hob, allowing the wok to be as close to the flame
>as possible. This must be a common problem - anyone point me at a solution ?
>
> The burner protrudes 33mm from the base of the HOB, I am also purchasing
>a new wok.
>
> Also, The largest burner on the HOB is rated at 3000W (nominal). Is this
>powerful enough to give the wok hai flavour ?
>
>Cheers for any help,
>
>Bruce.
>

this talk of wire is a little confusing to me. a standard wok ring
looks like this:

<http://www.amazon.com/Wok-Ring/dp/B00012F3X6>

....and is used on a gas stove. if you have electric burners, use of a
round-bottomed wok is pretty much doomed to failure. try a carbon
steel flat-bottom:

<http://importfood.com/cwrk3201.html>

....which some people will say is doomed to failure also. i think it
can be used with moderate success, but it won't get as hot as a wok
with gas, and you can't change temperatures as quickly.

there's a discussion of round vs. flat he

<http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/features/woktype.html>

but i'm not sure how useful it is.

good luck in any case.

your pal,
blake


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