RunBe4UFly

I have several Anolons. They have thick aluminum construction and a 'autograph 2' coating developed by Dupont (basically the top Teflon coating). They are pretty sturdy, nothing facy. I can't imagine how much better a Calphalon pan will be. I will recommend shop for price among these brands. As a matter of fact, I might just pick one up from a restaurant supply store for cheap. As long as the aluminum is thick, and the non stick coating is not basic Teflon (such as Teflon select), then the pan should last you a while. Besides, technology has advanced so much and most of the brands have developed decent quality nonstick product. When shopping, pay attention to the contruction (heavy? sturdy?), and nonstick coating (multicoating?). Are you using a convection cook top or gas? That might be a deal breaker for some selection. If you need a set, get the Kirkland from Costo, it's similar to Anolon to my eyes, and I bet it's cheaper than you get Anolon from LNT or BBB.

I will recommend you to tour local Chinatown before you make online purchase. I did buy a wok from www.wokshop.com once, but I soon realized that I can get the same quality item in local China town at the same price (almost) without paying shipping for shopping online. Carbon steel is easy to season, and does the job. I will go for a 16" if you cook for 4 or more. 14" is standard, anything 12" and labeled as 'stir fry pan' is ultimately for show instead of function to my experience. You can either get a wok with one long handle (similar to western fry pan), or one with two loop handles(like a stock pot). Either way, go with a round bottom! Especially when you have a wok ring in place already. You can also get a Logde cast iron wok from amazon.com. It's heavy duty, thick cast iron wok. Ideal for shielding any sharp object coming to you way... It holds heat well, and it's preseasoned. It does require longer 'preheat' time comparing to carbon steel wok though... and it's way more expensive than carbon steel ones. When buying a wok, checking the thickness of the carbon steel, feeling the handle, doing some toss with it to see if you can handle the weight or not. My wok shopping list will be a 'Pow' wok - single round hollow handle, and a wok with two BIG loop handles. Both of them will be carbon steel. I can get them from Chinatown about $25 total... of course, you need to season them yourself. And with Pow wok, you can just stick it in the over without worrying the heat burning the wood handle (ex. Joyce Chen's wok).... I have a few posts about wok online, do a search with my name if you want to know more.

HI, That pan lists for $245 with a lid with irregulars normally costing $166 at Cookwarenmore.com Tim ← That's the dilemma, the price is too good to pass on. But it's still $$, considing the rising gas price...

I think the size is 10.5 inch diameter and 2.5 inch sides as you described. I do like the 10.5 inch cooking surface, and with a 2.5 inch sides, it can easily be used as a braiser.

For some, it might be a no brainer. I was presented a All-Clad LTD 3qt. saute pan deal couple days ago and I am having a hard time deciding. It's a All-Clad LTD 3qt. saute pan with minor irregularity (whatever that means, because I can't tell any difference). It measures 11" wide and 3" deep. Interestingly, it can almost fit about 3.5qt. of liquid. The aluminum layer is measured about 4MM thick. Anyway, the price is under $100. I am attempted but not decided. I would like to have a 5qt. but there is currently no such deal, and even there is a deal in the future, I won't know how pricy it will be. So, I was looking at my two racks of cookware in the basement, and asking myself, do I really need this saute pan? If in the future I find another deal on a 5qt. pieice, will I regret on this 3qt. pan?

I was so happy about the purchase when I got the board and I was sure this board would last, therefore, I ditched the recipe right away... I just used it again tonight, and the board 'sealed' itself again after I rinsed in hot water. Can I just apply another coat of oil now to keep the board 'sealed'?

Thank you all for the help. It really pains me to see the board go. I hope the board will 'seal' itself during spring and summer. Yes, I do live in a cold place. I live in Cleveland and we just had 11" snow this morning. ...

I got a 15" round butcher block couple months ago and have enjoyed it very much. I just noticed yesterday morning there were small cracks in the seam showing in various location of the board, both sides. Man I was hurt. I haven't been using it for about a week, and didn't oil it for about 3 weeks. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Anyway, I oiled the board right away and it didn't seal the crack. I used the board last night and cleaned with hot water afterwards. And right after the cleaning, the crack seemed to seal themselves (because of the water I believe). However, this morning, all the cracks came back again. I know I have to keep the board dry to prevent cracking, but now since it's started cracking already, what can I do to save it? Please help!

Are you talking about Calphalon One? It's a hard anodized pan with a coat of PTEE. You can't use it as non-stick. Its stickness is more like stainless steel. You will need to preheat the pan, oil it, heat it again, drop the meat, sear the meat untill it loose up by itself. If you try to fry a fish with this pan cold, you will have a 'fun' time clean it.

The wok is $19 and the shipping is $12, if I want to return it, I will have to pay another $8 for the shipping, then the store will charge a 15% restocking fee taken from the credit. It's just not worth returning it. ← Just want to update the shop's return policy: I was contacted by the seller and informed that there was no restocking fee. I checked the amazon product return page and found it charges 15% restocking fee on Wok 22" or larger. I guess I have misread the fine prints and thought 15% apply to all the products. I have decided to keep the wok and seasoned it. I can't say I like it that much as it's different from what I expected. But I can't really complain anything about the wok either.

This recipe sounds more like what I am after. I will make the following changes to the recipe for my fried chicken though: 1. puree onion, ginger and garlic in the food processor 2. cook the puree with shrimp paste 3. coat the chicken with above paste 4. cool the chicken in the frig over night 5. bread the chicken 6. pan fry chicken till golden brown (with cast iron skillet @ 360F, 10 minutes per side) Will post how it goes...

I can't seem to find the recipe online for this dish. I heard it was popular in Singapore and HongKong, but never tried it before. Anyone has recipe? I am guessing the shrimp paste is the one in the jar that I can find in all the chinese stores instead of shrimp meat being grinded to form a paste.

Thank you for the input Octaveman. I understand the design difference between CI and Carbon Steel wok is due to the material property. What I do not understand is from when cast iron becomes flexible? and Why? One more thing that bothers me is the wok is so thin that I am afraid I will break it apart if I knock on the side of the wok with my wok spatula (a habit that has no problem with other woks that I have). I am not trying to beating on wokshop but I am just not convinced the construction and material of this wok lives up to its reputation among the wokking community.

The wok is $19 and the shipping is $12, if I want to return it, I will have to pay another $8 for the shipping, then the store will charge a 15% restocking fee taken from the credit. It's just not worth returning it.

I just got this 16" wok from Wokshop http://www.amazon.com/inch-Traditional-Cas...6436922&sr=1-13 and I found the wok is much different from what I expected... The wok is much thinner than I thought. As a Chinese I know how much a cast iron wok weights, and this wok is just not as heavy as the ones I used to work with back in China. The wok is also suprisingly flexible. It almost feels like a carbon steel wok that I can bend the wok when I push two handles on the sides towards the middle (try bend your Lodge skillet instead). Now that's a new development. I have never seen or heard any cast iron wok flexible like that before. But I have been away from China for 5 years, who knows what can happen during that time. Cast iron wok is supposed to have better heat retention than carbon steel. With this thin cast iron wok, I don't know how true this 'heat retention' advantage will really be for this wok. The handle is this wok is also really small, you can't grab it safely. So, my question is : Anyone has experience with this wok? Is this 'flexible' cast iron a good material to work with? I am thinking about returning it and found out the wokshop will charge a 15% restocking fee for return item. Read the fine prints!

this is a classic Chinese dish too. It just tastes great!

Thank you all for the input. The butcher block has sentimental value to me as it looks like the butcher block in the shop when I was a kid back in China. I know it's going to crack, but just don't know how soon. With shipping, the block is not cheap any more, I will skip this one.

Anyone has experience with their butcher block? http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/cleav...ping-block.html It's really cheap, but I am concerned it will split fair soon. The shipping is half the price too. Has anyone used it before, any experience?

I remember the recipe in the magazine calls for star anise and cinamon, which, as the two spices in the 5 spice powder, represents the most of the flavor.

My grandmother is from Wuxi. Her family relatives usually brings in Wuxi pork rib from there to Shanghai where we live. I still remember the taste, color, and texture of the pork rib vividly. It comes in a cardboard box with wax paper lined inside. The pork rib is very tender (more than fork tender). The color of the meat is red (yes it's blody red), with no trace of soy sauce in color or taste. The taste is on the sweat side without noticable cinamon flavor. It smells wonderful, and nothing like 'five spice'. That was 20 years ago. Every few years, we will have family visitors from Wuxi coming to Shanghai. They usually bring us Wuxi pork rib. I started to notice the change of the pork rib as the time went by. The color is not red any more (noticable soy sauce color). The flavor has changed too, with noticable five spice aroma. It did not taste like, looked like, and smelled like the Wuxi pork rib years ago any more. I have given up the Wuxi pork rib years ago, as our family visitors from Wuxi told us in the last visit that there were many 'Wuxi' pork rib shop in the city now, and even the local couldn't tell which one is the best or the most authentic. I was disapointed, somewhat sad, and even angry. I recently saw a food post online about a Wuxi pork rib recipe from the Gourmet magazine. The poster called the recipe 'authentic to the bone!'. I resisted the urgy to say 'you don't know what you are talking about', and red through the recipe. I was truely dissapointed. There is nothing in the recipe to give the meat the true 'red' color first of all, and the recipe is pretty much a 'five spice' soy sauce pork rib. One can easily re-package this recipe into a 'Red cook' pork rib (note that the color of Chinese Red Cook pork is not Red, it's dark brown). Is this Wuxi pork rib recipe lost forever? I don't know, but I will certainly go look for it when I get back to China. There is a scene at the end of the movie Ratatouille when the food critics Anton Ego tastes the ratatouille and the dish brings him back his childhood. Yes, that's the Wuxi pork rib I am looking for, and I hope I can find it very soon.

Couple coworkers went to a "Wok cooking class " and liked it. I was looking at their class note and felt it missed couple important points. Therefore, I sent them some additional info. base on my experience, and posted it here for woking people's reference and critique. ================================================================== Do not cook high-acid food or curry in the wok, it will react with the wok (provided it's a carbon steel or cast iron wok, non-stick or stainless steel will not have the problem). That means, No lemon and lime. (yeah, I know what you are gonna say: " a well seasoned wok will not ...") Tomato is fine given you have a well-seasoned wok, but the seasoning instruction in your note is weak, I can tell you from my experience that it will not give you a good seasoning on the wok any time soon. So how to get a good seasoning on the wok fast? Option 1, buy a pre-seasoned wok (more expensive), Option 2, seasoning yourself with the following instruction: -1. Line the oven bottom with foil 0. Turn on the oven for 500F. Yes, 500F 1. Clean the wok with soapy hot water. 2. Put it on stove top and burn it till dry 3. Rub on high smoking point oil (lard will be ideal) onto the surface - no lard? Bacon then. - What is high smoking point oil? Answer: oil that smoke at a higher temperature, Corn oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, 4.Oil should smoke the moment it hits the wok. 5. Put the wok into the oven upside down( so oil will drip onto foil) 6. Bake for 1 hr. 7. Turn off heat and wait till it cools down. 8. Repeat the process for 4 times and your wok will be as good as (if not better than) any of the pre-seasoned version on the market. To "wok" correctly, you need to understand this: Wok bottom is a big 'hot spot'. That means, you need to drop food in small quantity, and wok in batches because bottom of the wok is the ONLY part that is actually cooking, while the wall of the wok is to hold the food warm (unless you have a giant burner spitting our rocket-launching heat). One more note on wok selection. "Woking" is about high heat cooking, non-stick surface will break down @ 400F (given it's the top of line non-stick surface). Therefore, non-stick is not the ideal for true "woking". However, I do own a non-stick wok only for "mixing" to make "Lo- Mein". And I have another non-stick wok ONLY for Serving. Carbon steel and cast iron are the best candidates for wok. Cast iron is heavier, but it retains heat better. Cast iron wok was household staple in China, every family has one (or used to have one). Carbon steel wok is lighter and does the job. When select Carbon Steel Wok, keep an eye on the thickness of the steel. It should not be less than 1.5mm. Stainless steel wok is a good choice if it's fully claded (meaning at least 2mm of aluminum claded between two sheets of stainless steel from the bottom to the top of the wok), but it's very expensive (if you can find one. Calphalon has a line called Calphalon One. It's expensive but it does the job. If you have money to spend it might be a good option). A cheaper stainless steel wok only has a aluminum claded disc on the bottom of the wok. In my opinion it's worse than a 12" saute pan. One exception is Jamie Oliver's Professional Stainless Steel 12.5" Wok. It works well on the burner grates designed especially for wok that I got from China town for $5.99. It beats other disc bottom wok by having a larger dimension base bottom (that holds more heat). Where to buy wok? Sam's Club http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate....t=5&item=354627 Walmart The Wok Shop http://www.wokshop.com/products_main.... WorldMarket Never wash your wok with detergent after seasoning. Wok is not dish washer safe (duh..). Wok alternative: 12" and 14" skillet or fry pan. It has more flat cooking surfact conducting heat and cooking food. To be honest, if you only have a flat bottom wok sitting on a regular flat burner. You are better off using a 12" skillet or fry pan. A skillet or fry pan looks like this: \____________/----------====

1. Who chicken @ .79/lb 2. Extra Virgin Olive Oil 3. Rice 4. Soy Sauce 5. Milk and Eggs 6. Stainless Steel Roast Pan 7. Napa Style Santoko set of three 8. Lodge Cast Iron skillet 12" and 10" set for $25 9. and Yoshida sauce (the bomb!)