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Thanks Chris! I guess you use a wok with a long handle? The ones they sell have just two handles on the sides, tossing with that setup is probably less possible? I think I'll get the 18 inch setup, it's the same burner and size is plenty. If it fits my regular wok, that'll be an extra bonus.

I use a 16" wok on mine: it doesn't get much chance to wobble because I use the wok technique where you are constantly tossing the whole wok, not using a spatula on just the ingredients. But it seems to sit fine when I deep fry in it, I guess. I mean, the wok doesn't conform exactly to the contours of the ring, but it's still got four points of contact at a minimum. I don't know what it would do if I wasn't holding on to the wok's handle and flipping food around with a spatula, though.

And an other reply from the Kahuna folks, I had asked if they would also sell the big kahuna with the small wok: ======= Hello, Yes, that is correct the Big Kahuna burner is only available with the wok kit. We only recommend using the wok that comes with the kit as it is specially fitted to sit properly on the burner. Also, we cannot customize the wok kits. Thank you, Stacey ========== So they don't even recommend using a smaller wok on the big kahuna, that's interesting. Those that have the Big Kahuna, is this an issue? Does a smaller wok wobble around or get too close to the flame?

I got a reply from Bayou Classic, I asked if their fryer would work with a wok: ================= Hi Oliver, Thank you for you email. We actually would only recommend the SP10 (High Pressure Burner) for Wok cooking. The heat output is ideal, and the heat shield on the burner would help protect the flame from any oil. http://www.bayouclassiccooking.com/high-pressure-cooker.html We do sell a Turkey Fryer Kit with a SP10 unit (which, many people also use for steaming lobsters, clams and crawfish boils too) http://www.bayouclassiccooking.com/32qtstststfy.html or if you want a more reasonable option you could purchase the SP10 and then this Aluminum Turkey Fryer Kit as well http://www.bayouclassiccooking.com/30qt-aluminum-turkey-fry30.html. Hope this helps! ================= That burner is rated 185.000 BTU, so definitely hot enough! (I'm getting a bit confused by these wide ranges of BTUs on items that seem very similar. Is there a clear definition on how to get to this rating, or is it a marketing gimmick?) Problem I see with this burner is that the cooking surface is flat, I can't imagine balancing a round bottom wok on there in a safe manner. I guess the big or portable kahuna is a better solution.

Hi Takadi, Apologies for the delayed reply - things have been quite hectic! Firstly, I have since switched to a new even more powerful setup (200Mj/Hr = 189000 BTU) which consists of a Mongolian burner (I also have a Duckbill burner outputting similar levels) which I have mounted on a special stand and only operate outdoors (it is just way too powerful to do indoors without a VERY high rangehood or vent above it... otherwise you will vaporise anything up to a few feet above the flames). They look like this when you buy them without stands: Now onto your questions! It looks similar to the burner I purchased, but of lesser quality... the one I purchased is of very good build quality and the metal it is made of appears to be a dark grey as opposed to the light gray in the one you linked. The highest power ones I have seen for sale online in the USA (keep in mind, I am in Australia and bought mine here) are the big kahuna burners or the turkey fryers on amazon (e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-H...1610068&sr=8-5). At the end of the day I created my own wok stove that is essentially identical to what the Chinese restaurants use (the duckbill/mongolian jet burners)... whether you are willing to go to such extremes is completely up to you :-) when I get obsessed with something (in this case, wok hei), I won't stop till I get it :-).

Hi V gautam How does the stand alone induction wok work? Does the wok have it's own power supply or something? Do you have to buy a curved induction stove? Seems really good for casual wok cooking and extremely efficient compared to flame stoves, but it seems like the price might be out of the ballpark range of casual cooks. I subscribed to chefbalcer a while back, he seems like he knows what he's doing. His techniques and set up are very professional, so I don't think his situation is applicable to home cooks unless they are extremely passionate about wok cooking

Spike, I shall offer you a convoluted reply, the same one I was given when I went to an expert seeking advice. First, what you are looking at is a Tarhong type "fast stove". Fast stove is a literal translation of "quick cooking" or stir frying. Tarhong is the company whose products are most readily available in the US from restaurant supply stores. They cost between $ 40-60, for the aluminum and brass, respectively. You can then choose to add bells and whistles, including a 0-30 psi pressure regulator and a metallized safety hose connecting the liquid propane tank to the stove. You should also think about anchoring the fairly light stove securely, since the wok and cooking movements will move it around. Then there is the matter of a very powerful vent, a steel, fireproof backwall and other elements approved by the fire safety inspector plus your insurance agent. Absent these, you will be voiding all policies on your house and will be in legal violation of fire safety codes if in an apartment. That is especially grave if there are minors, elderly or disabled individuals living with you, or in adjacent apartments, where they could be endangered should a fire break out. Sorry if I sound officious, but you saw the flames in the pan. I have a lot of experience, having cooked professionally. This is not a matter to be taken casually. Things look simple and exciting but can get out of control very quickly during entertaining and such. Oil burns are extremely dangerous and painful. I asked a woman who owns 2 Chinese restaurants plus the most successful Asian grocery in town what her advice was about home wokking. Her answer was that she had spent $10,000 to set up a SINGLE natural gas ensemble at her home, the money going towards the special (bigger pipe) gas connection, but also for all the necessary features required for fire safety and venting. Then she took me to the back of the store where they have set up an informal kitchen as they work incredibly long hours. There they have a 2 burner wok ensemble, a beautiful compact, stable, stand-alone natural gas stainless steel stove (available in Chinatowns: I could get you the descriptive Chinese characters!!) "Your Tarhong fast stove costs $50, and my stove there costs $500, she said. You have my answer." Under most circumstances prevailing in the US, it would be difficult to persuade me to use a fast stove indoors. Heavy duty Cooktek induction stove yes [with Asian or Taiwanese vent], gas fired fast stove, most emphatically not.

Keeping in mind Jongchen's very important and useful post upthread re: household electric supply, people might want to consider one of two options: 1) free-standing induction stoves dedicated to woks 2) flat induction surfaces with woks designed to operate on them, specifically Demeyere [spelling?] curved woks with 3 little 'legs' and temperature regulating metal construction [ max. 475F] 1)http://www.cooktek.com/products_apoSpecsWok.html 2)http://www.demeyere.be/default.asp?CID=2349&SLID=1 http://www.demeyere.be/default.asp?CID=6914&SLID=1 http://www.demeyere.be/default.asp?CID=4389&SLID=1 There will be no "flames in the pan" no wok hei in either 1 or 2. Save this, there is a range of wattage available, 1.8-3.5 kW to match various household current capacities, and there is a 5kW Cooktek said to be released soon. Because so much more of the available energy is available for heating [at least 80+% as opposed to 30-40% of a gas flame], the induction appliance may be the "hotter" of the two, all other things being equal. Safer for the cook and the house as well. Instant temperature control. Worth a look.

Hi Takadi, If you go to the Cooktek website given upthread, you will see a photograph of the 2 major variants of the induction wok stove with the curved bowl, one with analog controls, the other digital. The energy input comes from the curved stove base and the wok has to be ferro-metallic or induction-competent. In other words, your ordinary range of carbon steel, spun-steel, cast-iron or the fancy Demeyere special temperature-controlled induction metal. The price today is in the range of $1500 for the professional model, which is high for the casual hobbyist as you suggest. But compared to the danger of bringing indoors a fast stove with NO back shield, NO side shield, NO evidence of requisite venting and NO evidence of the types of space separations that are mandatory in the US for fire safety codes, besides the hilarious fact of NOT being allowed to fire up a propane device indoors for any reason EVER, an unsecured fast stove sitting on an ordinary stove top, if you discount all of these things any one of which will put you in trouble with the law for a long long while, then $1500 seems very sensible. Not to mention the safety factor for you and your guests to whom you will inevitably be demonstrating wok cooking. By "you" I mean the rhtorical "you" not you=takadi. Whatever Chef Balcer is doing, may he long prosper, but you need to be clear about what technical elements of his activities are not permissible under US conditions, and for good reason. You do possess a turkey fryer rated for outdoor use in the US that you use for wok cooking. Washington has a fairly long season when outdoor activities are possible: its winters are short and mild compared to the Northern Tier. So there are just 3-3.5 months of the year when you are really prevented from outdoor wokking. Not too shabby. The extraordinary risks of indoor fires and personal injury, to my mind, far outweigh these few weeks of relative deprivation. I believe our esteemed friend Ah Leung manages to eat well without setting anything or anyone on fire, even though he has only an ordinary stovetop. Ditto Prawncracker and Ben Hong and so many more. If people still cannot resist their creative urge, then $1500 is very cheap in terms of reducing BUT NOT ELIMINATING risk, especially that from short-circuiting. Please read Jongchen's post upthread very, very carefully before deciding on whether your living space will support an induction device and of what wattage. Sorry to be such a stick in the mud but even a small accident becomes very expensive in so many ways: financial, legal, your personal insurance history of the future degraded etc. Please keep all these real world realities in mind. The US insurance industry has a long and penetrating memory.

Hi inferno Is your wok burner similar to this? http://www.indiajoze.com/equipment.html I've been trying to find something like yours for such a long time, but to no avail. Either the valves aren't powerful enough or there aren't enough holes to disperse the propane flame. So when you turn up the heat, the flame has a tendency to go out in some of the holes. Outdoorstiryfry.com sells something similar but the rim is too big (13 inches wide) and it is incredibly expensive. Apparently it goes up to 160k BTU's, but I don't know how accurate his claims are The guy at indiajoze.com apparently sells one for 90 dollars but I'm not sure if the site is even active anymore. Plus it seems way too cheap to be true. The wokshop sells one that looks really similar but it claims it only goes up to 32k BTU. I'm not sure if I believe any BTU rating anymore http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/steam...tove_32000.html There are also a bunch being sold on ebay starting at dirt cheap prices of 20 bucks not including shipping. The picture looks decent but seriously...20 bucks. The other alternative on there is being sold for about 300 bucks (being shipped from Australia).

Hi folks, I thought I would post a video I recorded of my old wok burner today - I donated it to a friend of mine as I am now using the more powerful duckbill setup I put together. Here is the video, it is pretty short but gives you some idea of what my old setup was capable of... the wok sits perfectly on it as well so the only real advantage of my new setup os the ability to run even hotter (not that it is needed: the old setup on full bore has the same output as the largest Chinese restaurant wok burners available from my research): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viEuOyrm-Ps

NB that wok and burner topic that hzrt8w started has useful burner information starting about here.

Wok burners of various persuasions and of the fiercers strengths have been discussed in other forums on eG. Here i want to focus on a specific model I have noticed in this video of the Chiang Mai Culinary Institute: I am familiar with the Taiwan-manufacured "fast stoves" available in the US, e.g. Tarhong brand and those from the Wok Shop. I find the model depicted in the video far superior on many counts. My hope is that the many expatriate culinary experts resident in Thailand could give me some leads on the make, model, availability etc. of this particular TABLETOP (type) wok stove. With many thanks, Gautam.

I think that the item is discontinued. There are no Patio Woks to be found on the site -- unless I'm missing something.

Oops, you're right, I'm using a 16" wok (not 14" as I originally said): I think it's plenty big.

I agree - 22" is way too big. I use a 16" carbon wok, and feel 18" is the ideal size for this burner. 14" feels too small. The diameter of the burner, measured at the outer holes, is only 4". If you flip the rack over to use a pot, the max. pot diameter is 16.5"

It did come with a wok, but I swear the thing is just gigantic. My big concern is cleaning it since it is far too large to fit in the sink: 14" is still big, but much more manageable. And I agree about the price... this was a gift .

Chris, did your burner come with a wok? I know they used to sell the burners without woks, but I wasn't able to find one when I searched recently -- all I see are the burner-plus-wok kits, which seem a little overpriced for what they are.

I bought a separate, much smaller wok to use with mine, I think 22" is just too large to deal with, but the burner itself is great. No issues so far, but I've only used it a half dozen times.

I'm not new to woks and not new to outdoor cooking, but I am new to wok burners. If I'm looking to buy soon, is the Big Kahuna (presumably with carbon steel wok, not stainless) the general-consensus choice for serious outdoor wok cooking nowadays? Are there other models I should be looking at?

Main reason I brought my wok out of retirement; even though I was always cooking some Chinese style stuff, it seemed like the right thing to do. Also - it works better for certain stir fries, since I tend to make a mess.

I love cold noodle dishes, and often whip them up with whatever is on hand. Yesterday, I made a sort of pad-Thai-ish cold noodle dish, with leftovers. The strange part of the dish was the sauce. I was out of both tamarind and vinegar, and needed a sour component. I had some leftover raisin/caper emulsion in the fridge. I thinned it out with some water and added A LOT of fish sauce, fresh lime juice, chili, and a small touch of sugar. I brined some frozen shrimp, and sauteed with lots of minced garlic and ginger, then set aside. In the same pan (with bits of garlic and ginger), cooked some beaten eggs in "crepe" form, which I cut into ribbons when cool and set aside. Julienned a lot of green mango and cucmber with a mandoline. Crushed peanuts in mortar and pestle. Soaked some rice noodles (the wide, flat ones), until slightly softened, but very firm, and coated with oil. Fried the noodles in wok, and added the sauce. Let cool, ad then tossed with the shrimp, egg, mango, cucumber, and peanuts. Generous squeeze of lime juice and lots of fresh cilantro. A nice Sunday lunch.

A wok ring could be an excellent solution. My pan is made of thin steel.

What about putting a wok ring on the grates of the grill? Or, what about using the weber wok? Typically, what are paellas (the pans) made of?

I don't remember ever being served ketchup as a sub for duck sauce. Duck sauce involves vinegar, soy sauce, apricot or other fruit jam and maybe garlic and ginger or something that approximates that combo. It was sweet, but not tomato-like. As for books the two I relied on when just learning to use my wok living in SF about 40 years ago,were Regional Cooking of China by Margaret Gin and Henry Chung's Hunan Style Chinese Cookbook. Those were the days when the original hole-in-the-wall Hunan Restaurant had just opened in Chinatown. I don't think there was much more than a counter for service. I lived three blocks up the hill on the cable car route.