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The problem is the "high heat". You wok must really get very very hot for it to get properly seasoned. If you do not have hight BTU take it to a friend's stove try leaving it for 15-20 minutes on maximum heat setting' No point in trying to season a stainless steel wok. It cannot be done. If it is very hot and well greased your food should not stick.

I wanted to bring this post about wild steelhead up again, since I noticed Flying Fish is offering Wild Steelhead as one of their menu choices on the 25 for $25 program this March (however call ahead as the menu is subject to change). I haven't had wild steelhead in so long, I am really tempted to go. Please PM me if anyone else is interested in getting together to try Flying Fish this month. As of tonight when I called, it's on the menu, it's fresh, and offered with purple potatoes and roasted tomatoes. The preparation varies according to which night it is, but they said they will accomodate any preparation they usually make upon request. FLYING FISH: Below menus are subject to change. Please call for details. DINNER ONLY Starter choices: Soup of the Day Asian Pear Salad Smoked Albacore Entrée choices: Wok Blackened Fish of the Day Mahi-Mahi Wild Steelhead Buttermilk Fried Chicken Dessert choices: Apple Bread Pudding Warm Grappa Brownie

Tom Kha soup with mushrooms (not shown) Thai Green Curry with Sliced Blade Steak, Snap Peas and Eggplant In the wok. Plated, over coconut rice:

We are just back from 10+ days in Paris, with several meals at restaurants selected from comments in this forum (plus some other sources). I have also included some brief descriptions of meals at the homes of French friends. Some overall notes: Our three best meals: Taillevent (M. Solivérès has obviously earned the confidence of Parisians, and M. Vrinat was constantly attentive in the dining room); Claude Colliot (the French food press has been questioning why he does not have at least one star, and now we have the same question); Spoon Food and Wine (I know that this recommendation will be controversial in view of earlier posts, but we had a wonderful lunch). Trends: whipped/frothed sauces are very "in" Best courses: Colliot: Foie gras tiède et crémeux, caramel de truffes (soup/mousse of foie gras, served lukewarm in a froth of cream and truffle) Taillevent: Ravioli of langoustines and a sauce of shellfish in a basil reduction Spoon Food and Wine: served as an amuse -- consommé of langoustine en gelé, with cream of Rocquefort and minced vegetables Lower rated (in our view): Balzar, Le Train Bleu (unremarkable food, but in an extraordinary room overlooking the trains, which made it a good spot to entertain elderly family for Sunday lunch) Following comments are chronological (that's how I kept my notes). Please bear in mind that we are simply travelers who love good food and we are not food professionals (thus translations and spelling, to say nothing of judgment, are probably uneven). Thursday lunch: Georges (Centre Pompidou), 4e Salade mache For R: Shrimp and vegetable tempura; for K: smoked salmon with blini; for E: ziti with sautéed morels in creamed mushroom sauce Wine: Sancerre Thursday dinner: Brasserie Balzar, 5e Saucisse Petit salade For R:Roast lamb; for K: cassoulet; for E: steak au poivre Wine: Brouilly Friday lunch: café off the Rue de Rivoli, memorable for outside table on the sidewalk with southern exposure in full sun. Crottin with frisée, salade compagnarde Friday dinner: L’Angle du Faubourg, 8e Menu Degustation Capuccino celery soup with truffle Rouget planche with bouillabaisse sauce wine: Languedoc Cuvée Aurelles Braised lamb shank wine: Gevrey Chambertin (Melpin) 1999 Chocolate croustillade Sunday lunch: Le Train Bleu (Gare de Lyon) Saucissions chauds de Lyons; K: braised endive Filet of duck breast; K: poached salmon fromages Monday lunch: Spoon Food and Wine, 8e Amuses: consommé of langoustine en gelé, with cream of Rocquefort and minced vegetables Steamed shrimp and pork “ravioli” served with steamed vegetables and red pepper sauce, in a Bento box Pan seared tuna, satay sauce and wok sautéed vegetables wine: Reserve Monnier (Burgundy) Desert: for R: nougat ice cream “Toblo” (covered in chocolate and served in the shape of a Toblerone bar); K: pear Belle Helene Wednesday lunch: Taillevent – Menu Degustation Foie gras with fig marmalade – Sauternes Ravioli of langoustines and a sauce of shellfish in a basil reduction – white from Languedoc (Hérault) Viennoise of scallops with foamy sauce of watercress Roasted milk fed lamb with pepper from Espelette, served with potato gnocchi and artichokes in a pepper sauce – red from Pyrénées-Atlantiques Chevre breaded à la ciboulette (chives), served with reduction of balsamic vinegar sauce and red onion Layered crispy crepe with lime cream sauce Chocolate cream egg with pistachio crème anglaise Thursday dinner – Chez Michel, 10e (Gare du Nord) Traditional regional dishes from Britanny: fish soup, oysters, stewed sweetbreads Friday dinner Restaurant Claude Cholliot – “Le Bamboche”, 7e Menu Découverte Velouté de potimarron (chestnut flavored pumpkin soup) Foie gras tiède et crémeux, caramel de truffes (soup/mousse of foie gras, served lukewarm in a froth of cream and truffle) Filet de Saint-Pierre poêle et graines quinoa (pan-cooked filet of John Dorry served with puffed grains of quinoa) Côte de veau, abricots secs et épices (roast veal, served with dried apricots and spices) Wine: St. Nicolas De Bourgeuil-"les Malgagnes" Larme de chocolat Samana, sirop d’olive noir (chocolate tear drop with a trace of black olive syrup) Armagnac ************* Meals at the homes of friends: Tuesday night, with M. & Mme. _____ in the Sixth: Champagne, crackers with tapinade and fish roe Smoked duck filet, mache salad Roast venison (chevreuil), chestnuts, home-gathered mushrooms du bois in wine sauce Fromages Tarte citron Saturday lunch with M. & Mme ____ in their country house outside Paris Smoked salmon, spinach and Boursin roll Braised rabbit with roast potato Fromages Chocolate cake Thursday lunch with Mme. ______ at her apartment on the Champs de Mars Cold green bean salad with foie gras Poached salmon with cold cream sauce and tomato Tarte douceur

Can't hurt, but I suspect that the stainless steel won't absorb the oil and achieve the same patina as a regular steel wok.

Will this method work with a stainless steel wok as well?

"Jawbone wrote:" I gave my wok one last try last night on a fried rice dish and it worked quite well. This was probably my 12th time using the wok and the last several times I have noticed the blackened/seasoned area growing a bit (it now extends an inch or two up the sides). I live in a small apartment and my kitchen has no range hood, window or exhaust system of any type so my seasoning attempts have probably been more timid than they should have been. (my method: get the wok good and hot, put in a few tablespoons of oil and few teaspoons of salt and rub like crazy -- I should probably repeat this more than once or twice but by that point my wife and I are choking on the smoke I have done this 5 or 6 times altogether now.) I guess I will be patient and give it a few more tries. You don't need the salt. HOW TO SEASON & CLEAN YOUR STEEL WOK To season a steel wok: Put a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in your wok and place it over high heat. Tilt the pan to make sure the surface is oiled all over. When the wok starts to get quite hot, after 30-90 seconds, wash it out with cold water using a coarse stainless steel or copper pad to scrub the wok's surface clean. Dry the wok over high heat and wipe clean with a towel. Repeat this process 3 or 4 times for a new steel pan. To clean a steel wok: While your pan is still warm rinse it quickly with some cool water, then with more cool water flowing into the pan, scrub the wok's surface with a coarse stainless steel or copper pad until it's free of all food particles. Rinse it once more, then dry it by placing the wok over high heat and drying it with a towel.

I gave my wok one last try last night on a fried rice dish and it worked quite well. This was probably my 12th time using the wok and the last several times I have noticed the blackened/seasoned area growing a bit (it now extends an inch or two up the sides). I live in a small apartment and my kitchen has no range hood, window or exhaust system of any type so my seasoning attempts have probably been more timid than they should have been. (my method: get the wok good and hot, put in a few tablespoons of oil and few teaspoons of salt and rub like crazy -- I should probably repeat this more than once or twice but by that point my wife and I are choking on the smoke I have done this 5 or 6 times altogether now.) I guess I will be patient and give it a few more tries.

Go for it. The wok taste is elusive -- flavoring the dish well is about 99.5% of the game. By the way my hand-hammered wok is quite thin and bends easlity. It works great and was easy to season. It gets very hot quickly and cools off just as fast. Are you sure you've seasoned your wok properly? Need help?

I have a very cheap work, one that is very thin (it's actually a bit bendable). I have seasoned it many times but still have terrible problems with food sticking and burning. Would a non-stick skillet solve my problems without compromising flavour? Will a non-stick surface appreciably diminish the "wok-seared taste"? or inhibit the Maillard reaction? I use my wok for dishes like pad thai. I cook on an electric range.

Mainly it is size and thickness of the sheet metal. In India, a wok similar to chinese in shape (Kadhai) uses a thicker sheet metal than the chinese wok. Small woks are used for "tadka" - and sometimes for refrying or reheating with ghee and onions, leftovers from the night - dals,etc (mostly black lentils). Many of the wok-like-functions are also performed in round, brass utensils of various sizes called paatilas, and finally there are tawas - which suvir and othes have described.

I like Seven Seas in Rockville for fresh seafood preparations (on the red menu - the black menu they usually hand to non-Asians is just the routine stuff) and their crispy duck. Mama Wok And Teriyaki (Rockville again) also offers fresh seafood and good homestyle dishes (and sushi). Yum, A&J... love those spiced pig ears! One day I'll trick my bacon-loving (but squeamish) husband into trying these. The best Chinese food in Rockville (at least for those who can't read Chinese characters) may be Joe's Noodle House and their Szechuan house specialties. Amazon has restaurant menus online (go to their homepage and scroll down to "Amazon.com Services" for the link); reading through the NY and SF restaurant menus makes me weep with envy.

Larb Growing up in Thailand, the first larb I ever ate was with raw pork. I now make this version; my Thai friend (and former nanny) taught me how to make larp this way. Can also be made with beef or chicken, and I have also made it with raw tuna. Larb has quite a following on eGullet as you can see from the thread in the Cooking forum -- Larb Laab Larp, the thread. Be warned, there are a lot of pages! 1 T Toasted Rice powder 3 T Lime juice 3 T Chicken Stock 3 T Nam pla (fish sauce) 6 tsp Ground red chilis (dried, not fresh) 4 Shallots, minced 1 Stalk lemon grass, bottom portion minced 3 Kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade 3 Scallions, thinly sliced 1 tsp Powdered galangel 6 oz Pork, chopped in food processor or with cleaver Lettuce leaves Sticky rice (optional) NOTE: For toasted rice powder, you can purchase or make your own. I prefer to make my own, toasting raw sticky rice in a wok and grinding in spice grinder. NOTE: For all of the ingredients except the galangel and toasted rice powder, quantities are approximate. I often up them by 15-25%, depending on how I want it that day. I often add Thai basil (depending on availability) and/or cilantro; some like it with mint. Poach ground pork in broth in wok or skillet. Add remaining and heat. If you want it spicier, you can add thinly sliced bird chilis. I usually opt to reduce the amount of ground chilis and add the bird chilis. Serve with lettuce leaves and/or cooked sticky rice. Good warm or left-over (better at room temp than cold). Great for appetizer, lunch, dinner, mid-night snack, whenever. Keywords: Thai, Easy ( RG207 )

Tawa cooking is a style by itself. Pav Bhaji ( I agree with Indiagirl, is absolutely a dish to die for, we have had discussions about it on other threads) is made on a tava. Sardars in Tardeo in Bombay makes the best.. or you can all come to my home for a taste of it when my father is well and I am back in NYC. I make it often.. and friends eat it as if it were going out of fashion. Tawas are always flat. Tawa dishes were and often are still prepared on these flat griddles. Many a times you will hear a taka tak sound that comes from banging the knife like implements that are used to cook stuff on these flat griddles. These dishes are stir fries made on a flat surface. Mirchi is a restaurant in NYC that introduced tawa in NYC.. I remember taking Gael Greene to Mirchi and soon after, it became a favorite of hers and of many others... She still raves about some of their tawa dishes... and we mourn the loss of the recipes they used when they first opened... alas they have changed some.... Karahi is an Indian wok.. and karahi dishes are different. Sadly, most Indian restaurants make tawa dishes in Karahis.

Jason : So after a brief drooly detour to the LeCreuset links (thanks!) and a quick assessment of whether I could buy them in the UK if I visit London in spring as planned and then carry them back (no!) I'm back. Anyway, yes, I've wondered about the Tawa dishes too - and here is what I think it is. I think the dishes are cooked in regular woks and then flash fried in a tawa with butter just before serving. This is something commonly seen in Indian street food vendors (have you heard of pav bhaji? to die for) and something was quite popular in restaurants in India when I was still living there. I do not know if it is a traditional form of Indian cooking or a new one ...... and I'm not an expert by any means... so .......

I'm not sure this belongs here, but the same guy that used a fork to stir his eggs in my new non-stick calphalon, called to ask me how I like my wok -- since he scrubbed it clean for me. About 15 years of carbon, literally down the drain.

Its interesting that you say that tawa are always flat... because at a local Indian restaurant, Kinara, in NJ, they have a dish on the menu called "Chicken Tava" which they refer to as a wok/stirfry chicken dish. Do they use the Tawa in this dish, or is their some meaning to the alternate spelling with a V? PS: the Karahis are made by Le Creuset. And yes, I want one too.. http://www.lecreuset.co.uk/castiron/adventurous.asp It appears that they only have the Karahi in the UK catalog, not the US one: http://www.lecreuset.com/new/productguide_lc.php

Jason Karahi and Kadai are just alternate English spellings of the same Indian word. And what does Indian word mean anyway? In both Hindi and Marathi (two Indian languages) Kadai/Karahi are used to describe the kitchen utensils in discussion here. Both languages have 3 or 4 letters for varieties on the "d" sound - hence the variation. In any case, one major difference between a kadai and a wok is that kadai's are not designed to deliver the high heat, flash frying, stir frying effect that woks are. The shapes vary but are almost always more or less round bottomed. And tawas are always flat. But the reason I write, where on earth did you find those gorgeous kadais in the photographs in your post. I want one.

Clearly there are different types of Tawa, then. I have two. One is round and flat and is used by me for making chapati, the other is long, rectangluar and flat that I once (unsuccessfully) tried to use to make naan's with. One major difference between a chinese wok and the karahi is weight. I wouldn't fancy trying to toss food in a karahi as I can in a wok.

Youre referring of course, to the Karahi: Karahi are thicker walled than the chinese wok and not as deep, and flat bottomed. But fundamentally are very similiar. They are used for making curry and stir fry dishes, and also for making certain kinds of indian flatbreads. There's also the Tawa (although I've also heard of this sometimes called a Kadai, and the Tawa being this circular griddle thing specifically for making flatbreads), which is deeper than a Karahi. Pretty much the same thing as a wok, but like the Karahi, thicker walled and also flat bottomed.

Can somebody explain the difference (if any) between an Indian wok and a Chinese wok? What are woks used for in Indian cookery?

Talking about woks - have you seen the induction wok that Ming Tsai uses on his cooking shows? I went green with envy the first time I saw it and checked with Garland - $3000.00! The burner is made so that the wok (included) fits into it and can be heated to a tremendously high temperature at the sides as well as the bottom.

I have five or six woks of different sizes but for all practical purposes I prefer the flat-bottomed heavy steel woks with wooden handles, a 12" and a 14", I bought in San Francisco's Chinatown about fifteen years ago. They were made in the US and some time ago I saw the identical pans at the Broadway Panhandler but I do not know if they are still being produced. I also have a very cheap 16" that I use exclusively for deep frying ducks and whole fish. The metal is much thinner. It was the only flat-bottomed 16" I could find at the time but it seems to do the job. AllClad has a pan which is totally wok-shaped (I've forgotten how they name it) but with a wider flat surface at the bottom. It is a wonderful sauté pan but I would be reluctant to subject is to the kind of abuse I give my steel woks.

For my purposes I use a range of woks. Several largish steel woks, well seasoned. I'll be surprised if they don't outlast me. An electric wok for: steaming or quickly tossing off a very simple vegetable dish. Also for presenting something steamed at the dining table (seats 25) such as a dim sum or tofu item I want to appear at a particular time and for the blast of aromas when the lid is lifted. Two non-stick woks for egg dishes.

I'd appreciate any links to retailers selling these types of woks.