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I have a Blue Star 6 burner in the lowest price grade..culinary, I think. I love it. Puts out a ton of heat. A wok ring would intensify the already hot burners. The broiler is nuclear powered hot. My only complaint is that the simmer is too high, even on the simmer burner. I need a eat diffuser and even then its a little hotter than I want. Overall I love it

Long time lurker here, have made a few posts also. Looking for info, but most of all guidance. I've been doing a remodel on a 1950's ranch here in the NorthEast. We've owned the house for almost 30 years, paid off in full, looking now to return to it and "retire". Doing most of the work myself, but just had the electrician in to update some wiring, especially the kitchen and bathroom. Recent visit from the plumber to extend the natural gas line to the kitchen. We've purchased most of the appliances already, mainly Bosch. 24" fridge, 24" stacking washer/dryer, 24" dishwasher. Higher end JennAir hood over the range. There'll only be two of us living there (one if I don't get this project done soon....). I've decided on BlueStar for the range. We'll need to stay in the 30" size. Their 2 offerings I've been contemplating are the Culinary series and the RNB. I'm former restaurant worker, and like the simplicity of the open burner and the lack of touch screen controls. Culinary = ~$4k RNB = ~$5k Biggest difference between the two are (Culinary) three 15,000BTU burners vs (RNB) two 15,000BTU burners and one 22,000BTU burner. Both models have the "precise simmer" burner. Does the one burner with extra BTUs = $1k? I'm leaning to the RNB...higher temp for a wok, searing on iron, etc. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but she's on board with whatever we end up with. I'll still be running a fridge in the basement, also will have a "rental house grade" electric range available there. We do a lot of outside cooking, it's a walkout basement, these appliances will be for convenience and the occasional bake where electric would be preferred over gas. What say the experts? Attachment gives the features between the RCS (Culinary line) and the RNB. Open Burner Gas Ranges and Stoves | Commercial Quality Ranges | BlueStar.pdf

I have a decent home stove and good ventilation, but for stir frying I still use the Big Kahuna outdoor propane burner I received as a gift about (wow...) a decade ago. I don't see how it could be adapted easily to a disposable propane tank, though. I think it's something like 60,000 BTU, which has been fine for my purposes. My meals are typically rice+cold veg+stir fry, and are for two people, so it's plenty spacious. (FYI I don't use the wok that came with the kit, I picked up an el cheapo carbon steel model with a single handle at my local Asian megamart. I prefer to physically toss the wok, rather than just use utensils, and the wok the Kahuna came with was absurdly large.)

To answer my own question, the folks who do the Chinese Cooking Demystified youtube videos use exactly what I'd originally suggested - a small Iwatani butane burner good for about 10,000BTU. I've been eyeballing a 110,000BTU jet burner that's $40 online. I live in a tiny 1-room apartment, but it's on the ground floor, so cooking outside is appealing. Cooking for multiple people is a bit tricky with a small wok because either (a) you let everything get cold or (b) everyone eats without you, and there's the added substantial benefit of being able to deep-fry a ton of food. That said, I'd probably avoid it without one of the gas flow pedals used in Chinese restaurants. Imagine driving your car if you had to take your hand off the wheel to work the gas pedal? (Also, the steering wheel weighs fifteen pounds and is on fire.) My stove is a cheapo compact apartment special, good for maybe 6,000BTU. To put this in perspective, the nicer butane hotplates are good for 15,000. It boils water slower than something I used to make coffee on picnics. That said, a burner-focusing ring like the Wokmon sounds like a good idea, especially considering they're demonstrating it on a butane hotplate. I don't have typical equipment; I have a stove that can barely boil water and an oven with no numbers on the dial. The $40 butane burner is a massive improvement.

I have nothing to offer in terms of equipment but do agree w the others. Unless it's for professional use the blasters don't seem worth it esp when you factor the danger. I have a Thermador 6 burner (propane) that puts out prob a bit more btu's then the avg burner. It's plenty for home use. I found varying results came down to the quality of the wok. A good one will allow for better heat distribution and retention. With accurate ingredient timing we can get close to resto qlty stir fries (at least we think:) I have a circulon 14' I got at Macy's a few yrs ago for about $70 and it's light years better than the thin metal cheapos we had. Gd luck and hope you find what you want. Btw, hello all, it's been about 10yrs since my last post.

Grace Young has written wonderful cookbooks describing how to stir fry at home with typical equipment. In general she advises using a flat bottom high carbon steel wok. After that it's about limiting the amount of food that goes in a one time and technique. Stirring at the right time and leaving to sear at the right time. Also learning velveting is handy.

It looks like you've been doing research, so I'm sure you've come across the outdoor propane wok burners. They have upwards or exceed 100k btu, usually don't come with a stand. If you have any asian-centric areas like a chinatown or japantown nearby, go browse stores after the shut-ins are lifted and you'll find one, and can even haggle if that's your thing. On line they seem to have gone up in price compared to 10 years ago. I picked mine up in "Little Saigon" near my old house, haggled price down because of the rat poop in the box. Given that, please take a moment to consider my personal PSA on these stoves. They are a pain in the ass to use, ridiculously powerful, and will get a literal wok HEY out of you if you get them screaming hot and drop a little oil in with no experience. Don't ask how I know 🙈🙉🙊 What I learned: these kinds of burners are awesome fun, but in the long run the whole stir-fry thing may not be worth the effort. As simple as it looks, it really takes a lot of experience to get it right and consistent, more so than a lot of other cooking. Cleanup is awful (grease splatters everywhere), you'll end up with undercooked or overcooked food half the time, the danger is real, and you really have to use a lot more oil than traditional stove saute/stir-frying. Now, if you can set it up outside with plenty of dirt or grass surrounding your station, or, inside with a flowing water wall and a night-shift cleaning crew, go for it 👍 Remember the fire extinguisher. Seriously. PS: please note, this is based on my experiences, I gave it a legitimate go for 2-3 months, and eventually figured out a successful work flow. I'm sure there are more experienced home cooks or chefs who can chime in and confirm there aren't issues and I was likely doing things wrong blah blah blah, but no one is going to convince me to go back 😝. I found the "hey" component not worth the effort.

Yesterday I found relaxation in washing and chopping and fiddly food preparation. It was warm (again, still) and the bright flavors of lemon and garlic called to me. I chopped some of the latest pork shoulder into bite-sized bits and marinated them for souvlaki. I trimmed, cut and steamed green beans, then mixed them with a Lebanese garlic/lemon/olive oil dressing. I've cooked both of these recently, so they aren't new to this topic. They're well worth a return visit. (I didn't realize how blurry the pork photo was until just now. Sorry!) I finally got around to making salad dressing -- something I've stalled off for no particular reason. Now I'll have one less excuse not to have salad for lunch! We've been doing leftovers, or peanut butter on crackers or toast, despite knowing it's not the best for our waistlines. This dressing is a simple garlic/salt/Meyer lemon juice/olive oil concoction. It separates quickly, but mixes just as quickly when I shake it. This time, I had all the materials for tzatziki, but by the time I'd finished with the other preps I decided against taking the time. I also decided against making pita. Pilaf, with the leftover marinade, would be fine. The walking around here is pretty, and there's a lot of room to walk without encountering other people. That occupied the rest of the afternoon. I'm out of skewers. I used half of our grilling wok over the barbecue grill. It still gets the same flavor, and may be easier than skewering all that meat! The view, just before I started cooking:

"Traditional" as in "not the appalling claptrap that most Americans believe to be Chinese." Iwatani makes high quality butane stoves, though none specifically designed to hold a wok. If you can suggest a Chinese alternative, I'm all ears - preferably without Iwatani's steep price.

In 25 years in China, I've never seen that! Traditional wok cooking used open wood burning fires. Iwatani is Japanese, not Chinese.

I have a less than excellent stove, and would like a butane burner for indoor and outdoor use. I've seen Chinese cooking channels use butane for traditional wok cooking and would appreciate a recommendation. I quite like Iwatani products, but the 15000BTU 35FW is a bit steep, and there are less expensive options of similar output - possibly some designed specifically for woks. Alternately, I'm open to a 50,000+ BTU propane burner like this one if it offers the necessary heat. Does anyone know if these can be used with disposable propane cylinders with an adapter?

Lobster reduction poutine - cabbage and enoki mushroom - big wok hay flavours (not pictured - but then again who wants to see veggies when you can look at this!)

Hsiao-Ching Chou wok-fried egg. Not much of a fancy repast but I am paralyzed with virus fear. Got the job done.

Yes. Like 99.99% of Chinese people do. In a quarter of a century I've never met anyone here in China with anything but a regular stove. I wouldn't even know where to source a high powered burner. They seem to be a peculiarly American obsession. "Wok Hei" is a Cantonese term unknown to the vast majority of Chinese people. In Mandarin, spoken by most Chinese people, it would be 镬气 (huò qì), but to repeat, most would say "What's that?" Cantonese speakers are around 5% of China's population.

If you're just starting out with these reviews at a more professional wok. You can also find videos on YouTube and try something like that for cooking, as you said earlier. It's okay, my friend learned to play the flute with YouTube and other online lessons, and all for free.

I've a cast iron wok but I don't use it for oatmeal.

Call me traditional, but I still prefer cast iron pans. I've also been venturing into carbon steel woks lately too!

Planned on some kind of wok + rice treatment of a couple of scraps of pork, husband asked if I could just schnitzel it. So... Pork, mini-Yukons, beet greens. Above plate was mine. Potato simply smashed, truffle oil and salt. Husband blanketed his three potatoes with white pork gravy. Different strokes...

Happy Leap Day! I've been away doing things unrelated to food, although eating well. I don't know how interesting my salads would have been, or the mac 'n' cheese 'n' ham made from leftovers of our latest ham. Certainly the tube steaks cooked over the campfire, or the hash done on the camp stove, have been seen before. I'll show 'em again in due time. Maybe. Don't want to bore you. I posted about this in the Yard Sale topic, but I'll note it here too: at a recent yard sale to raise money for a bunch of musicians, I bought a wok pan / everyday pan in excellent condition. It cost me all of $2! It's the shape I've wanted for a long time, although now that I have it I'm challenged to find a place for it in the Princessmobile. There is no more wall space from which to hang anything, and it doesn't fit in the cupboards. For now it's living in my half of the closet (along with surplus dates, surplus olives, and presents awaiting my sister)(and, of course, clothes). It's too heavy to ride there for travel, though; the closet floor is too flimsy. I'll probably stow it in the underbed storage, or possibly the belly box, when we hit the road again. I have to weigh both items to be sure, but I think this pan outweighs the mandolin I also bought at that sale. Maybe the pan will simply ride atop the bed, with the musical instruments, when we move. @rotuts recommended a silicone whisk for the pan. Ironically, I had a nylon whisk that I'd bought for my darling to use when he scrambled eggs in his precious nonstick pan. I got rid of it because he didn't like the shape and he never scrambles eggs. I now have a silicone whisk, of the type recommended by rotuts, on order. Red. Last night I used the pan for the first time, and finally got around to trying the Butter-Poached Shrimp and Orzo recipe from Tasty.com that @Anna N put us all onto. I used asparagus from the farmer's market, instead of spinach. It was outstanding. A keeper of a recipe! And we have leftovers! Many thanks, Anna! Spring is springing here. So far the heat hasn't been brutal, but when the afternoon temperature pushes 80F outside the Princessmobile gets unbearably hot. I want to lie around and do nothing. Yesterday we went out for a stroll and found that a light breeze, and shade, made things better for both of us. It also gave us a chance to admire the flowers, which are coming out more by the day. One has to look carefully, though: many of them are tiny, and require careful attention to where one steps. There are exceptions, of course. The prickly pears are conspicuous. One still needs to not step on them.

This beauty cost me $2 at a yard sale. It's in excellent condition, of the style that might be called a wok pan or an everyday pan. I like the rounded sides and the anodized nonstick surface. The bowl is about 12" across at the top. It's pretty heavy: my scale says 3lbs 2.2 oz, and I'd have guessed it to be even heavier. That may be why somebody no longer wanted it, since the sale was in a retirement community. I used it last night and delighted in its heft.

Hosted a Chinese cooking party for 3 of my Crazy Plant ladies this afternoon. Two of my friends were down with the dreaded flu. I used 3 induction cooktops, so they were all able to work together at my dining table. We made deep fried wontons, Cantonese Chow Mein with Shrimp and Char Siu, and Ginger Beef. I made Portuguese Egg Tarts for dessert. One of the ladies brought a bottle of wine. Would this classify as "The Ladies Who Lunch"? 😋 We Rocked the Wok!

Another one of my Asian recipes uses ginger. It's a simple shrimp dish. In this photo I garnished it with Vietnamese Fried Garlic, one of my favorite ingredients that I use in all kinds of dishes and cuisines. The local Asian market also sells a similar product-fried garlic. It's basically dried ginger that's fried and it's crispy with a zingy burst of ginger flavor. Ingredients- 32 medium size shrimp, shells on 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil 1 tbsp. canola oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 tbsp. minced ginger 1 tbsp. Shoshing Chinese rice wine 1 tbsp. soy sauce 6 tbsp. butter 1/3 cup chicken stock Salt and white pepper to taste 2 tbsp. fried garlic 1/3 cup finely chopped green onions Instructions- Peel the shells off the shrimp, leaving the tails. Cut a slit down the back of the shrimp and remove the thin black vein. This is the digestive tract of the shrimp and is bitter. Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-hight heat and add the sesame oil and canola oil. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the fresh garlic and the ginger and stir-fry another 30 seconds, then add the Chinese rice wine to deglaze the skillet. Add the soy sauce, butter and chicken stock and continue to cook until the shrimp are done and the sauce is reduced, about 3 minutes. Season with a dash of salt and white pepper. Place the shrimp on a serving plate, then pour over the skillet sauce. Garnish with the fried garlic and green onions. Use fried ginger in place of the fried garlic

...and also, fried rice. https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/georgia-tech-physicists-unlock-the-secret-to-perfect-wok-tossed-fried-rice/

90% of my cooking is done in a wok and it sleeps on the stove/burner top. Two cupboards below hold the other three pots I sometimes use. And what I call a frying pan, but you may call a skillet. The rice cooker sits on the countertop. I'm a pot minimalist, I guess

Interesting. My ex would be great on design/function but not happening now. Why are you lowering the ceiling overall - get it for the hood. Above cabs can give you space. Also not to micromanage your collection but you mentioned seldom used stuff like the big wok. Women do it with clothes - lay it all out and ask when did I last wear this? Can help you set your your priorities. Pull outs in the lower cabs or swivels if room allows in the upper? Hooks for cups and stuff like that? So bottom line - what do you NEED in the kitchen and the rest can travel. We asked this question generally of interior remodel clients and it jars them and then they do that (oh!) head tilt thing. Where I am kitchen designers flogging cabinets will come in and give free advice.