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Yesterday I saw some of this stuff in person, we have a good showroom nearby. I told the sales guy what I was looking for: 30" range, gas only, reliable, with at least one high-BTU burner... "high" being negotiable... everything else open to discussion. I told him my price range was up to $6k for a range and a new hood, but obviously, didn't want to spend more than I had to. He had a strong preference for the Wolf GR304, which they did have a good price on due to one a manufacturer incentive. ($4335) It's a no-frills unit with one big burner, a convention oven, and an IR broiler. He was emphatic that Wolf was the more reliable choice among the low-end high-end. Interestingly he also thought the Wolf was easier to clean, but when I look up Wolf vs Bluestar discussions, that never seems to be the case. This Wolf also has black enamel interior, so if the blue enamel chipping problem is still a thing, I wouldn't have to worry about that. I also looked at the Bluestar RCS while I was there. The GR304 has more features than the RCS, but at least I could see the Bluestar open burners in person finally. And I have to say, I really liked the way the Bluestar was put together, and the shape of the burners, how it looks like it'd be easier to clean, AND the bigger oven. They had that Samsung with the split door too, which looked like a good value, but it's available in dual fuel only. I am not interested in adding electric service right now, so that's out. The sales guy also said that while the Samsungs are not unreliable, "if something goes wrong, good luck" getting service. As long as I am talking about this much dough, I don't think I am interested in the Bluestar RCS because I'd miss both the simmer and wok burner. Right now it feels like it's between the Wolf GR304 and the Bluestar RNB. I asked for a quote on the RNB, though I guess it's just going to be the price I see online everywhere. For hoods, I was steered to the Zephyr Typhoon, which did seem nice. It will work with my existing cabinets/ducting, it's quiet, and will move 850 CFM. I had been thinking I wanted a hood with baffles though, and the Zephyr has a different kind of grease trap. If anyone has experience with this hood I would love to know about it; the claims are very appealing. This is a tough decision!

I've posted versions of this before but do so again without shame. It's one of my favourites. Actually, the only variation is in what carbohydrate I serve it with: rice, couscous or orzo. It works with each. Anyway, tonight orzo. I marinate 1 cm cubed pork tenderloin in plenty of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, crushed coriander seeds for at least an hour. Overnight is better. The mixture should be quite oily as no further oil will be used in the frying. Boil the orzo until cooked, then drain and keep warm. Assemble a tomato and onion salad with basil and a lemon vinaigrette. Heat a wok until smoking, then stir fry the pork with the marinade until cooked through. No extra oil needed. Serve and eat. Salad

We really love our Lacanche. They have several options for cooktops. We have a ‘French top” which is an 18k burner with a large solid cast iron plate over the burner, with a cutout circle in which you can put the included wok ring. With the cutout in place, it is great for things like big pots of tomato sauce or stacks. There are also several options for the other burners including one that gets very low. It comes in a 28” version, with either one oven and storage drawer or an oven and a smaller second broiler oven. We have a gas range with electric convection ovens and love it. I also like that there is minimal technology involved. No computer electronics, just excellent build quality to last a lifetime. And it comes in lots of cool colors, if that matters to you - was not part of our decision to go with this range, but I do like the look of the blue in our kitchen.

Here is a typical wok set-up in China. This is outside a small photographer's studio near my home. Mainly passport type photos from what I can see. I spotted it this noon. Rather than close the shop / studio for lunch the woman photographer makes lunch on the street outside her place. The shop next door is a hairdressing place and the staff there (about 4) take turns each day to make lunch on a similar set-up. As do many small businesses.

One of my woks is made in Japan: http://amzn.com/B016B9ZZ12

In cities, 99% of people use these: fuelled by either bottled gas or, more recently, piped gas. My apartment has piped gas which does throw out at a higher pressure, giving me more heat. Also popular in recent years are free-standing portable induction cookers necessitating flat bottom woks. These are mainly used for hot pots, which do not require such high heat, but can be conveniently placed on the dining table. I do, however, see people using them every day for stir frying at their workplace - usually outside small shops where the staff rustle up lunch. In the countryside , naked fire burning in an old oil drum is very common. Fuelled by gathered wood or by coal briquettes. The briquettes were common in the cities 20 years ago, but have largely been outlawed for environmental reasons. Beijing smog 20 years ago was almost entirely domestically produced.

Yes. The wok referred to in the PF Chang video linked to in @jemartin 's first post is a Beijing wok as shown in the video. It reads: Beijing Wok 36cm 10 pieces. The company is Summit Kogyo, 123-1 Matsuhashi Tsubame-shi, Niigata, Japan Website: http://www.tetsunaberyu.jp They do not appear to have a retail outlet and some of their woks have minimum purchase amounts of 10 and upwards. They do so sell a few individual woks through Chinese website Alibaba here, but not the model in the video. Amazon would be a lot easier and safer. _______________________________ I can point out something that has changed in the last few years and it isn't woks. That rather hysterical Washington Times article linked to (twice) in the original post is seven years old. Things have much improved, and anyway there has never been a case reported of a Chinese wok being contaminated with lead or anything else. On an aside, I have never seen anyone use a wok burner domestically in over 20 years in China. I wouldn't know where to buy one.

FWIW, The Food Lab: For the Best Stir-Fry, Fire Up the Grill by J. KENJI LÓPEZ-ALT IMO, he makes a mistake in not elevating the wok a bit above the charcoal chimney—which hampers the draft.

You want a Peking/Beijing style wok. I'd suggest one of these from Korin. I discuss my recent burner purchase over in the other thread from 2005. Though I just purchased my burner in 2018, the design isn't markedly different from the one in the original post from more than a decade prior.

My post was about a lot more than just wok technology... it also discusses burners and the best items from a product safety perspective based on specific criteria. The thread from 2005 you referred to makes no mention of this, and does not discuss products from the perspective of the product safety criteria I mentioned in my initial post. The available products on the market (woks, burners) have changed a lot in 13 years. Companies have surely introduced many new products since then, and taken old ones off the market. The basic wok or burner technology may be the same, but new companies come along and introduce new burners, some of which may be higher quality, have lower prices, be more efficient, be more durable, or be better in some other way. Even if a company releases a burner or wok in 2005 that seems to work well at that time, that may later be taken off the market and replaced with other newer products for product safety reasons, durability issues, design flaws, or other issues. For example, while this wok is still on the market and presumably uses the same wok technology as many woks from a long time ago, reviewers of this particular product on the Amazon page are clearly criticizing this product because of design flaws and durability issues associated with the handle breaking off during cooking. There may be similar issues with some particular burner from 2005, there may be better burners available in 2018 that don't have these design flaws or durability issues, or perhaps a particular burner or wok model from 2005 referred to in the thread is no longer even available. But again, all of that aside, the thread you referred to makes no reference to the product safety issues I brought up in my initial post.

So? I have two woks, which are used every day. One is 18 years old and the other about a year younger. I would still recommend them. Wok design hasn't changed for millennia.

Wok technology has not changed that much.

There are already several threads discussing this, such as this one. If you search for 'wok' using the search feature at the top of the page, you will find many more.

I'm interested in learning to cook Chinese food with a similar flavor quality as you would get in a good Chinese restaurant with a lot of wok hei. I did a small amount of reading from books like Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge and Breath of the Wok to get some background knowledge on this topic, but still have some questions. I purchased this burner to get more heat and increase the wok hei in my stir fries, which claims to have 65,000 BTU output (I saw many people on these forums mention using it in other threads, so I'm guessing it's a good choice, but just wanted to check). There appear to be videos of people cooking on it on the Amazon page with traditional round-bottom woks, so I'm assuming it will work well with round bottom woks. This burner should also have plenty of BTUs to get restaurant-quality wok hei, right? I saw there were other burners on the market that have higher BTUs, but I thought they might not be as good for this purpose since they were not purpose-built for wok cooking. Can any of you comment on this? Before realizing that round-bottom woks are better and allow cooking with less oil, I purchased this wok from my local Sur la Table, which is a 14" flat-bottom carbon steel wok imported from Taiwan. Now I am somewhat interested in finding a more authentic/traditional carbon steel wok with a round bottom for use with the new burner I mentioned above, but am having trouble finding one I like. I'm trying to find one sold by a reputable company which is produced in a country with decent cookware regulations and safety laws to minimize health risks associated with lead contamination in cookware, such as Japan. (I'm hoping to avoid woks from countries such as China, because of scary stories like this, this, this, this or this about product safety or reliability issues). While this wok fails my lead safety requirements I just mentioned, it is the type I should be looking for to get this wok hei on my new burner, right? I was wondering, because I noticed in videos that Chinese restaurants like PF Chang's they use woks that are all one metal piece with no wood on them, and the handles are always made of the same metal that the wok itself is made of. Can anyone else comment on this? Do you use woks with wooden handles for ultra high-heat Chinese cooking, or do you prefer the woks that are all metal and have metal handles? Does anyone have suggestions for good woks that meet my criteria mentioned above? Would my Sur la Table wok be a bad choice for use with my new high heat burner because of the wood handles and flat bottom? PF Chang's restaurants say in their YouTube video that they use these carbon steel woks from Japan because Japan makes the best woks for this style of high-heat cooking, but unfortunately they don't provide information about the company. The building says "Summit" on it, but I could not find any Summit brand woks on Amazon unless they come from third-party sellers (not sure how reputable they are). If anyone knows where I could get one of these Japanese carbon steel woks they show in the video (or something similar you personally think is of great quality for my purposes), that would be terrific.

It's been a while, anyone have something new to share in the hunt for the ideal range? My oven just started stinking up the house with gas. I am sure it can be repaired, but since it's a 30 year old builder special, I am considering this an opportunity to upgrade. I'm looking for a 30" unit which should include a high-output wok burner. I'm flexible on other features and price, but reliability is critical to me. (Baker-friendly features would be a bonus, my wife likes to bake but she is not a gearhead like me!) I've read that BlueStar is good, though you can expect to need to calibrate the oven and replace igniters on the range, though these are also said to be jobs you can do with just a screwdriver. As far as hardware store brands go I like the look of the dual-oven-zone Samsung that was posed upthread. I'm not opposed to getting something "boring" like Samsung or GE if it meets my needs.

Pan-fried duck breast with salad of lettuce, cabbage, hothouse chives, tomatoes and basil. Couscous. The duck was slightly overcooked by my preference, but the skin was beautifully crisp. I blame using a new induction cooker for the first time. I can't do pink duck on my regular Chinese wok cooker. Way too hot, even at low.

Marinaded cubes of pork with garlic, coriander seeds, olive oil, lemon juice. Dry-fried in wok and added Sriracha sauce (from Sriracha). Salad of lettuce, cabbage and hothouse chives in a lemon and rice vinegar dressing.. Served with smuggled - from - Vietnam - pitta - bread for self assembly. Well, there was only me. I don't fill the pitta until I'm ready to eat. The bread can get sodden while I'm eating the previous one. Seconds, as usual, were consumed.

I should be picking zucchini from the garden in just a few days, so I had to send this imposter from Wally World on his way. He did exit with a modicum of dignity, however, sautéed in a hot wok with garlic and chopped green onions and plated with a dusting of freshly grated parmesan cheese. HC

Interesting question, that has no simple answer. The first time I tried it, the added moisture of the buttermilk, required longer frying to get crisp. By the time it was crisp, it was overcooked and tough. I now fry in smaller batches, in a wok with plenty of peanut oil and start the fry at a higher temp (380 F). It seems to work well and is tender. I will probably go back to not using the presoak, just to get a better feel of both results and choose the path from there. I was never unhappy with the result before trying the buttermilk presoak. HC

I've been going through my recipes in preparation for our celebration of all things asparagus. I thought I'd start with a Chinese-style asparagus dish. I think the first time I made it I probably surprised a few folks who typically only make steamed asparagus. They'd never imagine asparagus paired with Asian flavors. Sometimes I trim the stalks using a vegetable peeler, which makes the asparagus more tender to the bite. In this case I cut the asparagus stalks in half, giving a mix of the crunchy stalk with the inner, softer core. A quick blanch in boiling water. I usually add a few dashes of "Fruit Fresh" (basically ascorbic acid), which keeps the asparagus bright green. I don't need to pull it from the hot water and then plunge it into an ice bath to get the same effect. Then into a hot wok with some sesame oil, a spoon or two of chili, garlic, black bean sauce I buy at the Asian market, a sprinkle of sesame seeds and there we are.

After lunch, I took a short stroll down to the Independence Palace which was the official home of the South Vietnamese presidents during the war years. This is somewhere I remember from my youth, particularly 1975 when a North Vietnamese tank burst through the gates to the palace, effectively ending the Vietnam war, as depicted in this famous photograph. Today, the only things bursting through those gates are tourist coaches. To my surprise the palace offered some culinary insights. This is the state dining room. I'll let them elucidate. Also of interest was One thing confused me here. Were all the Vietnamese presidents incontinent or do they think the tourists are? I have never seen so many toilets in one building. Not requiring their facilities, I headed downstairs where I found this. Well, well. What have we here? In no particular order Fridge Cocktail Table Dish Drainer Gas Oven Ice Cream Maker Coffee Machine Dumb Waiter Mixer I'll let you guess what this is. Here's a closer look. Big Woks Not so big I then headed back to the hotel for a rest and dinner. Coming soon.

I just got the Auscrown Rambo. It's kinda pricey, but the build is very nice. Peizo ignition, braided stainless steel hose, chunky connectors, solid construction everywhere. It looks like it was put together by a team of people who were afraid of being sued by the end user. That's a good thing in my book. The burner itself looks almost exactly like the one in the original post that infernooo had shipped to him from Thailand. The high pressure regulator is a lightly modified Chen Fong CF103 and the braided stainless high pressure gas hose was made by ALO. So I suspect that the Rambo isn't much more than a rebranded Thai wok burner with a Chinese-supplied hose and regulator. But as a package, it hits all the right buttons. I was also looking at the offerings from Outdoorstirfry.com which seem very nice as well. But none of their product names were "Rambo," so... Here's the Auscrown product video.

@Ann_T: Ah...mazing pizza! Tonight was a "cleaning out the bits and pieces in the fridge" kinda surf and turf: leftover piece of steak, a few shrimp, wayyy too many bell peppers, and avocado. Tossed everything together with fajita seasoning and an extra toss of cumin in the cast iron wok. Eaten with low-carb Protein-Up flatbread and guacamole.

Winged a quick stir fry for breakfast this morning. Pork tenderloin thinly sliced and marinated with Shao Hsing, cornstarch, and sesame oil and then cooked in peanut oil. The remaining ingredients were onions, garlic, ginger, and a couple of Thai red chili peppers, stir fried in peanut oil and then Yu Chow Sum added, cooked for a minute or two, the pork added back to the wok along with a splash of chicken broth and some garlic chili sauce and a little Chinese black pepper sauce. Simmered for a few minutes until the Yu Choy Sum was tender. Didn't bother with rice or noodles. Will definitely make this again soon. Saturday's breakfast. Grilled pork chops with potato gratin made with chicken broth, roasted butternut squash and sauted Yu Chow Sum with garlic.

I use the largest ones the most, in part because the flared edges mean the smaller ones are pretty darned small. The redesign changes that considerably, so it's hard to say. But I'd still say to go with the two largest handled pans. The 15 is very small, almost a novelty. Almost. I end up using it more than I thought I would... usually when the stovetop starts to get crowded. It still gets used less than anything else though. I've always wanted to try the paella version, because i think that'd be great to cook and then serve to guests individually. The only reason I didn't get one of the 15cm paellas is that I fear I'd end up buying eight of them. I am also a fan of the Number 34 paella, though I've never actually cooked paella in it. Thick, spacious, heavy... It's almost like someone took a big heavy cast iron dutch oven and just lopped of everything except the bottom two and a half inches (or however tall it is). For a big, flat searing surface it's hard to beat. Its walls are high enough to shallow fry, as you saw in my chicken video above. It's also where I make my pancakes. It kind of just lives on my stovetop. I use it more than I thought I would. I cannot even begin to imagine how large the Number 50 is in person. It's even thicker than their other pans, apparently. Weighs 7kg. That's over 15lbs, if you count in the King's English. I bet it would rock the party on my wok burner. Definitely a "special occasion" or "professional/catering" sort of thing. Looks awesome though. Anyway, I can't say that I'm feeling the need to buy anything since I already have a full set of handled models. If they'd made a Number 31 available, I would have gotten it and replaced my Matfer. And if I had infinity billion dollars, I'd buy two of every animal and buy a set for you fine folks as well. But I don't. The redesign and the new paellas are an exciting move. One of my only complaints of the Dartos was that the flare was a bit too gradual so that the actual cooking surface of the pan was much smaller than its total diameter would leave you to believe. That lead the pans to cook like they were smaller than they are (though the 27 is still pretty dang big). That's been fixed in the redesign, and the slope of the walls is supposed to improve the saute action. If that's all true, it's a win win. And +1 to the notion of using the little paellas in the CSO. That sounds like a dangerously good idea. Spoonie G and the Treacherous Three's "New Rap Language." From 1980. They just don't make 'em like they used to.