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I don't have anything cast iron. But it's a mini tagine pot for one person (I got two of them for free in a cooking class). It's about 10 inches across and the tawa is 12 inches. So no problem there. I'm using gas so it's a direct flame. I don't have a wok ring but I do have one of these wok supports that I can rest the tawa on (it's too big for the tagine pot itself). Would this be better? It's just further away from the heat: On a side note, if autocorrect changes 'tagine' to 'tagging' one more time I'm going to start throwing clay pots at the computer

If you have a wok ring, that will also work. For what it's worth, I've used my clay tagine directly atop the stove - both the electric coil type and the smooth-top ceramic type - with no ill effects. I am very careful to change heat slowly, though: low heat at first, then higher - and just as careful not to shock the tagine later by adding cold liquids.

Hi Kay...My kitchen and it's menu? ...that's a long story! Talento restaurant is 15 years old and it started as a 60 seat THAI restaurant. I spent six months in Thailand and when I came back I opened the restaurant with my partners, the restaurant did very well and we moved to a bigger place... in this new location we started getting more families as customers, not only people looking for fine dining, so, I got a charcoal grill (Argentinian style) and I added to the menu beef cuts and burgers... and it was a success for a while, then we moved to an even bigger location and now I cook traditional Mexican too... but the problem is that a lot of people still craves many menu items from the very opening, so now I just call the place "an international cuisine restaurant" because: how can you call a place where there are phad thais, wok sauted food, Argentinian beef cuts, burgers...and Mexican food in the menu? Thanks a lot for the question Kay and best regards from México! Luis

Hi... My name is Luis Jiménez, I'm 43 years old and I'm very happy to join this community, I've been here before, but only as a lurker and I just decided to take the plunge and become a member. I like to cook and I like to learn, so, this seems to be the right place to be. I've been cooking professionally for the past 25 years and I'm the author of a book called "Pero querías ser chef..." (only in Spanish but hopefully soon in English too), I'm a blogger too but my main thing is to run the kitchen of a 200 seat restaurant in my home town, and as you know that is overwhelming sometimes but very rewarding too when things run smooth...wich is not easy, and I have to confess, as we say in the cooking world: "I'm in the weeds" more often than not. I'm a chef but I prefer to be considered a cook because that is what got me in the kitchen, my love for cooking and the love for the food that my mother cooked for me and our family. I like to sharpen my knives, to cook on the charcoal grill, the wok and the griddle, but also to cook with technology like rational ovens, thermocirculators and thermomix too. I'm an avid reader, a curious, and friendly guy that loves photography and motorcycling too. I'll be reading and learning as much as I can from you all, and if there is a question that I can answer correctly, I'll do so very gladly. Best regards from México amigos!

We put in a LaCanche when we redid our kitchen a couple of years ago. We have been very happy with it. We have a gas cooktop and electric ovens with convection, one full width, and one narrow one. Four regular burners plus one large one for a French top that also doubles as a wok burner, which gets super hot. The smallest burner does very well at the low end. We have the Saulieu, which is 43 1/2” wide. The electronics are super simple. Bonus, it comes in lots of pretty colors.

Western burners that are purpose-built for woks included? I notice outdoorstirfry.com seems to have several wok burners at decent looking prices. Does anyone on this website have experience buying from this company? Are they a reputable business with good products? Or do you have alternative wok burner suggestions? edit -- found another source for the 65000 btu Kahuna burner purchase so I don't need help with the burner question anymore.

I rather shot myself in the foot tonight. I had the brilliant idea of avoiding the heat in the kitchen (around 40ºC) and doing a 1-10-10 chicken breast. You only have to be in the kitchen to start the thing off, then you can leave after the first minute and let it get on with it. Pop back for a second between the two 10s and Robert is your father's brother. I planned to serve this with a simple salad - tomato and balcony basil. In a moment of total distraction, I felt the need of some carbs and insanely decided that the only possibility was what I call not-onion-bahjis. Due to India and China's long troubled relationship history, I cannot easily get many Indian essentials, including the requisite gram flour. So, must to the disgust of the entire population of the Indian sub-continent, I make do with regular all-purpose flour. I pimped my regular beer batter up with fried chilli flakes and black mustard seeds and mixed in the onions. Then had to stand over a very hot oil-filled wok while the damned things cooked. "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley" as Robert Burns said when he tried to cook bahjis. Still, mine tasted better than his!

Not what I or anyone I know would call a "wok".

We are trying to acquire the above kind of cooking wok for our bulk cooking requirements where large quantities of broths being made or curries or sauces. There is a planetary rotation shaft which mixes the food at a tunable rpm. And there are gas burners at the bottom of the wok. The vendors often asks what kind of viscosity the food has and what type of foods being made? How this viscosity related to this cooking wok equipment? Is this factor a critical one while considering this kind of wok?

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.

Truer words were never spoken. We have gotten a lot of use out of both our campfire basket (for trapping chicken thighs, burgers or even sausages and being able to flip at will) and our campfire wok, which is great for tossing vegetables or smallish bits of meat - meatballs, chunks of meat I'm too lazy to skewer - over a campfire. As you note, the campfire grates can be rather unsavory looking, and these implements allow the flame to come up but keep your food off the grates. I'm looking forward to seeing how your camp cookery develops!

Another use for the flip over that nasi goreng mentioned a couple of posts earlier is to cook fish over a fire without losing too many pieces that fall into the fire. I also recommend a stir fry basket--sorry don't know the name for either the basket or the flip over thingy--that allows you to stir fry vegetables and meat. Look for it near the grills and other tools for grilling. The one I have is square with small round holes on all sides and the bottom. A flat bottomed wok with a handle would also be useful. Take a potholder or 2--they don't weigh much and take up very little space. Use them to cushion breakables. At some point you have to edit the amount of equipment you haul around, especially when you start using walk-in sites, depending of the distance and how many trips you have to make to and from the car. The cooler alone will require a trip of its own. If you're in a state park or national forest campground the tent site may be a very short distance from the car and you can pack more gear. By the way, it's true that most government campgrounds, whether state or federal, have rules about liquor consumption. They are routinely ignored if you're quiet about it and consume your beverage in an opaque plastic cup or glass. We now use a small RV and keep the bottles inside. Just be discreet. No one will get worked up about a beer or glass of wine. Now that I've encouraged you to break the rules, I hope your future camping experiences will be as positive as this one. I think you're already getting good advice about the food. Have fun! Nancy in Pátzcuaro

Import Food sells a charcoal-fueled "tao" wok burner made from clay and concrete set into a metal bucket. It's the upgrade pick to the budget chimney starter method. But for sheer convenience and maximum therms (without resorting to forced-air for the charcoal) nothing can beat a high pressure gas powered wok burner. I can't ever imagine choosing charcoal over gas if I had the option.

Had rice left over from last night so decided to make fried rice. Wanted to add some protein in addition to egg and went shopping to see what was available. Finally settled on 螺蛳肉 luó sī ròu. This is the meat extracted from a type of local river snail and the city's signature ingredient, especially in 螺蛳粉 luó sī fěn, or snail noodles. I can buy the live snails, or cooked snails in chilli or just this extracted meat. Being lazy, I went for the latter. Chopped some garlic, ginger and chilli and soaked some dried shrimp and dried scallops. Cracked a duck egg and scrambled it lightly in the wok, then set it aside. Stir fried the garlic, shrimp etc. Added the snail meat, then after a bit, the rice. When nearly ready I added back the egg along with some scallions. Served with mat kimchi (막김치) I've never heard of the snails being used this way, but I was very pleased with the results. It'll be appearing at your local Chinese delivery place any time soon!

Very normal dinner tonight. Normal here, that is. Every mom and pop restaurant or canteen will do you this. Simple but one of my favourites. 青椒肉片 (qīng jiāo ròu piàn); pork with green chilli peppers*. One of the simplest stir fries. Pork slices marinated in Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger, red and large green chillies and scallions. A splashette of soy sauce. It isn't traditional but I also added some black salt-fermented beans (豆豉 dòu chǐ). With wok-wilted spinach and rice. * Not bell peppers; they are vile traitors to the species. I wouldn't even have them on my compost heap!

That night, we went to a very famous thai-chinese place called Jay Fai. She is known for using super high quality seafood in her stir fries, and ridiculously high heat on her woks. This is her at work: This is one of the dishes she's famous for: Rard Na Talay, which is noodles and seafood in a oyster sauce based gravy: We also got an awesome version of Pad Kee Mao Talay (talay means seafood, and pad kee mao is also known as drunken noodles, or drunk man noodles) which shows the high heat of the wok: For a no-frills shophouse type restaurant, Jai Fay is very expensive, but locals come from all around BKK to go there... At like 31-33 Thai Baht, per dollar, that means each plate is over $10!!!! But for the quality of the seafood and the preparation, it was certainly worth it.

+1. I have one of these and love it: King Kooker 24WC Heavy-Duty 24-Inch Portable Propane Outdoor Cooker with 18-Inch Steel Wok The first time I used it my oil burst into flames. I hadn't even started cooking anything yet so it wasn't from a spill. Lesson learned! I use a more moderate burner setting now and I don't put anything on it until I am 100% ready to cook - all my ingredients at hand, a clear plan for what I need to do, and a vessel for the finished dish (basic wok protocol). I have a kamado, but it takes a while to get the charcoal hot enough for stir fry. My weber chimney gets more than hot enough in a hurry, but as @FeChef said, it gets dangerously hot. I would want to corral it with some sort of fire-safe surround if I were going to wok on it as it is might be too easy to tip it over. I have occasionally used one to do quick sear on steak though.

Maybe the size of the wok makes a difference as well. Mine is not as large as some that ive seen in chinese takeouts.

Im not sure if you are doubting this method, or if you are being serious? If your doubting, i will get my Chimney starter roaring hot and put my black steel Wok on it and use my IR meter to guage the temp. I will tell you right off the bat, its going to read off the charts hot.

Buy yourself a Weber chimney starter. Fill it just above the top vent holes. Buy those weber wax fire starters and light one underneath and wait 15 minutes. You can put your Wok right onto that Chimney starter and trust me, it will be plenty of heat to stir fry. And best part, a 18lb bag would last a long time using this method.

Lump charcoal in a Weber charcoal chimney works quite well, especially with a cast iron wok. The wok must sit on pieces of metal or the like so as not to hamper the draft.

Charcoal can get hot with air blowing. Very hot! hotter than hot. I made this simple furnace to make a few knives. Not only that it melt the steel, it actually melt the cement tiles into glass. It can vaporize your wok and stir fry. :-) dcarch

I've seen charcoal powered woks for stir frying in SE Asia - they typically have some kind of fan contraption that makes the charcoal grill turn into a jet engine... I'll post some pics in a bit.

If you have a Big Green Egg or a similar knock-off there is a wok insert which would get plenty hot seeing you can get the internal temperature up to 700-750F. Then, when you are finished, just choke off the air and the charcoal goes out without further burning. The chef in the video is a riot. Best quote when the oil caught on fire "oh, is that normal? I don't care, it's fun."

I read that charcoal is capable of generating high heat close to that of a wok burner so it can be used to make very good stir fries. I have never done a barbecue before so I don't know how do charcoals work, but common sense tells me that charcoal burns much longer than the few minutes of cooking time of a stir fry. I tried googling around a bit but failed to find any mention of this issue. Is there some way of making charcoal stir frying practical for everyday use? Perhaps by extinguishing and reusing the charcoals every time? Again, I have never dealt with charcoal before so I don't know if that is possible.