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Having been basically off my feet for the last few days, I was able to go up and downstairs yesterday to be driven to work. So, I now have access to continue the challenge of cooking through my freezer! Had picked up a package of drumsticks on sale at Safeway before Xmas, so we had Lemon-Rosemary grilled chicken legs for supper. Not having been to pick up fresh vegetables for a few days, it was stir-fried dregs from the fridge vegetable crisper. The new cast iron wok I have gets and stays super hot. Even with the broth added to the veg, and the fact that I couldn't get back to it quickly, the veg. had a "nice charred" flavour to it. Definitely NOT wok hei" but was edible.

Another clean-out-the-fridge breakfast. Materials at hand: half a bag of spinach, a container of mushrooms, two Poblano chiles, Serrano chiles, unlabeled sausage, partly-used cilantro, feta cheese, and eggs. Also had onions and garlic around. Roasted and peeled the Poblano chiles. Cubed and fried the sausage, and then poured off most of the drippings. Dry-fried mushrooms in the wok until they were done squeaking, and then sauteed with some of the sausage drippings. Sauteed onions, Serrano chiles, and garlic, and then cooked down the spinach. Added in Poblanos, mushrooms, and sausage, feta, and cilantro, and then scrambled in the eggs. A little Cholula for flavor. A satisfying breakfast, leaving lots more room in the fridge. Somehow the phrase "hive-mind" kept popping into my head.

Just get some vintage cast iron with machined smooth finish. My Wagners are as nonstick as any PTFE or anodized aluminum. Same as my cast iron wok.

Today's lunch. Fried yellowtail fish (Don't ask me which of the hundreds of varieties of fish which are called "yellowtail".) With just salt and black pepper and, as you can see, lemon. Served with home-made bread and butter. Last time I did these fish, I deep fried them because I had to hand a wok full of clean enough oil (only used once for a plate of chips/fries). This time I shallow fried them. I think I'll go back to the deep frying. I did buy another 9 later in the day and will gut and de-gill then pop them into the time machine.

Most of the family have gone home...only daughter and s-i-l here - a quieter supper for the four of us. Pulled out some beef tenderloin, sliced up, seasoned with frajita seasonings. Cooked up in my cast iron wok. Fixings were prepare beforehand. Wraps were commercial low carb.

I don't know what possessed me to make these on a 42 degree day, given the amount of time they require you to stand over a giant wok of steaming water, but these are a banh beo/banh bot loc mashup; Vietnamese tapioca starch dumplings, with spicy minced pork and prawns, shallot oil, chilli/garlic/fish sauce and lime to dress, and deep fried crispy shallots. They look like nothing once cooked, since the tapioca starch cooks to completely translucent, but you turn them over on themselves with a spoon, make sure you get all the garnishes on, and it's down the hatch in one happy mouthful.

Thanks for the idea. I have an electric wok that I haven't used in so long I'm not even sure the plug fits in modern electric sockets. (Did I mention it was impossible to wash?) But I also have an old six quart Cuisinart pressure cooker that is otherwise useless because Cuisinart no longer makes spare parts. Maybe if I ever get an induction unit I will give this a try for frying.

I noticed that woot.com has a Breville RM-BEW600XL Hot Wok Silver for $79.99. It is a factory reconditioned model and the order is fulfilled by Amazon.com. Nothing I need but it may be of interest to someone here.

@rotuts thanks for the link but that is not the one. This is the one I am looking at. https://www.amazon.ca/Breville-BREBEW800XL-Hot-Wok-Pro/dp/B00BTZIPH0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486149068&sr=8-1&keywords=Breville+hot+wok+pro @rotuts

https://www.amazon.com/Breville-BEW600XL-Hot-Wok/dp/B0042RUPFC

I am thinking of buying one of these. This particular model has an 1800 watt heating element and according to the reviews on Amazon.ca, gets really hot. It also got good reviews there, 24 people gave it 5 stars, 2 gave it 4 stars. There were no other ratings. One of the reasons I would like one is that I can use it on my balcony to deep fry stuff. While I do occasionally deep fry in a pot on the stove, I don't like living with the smell of cooking oil afterwards. Does anyone have this particular model?

Ironically it is ingrained in my brain "hot wok, cold oil, food won't stick" from my time watching Jeff Smith's cooking show on PBS as a young adult.

It is standard practice in Chinese wok cookery. There is a Chinese saying which translates as "Hot Wok, Cold Oil" to remind people. I'd guess pretty much every Chinese cook, pro or home cook, knows it.

Had time on my hands and feeling a bit nostalgic for food from my old restaurant menu, My brother just gave me a 14" pre-seasoned cast iron wok on sale at our local supermarket - $19.99, so I thought it'd be a good time to do a bit more seasoning by deep-frying. Made our Soo's (my family restaurant named after my dad) #17 - deep fried dry spareribs, then simmered the ribs in sweet & sour sauce for # 13. Eaten with cauliflower friend rice and some stir-fried broccoli. Satisfied the nostalgia but not the need to go back into the restaurant biz. New cast iron wok Soo's # 17 Deep fried Dr Spareribs Soo's #13 Sweet & Sour Spareribs Cauliflower Fried Rice

Boilsover. Sounds to me as if your "local appliance dealer" has a lot of gas cook tops that he wants to unload. You do realise that induction has been around for decades in Europe? I have never heard of anybody having one wear out. In Europe appliance manufacturers are legally required to honour a five year automatic warranty on all major appliances (unlike the US where Whirlpool, which owns most of the appliance brands, doesn't even honour its one year warranty). If their products didn't last more than five years Bosch and the rest would be out of business. As for the search for a round bottomed wok that works on gas, or induction, surfaces; there is no such thing. Unless the wok can descend into the flame you will have insufficient surface being heated. I found an electric wok (Breville) for just over $100 that has the element build into the wok itself. It gets up to 500 degrees all over the surface, which I find sufficient for stir frying.

One of the easiest things ever! I will never understand people who buy it in jars. Get some white sesame seeds and carefully toast them. I use a wok but I bet the Greeks don't. Use what you got. Skillet. Perhaps microwave? Be careful - they turn from nicely toasted to incinerated in seconds. Then let them cool and bung into a food processor and add enough olive oil to lubricate. Go easy - you aren't making sesame soup! Let the machine run. If the sesame gets too lumpy add a little olive oil, but remember you really want the sesame oil. When it looks like tahini stop. You did it! I can't really recommend quantities. It depends how much you want. I prefer to make relatively small quantities. Just enough for the next batch of what I want to use it for - nearly always hummus. It keeps well in the fridge. I keep the unused seeds frozen, though. Here is one of my average productions. The container is about six to seven inches in diameter. Sorry can't measure. I'm not at home. Enough to produce one batch of hummus just enough for me.

Your range looks to be an updated version of mine. I don't have the electronic display, but rather buttons for each of the oven's functions (bake, convection, clean, broil, off) and then a knob to set the temperature. Ours is 36", six-burner natural gas top and electric oven. We found the wok side of the grates to not be worth bothering with. They raise the wok too high off the burner. We either use a flat-bottomed wok inside on the normal (unflipped) stove grates, or take a round-bottomed wok out to the mega-burner that my husband uses when he brews beer. The warming light in the hood, OTOH, is marvelous. The one maintenance issue with the range that we've had recur is a switch or relay or something inside the burner knob assembly that goes bad. When that happens, you turn the burner off but the igniter keeps on popping until you either turn the burner back on or you give up and kill the breaker. When the second one died, we had our appliance repair guy order us five of the replacements parts, so that when the last four went, we wouldn't have to wait for the part to come in. Of course, the last four have been fine now, and the parts have been waiting going on three years now! <knocks on wood>

Some glitches today. The trim kit for the microwave/convection oven is too big. Contractor blames the supply house, but it's been sitting here in the box for at least 3 weeks and contractor never checked. I blame the contractor but verbalizing that won't get it here any sooner, so I held my tongue. Refrigerator is in and working. Stove is slightly in but contractor forgot his foamy test liquid so not fully functional. Contractor did tell me he had lunch with an old friend today so I think that is why things did not get done. Can you tell I'm really ready for this to be over? Promised to be functional tomorrow . The grates are kinda cool, they flip over and are concave to hold a wok

@Anna N indeed. but yoyve got the eG sweetheart Tiger ! Im waiting on the WorkPlace Cantina to deep-fry up some Calamari w lots of tentacles hoping the cantina got a # 27 DARTO as a Wok-Ish Item !

Ive succumbed and gotten the DARTO # 27. I had to call them to give them my MC number, as Im very allergic to PayPal. they were very nice. I spoke with Nicolas and sent him the eG threads on the DARTO pans. he has enjoyed them. I( decided the # 27 , with the flat bottom and heavy steel will suit me as a sort of Wok ! ( what ever excuse one needs , eh ? )

Amazon has the Flaxseed oil, several variants of it. I use it in the oven, light application, wipe, into hot oven for an hour, turn oven off, let cool. Repeat. Have done same on stove top and outside on the wok burner. In "Breath of a Wok" Young talks of final seasoning of a wok with Chinese onions or spring onions for luck. I need all the luck I can get in the kitchen so my last seasoning session I'll saute a qt or so of onions until carmalized. No defensible reason just my thing. The only time I've had flake offs was when I tried to shortcut the process and use to much oil at once. Don't do that anymore.

I don't know where they got their figures for flaxseed oil but that polyunsaturated percentage is really high, considering there is only 19% Oleic acid. Rice bran oil, which I have been using in recent years because of the high smoke point, has 38% Oleic acid, and that component is an important "drying factor" that promotes polymerization with heat. When a friend got one of the high output burners and a new wok last year, the vendor recommended he use rice bran oil and even gave him a small bottle to begin seasoning the wok. It's not cheat put I have found a little goes a long way. I use it in my baking a lot - in yeast breads where I want a fine, even crumb and this oil contributes to the quality I want.

Looks like you're off to good start. I'm not a fan of zip locks for a long cook, but if that's what you have to work with then..... 2nd the part about clipping the edge to the top of the container so that the seal is not submerged. Your container should be fine with a circulator though I would prefer a 12 qt Cambro for most SV. For long cooks I like a Coleman "stackable". For either container (or yours) a 2 1/2" hole saw will cut an opening for the Anova bluetooth unit. (2 3/4" for Anova 1) If you still have concerns about doing it as a roll you can steak it and do it as pieces (my preferred method) or whole but not rolled per David Chang. The belly pictured was done at 140F. (Pork likes 140F) It was seared outside in a wok. Your oven, cranked up and on broil will work fine but will take it out of commission for dinner rolls, warming, finishing sides etc. Super hot grill, esp with cast iron skillet will work well. Don't forget the liquids in the bag make a great addition to sauce. SV Porchetta stuffed with chick food. Duroc belly steaked: (Note: When steaked you can do as much or as little of the belly as you would like, Freeze other pieces for another day.

Fresh Point Judith Squid, I like to clean and prep them myself, not just because it is $2.99 per lb vs $8.99 per, but because I cleaned it myself and know the product much better as a result. To me, these are prime size, being just about a foot long on average. Once you get the moves down, cleaning is a piece of cake. Once cleaned, cutting them up is pretty simple. I cut the "tubes" into 3/4" rings. I shake them up in a plastic bag with about a half cup of flour, seasoned with salt, garlic powder and smoked paprika. I used to use clip on thermometers, but they were awkward and always got in the way. When, you have a big pot of flammable oil over a gas flame, ( I use a wok) simple is best. I love the infra-red hand held thermometer, simple, quick and now, inexpensive. Get the peanut oil up to 375 F. I Fry them up in small batches, so the temp only drops to about 350 F, then drain on paper towels, season with a sprinkle of salt and keep them in a warm oven as the later batches are completed. Tonight, I served the calamari with salads and spicy garlic and lemon aioli. HC

We've been out in the desert for a couple of weeks, finally in an area where we can have campfires when it isn't too windy. We've had a few wind storms (it's blowing again right now, but supposed to grow quieter this evening) but also some beautiful weather. There's an art to building a fire ring suitable for cooking something more than hot dogs on sticks, and my darling is pretty good at it. The main tricks are to build the ring with an opening so wood can be added after the grate is down, to have the grate support at the right height above the fire, and to have a level top so the grate can be level. I've seen manufactured rings that allow the grate height to be adjustable. We aren't quite that enterprising; we simply adjust the fuel instead. One of his favorites is hash: potatoes, onions, and some sort of sausage. I think this particular sausage was a leftover from Louisiana. (Yes, we still have some!) I prefer fireside salads, when possible. This one had potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, asparagus and seasoned chicken, all cooked in a grill wok then tossed over fresh spinach. A lemon and garlic vinaigrette completed the ensemble. There's a story behind the new salad servers. I'll tell it in another post.