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The whole idea of using a wok is control of heat. The wok has many temperature zones. Push the food to where the heat is right. dcarh

If you're in the US, I'd do a lot of comparing and then start frequenting Home Goods, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning, etc. That, and start looking for BB&B sales where they let you also use a 20% coupon on top of the sale price. You'll get a lot more for your money with a little planning. Also, that site is run by one small retailer trying to channel you into purchasing from them. There are better places to look for info and deals. There are threads on this site about choosing pans, take a look at them. You'll probably find that just a few pans (8-10" skillet, a 4-6 qt pot to boil pasta in, a wok, a dutch oven, a bamboo steamer, and a large stockpot) are all you need. Take a good hard look at what and how you cook and see if you'll use all those extra saucepans, etc.

Hi all, Great to know there are so many people out there who like to stir-fry bu using a wok. I have written a definite guide on stir-frying and is happy to contribute my understanding on this topic: The Definitive Guide To Stir-fry Hope this article can provide all the questions raised in this foru,. Thanks, KP Kwan

My DVR never has recorded the second part of Restaurant Wars. Sigh. I really want to watch it. Anyway, yes, glad to see Phil go bye bye. I just watched the last two episodes. I kind of rolled my eyes when I saw MC Hammer on, but I ended up enjoying that little quick fire challenge. Toups Legit To Quit LOL. Loved it. Nice to see Amar do well. The wok episode. Oh Kwame. Frozen waffles. I knew from that moment on he would be the one to go (I was rooting for Jeremy to go home, though...Taco Dudes=sorta lame.) Like Tom said, Kwame could have had an awesome concept had he made the waffles and flavored them. LOVED Pasta Mama. I would eat there. Go Isaac!!! PS--Anyone know who is in Last Chance Kitchen now?

I'm currently eating my masala oatmeal, but it isn't really that, exactly. On the first attempt, it was a smashing success, although it took a long time to cook and I think next time, I'll use my wok. Ingredients: About 1 inch of fresh ginger, chopped 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 large white onion, chopped 3 plum tomatoes, chopped 3 scallions, sliced (optional) 4 mushrooms, chopped About 5 tablespoons steel-cut oats 3 tablespoons urad dal 3 tablespoons or so of roughly crumbled "raw" cashews 2 dried curry leaves, crumbled into small bits 1 heaping teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon garam masala 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 1/6 teaspoon ajwain seeds 1 teaspoon amchoor powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 flat teaspoon sweet paprika 3 organic free-range eggs about 1 1/2 cups full-fat yogurt juice of 1 lemon, seeds removed a neutral oil (I used canola) as needed Method: Put a bit of oil into a wok or pan. Add the ginger and garlic, stirring until they are mostly cooked. Add the onions and more oil as needed. Cook until the onions are close to done, then add the scallions if you like and repeat the process. After that, add the spices and mix thoroughly. Then add the oats, urad dal, cashew pieces and curry leaf bits. Again add more oil as needed. When the cashews seem cooked, add the tomatoes. You will probably need to raise the heat a little, but be careful not to burn the oats or dal. When the tomatoes are mostly cooked and the liquid is somewhat reduced, add the mushrooms. Wait until the mushrooms are cooked to add the eggs, but it is not necessary to wait until the water evaporates. Mix, making sure to coat everything with egg. When everything is thoroughly mixed and the eggs are cooked, add the yogurt, mix thoroughly, and add the lemon juice. Simmer a bit to reduce the liquid somewhat and cook the mixture. The result should still have a good deal of liquid - indeed, the texture should be something like oatmeal, but crispier. Distribute it into bowls for eating. Thoughts on this improvised recipe: First, it was delicious. However, I couldn't taste the scallions, so I think I'll use them in something else. The ginger was somewhat present, but I think I'll at least double the amount next time to taste it more. I used few ajwain seeds because when I opened my newly-bought bag, they smelled strong, but I couldn't taste them much, so I'll put at least 1/3 of a teaspoon in next time. I also will use an entire container of mushrooms if I have one handy next time (I had only half a container left). The quantity of tomatoes seemed good; I didn't really taste them separately, but they were part of the mix and also helped add water to it. But more worked than didn't work. The texture of the oats was pleasant, in this combination. The lemon juice was great, and I don't think vinegar would be as good. The spices all came through except for perhaps the paprika and to a large extent the ajwain (and turmeric just gives food a subtle earthiness, so I'm sure it helped, but the taste wasn't that present even with a whole teaspoonfull), and the curry leaves were especially nice. The cashews also really helped. By the way, the cayenne was definitely present and the large amount of yogurt cooled it off some, but if you are sensitive to chili, decrease the cayenne or omit it, then taste it to see if any should be added. Next time, I may try using some mustard oil. I thought I had some, but I couldn't find it. I also would love to add some really substantial green vegetable to this like kangkong (water spinach), adding it before the tomatoes (or possibly in lieu of them, for a different variation). Final comments: The urad dal and oats form a paste, so be careful of that. If you prefer, add more oil (but I wouldn't have wanted more than I used, which I'm guessing was perhaps 1/8 of a cup in total at most). Some people might prefer using less oats, but the result was very good. Also, for those who like it (and aren't trying to avoid them because of their glycemic effect), you could easily add some raisins to the combination of urad dal, oats, cashews and dried curry leaves. And finally, I'm not sure what role the eggs had in this dish. I suppose they could be omitted, and I don't know what it would have been like if I had used 5 instead of the 3 I had left.

I usually use my Thermomix - it does the stirring for me. I have however made quite acceptable risotto recently in my IP with nothing doing the stirring. Prior to owning those handy appliances, I have used a wok, a saucier, a sauté pan, and even a dutch oven in a pinch.

My cooktop is 36" and my exhaust hood is a 36" Zephyr II with 10" exhaust duct and 2 fans, but I wish that I had purchased a wider exhaust hood. Some smoke, fumes etc still escapes when doing high heat wokking on the front burners

There used to be a place in Ottawa (downtown in the 'mall' on the bottom floor across the street from the Hudson's Bay - not sure if it is still there) that might have filled the bill that others are describing above - a sort of open food court where diners could choose from a variety of meals and/or assemble their own from bits and pieces of meals cooked at different stations and pay at one cashier area only. Many years ago I went there often and the food was always excellent and the assortment of choices very large - though I don't recall there being much really 'ethnic' representation in the offerings. But, that also brings to mind the many HUGE buffet type 'restaurants' in Vegas - which had (back when I went there a number of years ago now too) many different cuisines one could choose from all done in a single large area, to a pretty high standard. But, again, with either of those places or others like them, one pretty well eats from what the restaurant has on hand and is prepared to cook. There are also 'mongolian' restaurants where one chooses from a large variety of meats, vegetables, sauces, etc. and the 'chef' puts them all in a wok or on a grill and cooks them all to order - perhaps that is closer to a 'choice' for the customer, but, you won't find mac and cheese or grandma's apple pie there either. But, I don't really think any of the above addresses what I think the restaurant concept that Harrison is trying to research. I heartily agree with all the great 'this is why that concept is a problem' advice everyone here offered. I also think that what is being discussed is, as others have said, what 'personal chefs' do and that is probably not viable in a decent sized centralized restaurant establishment. (eta: I just read Alex's comment about Restaurant Jezebel and that very small place might be able to accommodate diners better but at that price point I doubt that is in the realm of millennials, especially those who are hungry tonight, not tomorrow or next month when they can get a reservation). Under what circumstances would I like it though, if it were possible? Hate to say it but most probably it would never appeal to me. But, there are people out there who like the 'Blue Apron' idea where ingredients are delivered to one's house and then they have to follow the directions and cook their own 'to order' dinner - but again, the offerings are chosen from a set menu even it varies often, not just at the whim of the customer. Maybe, hypothetically, they would find this idea which takes that whole idea a bit further, intriguing. Could you count on making money from them long term though ... I doubt it. And you would have to operate in a very large city to make it work at all I think - where you would have major competition from the whole roster of ethnic and other specialty restaurants which are also there and well established. Perhaps what work for me (once or twice, just for fun) would be if I source the ingredients (at least for any that are exotic) and give them and a recipe to someone else (in a restaurant setting where I know the health and safety standards are up to scratch) and they cook it all for me. I pay then only for the cooking and the place to eat it (or maybe I just do take out). But, even that is complicated and fraught with the great possibility of disappointment because not all chefs know all cuisines and believe me, for me not to cook for myself what I have spent time sourcing ingredients for, I would want to be sure that the chef I was delegating that responsibility to was an expert in that particular cuisine. But, then like most here, I LOVE to cook so perhaps I am not the right kind of person to ask about this. Good luck with your paper.

I just bought the Blue Star Platinum 48" for my new kitchen, and chose it primarily for its wok capabilities. I have a Faber 48" Range Hood going on top of it, so hoping that will work out ok. I'll let you so in a month or two.

I have the Blue Star 25k cooktop with six burners and it's great for wokking and grilling, however you need a serious exhaust fan if you get one, preferably an exhaust fan that is at least 2 inches wider (on both sides) than your cooking area to catch all the fumes and smoke

I'm a bit familiar with the Lacanche, but not too familiar with the Rangemaster. The Lacanche definitely seems like a different quality level than the Rangemaster, and I wouldn't let the lack of warranty put you off too badly as there is really not that much that can go wrong on an all gas range with minimal electronics. As far as wok cooking, I see that the Lacanche has an option for a removable "french top" which looks like it would nicely cradle a wok, and would likely give much better results than the mid BTU Rangemaster hobs. You might consider also looking for restaurant style models with "open" gas burners, if your building code allows. I don't know if it is available in Europe, but there is an American manufacturer called Blue Star which has open "Garland" style 25K BTU burners, which are the functional equivalent of a wok burner once the grates are removed. There is another US manufacturer called Capital which makes open burner gas ranges (I think they max out at 22K BTU), and with dedicated wok burners.

I'll keep an eye out for another chance to rescue some unwanted leaves. If the chance doesn't come now, I'll look for them next summer. Thanks! It's warm and spring has sprung. It's subtle in the desert, but if you know where to look you can find color. The washes in the evening have a delicate floral perfume that I haven't managed to identify yet. Brittle bush, ocatillo, native trees and fairy dusters The campfire has come into its own, partly so we can enjoy the night sky and partly to keep the trailer cooler. We've been making heavy use of a burger basket, a wok-shaped double basket and Papa's Pan, with an occasional appearance by a cast-iron skillet. Papa's Pan - I've written about it before, here - has given us a new favorite way to cook brussels sprouts. Cut them in half, load them into Papa's Pan with 2 or 3 strips of bacon cut into 1" chunks, drizzle with enough olive oil to provide good pan searing and a hint of balsamic vinegar. Close the pan. Put it over high flame until you hear it sizzling, give a few shakes, flip and repeat, then set it over a warm flame until it's done and the rest of dinner is ready. This method would also work on stovetop, inside an oven or under a broiler - any source of high heat - but over an outdoor fire with an omelet pan there's no mess to clean up when juices drip from the pan, and there's no need to keep stirring with a spoon or spatula. The first night we tried it we added some stray asparagus spears. They didn't suffer from the treatment a bit. That, plus burgers from the basket, and a bit of green salad, were all we needed. My burger fell apart because it stuck to the basket. Guess I needed a bit of oil first. Other campfire dinners: Chicken thighs with a spicy rub, inspired by a recipe from Paula Disbrowe's charming book Cowgirl Cuisine. The beans here are fava beans - my first attempt, and none too impressive. The favas will need more work, but the chicken is always a hit. Numerous grilled-meat and -vegetable dinner salads, like this one: Tequila chicken dinner salad, not yet tossed (above), and served (below). I'll write about pecans and salmon another time.

Tonight, I did a very common dish round these parts. 茄子肉末 (qié zi ròu mò). That is aubergine/eggplant with minced pork, done in the wok. The pork is marinated in the usual suspects - garlic, ginger, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, chilli flakes. The aubergine is sliced and stir fried. When almost ready, the pork is added along with any remaining marinade and perhaps a splash of water if it's drying out.. S+P. Chinese chives and chopped coriander leaf/cilantro. Eat. Simple Chinese home cooking. Incidentally, instead of saying "Say Cheese" when taking photographs, the Chinese say "Say Eggplant (茄子 (qié zi))" which has the same result. .

I live in the UK. I am not a professional chef. I'm looking for a range cooker possibly dual fuel; electricity and gas. What I've very keen on having is something with a gas hob which will enable me to do some wok stir frying. I've been suggested a Rangemaster and Lacanche. The Lacanche seems a little too expensive but I'm told it's the better range. There do seem to be some second hand models around but then there's the problem of a lack of warranty. The Rangemasters are very nice looking but have been told that they're not that good but not bad either and come at a fraction of the price of a Lacanche. I would be very thankful for some advice on what to get. I suppose I would preferably like the cost to be kept to below £1500. Thanks.

@liuzhou you are absolutely correct, that's a mistake on my part in the subtitles! The order got messed up going from Chinese to English Thanks for the catch! For anyone else wondering, hot wok cold oil will also help your proteins not stick Video updated with annotation!

You have to be the first Chinese cook who tells me to add oil to the wok, then heat it. It is a basic that you add the oil to a hot wok. It does make a difference.

Hi @chefmd! There's a list of ingredients in the description of the video Here's the ingredients along with the directions from the video's desciption: Radish Cake with Carrot Ingredients 材料準備 A) 190mL Water 水 (Can replace with liquid from soaking mushrooms/Shrimp) 180g Rice flour 在來米粉 23 Corn Starch 太白粉 B) 1pcs Chinese sausage (diced) 臘腸 45g Dried Shrimp (soaked) 蝦皮 20g Dried Chinese mushrooms (soaked) 乾香菇 C) 15mL Vegetable Oil 植物油 D) 550g Daikon (peeled and grated or cut into strips) 白蘿蔔(絲) 250g Carrot (peeled and grated or cut into strips) 紅蘿蔔(絲) E) 15mL Vegetable oil 植物油 F) 50mL Water 水 10g Sugar 糖 G) 4g Salt 鹽 5g Sugar 糖 6g Chicken base 雞粉 1g White pepper powder 白胡椒粉 12mL Sesame oil 香油 15g Green onion (diced) 蔥花 1. Mix A together in a large bowl until no lumps, set aside 取一大碗混合A料到粉均勻混到液體中沒有塊狀物，待用 2. Saute B with C in hot wok until fragrant, take out and set aside 熱鍋中加入C炒香B料，取出待用 3. Stir fry D with E in hot wok, add in F and cook until E becomes soft. Add in G and mix well, then pour into A mixture with B altogether and mix well. 熱鍋中加入E炒D，再加入F炒到E開始變軟。加入G混合均勻後，倒入A的混合物中，也在把炒過的B加入，全部混合均勻。 4. Pour A, B, D, and G mixture into a greased tin, steam for 60-75 minutes. Cool and remove from pan. Eat as is or pan fry until crispy. 模具上油，將A,B,D,G混合物倒入，蒸60-75分鐘。放涼後即可從模具倒出，切片食用或是再用平底鍋煎到表皮酥脆。

I agree, these copper woks are a poor use of money. But they will saute pretty well. All the major clad makers are making a killing off highly similar geometries, simply by calling them "sauciers" and "Chef's pans" and the like. I think that's pretty cynical, too. Mine isn't a knee-jerk reaction. Myrhvold gets a lot right, just not everything. Otherwise the dead would have risen by now...

That copper wok has got to be someone's incredibly cynical joke on tourists. But more on point, you'd be wise to read Myhrvold's full text on the topic before arguing with him. You've got no reason to take my word for anything, but if your knee-jerk reaction is to dismiss the findings of Myhrvold's team, you'll make a monkey of yourself.

Fine. If you prefer to spend $15,000 on a solid-top stove (and deal with the attendant adjustment issues), you will get very even heat. I cook most of the time on a solid top myself. Even with modern multi-zone $$$$ solid tops, you lose adjustment flexibility, though. And none of Myrhvold's dictat addresses downward responsiveness advantages of copper over other constructions. A comparison to a wok is extraordinarily inapt. Professional wok burners are often 5-7x the BTU output of a high-output commercial gas hob (I have one that puts out 180,000BTU; it sounds like a rocket taking off, and is very unsafe indoors unless you have a mondo fire suppression system ready). And an important aspect of wok cooking is intentionally creating unevenness in saute. There, you actually want a distinct hot spot, so choosing a poor-conductivity metal is an advantage. Witness that some of the finest woks are cast iron. Good luck making egg emulsion sauces in a thin steel or cast iron wok--on any hob. Because even heat is a disadvantage in wok cooking, it is one of the few applications where copper is contraindicated. Falk, Bourgeat and Mauviel all make them, of course, and they will sear just as well (and just as fast) as steel on a 180KBTU wok burner. Just don't expect there to be any cooler spots to pull your food to. In this choice, $20 for better performance vs. $400 for worse (wok) performance? Buy the steel one. Attribution: http://www.culinarycookware.com/mauviel-copper-wok.html

Nathan Myhrvold and company, in Modernist Cuisine, Vol. 2: Contrary to what cooking-store marketers would have you believe, the least important component in sautéing is the pan itself. Only a few general features matter for making great sautéed food easily, and they are widely available in pans of modest cost. Yes, it is undeniable that copper heats and cools faster than aluminum, which in turn is more responsive to heat than the iron-based metals. but does it really matter if one pan responds twice as fast as another to an adjusted burner? We don’t think so. An expensive copper pan doesn’t save you if your burner is underpowered for the amount of food you’re trying to cook. And a cheap steel pan heats more than fast enough if your burner is up for the job. As proof, consider what happens when you use a wok to stir-fry, which arguably represents the ultimate form of sautéing. Woks are made from inexpensive, thin, uncoated iron or steel. Put one in a race for the quickest sear against a $400 pan if you like. Our bets are firmly on the humble wok. There's much more on the topic in these books; I'm quoting the section on sauté pans as an example. For anyone not yet familiar, this 7-volume collection is the most thoroughly researched body of work on cooking and food science ever assembled. It doesn't flinch from recommending a $15,000 piece of equipment, if nothing else will do as well.

That's what you do when you preheat a pan. It's the whole point. Push a pan with food in it to 450° you have a different kind of trouble: burned food. The point of the preheat is so the pan drops to the right temperature when the food hits it. There's a reason that even in old kitchens equipped with copper pans, cooks seared food on spun steel. Different courses for different horses. I'm perfectly happy and safe (as have chefs been for hundreds of years) searing meats anywhere from 400F to a bit above 550F in tinned copper. That includes preheating the pan, just not completely empty. Attaining wok hei, or blackening without any fat at all, not so much. Even on a 12k BTU hob, a thick (3mm or greater) pan preheated to 400F and then goosed higher after being oiled is not going to drop all that much with a single steak. And what heat it does drop will be recovered far faster than with any other construction (except solid silver). Sam Kinsey used the metaphor of pipes into and out of a reservoir. Copper is the biggest pipe of all, and 3mm of copper is a prodigious reservoir. Chef Wise has it right when he says: "We [at Craft] use all-copper cookware for the meat because it heats up fast and offers even heat distribution,” Wise explained. “You get a better sear on the meat and it cooks faster.” http://www.craftrestaurantsinc.com/craft-new-york/gallery/ I have experimented with pizza "stones" made of steel, aluminum and copper. A 1/2" steel sheet works wondrously, because the toppings can fully cook in 3 minutes or less in a home oven before the crust is scorched. A copper 1/2" sheet will burn the shit out of the crust before the toppings are even close to cooked. Aluminum at 1/2" is not an immediate fail, but requires a close and full broil to balance out the toppings finishing at the same the crust leopard-spots. Of course clad is lesser cookware; that's not superstition. For instance, All-Clad's lining and outer cladding layers are each 0.41mm thick--this is typical. The latest infatuation, adding interior steel layers, only adds more. So you can easily have >1.2mm of heat-blunting SS in a clad pan. Then, to make the whole thing light enough for consumers, the conductive layers are shaved down to the point of being inconsequential. For example there is <1mm of copper in All-Clad's Copper Core (and not much aluminum, either--A-C's original SS-Al--SS performs better). It's not only less responsive, it holds less heat than the same overall thickness of copper. Even the copper bimetal pans (Falk, Mauviel, Bougeat, deBuyer, etc.) have 0.2mm linings, which are about the thinnest that will remain bonded to the substrate. I don't know of any maker that offers clad with 0.1mm (<.004") linings. Look at the best clad skillet out there, the Demeyere Proline 5*. It has 4.8mm of aluminum, swaddled in SS. It comes close to holding as much heat as a 3mm copper pan of the same geometry, but it has dramatically poorer responsiveness. It is a near match for evenness. Part of the issue is that there is no full clad out there with more than 2mm of copper inside. deBuyer Prima Matera has only 1.8, as do some lines of "2mm" Mauviel. Falk and Mauviel's best bimetal lines have only 2.3mm of copper. To use Kinsey's term, the "pipes" aren't big enough to move much heat laterally--this is one reason why thin copper pans will puddle tin faster and at lower sustained temperatures in the center. They're so thin, they hot-spot without being able to push the heat up to the rims. Grab a contact thermocouple and compare, I have. At one point in the 1960s and -70s, there were a few truly thick bimetal pans made (e.., 3.2mm copper + 0.2mm SS). They come up for resale a couple times a year on eBay. They would be ideal for dry, high sears where an integral sauce is planned. Frankly, if the cook is simply griddling meat dry, a bare copper pan would do fine, because there are no acids to which the pan could react. I'm working right now with a group of thermal scientists to apply a new technology that may eclipse thick copperware as the performance standard in cookware. Prototypes have been built which offer 5x the effective conductivity of copper. But until this comes to market, there is nothing better-performing available than what was around in 1900 or 1700.

A combination plate. Pork tongue, white asparagus, fried rice, omelet. Eggs beaten w. some oil, white pepper, diluted w/ some water; fried in a very hot pan w/ plenty of very hot oil; lightly (Maillard) browning, folded over & removed with still runny top (now "inside"); all done in a minute or two. Braised pork tongue [Love Handle] sliced up and pan-fried after that in the residual oil. Sliced white asparagus tossed and lightly browned in the hot pan (a little more oil added) after that. Then, into the pan on full heat went chopped celery, 2-day-old rice, sea salt, chopped parsley; tossed around, covered briefly (trapping steam) at the end then stirring with the spatula in the usual manner. ETA: p.s. The pork tongue was already salted when it was braised (by Love Handle) but the only time I added salt in composing this dish was a light sprinkle in the cooking of the fried rice. Otherwise, the natural taste of the eggs, the celery+parsley+rice, the asparagus, all shone through, aided by the light browning/sort-of "light wok hei", if you would, that the hot cooking added to the food.

So, here it is. I cooked the pork at 69C (156.2F) for 4 hours 30 minutes, and the beef at 58C (136.4F) also for 4 hours 30 minutes, one day before. Both were excellent, juicy and not dry. But the beef was a bit "tough", probably because of the type of cut, I don't know. As you can see the meat structure, it's quite dense. The difficult part was to brown it. Blowtorch doesn't do much, I use standard torch "attached" to a butane gas canister. So, I browned in a very hot skillet wok with oil instead.

I didn't keep close track of the time, but it was in the 25-30 minute range. I had to hold a Thermapen in the mix the whole time, and that was not an acceptable arrangement (at least for me). The wok is about 10" in diameter. I think that a 9" pot will be a solution for me. As attractive as the idea of the KitchenAid unattended attachment sounds (and I haven't totally abandoned the idea), I don't think I would feel comfortable without weighing the mix from time to time. Happy Boxing Day, Ruben