Too many questions...

[takadi]

Hello everybody! I am completely new to this forum and came here because...surprise...I like food. Food is my porn, and when I get hungry, I start clicking away. So one day I was craving curry, and I miraculously ran into this site. Alas, now comes the barrage of questions that I've been holding in for so long...

I guess I really got into the whole cooking thing my freshman year of college. Cafeteria food didn't really do it for me, so one of the first things from home I began to crave was Vietnamese noodle soup, or Pho. After a destroyed kitchen and several burns, my cooking subsided until finally I thought "Pho...noodles...beef chow fun...mmm" and shortly embarked on my journey again. So here's how it went:

During my internet surfing time, I found that chinese food in generally is better in a wok. I went out and bought myself a cheapie non-stick wok. Then I find out that non-stick is BAD. I go out and buy a nice carbon-steel round bottom. Turns out round bottom and flat stove don't really mix. I go out and buy a carbon steel flat bottom. Then it turns out home stoves aren't good for chinese food! I wanted that beef chow fun realll bad, but there were so many questions, so much confusion...

Is a wok any better than a skillet?

What material is best for a wok?

Is a wok truly as all purpose as it's said to be?

How high should the heat be?

How hot is too hot?

What stove should I get?

Charcoal or propane?

I am generally really confused and still hungry, and I have 6 different types of woks sitting in my basement waiting for their day. So to start off on my journey, I start off with one question at a time, the first one being:

What is the perfect wok stove/burner? The cheapest, the hottest, the most efficient, the most portable, the BEST wok stove there is.

So I found many many burners and stoves out there.

Charcoal-

http://www.venta5.com/pinovations/pv06_qbstove.html

This thing is beautiful. The problem is it's ONLY available in the Philippines.

Volcano stoves

These things cost 100 dollars a pop. But they are portable, can turn into a grill, and can use 300 lbs of charcoal a year for two meals a day.

Joy Charcoal stove - http://photos.the-protagonist.net/fil_nego...expo_2006/stove

According to a site, it won international recognition, and "has a regulator to adjust heat from low, medium to high. It, too, has a barbecue pit option and a handle". It too is only available in the Philippines.

Propane -

http://www.outdoorstirfry.com/

Cheapest wok burner is about $40 and burns at about 50K BTU. Most expensive ones are at least 200 dollars and burns at about 160K BTU.

Big Kahuna wok burner

The cheapest one I saw was about $66 with free shipping. It burns around 65K BTU

Bayou Classic SQ54 High Pressure Jambalaya Burner

Supposedly burns at 65K BTU and is even cheaper than Big Kahuna at $40. However, dimensions say it's 17 inches in diameter, which is way too large for a small wok.

http://www.kingkooker.com/boiling.php

We have the king kooker jet burner brands. They burn hot at about 100K BTU, but they are around $60-70, don't come with legs, and they questionably may or may not hold a wok.

http://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/single_propane_burner.htm

Then we have the Bayou classic high pressure/jet burners which burn at the least a HUGE 185K BTU's. AND they are dirt cheap. EVERYTHING that I wanted...except these bad boys don't hold a wok!

The last set of stoves seem to be my ideal stove except for that ONE problem that it doesn't hold woks. I COULD buy one and maybe carve a hole in the middle. Now people might think "anything hotter than 50K BTU will vaporize your food!" Whydo Hong Kong cooks have stoves that pump out over 200K!? Now figuring that that largest wok I have is 14 inches, now I figure I'd rather have a burner with the widest range of temperatures, with the highest setting being very very hot. That way, if it's too hot, I can easily turn it down. Until then, the long arduous journey continues

On the next episode, we attempt to find the only set of cookware you'll ever need!

Edited April 13, 2007 by takadi (log)

[Toliver]

Here's a previous discussion that may help your search. It's from the eGullet "China and Chinese Cuisine" Forum:

"hzrt8w's wok and burner shopping project"

edited to add -

Here's another discussion that may be of help from the same forum:

"My New 120000 BTU/hr Wok Burner!"

Edited April 13, 2007 by Toliver (log)

[takadi]

Thanks, I actually went ahead and bought the wok burner from www.outdoorstirfry.com. I bought the cheapest one on there, which claims to have 50K BTU. I figured I'm not experienced enough to handle the expensive super high BTU monsters yet. But once I save up enough money, I'll get my jet engine burner one way or another.