Woks vs. Skillets: Do You Need Both? | Gear Heads
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- Опубліковано 12 лис 2020
- For years, we’ve tweaked conventional stir-fry recipes to achieve delicious results in a nonstick skillet rather than a wok, the traditional cooking vessel. Since American stove burners are flat, we aimed to get more contact with the heat source by using the broad cooking surface of a 12-inch skillet instead of the smaller bottom surface of a wok. But even with a flat stove burner, is cooking with a wok worth a try?
Get the recipe for Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry: cooks.io/2K1X7zv
Read our review of woks: cooks.io/32zIXvF
Buy our winning nonstick skillet: cooks.io/34xqXno
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Follow Lisa on Instagram: / lisam_atk
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Very strange stir frying technique (for both the skillet and wok) to dump the vegetable in on top of the meat. Most Asian cooks will flash-fry the meat first to caramelise the meat and then remove it from the pan so as not to overcook it. The vegetable is then cooked and the meat reintroduced and combined with the vegetable and sauce. Even in a skillet you then won't have the problem of the food falling out.
Is that just for beef?
@@SonicBoomC98 Applies to any meat. The flash-frying should slightly undercook the meat as it will cook some more once it is combined with the vege and sauce. With beef, I flash-fry it rare as I like the final result to be med-rare. With chicken, best fully cook because of Salmonella.
@@farhorizons3901 With chicken, I usually cook the cook, then cook the chick with the egg still in WOK, then go from there. I used to do the chicken first then pull it out
I thought they same thing
Also just way over-crowding the pan too. But hey this is a pan demonstration not a cooking demonstration.
I bought a Joyce Chen steel wok over 40 years ago. I have used it a few times a week since then. Love it! It is well seasoned and one of my favorite pans along with a stainless chicken fryer and my 54 year old cast iron skillet. I use them on my glass stove top and it works really well with all my pans.
My parents got a Crate & Barrel wok as a wedding gift in 1978. Still using it almost 46 years later!
My Mom used to fry her old-fashioned cake donuts in a wok, used a simple chopstick for turning and...
used lard, of course!
I am green with envy. The patina on that wok must have been absolutely incredible.
Romanticism only hurts consumers.
What a fantastic idea
I only use peanut oil in my wok. When it starts to smoke a bit, you know you are hot enough to cook anything in less than a minute. When you are cooking the correct amount of food of course.
Recently married a native Chinese person, and one of our first investments as a couple was a flat-bottomed carbon steel wok (Souped Up brand). I've been completely converted! Use it for everything from Indian curry to Bisquick pancakes.
I have the exact same wok, love it as well as her videos and recipes. I just upgraded to a 14" round bottom carbon steel, the 12.5" flat bottom is just a little too small for larger dishes. If it's just the two of you it should be plenty big enough. If we have all the kids and grand kids over I can be cooking for up to 9 people, so even with the 14" I have to cook in batches or cook several smaller entrees to be sure that I am frying and not steaming.
Do you guys cook bats in it?
would like to hear your thoughts on chinese knives if you use any.
That's "smart"... there are different pans used in various cuisines for a reason! Pancakes in a wok....
It's incredible how such a stupid thought is considered worth sharing, common sense isn't common.
👍🏽
Dont get me wrong, I like your content. But when you over crowd the skillet with a recipe 3-4 times too large for it. Clearly browning in batches and blanching the broccoli ahead would be the way to go.
In this case I think your comparing a car to a bicycle, can't use one like the other. But if you take your time you can end up at the same spot using either.
Surprise surprise a 14" wok fits more food than a 12" skillet. Not much of a basis for comparison 🙂
I have a 12.5" flat bottom and a 14" round wok, both carbon steel. Biggest drawback to carbon steel woks that I have found is that you find yourself on Amazon late at night, drooling over 100,000 btu outdoor wok burners and your wife complains about you muttering about "wok hei" in your sleep lol.
Please. I live in Asia, where a significant portion of people still cook over wood fires. In their indoor kitchens. With bamboo slatted walls. In a sandbox, with lava rocks for wok elevation. Stop it. Do research. Instead of thinking you have to throw money at your obstacles. Yeesh! So glad I left the fall of the American Empire. Listen, if you must, build a 4'x 4' cook shack, with a waist high, 18"deep sandbox, to burn foot long, 1"x1" pieces of the hardwood of your choice. And you can grill there, and so much more. Now, doesn't ingenuity and self reliance look better than flinging money to Jeff Bezos?!?
@@markcollins2666 If a random joke on the internet about considering maybe buying a wok burner has you this triggered you seriously need to seek help. Maybe put some of that energy into helping to elevate the clearly impoverished people you live among rather than trying to tear down random people on the internet. Assuming you are actually in Asia as you claim and not in your mom's basement.
@@markcollins2666 Agreed.
I don't think trying to get too much "wok hei" is good for your health. When oil just reaches the smoking point, you should start cooking. If you try to go further to get a lot of smoke "wok hei", you will begin to break down the oil and create a lot of carcinogens. This has been studied in academia and it's not good. That's really why one should not eat takeout everyday from a Chinese restaurant. Chinese people don't even have a diet like this. Cook your own meal in a healthy way.
buy a ZLINE stove for your kitchen
Lisa❣️❣️❣️ love Lisa’s reviews, so through and she always answers all the questions I have 😀
All I use is a cast iron skillet and one of those Le Creuset dutch ovens. And a wok. Literally all I need.
Same but with the inclusion of a smaller 10” stainless steal skillet just in case I need to toss something AND put it in the oven. Great for omelettes too.
What about boiling pasta or eggs?
@@apostolic7rox good point, to be fair I don’t really do either often, so using my wok or Dutch oven for those jobs sub-optimally isn’t the biggest concern.
I use all of those things plus stone non-stick frying pans. I can stick a wok and cast iron in the oven, but non stick is just the most competitive when it comes to eggs and ground and processed meats. If I want something quick w/ little cleaning, I use non stick. Even steel pans are higher cleaning and need a bit more oil than non stick. Non stick can save some oil calories. A cast iron retains heat well but didn’t distribute the best. A cast irons aesthetics look so natural and inviting though.
@Brittani I don't think you should boil anything in a wok. I feel like that might ruin it and cause it to rust
Several common practices for using wok, esp. Southern China way. 1. Hot wok, young oil (oil goes in last so that it's lower in temperature). 2. Do not put on the lid unless it is absolutely necessary. 3. Stir fry dishes that comes out watery is a big no no no (for Cantonese cook anyway). Sauce should stick to the surface of ingredients not as a pond of juice at the bottom. 4. Some Chinese restaurants (some in Hong Kong anyway) prep vege stir fry (like the one you did) by boiling them in hot water (with a dash of oil and a pinch of salt) till they are 60-70% done. Set aside and when it is time to stir them into the meat, you can avoid putting on the lid. 5. Heat is normally very high (for stir fry) and if you want to control temperature, hold the wok above fire and/or toss ingredients inside. This is not practical at home though because most stoves are not hot enough. In some restaurants, there's a gas valve control paddle so that cook can use: one hand to hold and toss ingredient by maneuvering the wok, one hand doing the stir fry action, and one foot controlling the temperature. Everything happens in split seconds.
Note: I am no cook. These are my observation and learned from friends or local TV. Can't claim absolute authoritative so if there are well practiced Cantonese cook here, please comment.
This helps
all wrong with 1.
I find it kinda sad that I agree more with the recommendations a non-cook has observed than I do those made in this video.
Not a pro cook myself but my father was (Cantonese seafood restaurant). Everything is accurate IMO except #1. Only seasoning oils (ie sesame oil) go in last. Cooking oils goes in similar time as the boiled veg and fried meat. Perhaps veg goes in first just to took cook off some water. The video takes a western home cooking approach. I don’t go through the pain of separately boiling veg or frying meat because it’s not worth the extra steps and dirty dishes. It only makes sense in context of a restaurant because there’s usually at least 2 woks going: one for boiling/frying, and one for stir frying sauce/seasoning.
@@beepboop1391 I think he meant to put the cooking oil in right before putting in the ingredients to cook and don’t heat the oil with the pan. This makes sense for a carbon steel wok or skillet since you can get them very very hot which you don’t want with non-stick due to the outgassing.
"I don't like being careful when I'm cooking..." Amen, sister!
Being "careful" is how you make mistakes. It makes you hesitate.
Maybe you should not load up the 12” skillet with the same amount as the 14” wok. Call me crazy...
also deep 14 inch skillets exist.
It's almost like the volume of a pan affects how easily you can cook a large volume of food.
@@Beliserius1 I have one & love it.
@@clrobinson1776 same
I think they did that to show that the wok can cook the same thing in bigger portions.
About 20 years ago I got a flat bottom 14" stainless steel wok. Cooks pretty well on electric and glass top stoves, doesn't stick much and relatively easy to clean. Only drawback is that it is heavy. Still, 20 years of moderate use and it is still in great shape.
Cuisinart makes a surprisingly lightweight stainless steel 14-inch wok, which is the favorite of popular YT channel Wok with Tak
Do I NEED both? Perhaps Not.
Do I WANT both? Yes.
the answer is YES
Because this advertisement convinced you? They compared one of the worst pans at a really small size against something that's just ok and not even used the same as asians would use it. All-Clad can be seasoned like the wok (but doesn't need to get black) for the same food release and lack of being careful. There are also many other pans (though not as good as All-Clad) that can be seasoned. Honestly for the home cook; I'd just recommend Tramontina tri-ply for a sauce pan / fry pan.
It simply comes down to how much you do stir-frying in your cooking. A carbon-steel wok heats up and gets hot very quickly ... much more so than any regular skillet. Put a bit of oil around the outside of the bottom when the wok gets hot and you're ready. To properly stir fry you need a fairly hot surface and to be frequently stirring and tossing. It's not only easier to do that in a wok but I seem to get better results too.
@@pauly5418 wok can deep fry too which is nice. but a non stick is less hassle if youre just cooking something simple and quick.
When I bought my wok, 28 years ago, I lived in a tiny apartment, and apart from the wok, I had one big pot with a steamer insert. Nothing else. I cooked everything. Not just Asian food, but also ME food, European food, African food, South American food. I love gear, so today I have a whole lot of other stuff, but I still love my wok, and if I were ever forced to scale down, the wok and the pot with the steamer would be the basics I kept onto. Today I made deep fried ravioli in the wok (try it), yesterday I deep fried eggplants for a parmigiana. These are Italian dishes, but my carbon steel wok is the best for making them.
Between the overcrowded pans and steaming (not stir frying) with the lid on in the skillet, I feel like you’re making Uncle Roger bait here.
What's wrong with steaming? Think it may be healthier. Just genuinely asking. Is steaming less flavorful or not as good texture?
I’ve had the same wok Lisa showed for many years. I wouldn’t be without it. We use it regularly, and once it was seasoned clean up is a breeze.
I love making popcorn in my wok. A total game changer!
I wouldn't have thought of that! I'm keeping that in mind. Popcoooorn.
I'm not all about one trick ponies, but an air popper does it so much better.
A lid traps steam and makes the popcorn chewy. Make sure to use a splatter screen or perforated foil as a cover instead.
Popcorn! That's just blasphemous. Lol.
@@Inproject12 no it’s the perfect shape. Look up how Alton Brown makes popcorn.
I have a huge 14-inch stainless steel flat bottom wok with a cover that I just made Benihana style fried rice in (enough for 8 people) and it performed perfectly with no sticking (plenty of that garlic butter!). I also have a 12 inch non-stick Circulon that I use fairly often, particularly good for popcorn! And finally I have a 12 inch electric wok that was my mom’s. I had all three going the other night making the fried rice, stir-fry veggies and tempura green beans (in the electric wok for frying). Overall though it’s my 12 inch cast iron skillet I use the most. (It was my daughter’s 14th birthday and our tradition is going to Benihana but of course couldn’t do that this year, so I recreated the meal of steak, shrimp, fried rice, veg and tempura beans. And no I did not flip my knives around!
Why crowd the pans so much. Not sure if this is a fair comparison as both pans had too much food. Hard to get proper wok hei with that much food
Yes, this is clearly a demonstration by a person who doesn't understand how to cook in a wok.
ive figured out how to get some great wok hei using a webber kettle grill. they have a hole in the center that a 20 inch wok fits it. perfect for ppl who dont have a spare jet engine laying around
Yep. Mental wok technique
I bought a 12" stainless steel bowl and drilled a hole to attach a wooden drawer handle to it rather than pay a high price for a pre-made wok lid!
That's Genius!
Wok lids aren't that expensive. I think a 12' stainless steel bowl costs more than a 12" wok lid.
I did the same thing! Picked up the bowl at a thrift shop for $3, had a knob. Wok lids are $13 to $20 and up. Amazon sells entire sets of stainless bowls for $20 if you need the bowls.
Hah
@K L $3 bowl and handle with screw.
I love my wok! Just purchased a nice big one that will work on my new induction stove. I love it! Should have bought that a long time ago.
Would you please do a review of butane and propane gas burners similar to the one Lisa used. It would be helpful to also know which are safe for in home use and any precautions that must be taken into consideration when using them.
Keep up the excellent work.
They have done that before, just have to search their web site.
I've had my Taylor & Ng wok for over a year and absolutely love it....keeps getting better with each cook!
I have a flat bottom carbon steel wok and love it, but only do stir-fry cooking in it where I use cast iron skillets to do most of my cooking in. I had plenty of non-stick skillets and found them to be useless after two years of use and after retiring I gave up on them and most that I had down through the years ended up being used to water and feed the animals in. I like the look of the wok which is used in this demonstration and I would use it all the time for most of my stove top cooking if I had it.
I've been using a wok for years - had a non-stick wok for 3-4 years but the non-stick surface wore out and I got a cast iron one. Heavy but I love it. It's really easy to take a couple minutes to wash it and season it with oil after cooking and I expect it will last for the rest of my life. I use it for everything except frying eggs (for that I have a carbon steel frying pan). I use my wok for stir frying, of course, but also for pasta sauce, scrambled eggs and omelettes, really almost everything I used to use a flat pan for.
When we got our first wok it didn't come with a cover so I asked my wife to keep an eye out for one when she was thrift shopping. She found one at Goodwill for $0.25, the classic light aluminum kind with a wooden knob handle. It has lasted for 15 years now! I expect it will last for at least another 10 years, at which point it will amortize out at 1 cent per year. Beat that for an investment if you can!
Fun fact: it was Joyce Chen who invented and patented the flat-bottomed wok with a handle, in 1971, an adaptation for American cooks with gas stoves. We have been living for years within walking distance of the original Joyce Chen restaurant in Cambridge and used to eat there regularly and every now and then see her in and around the kitchen. It was a huge loss for us when the place closed.
I just bought a new wok and have recently transitioned over to high carbon steel frying pans. Still haven't gotten rid of the non-stick ... but I won't be replacing them as they wear out. HCS pans do take a bit of getting used to though. You just have to keep an eye on the heat and timing. Get both ... you can't go wrong!
Keep it for Scrambled Eggs.
Nice demonstrations and comparison. For stir frying where you need to toss or mix food with high heat, use a wok. For pan frying meat or eggs, use a skillet. Also, your comments about induction cooktops are incorrect. Flat bottom carbon steel woks work extremely well with induction burners. You get fast heating and precise control.
I love woks but we’re moving to a house with a electric (glass top) stove. I’m thinking of getting a single butane or propane burner like the one Lisa was using. How about doing an episode on those?
Kenji did an episode just for that. Full on restaurant style propane burners.
I lived in an apartment for a couple of years with an absolutely awful electric stove, it was arranged by my employer. After about a month of struggling I went out and got one of those propane burners. They're great. It cost me less than $20, more than 15 years ago, and it worked great. Go to a restaurant supply store if you can find one. The one I got was the sort sold for doing omelet stations at brunch buffets.
I really love my Iwatani. I bought it on Amazon about 3 years ago and have used it a lot. After Hurricane Florence, when we had a weeklong power outage, it was particularly appreciated by our family. We don't have a gas range and unfortunately our street doesn't have a gas line, but if I want to use my wok or deep fry something, I put my single gas burner on a metal utility table on our deck. Then there's no grease splatter or remaining oil smell in my kitchen. Love it. This brand sells a couple of different ones, if you are interested, let me know and I will put a link here (non-affiliate.)
My favorite Thai food channel is Hot Thai Kitchen and the content creator, Pailin, uses the same one for her cooking in each episode. It was about $90, but it's very well made and I feel like having a more efficient, sturdier, model was worth the extra investment.
If you don't want to maintain fuel, they sell tabletop electric burners that you plug into the house electrical sockets. I'm not talking induction. They are exposed coil elements like old school electric ranges. The small one has a heating element about the same size as the flat bottom of a carbon steel wok. They are sold everywhere. My local Kroger sells them in the kitchen section. I recommend laying down a couple of silicone trivets on the counter, then a quarter baking sheet on top, and then the device. The silicone trivets should insulate any excess heat off of your counters. If you have a full size silicon baking mat that would probably work just by itself.
Just remember on which ever house circuit they are plugged into you probably can't run another appliance with it or you might pop a circuit breaker. I ran an air fryer and electric tea kettle at the same time once on the same circuit and popped a circuit breaker. Plus you can't bounce a pan around on it as aggressively as you could on a large range. Be cautious, you don't want to bounce it off the counter doing fancy wok tricks.
@@SuZiKaT22 Is it okay to use inside? I've seen ads & read the description of the Iwatani and it looked really good.
Also -- is it propane or butane?
Hi ATK, your video has an editing issue around 1:04
2 clips overlaps and blinks fast
I THOUGHT I WAS LOSING MY MIND. Thank you for commenting this!
Oh, woks work great on my induction stoves!
It's one of the good things about induction, that the oscillating fields rise up a little bit from the surface, so they rise up the sides of woks just like flames do.
I've used a few different induction stoves with a few different woks and they are a very good match, contrary to what they see at the end of this video.
Chris Carlin With an induction hob, you should be able to get more heat into the wok than with an electric stove top of the same wattage. Little heat is lost in heating up the surrounding air.
This is true, but a flat bottomed wok is not optimal.
Woks are the "jack of all trades" cookware.
Steam, deep fry, brown, saute, simmer, boil, stir-fry
If you ever eat at a chinese restaurant with an open kitchen you will see them mainly cooking out of the wok.
They will quickly go from 1 dish to the next in the same wok with just a quick rinse and scrub in between.
Depending on heat control, the wok could also allow to have different heat zones at the same time.
Central zone = high heat, next ring up would be medium heat and the out ring would be low.
This was more seen on older hammered woks as the slight imperfections allowed the food to stay in the other rings.
Hard to achieve in new nonstick smooth woks.
Closest new style wok that I found that had the closest simular properties to old seasoned hammered woks which you could use metal utensils in are the hex clad nonstick types.
Though I'm not sure if you can season them to get the same taste benefits from true seasoned woks.
If it's possibly I would like to see a reply 😊
I seasoned my carbon steel wok with about 1/2 cup of thin-sliced fresh ginger, 2 cloves of minced garlic and an entire bunch of green onions cut into 2" segments in 2 tbsp of canola oil. Stir-fry over medium heat until crispy (about 15-20 mins), then discard. Worked beautifully. Nothing stuck to it. Of course, it made my house smell like a Chinese restaurant or Hibachi place for hours afterwards, even with the exhaust hood on high. Will probably use the potato peels and salt method next time; my wife and kids thought the fried ginger smell was a little overpowering, LOL. 😅
Love it! Thank you- this was great, and now I’m so hungry 😍
I use my 14" wok using an induction hob (not by choice) all the time and it works just fine. I use it in deep frying tofu or string beans. I use it for boiling water for blanching vegetables. I use it for stir frying. The only time I use my non-stick pan is for making the perfect French omelette.
I have an inexpensive cast aluminum non-stick wok that I use for stir fry. I use bamboo utensils in it, but the non-stick coating is still starting to show some wear after about six years. Also, it only has a couple of "ears" for handles, so it's a bit awkward for recipes that involve cooking ingredients in two batches. (Like most stir-fry recipes I've found. Thanks for posting the beef & broccoli recipe that doesn't require that!) I love that I can be aggressive when stirring something in the wok versus a skillet, so I think I'll keep using a wok for such things. But I also think I'll be getting the Oxo skillet. I have other things to cook that would benefit from a flat skillet.
Bamboo is high in silica (abrasive). It sucks for cutting boards, and it sucks for utensils. There's no good reason for westerners to have a wok.
But I'm not a westerner. I'm a southerner! Y'all.
I've got a 15" and a 21" wok that I use for mostly everything. I don't make pancakes but if I did I'd use a flat frying pan or something. The woks have replaced most of the pots and pans I use in the kitchen and that's a good thing.
I have a glass top range and my wok works perfectly fine on it not sure why you guys are saying it wont. if you are working with lower power range use a larger burner ring for the wok instead of one that matches the small flat bottom area, this will bring more heat into he wok and it works perfectly fine.
Despite the comments, I haven't really had much problem with my flat-bottomed carbon steel wok and my new induction stove. I had a round-bottomed wok for 40+ years on gas stoves. Used the ring (inverted-"\_/"-so it just supported the wok on the burner) and I cooked in it a lot. Loved it. But I needed flat-bottomed for the induction. Are the sides as hot as the bottom? Maybe not. I can't really tell. I haven't found that it affects my cooking. Still a fairly recent transition, so I'll keep an eye on it, but haven't noticed any problems yet.
A wok works great on an induction cook top, every bit as good as a gas flame. It gets red hot fast, and is super sensitive to temp adjustments.
I have Souped Up Wok ( Souped Up Recipes on UA-cam) and use it on glass top. It has a round bottom and wish it had flat bottom but it still works pretty good!
The picture for the video has a wok vs cast iron skillet, very different comparison to what the video was about. We've used a 14" cast iron skillet for years (Definitely heavy!). Super low maintenance, no concern with being careful with implements, great flavor, and can focus on the food. And just like a wok, it gets better with use&age:), same pan for 25 years. I have little concern for food going over the edge, although I'm sure I'd be even less concerned with a wok! I've always been intrigued by wok cooking, and never got the hang of it. Maybe it's time to give it another go, thanks for the vid!
Before I purchased my wok, I would stir-fry in my stock pot. It enabled me to cook on high heat getting the flavour of the breath of the wok, and move the ingredients around rigourously because of the high sides!
You aren't going to get any wok hei on an Americanstove . You need way higher heat
@@CPUGaming this was the method I used when I didn’t have a wok. It worked! I cranked up the heat on a stainless steel uncoated stock pot till the oil started to smoke. It got wok hei! Try it sometime if you don’t have a wok.
This was a great video! Something totally new. I love how they did it at home. HOWEVER...... I think Lisa may have "cheated" a little with the epic gas burner! I wonder what its output is compared to a traditional home stove
Compared to a standard home gas cooktop, it's not actually as good but it is sufficient, well at least compared to the gas burners in Australia as every gas cooktop has a specific wok burner. Here is a great recipe for Braised pork belly, it also shows you clearly the standard in Australia gas wok burner in action. btw, this is one of her old videos but she has wonderful recipes. ua-cam.com/video/DTCyaP_7cjQ/v-deo.html
My mom has two woks made by Myer Corp, one under their Circulon brand, and the other under their Analon brand. Both are non-stick, the Circulon has one long handle and one looped handle but no lid, the Analon has two looped handles and a lid.
I just use a stainless steel skillet. I don't know why you'd even use a non-stick for stir fry, at higher temps stuff doesn't stick, as long as there's oil in the pan.
Thank you! Im just learning the wok. The approach with non stick is complete opposite of wok due to heat oil issue ! No way on dish chow mein i think. And your not goona get that sear flavor you get from high heat in wok.
Exactly.
@@travelchannel304 I prefer using anodized aluminum woks. Mostly nonstick, but cooks great.
same - I have carbon steel skillets, cast iron skillets, but I end up using a 10" disc-bottom stainless pan for stir fry; it' just takes a beating and has enough heat retention to be useful. Note: this is on a glass top electric range, if I had a gas range it would be a different story.
Paid $17 at Walmart for a carbon steel wok, with 2 plastic like handles (no distortion or melting noted yet). At first it was a bit sticky, but 2 years later its black and very slick. Wipe it out with lightly oiled paper towel and put it away. I love the stir, shake, and bang around part of it, part of the fun of wok cooking! 🤷♂️
Adam Liaw has a video on cooking stir fry in a large stock pot when cooking for a larger amount of people so that is what I use. I get it screaming hot, add the oil, and then can stir fry without having to worry about stir fry flying out all over the place. Granted, I cannot toss it like you can a skillet or wok, but it turns out delicious every time.
I heard this tip years ago, recommending a soup pot on electric stoves (rather than a stock pot, like the ~8qt size you get with cookware sets, wider and shorter vs the narrower and taller stock pot). I agree it's maybe the best alternative to a wok. It gives you the increased cooking area with high sides for enthusiastic stirring!
@@Djoser122 yes it is a 12 quart (I think-I have had it for years and the writing is worn off) stock/soup pot and I love it for stir fry-even fried rice. Mine is 14" across and 14" tall so plenty of room.
I have a few 14" high sided Chicken Fryer (With a helper handle and lid) that is is deeper than a traditional Skillet but easier to use than a stock pot - and I use that for large stir Fry as well as Frying Chicken. I have an old Circular 6 burner electric Thermador stove like the one Julia Child used on her original show. (THere was a time we only had ELECTRIC - no gas, no water(good well water though and still have that, no sewer) and the big pot on the two big burners works very well. I had 8 children and 18 foster/guardian/adoptive kids - yes total 26 - although never more than 11 at one time - and needed big pots.
@@janicecarey3592 great, now I have soup pot envy!
I use my Wok regularly. For the last 20 years, my Kitchen Aid Pro range had a power burner with a burner grill that could be removed for woks. Couldn’t find any current ranges that had the same feature.
BlueStar have the wok hole feature.
As I understand it, one of the issues with using woks on the typical home stove, is the relatively low output of the burners, 8-11k btu. Compare with the 100k btu+ of a typical wok burner.
With inefficient metals like cast iron and carbon steel; this might be a concern. We in America have had clad pans for a long time (unlike Europe we didn't switch to carbon steel). Clad pans are more responsive, efficient, and retain and spread heat better, and are lighter. You just watched a commercial that would sell you the best of the crappiest pans available that you don't need.
That's why restaurants are faster. You can still get to a good result but you have to be more careful to avoid overcrowding and sad steamed food. Be aware that adding sauce or wine cools your limited heat, so make sure your food is ready for the heat downgrade
mad thumbs Nothing is more responsive that a carbon steel wok. The whole point of a wok is that it is thin, so the heat of the burner is almost immediately transmitted to the food. Heavier pans are a poor substitute for a proper sized burner- they store the limited heat of an undersized burner so giving the initial "sizzle" but quickly loose heat and take too long to recover.
@@madthumbs1564 you don't seem to understand how a wok is suppose to work. Refer to what Spencer said.
I have a giant analon nonstick wok I got years ago at Crate & Barrel. Best of both worlds for ease of use and maintenance. Not as good for searing meats, but excellent for deep fat frying chicken karaage and similar dishes.
broccoli beef. its better if you pre-cook the two ingredients separately before you mix them together. broccoli boiled in water to half cooked(1min 30s boiling water with lid on), and beef thinner cut and marinated with whatever sauce with your hand UNTIL the sauce absorbed into the beef slices, let it sit for 10 min. heat up the wok until you see white smoke, and then coat the wok with a thin layer of oil, and then room temp oil in, and right away put the marinated beef in, keep stirring until half-cooked(the outside is turning white, indicating the surface cooked), and finally put the broccoli in, and stir a bit to let the beef flavor mix in, and then a little hot water along the side of the wok in, and then lid on with the heat turned down to 70% or medium-high(create steam inside to cook the ingredients), roughly 1 min then done.
Instead of comparing wok vs non-stick, compare against a cast iron skillet. The ability to create the same heat and non-stickiness to carbon steel woks makes them comparable.
Yeah the "WOK" is the way to go and I like the one you have presented here. Due to most peoples inabilities to deal with "Old" style cookware this particular unit is not easily found. I also appreciate both of your quaint kitchens.
Both are needed. Woks are nearly a universal solution. Nearly. No other item of cookware is as versatile.
BUT... To sear and cook steaks and lamb chops a heavy cast-iron skillet that retains a huge amount of heat is the ticket.
FYI: If you have a gas range, by all means, get the more authentic, more traditional round-bottomed wok. The food will naturally collect at the bottom during stir-frying, making your job easier. Professional chefs in Chinese restaurants in both China and America, all use round-bottomed woks.
Would have loved to see a comparison using a cast iron skillet vs carbon steel wok, as shown in the video’s intro pic. All good though…nothing will replace my wok!
Thank you!!! Now Id love to see a comparison of a lidded cast iron skillet vs a lidded cast iron wok, same recipe, same type of stove! And maybe also this lidded carbon steel wok vs a lidded carbon steel skillet!
Wonderful presentation. Thank you.
I had no problem cooking with a wok on an induction stove, in fact the magnet created a nice gradient of heat from bottom to top.
Waaay too much beef and broccoli for that size skillet!?!
Yes, shes doesn't understand how to cook in a wok properly.
Both of them, way overcrowding the pans.
I think they did that to show the advantage of the woks surface area. Asian stir frys are usually smaller in woks I agree. Americans going to Americans USA 🇺🇸 USA
@@cjzanders5430 I mean even in a wok that size that is WAY too much food. Look at the portions Chinese Cooking Demystified uses in a wok of similar size and a similar burner.
@@davidfuller581 - some women cook for the whole family. They look like the type.
You guys are the best! My questions are:
Could you clarify on woks not working that well on ceramic cook tops? I feel like my new stove gets screaming hot, especially on the extra large burners. Much hotter than my previous electric coil stove.
Would a butane burner like the one Lisa uses in the video be a suitable alternative, and are they safe to use, say in the winter when opening windows is not really an option for ventilation?
Thanks again, keep up the excellent work! Always super helpful.
Nothing works well on a ceramic cook top, and the junk they're pedalling would be even worse.
For two reasons, unlike the above demonstration, to properly use a wok, you cook very fast on very high heat but you also need to be able to rapidly change the burner temperature depending what you are cooking, Ceramic cooktops are generally considered the worst cooktops because they are very slow to change temperature. The other reason it will be poor when using a wok is that every time you tilt or lift the wok while cooking, you will be taking it off the direct heat or creating hot spots if simply tilting the wok.
Yes, I too was shocked that cooking experts chucked so much food into those pans. After looking through many of the comments below I was also shocked that I saw no comments on how cruddy that white stove was. Yuck. That said ATK is still a big favorite of mine.
Same here. I wanted to say, "stop the taping and clean your stove' but it stayed dirty til the end.
I too was concerned about the lack of cleanliness.
That kitchen was clean! The burnt on residue can be virtually impossible to remove and has ZERO contact with food. Continuous abusive scrubbing on enamel can cause rust and therefore faster failure of the appliance. That kitchen looked fine!
That was no expert. Dacor invented a stove grate that needed no cleaning. It kinda self cleaned, and won a product of the year award. I used them for decades without ever having to clean them. I was surprised at that stove because it meant whoever was using it had either transcended their tools or was ignorant.
Why compare a carbon steel wok to a non stick pan? For a fair comparison, they should both be carbon steel or non stick.
Why non-stick at all? Can't get anything close to wok hei, where you want the oil heated to the smoke point. Perhaps compare to carbon steel skillet?
Oil smokes at 400F which is below the 500F safety limit. She had the burner on medium and was able to get the nonstick skillet hot enough to make the oil smoke. 2:00 to 2:08.
aren't they using CS wok, why not CS skillet too instead of non-stick? Plus like others said that was a little to much food for that skillet.
Nonstick is probably the most used at home in the US. It's sad because nonstick is garbage. A nice French carbon steel skillet or carbon steel wok is far superior for pretty much everything.
@@caroline10081 carbon steel kills
@@ommk9650 How?
Both. I have a steel wok purchased 43 years ago in Van Chinatown. Wok heats fast in spite of small burner contact. My skillet is cast iron. Better than a cheap or expensive non stick.
Watching her struggle with that skillet made me wonder why they wouldn’t use a sauté pan with higher sides and compare that to a wok? Has the same flat bottom large cooking surface but a little more room to maneuver.
Also nice to see somebody else has too many mugs. Every time I open the cupboard I wonder if I’m the only one 😄
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Sautee pans are also a good choice . Skillets are for omlettes and aren't very good for stir-frying on sauteeing.
This is where I love my Analon chef's pan. It's non-stick (I have a ceramic top stove), super wide and has deep sides. I can do 2 whole heads of rapini it.
ua-cam.com/video/qMWv9SmYBNw/v-deo.html
Hello Lisa, how are you doing? Greetings from the USA Miami Florida
The Wok is versatile, it can be used to prepare every single dish offered at a Chinese restaurant. It is used for all the Chinese cooking techniques: stir-fry, deep-fry, steam, braise, brown, boil, & roast.
So true! Growing up, my mom cooked everything in a work! Including western dishes like grilled steaks & pork chops. We didn’t even have a skillet or frying pan. Needless to say but our wok was black and perfectly seasoned from years of daily use. We did wash it with soap & water but the trick was to turn on the flame afterward to ensure it was completely dry. I do regret not appreciating that wok back then.
I have an authentic Chinese Wok and a Matfer, both 14". The Wok is really lightweight, used for rapid stir fry and the Matfer, I use for that deep golden browning. Such as a steak or delicate fish. Both are very great. Nothin better than Carbon Steel!
Learn to cook on clad pans. Carbon steel is poor staying poor crap.
What Indian moms need: Kadai (wok), bada kadai (big wok), lohe ka kadai (cast-iron wok, for special occation), non-stick kadai (optional). They can cook pizza to elephants on it.
I’m Glad the only pans I have are old but useful Reverewear and cast iron
Great information and nice recipe
Great video and I loved the old school iPod set up on the shelf.
Another great review. I've never realised that Lisa was so tiny until I saw her dwarfed by that wok!
"Do I need both"?
"Was that a serious question"?
They have different purposes but you can do basically everything a frying pan can in a wok whereas a wok is better at particular tasks than a frying pan is such as stir frying. If you have the room buy both, a quality Carbon steel wok only costs around $20-$40 at least they do in Australia. There are Far more expensive woks make from stainless steel and iron but the cheap Carbon steel is better than the alternatives and much cheaper.
I actually do sometimes use a paper towel to rub a little plain oil on my non-stick skillets. Plus I have flannel in between them.
I've had a hand hammered carbon steel, round bottom wok for about 40 years. I wouldnt change it for anything. It cooks fine on a regular gas stove. My best kitchen investment.
My Taylor and Ng wok is over 50 years old.and I love it. My cast iron wok retains hear too well--too slow to heat, too slow to cool, but it is great for holding my wallet, change and car keys!
I have been using non-stick woks for a variety of traditional western cooking tasks for 2 decades. I think the concern if having more surface in contact with the stove is totally overblown.
Yann - The concern is with the cancer causing forever PFOA chemicals that it releases and you breathe in when you're cooking, not with the stickiness of the surface.
Stir-fry pro tip: well-seasoned hot wok + cold oil = food won't stick. Cooking with this tool goes fast but I love my flat-bottom carbon steel wok! 👍
Woks are not for stir fry only; a wok is more versatile than a pan. What you can do in a pan you can do in a wok but what you can do in a wok you can't always do in a pan. In the end you'll most likely use both but if you must have one, I would go with a wok.
Kinda (haven't tried to make cornbread in a wok).
I will say I reach for the wok more often as it has more options in making adjustments on the fly.
You gave no examples; quintessenceSL did.
You need a flat bottom for even cooking across the entire surface. Flat is also better for reducing liquid.
These segments are great!
I use quality stainless steel large frying pan and fish spatula for stir frying. Nonstick has chemical coating and never use plastic utensils for the same reason.
Thank you for the video!
Hanna. Try using 2 open slot spoons on your skillet to move your food around. It's far easier, and you don't lose stuff over the sides.
A Chinese shovel and a Chinese scoop are what Chines chefs use, aka ladle and big scoop, together.
A wok is a great investment and easier to cook these types of meals in it. So many affordable options and nonstick is completely unnecessary. I've been cooking with All-Clad for years and have zero issues. Most people cook on too high heat and move food around before it's ready to be moved.
I looked on Google for the same wok which you demonstrate.
No wooden handles..
none resemble yours can you tell me how to buy Taylor &NG wok?
Thank you for this!! Not only do we need to replace our nonstick skillet, but we have thought about getting a wok and try new things! Aside from the two women mentioned in the video, does anyone have any ideas for learning how to cook with a wok?
Try School of Wok youtube videos. This ATK video showed cooking in a wok but, in my opinion, is just an excuse to overload a cooking vessel. The SoW videos will show how to cook with a wok the Chinese way (y'know the original inventors of the wok).
Don't crowd it like they did. Get wok hei heat on that food, not steam. This was an awful demonstration on how to wok cook.
I'd second School of Wok for a better demo.
Can you test the fiskars norden with the thermium mineral coating its oven safe up to 240 celsius and non toxic non plastic coating. I have one and love it
And she should have used for example a carbon skillet a de buyer countrypan isba great pan for this also
When something is low-maintenance because it only lasts a couple of years and then you throw it away -- is that a good feature, really?
they can last pretty much 5+ years without any major problem, the only downside is thay they eventually start to scratch but even then there is little functional effect and no health issue
A quality, Asian made carbon steel wok, will last decades. And it will get better with every passing year.
@@barcham I have a nice heavy anodized aluminum wok and that’s even easier to care for since rust is not a factor
@@pjschmid2251 I've never had problems with rust on my Chinese made wok, and I've had it for close to 40 years. Things don't rust when you take proper care of them and the possibility of rust on my wok, or even on any of my cast iron skillets, has never entered my mind. And Montreal, where I live, gets quite humid in the summer.
Woks are SPECIFICALLY designed not to have a broad cooking surface. They also heat/cool quickly, unlike heavy gauge and cast iron Western pans. That's the point.
Just bought a Lodge wok, and don't know why this is better than my cast iron skillet.
I use my 10 in carbon steel Wok 3-4x a week nothing sticks. It looks cheap because it’s very thin and light weight but it takes heat like a champ. I have a professional stove and I use high heat on it. I absolutely love it. I only paid $15 at The Wok Shop in San Francisco. I had a conversation with the owner. She’s funny and friendly.
I'm Chinese, I love to use them both depend on what kind of food I want to cook. I also like to use carbon steel pan because I know how to make it become non-stick.
I have long ago thrown away all my nonstick skillets. they always eventually start flaking off and even though I do not think it is harmful to ingest the teflon they just stop working correctly after a while, not my style! I like things that last a lifetime and get better and better with time. so for me I have a set of cast iron skillets which are actually very nonstick once you have used them for a while, I can burn an egg on them and it will still just flake right off no scrubbing nessisary. for my sauce pans /pots I use just moderate priced stainless steel with thick bottoms (faberware classic) same pots and pans my mother used, in fact some of them ARE the actual pans she used ! still in service for 50 + years of regular cooking!and the new ones basically look and are made the exact same way, I like that... I recently bought a wok to add to the crew and I love it! if I had to pick just one pan It would be a hard choice between the wok and my 12" cast iron, I think overall the 12" cast iron is the most versatile though so that would be my choice. luckily I do not have to choose just one though! so having a WOK in the kitchen is so nice because it excels at certain things and just makes cooking so fast and enjoyable.
I have a new garnet ware skillet with high sides and a large flat bottom. My stove is a glass cooktop. Do you have any information on using these to my best advantage? There was a mention in this video about the use and care of stainless steel cookware. I think it was stated that after cleaning one should wipe the pan with oil? Can I get more information about your suggestions?
I have a cast iron wok which is reasonably thin (light weight) and has a rounded parallel handle on both sides which makes it easy to carry, and a flat bottom that is rounded enough to not interfere with stirring. I absolutely love it.. and what brand is it? IDK it was $25 and I can't read Chinese, but go to a Chinese grocery and just take a look. The one near me has an entire aisle with hundreds of woks. I'm just saying, get an idea of what you are looking for and take a long look and you can find it for pretty cheap (far cheaper than a descent skillet....)
I enjoyed this video i love Wok cooking but i was wondering what model was the Gas Wok Burner used in this Video? Thank You Rene
🎵Flat bottomed woks you make the wokkin’ world go round🎵
I have an induction stove. I want a stand-alone gas cooker to use with a xarbon steel wok. Which one do you recommend?
This recipe is so weird. It seems like you're using about three times too much food.
Probably a couple reasons, first, they wanted to crowd the skillet, they seemed to be pushing pro wok from the start, which is fine, I love my woks, but they were stacking the deck a little for sure. It also could be because the recipe was designed for a western table which typically has one large main dish vs an eastern table which might feature several smaller main dishes.
We’re Americans! We eat more food.
@@Porschedoctor1 yeah but cook it in batches though! Don't crowd the wok
@@CultureStress Who wantes to waste time cooking in batches when a wok will easily handle the volume?
@@pumpkin1escobar cooking in batches doesn't have to be slower--less to heat up, in better contact with the pan, means it's done more quickly. It takes more attention, but not necessarily more time.
The main reason not to crowd the pan is so that your stir fry isn't all goopy and sad. Which I guess is a personal preference thing. But to me, putting that many ingredients in a pan that size all at the same time is like boiling a steak. Yes, it takes less care and attention than pan-frying or grilling it, but.... why
Uncle Roger would say Haiyaaa, you need wok only. never skillet. and you need MSG.
He should make a commentary about this one :D
@@krylpl I would LOVE THAT. I'm a big fan of Uncle Roger!
came here for this comment
Wok hay!
Too many people are allergic to MSG. What should we use instead?
Yup, I bought my wok from the Wok Shop in SF. Must buy if you’re in the SF Bay Area.
Taylor & Ng now sell a 14" pre-seasoned carbon steel wok. Flat or round bottom. Wish ATK would do a test on that one.
I just bought a wok and it seems to work well on my induction cook top. It's not great on the glass electric stove top though.