I need a new wok. Any thoughts on this one?

[Vdubchaos]

Sorry to crap on your recommendation but there are a million other cast iron woks that are more suitable for Chinese cuisine than that lodge cast iron wok.

It's the first Cast iron one that pulled up in search.

Reason is that is it way too heavy and the walls are too thick. You cant pick it up and flip food around with this.

It's not THAT heavy, and if you can't pick it up and flip food around in it......grow some balls? Or hit up gym?

Not sure what to tell you....

Due to the thermal mass, this wok is too slow to heat up and cool down. It lacks the heat dynamic that Chinese made woks have. However, this would make a great deep frying vessel for its ability to retain heat.

Heating up and cooling down plays VERY little role in actually cooking the food. We are talking HOME usage.

OP doesn't work at a food place where things need to happen fast. I'm SURE waiting extra 2-3 min for it to warm up completely is no big deal.

Besides, WOKs are used over high heat, even thick cast iron heats up VERY quick in high heat.

You could try to cook with this wok but you are going to have to greatly modify your cooking technique if you intend to follow guidelines/recipes written for a traditional Chinese thin walled wok.

If you are anal about this sort of thing, techniques.....guidelines etc.......I guess.

When it comes to cooking though, TO ME, it's all about creating and modifying recipies and techniques to your own liking......for YOURSELF.

I don't like to live my life by the book, but I will use the knowledge from the book and adjust them to fit me proper.

OP is NOT a master chef, he will do JUSt fine with the wok I recommended.

Heck I've used my 15" Cast iron SKILLET (not even a wok).....on med/low heat.......to cook PLENTY of Chinese dishes and they all came out great.

 

[NetWareHead]

It's the first Cast iron one that pulled up in search.

While convenient, that's not really good criteria when selecting a wok.

It's not THAT heavy, and if you can't pick it up and flip food around in it......grow some balls? Or hit up gym?

Not sure what to tell you....

Not the point. This wok weighs 14 pounds empty and its not optimized for tossing food. On the same token, it doesn't even have a handle. You're going to want a much lighter wok if you want to do this.

Heating up and cooling down plays VERY little role in actually cooking the food. We are talking HOME usage.

OP doesn't work at a food place where things need to happen fast. I'm SURE waiting extra 2-3 min for it to warm up completely is no big deal.

Besides, WOKs are used over high heat, even thick cast iron heats up VERY quick in high heat.

A thick walled wok or traditional american skillet needs minutes to come up to temperature. When I make steak, my cast iron skillet needs at least 10 minutes on the stove just to heat up to proper temperature. And it needs almost half hour to cool down so you can clean it. There is no room for that in traditional chinese cooking when one is attempting to make a proper stir fry. Its a fact that stir frying demands high temperature, fast acting cookware. When you add cold ingredients to a hot wok, it needs to recover rapidly and get back to hot temperature. And thats why all chinese woks are thin walled. I think the only thing this is optimized perfectly for is deep frying.

A Chinese wok is quick responding to the heat put under it. A thin wall wok when you turn up the gas imparts that heat energy almost immediately to the food cooking in it. It doesn't need a lenghty pre-heating cycle like a skillet. A thin wok goes from cold to blazing as fast as the stove can supply heat. A thick wok needs minutes to do the same. This lodge wok wont do that same because of the thermal mass of all that cast iron. This is not about churning out 100 dishes a night like in a commercial kitchen. This is about making a proper stir fry using a fast responding thin walled wok so the heat energy goes into the food rather than heating the metal.

Most people are cooking Chinese food at home in an attempt to replicate what was served to them at a restaurant. And to do so, you need the right kind of tools to replicate that setting in a home kitchen. Food needs to be heated rapidly for an authentic stir fry. If heated slowly while waiting for the pan to get hotter, it comes out stewed rather than stir fried.

If you are anal about this sort of thing, techniques.....guidelines etc.......I guess.

When it comes to cooking though, TO ME, it's all about creating and modifying recipies and techniques to your own liking......for YOURSELF.

I don't like to live my life by the book, but I will use the knowledge from the book and adjust them to fit me proper.

OP is NOT a master chef, he will do JUSt fine with the wok I recommended.

No one is saying you cant cook on the lodge wok. And I said in my previous post that if one wishes to cook in this style wok, then the recipes/techniques assuming a thin walled wok will need to be modified. Im saying it deviates greatly from the thin wall design that has characterized traditional woks for thousands of years. This wok won't perform the same as thin walled woks.

Heck I've used my 15" Cast iron SKILLET (not even a wok).....on med/low heat.......to cook PLENTY of Chinese dishes and they all came out great.

And I agree with your point. But if you are ok with the thermal performance of this thick walled wok, then you should just stick with a regular lodge cast iron skillet to make your chinese food because it will perform the same thermally as this wok. If you cook chinese food in a lodge cast iron skillet, then you don't need this wok.

 

[OutHouse]

My carbon steel wok has a pretty awesome one. Don't even need to use a sptaula to make eggs. I can just shake it and it slides right around.

I love my wok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGXGJD2xTzQ

 

[Hugo Drax]

I'm going to use the turkey fryer again (it's become a favorite cooking heat source), but my wok really isn't suitable for this much heat. It has wooden handles and they routinely flame up and I have to put them out. Not exactly how I want things to go.

I also like being able to make larger quantities/fewer batches and I cannot get wok hei on the stove.

Bottom line- new wok.

I'm considering this 18" hammered wok

I don't know much about the company and their products, but the price is right and 14 ga. steel seems thick enough.

Opinions, suggestions, alternatives?

BTW making a variation on this tonight.

Those are fine, don't fall for the spend 300 dollar for a wok scam.

restaurants use those types of woks.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Those are fine, don't fall for the spend 300 dollar for a wok scam.

restaurants use those types of woks.

I'm going to pull the trigger. With the propane burner I season like in Outhouses vid.