Just as the thread title says. I have never owned one but would like to. Is one material better than another when it comes to woks? Please let me know what you recommend for something under $75.

I bought mine at an Asian grocery store (where no one spoke English) and can't say anything bad about it. It works great and I believe it was around $10.

Visit www.wokshop.com and look around. Later on give the nice lady there a call and you will get good advice as to the best choice for your use. No connection, just a very pleased customer of a very knowledgeable and helpful business. I learned more from that call in a few minutes than visiting several Asian groceries at the local level. They sell good products.

I also got one of the cheap carbon steel woks and I think it works great. They are authentic. I think mine was once a hubcap on a chicom tank.
I have the hammered style so that you can get food to stay higher on the walls of the pan when you need.

I believe the type of burner you use may play more role than the type of wok.

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
I believe the type of burner you use may play more role than the type of wok.

I use a Fridgidaire gas stove if that helps.

Years ago, I had a supervisor of Chinese heritage who liked to go to the open air markets. He said that he had found several good woks there. I asked him to look around for me - I had one the following week. It had a lightweight aluminum lid - probably not originally sold with it.

He advised me to clean it all way down to remove anything from a prior owner and heat it up well with oil to season it. It was spun metal with a flat section on the bottom. I still have it many years later. I haven't used it in a while, so I suspect I'll need to clean it up a bit and season it again.

Carbon steel works best with a deep bowl, go to your local Chinatown or, Asian area and poke around the hardware store or, home goods store. Get a wok ring if you can, it helps with balancing the wok once you've got stuff inside of it and you can replace the burner grates when using. The other biggie is use a hot, hot burner; woks work when it's crazy hot, there's no low or, medium with this type of cooking. The really good Asian restaurants will use special stoves that besides made for wok cooking, put out an insane amount of BTU's.

This is one of those time where the $25 made in China item may be better (or at least more authentic) than the $200 fancy stainless steel version. The expensive version might be easier to care for, but I don't mind oiling my carbon steel wok from time to time.

Do you have an Asian market in your town? If not I have heard good reports about buying online from the wok shop in San Francisco.

One thing I like about cooking on a wok, dinner can be ready pretty quick!

I picked up a wok from the wok shop linked above a few years ago. Decent for the money. Nothing fancy or that you couldn't get at a local Asian market. I think I had to put a different screw in the handle or some DIY fix to make it feel more sturdy.

We have a gas stove and I find that it doesn't quite heat the wok as much as I'd like. Some of that has to do with the vent over our stove needs updating so I have to balance my ability to breathe with my ability to cook. :P

Wokshop.

For what it's worth, America's Test Kitchen recommends for stir frying foregoing woks for a flat bottom frying pan or skillet. Their logic is that in Asian restaurants, woks fit into pits on cook tops specifically designed for them, instead of just wobbling on the surface of the burner. Plus frying pans make better use of the amount of heat our range tops can generate, which isn't close to the level of heat generated by the burners of restaurant cook tops.

Anyone remember Wally the wok guy? It was an infomercial from the late 1980's. I bought one and used it a lot.

Plain old carbon steel wok. 35 years old and the interior is seasoned black. The seasoning is so good, the thing cleans out with a sponge and is naturally nonstick.

quote:

Originally posted by M'headSig:
For what it's worth, America's Test Kitchen recommends for stir frying foregoing woks for a flat bottom frying pan or skillet. Their logic is that in Asian restaurants, woks fit into pits on cook tops specifically designed for them, instead of just wobbling on the surface of the burner. Plus frying pans make better use of the amount of heat our range tops can generate, which isn't close to the level of heat generated by the burners of restaurant cook tops.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I have given up on woks and just use a large, high quality regular skillet. I am not fortunate to have a high heat gas range, but have to use electricity. The large frying pan can be heated to nearly red hot and works great, plus doesn't wobble around. Ia have been doing this for years and it works great for various stir-frys.

You gonna thwow the wok at a wabbit?

quote:

Originally posted by bettysnephew:
Visit www.wokshop.com and look around. Later on give the nice lady there a call and you will get good advice as to the best choice for your use. No connection, just a very pleased customer of a very knowledgeable and helpful business. I learned more from that call in a few minutes than visiting several Asian groceries at the local level. They sell good products.

Buy from them. Great company - great communication.

Unless you have a high end (meaning high BTU) I would recommend the 14 flat bottom wok on this page

http://wokshop.stores.yahoo.net/castwokwsiha.html

Since you're cooking with gas, be sure to use the most powerful burner on your stove. I know a few folks who do their wokking outdoors on a turkey fryer burner.

If you had an electric range I'd say not to bother.

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
Since you're cooking with gas, be sure to use the most powerful burner on your stove. I know a few folks who do their wokking outdoors on a turkey fryer burner.

If you had an electric range I'd say not to bother.

I use an electric range with a smooth top (not by choice, but the Mrs. gets a vote too) and a round bottomed wok. I flip the ring over so the narrow part of the ring is on bottom and the wok sits less than an inch from the surface. I crank the largest element to 11, and that thing will get extremely hot. Definitely hot enough to stir fry, though not as good as an actual wok cooker.

It's hot enough that with my copper core pans, I never turn it past 6. I would much rather have a gas range, but that's a future project.

I appreciate the tips and recommendations. Looks like I'll be getting one from the wok shop. Much thanks guys.