Joyce Chen 21-9972, Classic Series 4-Piece Carbon-Steel Wok Set

by Joyce Chen

• Wok set includes 14-inch wok, dome lid, 12-inch bamboo spatula, and recipe booklet
• Made of 1-1/2 mm gauge carbon steel for fast, even heating; requires seasoning before use
• Birch-wood stay-cool handles--one long and an opposite helper handle
• Nonstick steel dome lid with knob helps keep in heat, moisture, and nutrients
• Safe for use on either gas or electric cooktops; hand wash

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 14 x 5.6 inches ; 5.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B002AQSWNE
• Item model number: 21-9972
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,085 in Kitchen & Dining (See Top 100 in Kitchen & Dining)
  • #4 in Kitchen & Dining > Cookware > Woks & Stir-Fry Pans

Product Description

Classic Series Carbon Steel 4 Pc. Wok Set

Cleans Up Easily

Instead of going out for dinner, stay in, and make a healthy tofu and vegetable stir-fry or Szechwan beef and broccoli stir-fry using this four-piece wok set. Safe for use on either gas or electric cooktops, the flat-bottomed wok should be hand washed and dried thoroughly before storing. The collection comes gift-boxed, making it a nice choice for a housewarming or birthday present.

Features:

• Made of 1-1/2 mm gauge carbon steel for fast, even heating
• Requires seasoning before use
• Birch-wood stay-cool handles
• Nonstick steel dome lid with knob
• Safe for use on either gas or electric cooktops
• Carbon steel for strength and excellent heat distribution
• Wide top and narrow bottom allow for frying with less oil
• Hand wash

Product Highlights:

Assist Handles

Birch-wood stay-cool handles--one long and an opposite helper handle stay cool to the touch for added comfort and convenience.

Dome Lid

Nonstick steel dome lid with cool-touch knob helps keep in heat, moisture, and nutrients.

Curved Bottom Promotes Proper Stir-Frying

Curved Cooking Interior

Promotes proper stir-frying, while its wide top and narrow bottom allow for frying with less oil than with a straight-sided pan. Simply heat the oil; add any favorite combination of fresh vegetables, tofu, or meat; then keep things moving with the long-handled spatula.

Heats Quickly and Evenly

Made of 1-1/2 mm gauge carbon steel, the wok heats quickly and evenly, and its smooth interior requires seasoning before use.

What's in the Box:

• 14-inch carbon-steel wok
• Nonstick steel dome lid
• 12-inch bamboo spatula
• Recipe booklet

Additional Sizes Available

Model # J20-1140 14" Classic Series Carbon Steel Wok with round bottom

Model # J21-9978 14" Classic Series Carbon Steel Wok

Birch Knob for Comfortable Grip

Joyce Chen has a large variety and selection of woks

With so many variations every cook will be able to find their perfect fit. From heavy professional weight to lightweight pre-seasoned, Joyce Chen has it all.

• Pro Chef Excalibur Nonstick Cookware: The Excalibur reinforced non-stick coating system used on our Pro Chef Woks and Peking Pans has been acclaimed by U.S. retailers, professional chefs, and consumers as the best performing non-stick finish for cookware in today's market. It is covered by our 25-year limited warranty. PFOA and PTFE Free.
• Pro Chef Carbon Steel Cookware: Once seasoned, these professional weight (2.0 mm) carbon steel pans will render superior cooking performance for life.
• Pro Chef Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Cookware: Lightweight pre-seasoned cast iron has all the benefits of cooking with traditional cast iron, such as even heating and great temperature control but is half the weight. It is covered by our 25-year limited warranty.
• Classic Series Xylan Nonstick Cookware: This heavy weight (1.8mm) Classic Series cookware is for the discerning cook. The availability of 9-inch and 12-inch stir fry pans as well as 14-inch woks makes it easy to choose the perfect size pan for any cooking task.
• Classic Series Carbon Steel Cookware: Whether your personal choice is a round or flat bottom, loop or skillet handles, we have the perfect wok for you. Our carbon steel woks are crafted of superior quality and weight (1.5 mm).

Joyce Chen by Columbian Home Products

In 1949 Joyce Chen came to America from Shanghai, China and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her culinary career began when she brought egg rolls to her children's school bake sale -- they sold out immediately. She had discovered America's growing interest in Chinese food. She soon began teaching lessons at her home and, later, at Cambridge's and Boston's Adult Education Centers. With the encouragement of friends and neighbors, she opened The Joyce Chen Restaurant in 1958. She also wrote her first Joyce Chen Cook Book in 1964, and in 1968 starred in her own national televised PBS cooking series called Joyce Chen Cooks.

In the '70s, she found that the selection and quality of Chinese cookware in America didn't live up to her high standards, so she developed her own line of cookware with the slogan "Eastern Cookware for the Western Kitchen." Her goal was to provide high-quality, versatile tools and products with Asian flair. Today, sourced from all over the Pacific Rim, Joyce Chen products bring the best of Asia to you.

In 1994 Joyce Chen passed away and in 1998, she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation Hall of Fame.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

259 of 261 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Wok IF YOU SEASON IT RIGHT!!!!! December 7, 2011

By Cody Prime

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great wok, but please make sure to follow these steps....don't worry about the instructions the wok came with, TRUST ME, I've gone through two of these suckers.

1. Remove wok from box and attach handle.
2. Fill about 3/4 of the wok with water and boil (this will help get that sticky oil off).
3. After boiling for a few minutes take off the burner.
4. Wash with a copper or steel scrubber and a little soap!!! (wash the entire wok , I mean top/bottom all over to scrub the oil away (this will be the last time you use a scrubber or even soap to wash the wok)
(There is a factory lacquer oil on the wok, you can't see it but you'll definitely smell it, you must get as much of that oil off before starting the seasoning process).

5. Dry (it's okay if you leave a little water since you will put it right back to the burner).
6. Get the wok back on the burner on medium heat, you will notice the bottom of the pan will start developing a golden color, then almost blue, then darker...
7. After the bottom has some color turn the wok to the side to get the side some heat, repeat this until most of the wok is dark goldish brown/blue, it's perfectly fine if it's not dark all around and is blotchy.
8. Remain on medium heat and even the wok back flat on the burner, now get some oil in there, something that has a high smoke point, lard, canola, veggie oil.....and rub the oil with a paper towel all around the wok, let the wok sit on the medium heat burner for about 5-10 minutes, add more oil if too dry, it might get super smokey so get your windows open and fan running.
9. Now, you should have a seasoned wok!
10. Feel free to throw some bacon in the pan to season even more, I did that but did not eat the bacon, just tossed it out.

After you are done just wash the Wok with a soft sponge and warm water, NO SOAP, NO HARSH SCRUBBER, that will take away the hard work you just put in.

I think it's a great Wok, I will give it 4 not 5 stars because I think it could have come with better instructions on seasoning, I ruined my first one, also it would have been nice to know that there was a lacquer based oil on the wok, I didn't realize that either.....

60 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good inexpensive wok October 6, 2010

By DioMio

Amazon Verified Purchase

We got this a few weeks ago and we use it all the time. We conditioned it before first use and it is relatively stick free. I've done a lot of stir frying with it and it always turns out great. You could use a skillet for this stuff, but the wok heats up a lot faster and has a huge area to work in. The odd shaped wooden spatula is just right for stirring and turning. Use high quality oil and you'll get a dish that will be way better than your usual greasy restaurant stuff. We've been getting our recipes from "The Everything Stir-Fry Cookbook: 300 Fresh and Flavorful Recipes the Whole Family Will Love" by Rhonda Lauret Parkinson. Of the ten or so recipes we followed, we got great results. Good luck and happy wokking.

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Product July 7, 2011

By Emily

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an excellent product. The pan is lighweight without sacrificing sturdiness, it has a good thickness for a wok but is still easy to manage. I did not use the booklet instructions to season the wok, rather I used the wok shop directions, they have a lovely video showing exactly how to season the wok. I followed them and it came out exactly as the woman shows, it was a perfect result.
[...] (warning it can become a little stinky, gets much better after charring the veggies stovetop)

I sauteed some sliced up ginger with the green onions (the video shows just green onions) in peanut oil for the first stove top seasoning. The ginger did stick a bit (because it's so fibrous it grabs onto the hot surface while it cures the first time) which was scary, but if you keep going and make sure the heat is high enough and scrape the black bits off it suddenly turns slippery and magical and everything slides around. Note that she heated the wok very slightly before adding the oil, DO NOT OVERHEAT! You can tell if it's ready by throwing a sprinkle of water onto the bottom of the wok, if it dances and vaporizes a second later you can add the oil. Make sure you have your ingredients prepped to throw in right after or you risk catching fire to the oil or making it smoke. I'm buying a second one for myself (1st was a gift) and think I will do only the green onions, and do a second seasoning on the stove with ginger when it gets much more stick proof. The smell that comes off of it the first time you stir fry is heavenly, absolutely worth the steps. If you care for it properly and never use soap on it after the first cleaning (Only very hot water and a plastic scrubbie or bamboo spatula for tooling off food bits), you'll have a lovely blackened wok in no time.