Customer Reviews

13 inch Traditional Cast Iron Wok (incl. ring)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Length:: 0:10 Mins

Thanks to the recent health research on non-stick cookware, I have the ammunition to finally get a real wok. Spouse would not have accepted a piece of black pan in the kitchen, which essentially have food stain on it permanently as the "non-stick" surface. Another problem is not advised (and not necessary) to wash with detergent. The wok, with perfect reasons, work against the general obsession about cleaning - as seen on the range of cleaning products in any household supply stores and the gadgets in keeping stainless steel sparking spotless.

The cast iron wok has a diameter a little larger than 13 inch, because it's in metric (340mm I think). The loop handles are welded nicely onto the wok. The wok comes with a protective coat looking grayish. There are a lot of unique patterns on the surface, big circular ones and hexagon based cells, probably related to how a flat sheet of iron is "hammered/pressed" into a curved surface. It's a lot lighter than my other woks or frying pans of the same diameter. The wok ring (stand) is thin, light weight, but strong.

With the small loop handle, and the 13" size, it fits nicely in a typical single-wide kitchen cabinet with ease. 13" is "smaller" than other flat bottom woks and frying pans of the same diameter. Compared to the gentle curvature of a wok, flat bottomed woks or frying pans are basically pots with big mouths to let you get to the food and stir. The steep sides of these other things typically can hold a lot more food than the wok.

For everyday use, it's perfectly easy to handle. Perhaps I need to get a bigger one for occasions - e.g. fried rice for 10 guests. For frying vegetables that shrink a lot, you probably need a large dome lid, because you need to put in a lot of vegetable.

I suspect that this wok is also for serving food, just like hot cast iron plates in steak houses. The small size, gentle curvature, and the non-intrusive handle make it a nice (and lazy) thing to do, sitting on the wok ring at the table. Cast iron retains heat well.

The Wok Shop turns out to be a piece of history in San Francisco China Town, and the wok turns out to be a piece of culture withstanding the test of time, and the onslaught of an entire western cookware industry.

The seasoning: just as the instructions say at the end, you can't go wrong on a piece of metal. You can season again if you don't feel successful, and again. I would say, you can't go wrong adding food stain to a piece of iron age defensive weaponry.

Like all big multinational appliance manufacturers, the Wok Shop prints the instructions of all their "models" on a single instruction leaflet. There are three methods, one for all "models" and others for specific ones. They will be better than the big guys if they include the right instruction books for specific models, and will be receiving less email or phone calls too.

For the cast iron wok, the coating comes off grayish gradually after repeated washing, as said in the instructions. So the most suitable seasoning method seems to be the oven at 450 deg. I put a thin coat of peanut cooking oil on the wok with a brush. I should have wiped any excess oil afterward with a cloth or paper towel. That will minimize the smoke from the baking. Also don't pick an oil with low smoke point like unrefined olive oil or butter. I would have put it in the gas barbecue outdoors if I thought of it. The wok came out a beautiful bronze color, a piece of art with all the unique marks on it, probably handmade, or some of it.

Anything that doesn't come off from a piece of metal is something that you weld to it. The smoke that comes off is most likely from the oil. Anything else if any is one off. You can turn on all the exhaust fans or do it in the barbecue.

Then I washed the wok gently, which is probably not needed. Then I heat the wok dry on the stove. Then I heat some oil and fry some chopped garlic until they turn black. In the process I move the oil and garlic around to cover the whole surface of the wok. That's it.

If the seasoning is not enough, food will stick to it, but becomes the seasoning process itself. Too much seasoning probably means too much food residue is clinging on the surface. All you need to do is to remove food residue until the surface is smooth. Eventually you will have a nice smooth black non-stick surface.

I have a gas stove with a "rack" as stands for pots and pans. So the natural position of the wok ring is wider side up, allowing the wok closer to the flames. On this end, the ring is a little slippery. You need to hold the handle a bit (via heat resistance material) to steady the wok if you fry fiercely. I'll sand the edge of the ring a bit to see if that helps.

I wouldn't trade the integrated loop handle but the advantage of a long wooden or plastic handle is that you can toss the food. It's not needed for day to day use, and I wouldn't do it unless I have a restaurant kitchen or do it outdoors. More practically, with a long handle, you can pour out the contents with one hand, while scraping with a spatula on the other hand. Now I can pour with two hands on the loops, and scrap the remaining food after. A common material for holding the loops while hot is disposable corrugated cardboard box fragments. Of course you can use wet cloth or sponge.

Ideally you should have a detachable wooden or plastic handle. They won't burn, or get in the way, when they are not needed and not attached. If they broke you should be able to get another one cheap. If an integrated wood handle broke, you need to find a match handle, install it, or get another wok. Probably I will have to make such a gadget.

The wok heats up pretty fast and even, more so than my old stainless steel non-stick woks or frying pans of the same diameter. It's not surprising as the wok is a lot lighter. This is a big improvement. In a typically dish you fry the ingredients in separate groups for a start. You always start frying dry with hot oil. Some ingredient like meat or vegetables ends up wet. So what happens even in a single dish you need to wash the wok and dry it completely and then fry all over again. For separate dishes this is a must or all dishes will taste similar. With this wok, it's so easy because heating and drying is so fast. Carbon steel, more refined cast iron with less carbon content, will be even faster. But this wok is fast enough.

Cleaning: you are not supposed to use soap or detergent. You won't harm your iron age weapon but there's no point to it. Your organic non-stick surface is basically carbon and oil residue. You should not wash non-stick cookware when hot per instructions, which is a contradiction for frying pans. You can wash the wok right after cooking before any food residue hardens, if any. You can use sponge or microfiber cloth to wipe the wok during washing, each environmentally friendly in their own way. Both are not afraid of oil - they don't absorb, don't accumulate oil. Cellular sponge are biodegradable. They don't last too long but they won't last hundreds of years in a landfill. Microfiber is anything but biodegradable, but the claim is that they last a long time so less material and less manufacturing. Also you can use less detergent. Indeed, if you don't have a greasy meal like stir fry, you don't need detergent at all to wash everything after a meal. Fine microfiber wipe away oil better than sponge. Coarse microfiber is pretty good at scrubbing food stain for non-stick surfaces.

After cooking, you should scrub away food residue because they would accumulate and interfere with your next frying. I wouldn't worry about fine residues as they would come out one way or the other, or degenerate and become the "non-stick" surface.

You don't need detergent because you should heat dry your wok on the stove. It looks and arguably feels clean. At least it won't be sticky and greasy. And it's sterilized by heat. For any other cookware, the last thing you should do is to heat dry on the stove. You will just create hard water stain and promote oxidation. Drying a wok and storing it is so much faster.

Carbon steel is a more refined form of iron than cast iron. The difference is the carbon content. The usual saying is that cast iron heats slower, more evenly, and retains heat longer. Carbon steel is stronger. All these are right but cast iron used in woks is probably not the type used in western cast iron cookwares. I suppose the carbon content is different. The cast iron wok is pretty thin and heats up quick. It is slightly cheaper than carbon steel too.

I would think the rougher surface of cast iron makes it easier to create and maintain "seasoning" or the organic non-stick surface. Steel involve some sort of hammering or pressing so it will be smoother. I doubt if a food inspector have to learn about woks and it's seasoning. What if they go inside the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant and sees a lot of unevenly black woks? Once I saw a Chinese restaurant using huge carbon steel pow woks. I think it's carbon steel because they look metallic enough. It will be non-stick because they are in constant use and well oiled. On the other hand, I have seen enough that traditionally family woks are typically black.

Heat retention is irrelevant as you don't want and need retention in stir fry. Unless you also serve food in it. Carbon steel has the advantage that, because it's naturally stronger, it can be made thinner, like hand hammered models. Heating up is instant, and drying is very fast. Well it's an advantage if you are a cook, or fast food is not fast enough.

Cast iron, as a piece of metal, is pretty tough. Perhaps not as tough as stainless steel non-stick pans of the same diameter. Some 13" stainless steel pans are so heavy that it's virtually indestructible. The cast iron wok is a lot lighter and thinner. I won't worry about it breaking up unless you may accidentally drop it or hammer it with a steel spatula or other cookwares. If you see those gigantic woks in restaurants, you will understand that they need tougher carbon steel.

A flat bottomed wok is not a wok. To be able to stand alone and be stable, the bottom have to be large enough. Basically you are frying Japanese style, using a flat hot iron plate. The curved sides is just to stop your food from falling over. No matter how good the design is, the cooking surface can never be even as in a wok. If you have gas stoves, traditional round bottomed wok is a must.

After many happy meals, I can say it's the right one. 13" is about the smallest you can get. It fits OK into the kitchen sink, and easy on the cabinets. One more inch will be one more inch too much. But I'm all for a bigger one. The best is to get another one for "bigger" occasions. I'm happy with mine for a meal for two or a small family. But you can always do it twice or more.

For the same reason, the small loop handle is good. It's a lot easier to wash and store. I don't do tossing, and I think the Chinese don't toss that much, if at all, in family cooking. If you flip and fry fiercely, you can stabilize the wok by holding onto the loop handle a bit with a wash cloth or sponge. That is very much easier to live with than a big handle sticking out.

I found out that I don't even need to ever pour anything out of the wok. Otherwise, you need to hold onto the loop handles with something heat resistance. The reason is that the traditional wok chuan (spatula) can lift any solid or liquid out of the bottom of the wok, easier and better than anything else!

The wok ring is a bit slippery if you fry hard. I touched it up with a rotatory tool drill bit and it was fine. I can fry with one hand most of the time with the wok not moving on the ring. Many gas stove manufacturers have stove top grates designed for woks, but they are expansive when this wok ring is about free.

The cleaning procedure is inspiring. I always hate to put big pots and pans into the dish washer. It's very environment unfriendly if you do two loads, one for the dishes and one for the pots and pans. After washing and wiping the wok with a sponge or micro fiber, I wipe away the excess water on the bottom and put it on the stove and heat for a minute or two. It looks and feels very clean after than, and it's actually sterilized too. I now do all the pots and pans this way.

So many people are worrying about the "seasoning" process. It's a dynamic process, not like adding a permanent layer of non-stick surface on the wok. Food stick to the surface will turn black soon, and protect other food from sticking. This so called layer will come off very gradually if you scratch it with, say, the wok chuan. But food will fill the gaps and replenish the "non-stick" layer.

I found out that the wok chuan is very important to maintain the seasoning of the wok. After frying, the first thing you do is to gently scrub away food residue with the wok chuan, as if you are doing stir fry. Then follow up with a sponge or something for gentle scrubbing. The wok chuan is a piece of steel so it's easy to make the wok surface reasonably smooth. If you scrub away the excess food residue during cleaning, the next time the seasoning will not come off during stir frying. You cannot damage the seasoned surface with the wok chuan and anything else. The next time you stir fry, the surface will replenish itself.

You will have the fragile feeling with the wok, but it's relatively speaking. If you don't bang the wok hard on some other steel pots and wok chuans, it should be OK. It's a piece of iron after all.

if you have a gas cooktop and don't want the flame to flare around, a wire wok ring (it's available on amazon) may be a better idea. overall, this is a fantastic wok, though i regret buying it with the ring. they shipped both in the same box and charged me extra shipping for the ring too. so yeah, five stars for the wok, three stars for shipping pricing and policy from the vendor. overall 4 stars.

This wok arrived quickly and was as described. I didn't understand how to season it and got great, detailed instructions when I called the toll free number. They also included instructions with the wok. The best thing is how light weight it is. I'll be able to manuver it when I'm old and gray!

This was a Christmas gift for my son, it was neatly packaged and arrived in time for Christmas. Thanks

Hi, do NOT buy a wok from the Wok Shop. I was in their store in SF Chinatown, and the owner kept telling me how great the cast iron wok they have is. I was a sucker... I bought the wok, and brought it home to my parents. My grandparents were over that night too. I forgot to mention that I'm Chinese...

My parents and grandparents said it was a fake, that it's not really cast iron. It seems to have some kind of chemical coating on it instead. I should have known actually... I have a cast iron skillet from Lodge Logic or something like that, and lemme tell you, cast iron is HEAVY. This "cast iron wok" on the other hand, was extremely light. There was no way this wok is cast iron.

Save yourself the money and the anger of getting jipped, and don't buy this wok...

I bought this wok as a gift for my mother. It arrived within 10 days of me ordering it. She hasn't used it yet, but we sat it on the stove on top of the ring and it fits. It dosen't wobble.