This wok costs a little bit more than so-called "stir fry" pans you can buy at places like Walmart, but it's as close to a genuine Chinese wok as one can hope for, with minor changes for American kitchens.
The most noticeable change is the flat bottom for electric stoves and gas stoves without wok rings. I use it on an induction cooker and it works fine, although the bottom is not quite as flat as I would like and is slightly smaller than the induction element. I have the
Duxtop 8100MC
and the wok heats up remarkably fast. It can start smoking heavily after only about 20 seconds, which means I can add oil at that point. (With wok cooking, add oil to an already hot wok, not a cold one.)
The curvature of the sides is almost identical to a classic wok while the flat center is relatively small. If you compare it with something like the
Joyce Chen Peking Pan
, that has much steeper sides and a larger bottom. Still get great heating on my induction cooker, with the bare steel turning color quickly during the initial seasoning as it should. In fact, even with the cooker at only wattage setting 5 (out of 10), it got too hot and gave me an overheat error within a couple of minutes. I had to switch to temperature mode at 460 degrees to finish the seasoning. I expect the heavier gauge carbon steel to be warp resistant, unlike a cheap, thin-gauge stir fry pan I got at Target which developed a pronounced bump on the bottom, giving it less contact with the induction cooker so it didn't heat up as fast or as hot after a few months. You get what you pay for.
The handles are attached with spot welds rather than rivets, and the welds look neat, with no cracking or distortion. That's nice because it means there are no protruding rivet heads on the inside of the wok, so there are no nooks and crannies on the inside to collect oil and food residue, and any lid you try to use is more likely to sit flat and properly, instead of resting crooked on top of the rivets.
I like that it came with a factory coating of oil to prevent rust, rather than the hard-to-remove lacquer some companies use. A quick scrub with dishwashing detergent was all I needed to prepare it for seasoning. Keeping it seasoned is pretty easy. One of the bamboo wok scrubbers or brushes is recommended. A plastic scrubber will wear down quickly since you're supposed to clean the wok while it's hot. A metal scrubber or steel wool will scratch up the seasoning. Just a quick rinse and scrub under hot water while the wok is hot to remove food residue and most oil. The secret to a good seasoning is to leave just a thin film of oil on the wok. Too much and the oil will polymerize when you heat it back up to cook (it will become a gummy goo). A very thin layer will carbonize (burn) instead. It's the carbon that's slippery, basically like graphite.
Unfortunately, the small size means a classic wok spatula (chuan) is too long and unwieldy. You'll have to use either small, inauthentic metal cooking utensils or wooden or bamboo ones. I make do with a stainless slotted serving spoon. Some people recommend against nylon or silicone utensils because supposedly they can leave residue on the wok that can contribute to sticking. I don't subscribe to that theory, especially with silicone, which is rated to 450º or more. Don't worry about scratching. It's very difficult to damage seasoned carbon steel with metal utensils since their edges usually aren't sharp. If you look inside the kitchen at a Chinese restaurant, you'll see that they use only metal utensils. Also, the sides of the wok may not retain their seasoning with use. That's okay, too. If the sides don't stay seasoned, it's because they're not getting hot enough during use to carbonize the oil. But they're also not getting hot enough for food to stick to during cooking, so no worries.
Don't expect to use this to cook for a family. A 12" size is good for one to two people, depending on whether they're big eaters. If you want to cook for four, get at least a 14" wok or be prepared to cook in batches. Cooking in batches is better anyway because crowding a wok with too much food cools it down too much, even with a big wok. Without the intense heat in the center of the work, you're left with stir-braise rather than stir-fry. Homes in China and restaurants (Chinese and otherwise) can get away with cooking a large quantity at once because they have high output gas burners that put out a lot more heat than stoves in American homes, especially electric stoves.
Here are some tips if you want to make good fried rice: Fresh, moist rice doesn't fry well. Cook the rice at least a day ahead, let it cool for an hour then cover tightly and refrigerate. When you take it out, you'll find it's nice and firm, even a little dry. Don't worry if it seems too hard to chew. It will soften as you fry it. Crumble it into small clusters with your hands into a bowl so you can just dump it in all at once. It's easier to crumble it before frying than to try to chop it up inside the wok. Heat the wok up nice and hot. Add oil (animal fat like sausage or bacon grease is even better) then wait until it's smoking. Pour in the rice and keep it moving. You want the nice browning caused by the Maillard reaction. That's what gives it the charred, smoky flavor people miss in their home-fried rice. Use a metal utensil so you can scrape up any rice that does stick. You want the rice to brown, but burnt and blackened is not tasty. Mix in previously cooked meat toward the end so you're just warming it up, not overcooking it. Don't add soy sauce until the end, preferably after you've turned off the heat.
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