Stir Fry Madness
July 13, 2010 5:07 PM Subscribe
I've developed a real passion for healthy style stir frying lately, perhaps because it works so well with my awesome rice cooker. I've been using my excellent All Clad frying pan on our ceramic stove top, but am thinking about stepping up to an electric wok . (I know MeFis love cast iron, but I don't.) I'm interested in electric wok recommendations, and also in people's favorite stir fry cookbooks.
Best answer: I can't recommend an electric wok other than to say I'd steer clear of the low-end ones with nonstick coatings from Target, Fred Meyer, etc. I've had a few of them and none lasted even a year before the nonstick coating started coming off and adding some extra teflon to my meals. Yuck. I use a giant cast iron pan now, but I've been thinking of trying to find a better electric wok so I'll be watching this thread with interest.
As for cookbooks, the one I keep coming back to is The Essential Wok Cookbook. It has a lot of good information in it beyond just recipes.
posted by Balonious Assault at 5:57 PM on July 13, 2010
As for cookbooks, the one I keep coming back to is The Essential Wok Cookbook. It has a lot of good information in it beyond just recipes.
posted by Balonious Assault at 5:57 PM on July 13, 2010
I have an electric wok, but I can't recommend the one I have. To save you from making the mistake I made, I'll suggest looking for one that can give out lots of heat, fast. Mine has adjustable heat (Low to High) and a 1500 watt heating element, but the highest level is not hot enough so it is not stir-frying so much as almost stewing or steaming.
posted by Houstonian at 6:44 PM on July 13, 2010
posted by Houstonian at 6:44 PM on July 13, 2010
Nthing others: Be aware that electric woks don't get very hot at all compared to a thin steel wok on gas, and it's all about the heat. Also, teflon woks don't cure and you won't get the "tang" that helps make a restaurant stirfry to yummy.
To be completely frank, there's nothing wrong with a fry pan, especially if you don't have gas hotplates. It keeps more of the pan in contact with the heat, and that's really the name of the game when it comes to successfully stir frying.
posted by smoke at 9:16 PM on July 13, 2010
To be completely frank, there's nothing wrong with a fry pan, especially if you don't have gas hotplates. It keeps more of the pan in contact with the heat, and that's really the name of the game when it comes to successfully stir frying.
posted by smoke at 9:16 PM on July 13, 2010
High heat and teflon don't mix, so definitely get one without a non-stick coating. That shouldn't be a problem for one that gets hot enough to season correctly.
posted by qwip at 11:14 PM on July 13, 2010
posted by qwip at 11:14 PM on July 13, 2010
Judging from the products available in department stores, there seems to be a real mis-conception about what wok cooking is really about. It requires heat. I mean real heat. Singe the hair on your arm, turn the wok red hot kind of heat. And you're just not going to get that with an electric wok.
I use something like this - outside, connected to a portable gas bottle - and I would still guess it's putting out only half the heat of a commercial wok burner. It's a little inconvenient having to go outside to cook in the dead of winter, but still, the only way someone is going to take my Rambo Wok Burner from me is to prise it from my cold, dead, burn marked hands.
posted by tim_in_oz at 11:26 PM on July 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
I use something like this - outside, connected to a portable gas bottle - and I would still guess it's putting out only half the heat of a commercial wok burner. It's a little inconvenient having to go outside to cook in the dead of winter, but still, the only way someone is going to take my Rambo Wok Burner from me is to prise it from my cold, dead, burn marked hands.
posted by tim_in_oz at 11:26 PM on July 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I have my eye on this electric wok and this one-- because per the reviews, they do get extremely hot. Does anyone have experience with either? I'm trying to avoid the department store model after years of experience seeing the teflon scratch on cheap fry pans -- that's why I sprang for my All Clad and treat it with kindness.
I appreciate the cookbook references, ocher draco and Balonious Assault. Does anyone else have a favorite stir fry cookbook?
posted by bearwife at 8:44 AM on July 14, 2010
I appreciate the cookbook references, ocher draco and Balonious Assault. Does anyone else have a favorite stir fry cookbook?
posted by bearwife at 8:44 AM on July 14, 2010
Best answer: Bearwife, I would say the two woks you link are essentially the same wok under two different brandings, even though one is basically half the price of the other.
However, I prefer the Presto 5900 to either, and it's about halfway between in price (found through the 'also viewed' section of your links).
The Presto is also 1500 watts, implying very similar rates of heating, and the fact that it's all stainless will make it far more durable the two non-sticks you're looking at. It's also far prettier.
I think I may have to buy one myself.
posted by jamjam at 5:28 PM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
However, I prefer the Presto 5900 to either, and it's about halfway between in price (found through the 'also viewed' section of your links).
The Presto is also 1500 watts, implying very similar rates of heating, and the fact that it's all stainless will make it far more durable the two non-sticks you're looking at. It's also far prettier.
I think I may have to buy one myself.
posted by jamjam at 5:28 PM on July 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks Jamjam and all. I bought the Breville after comments trailed off on this thread and before jamjam's answer. So far I think it is really as good as all the reviews say, and it does indeed get really and truly hot.
I also picked up the recommended books -- thank you!
posted by bearwife at 5:13 PM on July 27, 2010
I also picked up the recommended books -- thank you!
posted by bearwife at 5:13 PM on July 27, 2010
It occurred to me that might happen only after I'd posted, bearwife.
Even though you have shown yourself to be too strong-willed and resolute on many occasions (boo-oo! On the Road) to be any more than mildly inconvenienced by my blunder, I do apologize.
I think you actually have made an excellent choice, however, and I look forward to having the recipe section of many a contentious Metatalk thread enlivened by wokery I can try for myself!
posted by jamjam at 6:15 PM on July 27, 2010
Even though you have shown yourself to be too strong-willed and resolute on many occasions (boo-oo! On the Road) to be any more than mildly inconvenienced by my blunder, I do apologize.
I think you actually have made an excellent choice, however, and I look forward to having the recipe section of many a contentious Metatalk thread enlivened by wokery I can try for myself!
posted by jamjam at 6:15 PM on July 27, 2010
Response by poster: jamjam, I hate On the Road! I voted against it! I just caved in when the majority vote went against me. I am fighting my way through it . . . join me so we can trash it together on MeCha!
My husband would agree that I am strong willed -- the word he uses (often) is stubborn . . .
And thus far, every single recipe I've made from this cookbook is tremendous. I'm going to have to start bringing it to work so I can provide samples in our fighty threads.
posted by bearwife at 12:04 PM on July 29, 2010
My husband would agree that I am strong willed -- the word he uses (often) is stubborn . . .
And thus far, every single recipe I've made from this cookbook is tremendous. I'm going to have to start bringing it to work so I can provide samples in our fighty threads.
posted by bearwife at 12:04 PM on July 29, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
*Weird, I know. But it's real.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:24 PM on July 13, 2010