Help me find the hottest electric large wok possible for (US) home use.

August 13, 2008 9:13 AM

My husband and I moved back to the States almost year ago from Australia and have yet to find an electric wok that will get hot enough for our gastronomic needs.

We cook a lot of yummy Thai & Malay food, and have an electric stove that sucks (and no, we can't switch to gas, unfortunately). So I would like to find an electric wok that will kick ass, which is proving to be a bit difficult. I have researched many, many outlets with no luck. Cuisinart made a large wok that was 1800W but it is discontinued. I would be willing to pay mucho dinero for the right tool. Any help/ideas would be most appreciated.

posted by inquisitrix to food & drink (14 comments total)

Do you have an outdoor grill? I use my Weber when I cook with a Wok because it gets much hotter than my apartment's electric stove. You may consider that as an option.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:22 AM on August 13, 2008

There are propane woks. If you've got a good outside space that may work. I'd imagine one of those would get surface-of-the-sun hot.
posted by tayknight at 9:39 AM on August 13, 2008

Don't waste your time with American products - I don't know what in the world people use them for, but none of those pieces of junk get hot enough to cook anything well. Zojirushi makes awesome kitchen appliances, and though I've never actually used it I bet their electric skillet would meet all of your wok-y needs.
posted by borkingchikapa at 9:44 AM on August 13, 2008

New Cuisinart 1800 wok on ebay.
posted by essexjan at 9:48 AM on August 13, 2008

When we had an electric stove, we had a basic round wok that came with a metal "ring" stand that held it about 3/4" above a burner. It wasn't perfect, but it worked reasonably well for some 18 years, til we finally got a gas range. Which rocks...

I've not yet seen an electric wok that was better than the above wok on the stove.
posted by Artful Codger at 10:00 AM on August 13, 2008

Cue Alton Brown: put the wok on the gas burner included in those turkey fryer kits.

On preview, tayknight's idea is close to the same.
posted by fijiwriter at 10:09 AM on August 13, 2008

Induction Wok?
posted by TravellingDen at 1:01 PM on August 13, 2008

You can try a Chinese hot pot (sometimes called Chinese fondue) burner from a local Chinese grocery store. These are tabletop burners with a small can of fuel (butane? propane?) specifically designed for these burners. They're similar to a propane camping stove.
posted by kenliu at 2:31 PM on August 13, 2008

You may already know this, but a normal home electric circuit is 120 volts at 15 amps. Since wattage is volts times amps, you can be certain that an 1800 watt wok is the hottest electric wok you can possibly get, unless it plugs into a larger circuit (like your electric range does).
posted by fritley at 2:51 PM on August 13, 2008

Electricity in Australia runs at 240v, in the US 120V. Might explain poor performance of ewoks in the US. Possible solution: install a second 240v volt outlet in the kitchen, get a 240v ewok from wherever and change the plug if need be.
posted by bluefrog at 2:56 PM on August 13, 2008

I use something like this connected to a portable gas bottle. No other conventional cooking device comes close. Too many people seem to think that a wok is just a curved frypan. Proper wok cooking demands *serious* heat. By commercial standards, even what I use would be considered insufficient.
posted by tim_in_oz at 4:44 PM on August 13, 2008

Thanks, all. I have picked up the Cuisinart on eBay for short term use. I LOVE the idea of induction but for that price, I may as well bite the bullet and install a gas stove. Until then I may have to try woking outdoors (we have an external burner on our gas grill). I would love any other ideas that anyone has.
posted by inquisitrix at 6:15 PM on August 13, 2008

Induction rocks.

When building my house, I opted for an expensive Miele kitchen. The induction cook-top is beyond awesome. Did I mention it was expensive?
posted by Mephisto at 10:39 PM on August 13, 2008

My family uses propane on the range. I cannot as far as I can see, any difference between the propane set-up for indoors than what is involved in the small camping propane stoves. There are a few different styles of burners and stands, but for the most part the mechanism is the same. The only difference I see between the hardware of the indoor vs. outdoor propane ranges is that the large indoor range fixtures have plumbing that leads to a much larger tank.

What I am getting at is that a wok with a portable single burner propane stove would probably do everything you require and even offer some advantages, and still be within an acceptable price range. You could use the propane burner for other types of pans when a wok is not what you need. You can use your wok on the propane even without electricity. Since your wok will just be a normal one, and not one with an element or a base, you will be able to use it indefinitely and be able to bring it to friends houses if you cook a dish at a party.

If I ever have a house, and do any remodeling in the kitchen, I fully intend to not have an embedded range, but rather to use a nice camping propane stove. I think this is a good idea because I will be able to have the space for other things. If I ever go mobile, like in a van, this is viable too, because cooking space can be a desk after all the cooking stuff is cleaned and stowed.
posted by Vague_Blur at 8:28 PM on August 14, 2008