Everything You Need To Know About Buying A Wok (With Recommended Brands)

there's a couple of choices to weigh when you're buying your first walk the material the size the style the shape and ultimately which brand to actually pick up luckily with most of these variables there's an objectively best option to go with i'm going to quickly cover each of these factors so you can make an educated decision but if you want the tldr version before i beat you up with info i recommend getting a 12 to 14 inch carbon steel saute style flat bottomed wok for most users try saying that three times fast the material is the easiest question to answer you're going to get a carbon steel walk end of story carbon steel is lightweight it can be seasoned to be mostly non-stick and is literally what every asian restaurant uses don't even waste your time considering an absurdly heavy 10 pound cast iron walk or one with a chemical non-stick coating that can't even be heated above a certain temperature sometimes retailers will refer to carbon steel as naturally non-stick as a marketing gimmick so it can be a bit confusing at times but just scroll down to the product specs to make sure it's actually made of carbon steel you should get a large wok somewhere anywhere in the 12 to 14 inch range anything smaller and you risk overcrowding your wok when you try to stir fry a meal for more than say one or two people retailers will also give you the gauge or thickness of the wok metal in millimeters but don't let this factor into your decision all carbon steel woks are going to be in the same general range you have two main styles of woks saute pan like ones with a stick handle or woks with two loop handles to me the saute handle is a no-brainer it's just way easier to use and maneuver on a home stove these sometimes come with a little helper handle on the other side which can be useful for moving the wok when it's full of food or oil or to help balance a round bottom walk on your stove but honestly i can take it or leave it now we come to the only real decision you have to make when buying a wok picking between a round-bottomed one or a flat bottomed one if you have an electric or an induction stove the decision is made for you you're getting a flat bottomed wok because the round bottom ones will just fall over on your stove if you have a gas range however you could get a round bottomed wok depending on what the grates on your stovetop are like some hold walks better than others it will have some balancing issues regardless so i still recommend getting a flat bottomed wok especially if you plan to steam or deep frying it there are wok rings you can purchase to balance a round wok on your gas stove but this comes at the cost of proximity to your heat source impacting how hot your walk can get which is a trade-off that you shouldn't really be willing to make the cheapest way to get a walk is to go to a local chinatown with a list of the features you want and just pick any walk that fits the bill it probably won't be more than say 25 bucks if you don't live near a chinatown but still want to support local you can buy one online from the wok shop a small independent shop in the san francisco chinatown otherwise my favorite one from amazon is this joycen 14 inch flat bottomed walk if you're in the mood to ball out a little bit you can snag made in's carbon steel wok this thing is absolutely gorgeous and with its stay cool metal handle it's oven safe so seasoning it is an absolute breeze with so much information out there these days it's easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole of overly opinionated reddit posts or food media publications warning you that a non-traditional flat bottom wok lacks proper conical thermal distribution and scoff at anyone who dare cook on one at the end of the day the perfect wok or any other purchase for that matter is the one that you actually go out buy and just enjoy using just make sure if it's a walk it's carbon steel later nerds [Music] oh my goodness [Music]

Channel: Mishka Makes Food

Views: 206,001

Keywords: how to pick a wok, best wok brand, best wok material, what size wok to get, what wok to get, stir fry, asian cooking, how to stir fry in a wok, crash course kitchen, wok buying guide, beginner wok, wok for beginners, what wok to buy, best wok

Id: Gy-gOSj4F9I

Length: 4min 43sec (283 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 11 2022