Made in carbon steel wok12/29/2023 ![]() ![]() Traditional woks have round bottoms, which allows them to reach intense temperatures over burners that shoot the flames straight up rather than in a circular pattern. Material: Carbon steel | Shape: Round bottom | Handle: Mandarin style with one wood handle, one metal handle ![]() Young recommends a domed shape over a flat one because it will divert condensation away from your food. And if you want to use your wok for making a stew or homemade popcorn, you’ll need a lid. The material doesn’t matter so much the important part is the specialized shape, which “fits the curve of the wok and is good for scooping,” he says. “It makes it easier to toss your ingredients.” Recipe developer and cookbook author Hannah Che is another fan she bought a wok from the store about five years ago and says “the precise way it heats up, retains heat, and cools down makes you able to tell that the metal is really high quality.” Young loves Wok Shop too, calling Tane Chan “the most knowledgeable person selling woks in the world.” Wok Shop is also the best place to peruse wok accessories, such as a wok spatula that López-Alt calls nonnegotiable. “Personally, I like a long handle,” he says. López-Alt’s recommendation comes from San Francisco’s Wok Shop, which has many options for sizes (as small as 12 inches and as big as 16) and handles (wood, metal, loop, extended), should you want to customize. Material: Carbon steel | Shape: Flat or round bottom | Handle: Mandarin style with wood or metal handles You can add everything in and then move them around easily as they shrink.” She also notes that the ring at the top of the handle allows it to hang nicely in her kitchen. “I especially like it for greens that start so giant in volume. “It can handle a ton of vegetables,” she says. The Joyce Chen stands the test of time, too: Kim has had hers - a fairly standard 14-inch size that comfortably feeds two to four people - for over two decades and doesn’t see herself having to ever replace it. Conversely, “the loops on metal woks get super hot, and you need pot holders to handle,” says food writer and editor Matt Rodbard. It has comfortable handles that stay cool enough to grip well so I can maneuver all the pieces around easily. (In contrast, this isn’t possible in my heavier cast-iron, which takes a while to get hot and then stays so hot the different components end up unevenly cooked, even if I do turn the burner up and down as I go.) I also like that the Joyce Chen isn’t too heavy. When I want to get a golden-brown sear on chicken, not burn the vegetables and aromatics that go in after, and reduce the sauce, I can do so, all without adjusting the heat. The carbon steel is sensitive, so it heats up with the flame but cools down when new ingredients are added to the mix. Mine sits sturdily on my stove grates and never tilts over. “Introduced by Joyce Chen, flat-bottomed woks allowed the cookware to be used on any stove and made stir-fry a far more common dish in American households,” says Taylor Erkkinen, co-owner of the Brooklyn Kitchen cooking school. Material: Carbon steel | Shape: Flat bottom | Handle: Mandarin style with wood handles Every time you add in an ingredient, it brings down the overall temperature, and “the high heat is crucial.” We chatted with López-Alt, Jew, Eng, and other chefs and cookware experts to get their recommendations for their own favorite woks. ![]() Calvin Eng, owner of Bonnie’s in Brooklyn, also suggests not overcrowding. This speed is why Brandon Jew, owner of Mister Jiu’s in San Francisco, advises making sure you have all your ingredients portioned out and ready to go beforehand. But since I’ve tested some for this story over several months, the results are clear: Dishes that benefit from a fast and hot contact with a pan - especially ones where you’re adding meat and vegetables with different cooking times one after the other - turn out so much better in a wok. I was hesitant to add a wok to my own kitchen for a while solely because they’re rather large and I don’t have a ton of space. What’s more, the bottom is hotter than the sides because of the “V” shape, further assisting each component of a given dish to get to the temperature it should be. This means they get hot really fast and stay that way if you want them to - but also cool down quickly, as needed. Kenji López-Alt, whose most recent book is dedicated to cooking with woks, explains that while Western skillets are more concerned with heat retention, woks are built to dial in on heat reactivity. Woks can be used to steam fish, make fried rice and noodle dishes, boil stew, and even pop popcorn for movie night - but there’s a reason you see them employed most ubiquitously for stir-fries.
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