One of the most versatile cooking pans ever, the wok has a long history stretching from Asian countries to India.
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Although recognized as a Chinese invention, the world’s first woks may have actually existed long before what we now know to be the wok.
Flashback to the Han Dynasty
Archeologists found models of little pottery that seem to relate to the modern wok in Han Dynasty tombs, so we can link this versatile cooking instrument to times as early as 200 BC.
In China, woks have been used for thousands of years, although they exist in various adaptations, so may not look quite like a wok but very similar to it.
Because similar pans exist throughout India too, not just Asia historians believe the wok may have been inspired by some other culture not necessarily Chinese.
In East Asia for example, the wok is called a Kuali and is a metal pan in the form of a shallow bowl, widely used for frying and steaming.
Nomadic Mongols may have adopted the wok
One of the most famous nomadic populations in Central Asia was the Mongols who are known to have carried woks along their travels and introduced it to other cultures.
The Mongols themselves adopted the wok from sedentary cultures that were already using it because the pan required little fuel and little maintenance, thus making it a perfect cooking tool for their lifestyle.
In fact, historians believe that what prompted the invention of the wok was precisely the need of these early cultures to preserve their fuel and to cook their food fast.
In those early times, the wok was also used to roast tea, so other historians believe that people’s need for a convenient item led to the invention of the pan. The fact that they could cook a variety of dishes with only a handful of ingredients was definitely a benefit, as was the advantage of being able to cook an entire meal in a single pan.
The concept of wok hay or “woks breath“
Woks are some of the most affordable cooking pans and you can buy good quality woks for as little as $20, even less if you buy smaller size.
Wok sets can cost up to $60 and they would include the pan, a lid, ladle, spatula, a steamer rack and a cleaning brush.
The price is definitely an advantage when it comes to the wok, however, the real advantage is that unique flavor that only comes from cooking with such a pan.
When you cook in a wok, you add cold oil to very high heat, which produces fast results, the wok instantly cooking the ingredients and sealing in the flavor of the food.
Woks give a distinct aroma and flavor to the ingredients and when chefs cook with a wok it is said they capture the wok’s breath in the dish.
Throughout the East, where cooks prepare dishes using the wok people know that wok’s breath lingers only for a little while so they never let the food go cold before eating it, instead relishing on those first aromas and taking in the wok hay.
The wok hay is very much a poetic concept that imparts a special essence to food, one that can only be captured from the wok.