When you’re super busy and all you have in the fridge are a bunch of different ingredients you’ve no idea how to cook, a wok could come in handy.
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Not to mention that now that we’re well into spring and summer’s on its way, you’ve all these fabulous vegetables that cook up real fast.
Note that cooking food in a wok retains most of the nutritional value in the ingredients given that you cook them for such a short time and although over high heat, you don’t risk burning any if you know your way with a wok.
How to select a wok for cooking at home
Woks vary in size from 12 inches to 18 inches, so depending on how large your family, you should choose a pan with plenty of room to cook for everyone in a single session.
Traditional Chinese woks differ from Western woks, here the most popular pans being designed with a flat bottom so that they’re able to sit on a burner. Also, this helps the heat transfer all around the sides of the pan efficiently, whereas with a curved bottom wok you’d get a hot bottom and cool sides, which means food won’t cook evenly either.
Curved bottom are traditional Chinese woks and these are designed for purpose-built stoves found in Chinese households and restaurants. They come with round inserts that make it possible to use curved bottom woks efficiently.
People who choose curved bottom woks are usually professional cooks or serious enough about their cooking that they’re willing to invest in camp stoves reaching 30,000 BTU.
When it comes to the material, here woks come in various choices, with carbon steel being most popular because they are most able to conduct heat. These woks need to be seasoned to form a natural non-stick surface.
Other existing options on the market include nonstick woks, cast iron, ceramic-coated aluminum, electric, multi-ply and bronze.
How to season a new wok
The traditional Chinese method of seasoning woks is a systematic procedure that will give the pan the rust resistant feature and the nonstick feature.
The first step in the process is to scrub the pan thoroughly with soapy scrubbing pad and hot water (to remove factory oil), then to dry completely over low heat until there remain no water droplets.
The next step is to cook some ingredients to create the first “patina” and the more you’ll cook, the more this will build, eventually needing to use less and less oil as the pan becomes naturally nonstick.
Thus, what you do is you heat the wok over high heat, add 2 tablespoons cooking oil and thinly sliced ½-cup ginger root, 1 bunch of scallions and 1 clove garlic, reducing to a medium heat and stir-frying for about 15 minutes.
It is important that you smear the aromatics onto the entire surface, from the bottom all the way to the edge. You can add extra oil if the ingredients become too dry.
The aromatics will absorb the metallic taste and the wok will start looking smoother.
Finally, wash the wok with hot water without using dish soap and dry over low heat.
Make sure you discard the aromatics. You wok is now ready to be used for real cooking.