Wok

The wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel (see cooking utensil) originating in China. It is used especially in East and Southeast Asia. The word "wok" comes from the Cantonese Chinese word for the item: "wok6" (鑊). Standard Mandarin refers to woks by using the word "gūo" (锅, a different Hanzi), or the phrases "gūozi" (锅子), or "chǎo cài gūo" (炒菜锅). Although the word "gūo" in Mandarin refers to any type of cooking vessel, using the word on its own typically means a Chinese wok.

In Indonesia the wok is known as a wadjang, kuali in Malaysia, and kawali (small wok) and kawa (big wok) in the Philippines.

Characteristics

Size

Woks are traditionally round-bottomed pans that can be made from a wide variety of materials, in a wide variety of sizes. Most woks range from 30 cm to a 2 meters or more in diameter. Smaller woks of 36cm (14 inches) are the most common, but woks can commonly be found as small as 20cm (8") and as large as 91cm (36"). They are suitable for a family of 3 or 4 and are typically used for quick cooking techniques at high heat such as stir frying (Chinese: chǎo, 炒 or bao, 爆). Large woks over a meter wide are mainly used by restaurants or community kitchens for cooking rice, soup, or for boiling water.

Material

The most common materials used in making woks today are carbon steel and cast iron, although the latter was the most common type used in the past. Cooks tend to be divided on the whether carbon steel or cast iron woks are superior to the other.

Cast iron: Two types of cast iron woks can be found in the market. Chinese cast iron woks are thin (~3 mm) and weigh about the same as a carbon steel wok of similar size, while western cast iron woks tend to be thick (~9 mm), tend to be heavy, and require very long heating times. Cast iron woks are superior to carbon steel woks in heat retention and eveness of heat distribution. They also form a more stable carbonized layer of seasoning which makes it less prone to food sticking on the pan. However, both types of cast iron wok have distinctive disadvantages compared to carbon steel woks. Chinese style cast iron woks, although quicker in heating and relatively light, are fragile and are prone to shattering if dropped or mishandled. Western type cast iron woks are slow-heating and slow-cooling, which makes temperature control more difficult. Furthermore, heavy western cast iron makes the tossing action required in stir-frying and bao difficult or impossible.

Carbon steel: The most popular type of wok material due to its relatively light weight, quick heat conduction, and high durability. However, carbon steel woks are more difficult to season, and the carbonized season is easily removed in younger woks. Carbon steel woks vary widely in price, style, and quality, which is roughly based on ply and forming technique. The lowest quality woks tend to be single ply and stamped straight from a piece of steel. These woks have a higher tendency to deform and misshapen. Cooking with them is also more difficult and precarious since they often have "hot spots" due to uneven heat distribution. Higher quality woks are almost always made of two sheets of steel and formed into shape by hammering, "ring-forming", or hand forging. The latter being the highest quality and the most expensive.

Aluminium: Although an excellent conductor of heat, aluminium does not retain heat (heat capacity) as well as cast iron or carbon steel. Although anodized aluminium can stand up to constant use, plain aluminium woks are too soft and damage easily.

Non-stick: Teflon coated woks are common in the western market. These woks are easily scratched and cannot be used to cook in the high heat required for stir frying to excess of 230°C (c.450F) since the coating will break down chemically at these temperatures.

Stainless Steel Clad: Less commonly found are clad woks, which sandwich a thick layer of aluminum or copper between two sheets of stainless steel. These woks perform extremely well but are often quite expensive, quite heavy, and usually cook no better than carbon steel or cast iron woks. Their biggest advantage lies in the durability and ease of maintenance of a stainless steel exterior and cooking surface. Many of these vessels are dishwasher safe.

Handle

The handles for woks come in two styles: loops and stick. Woks with stick type handles usually also have a loop on the other end to aid with handling the wok.

Stick: These handles are long, made of steel, and usually welded or riveted to the wok basin, or is an actual direct extension of the basin. The handle is sometimes ended with a woodle hand grip, but it is not uncommon to find it as a bare metal grip. This handle facilitates the tossing action for cooks used to using western frying pans with similar style handles. Stick handles are normally not found on cast iron woks since the wok is either too heavy for the handle (thick cast iron wok), or the metal is too thin to handle the tensile stress exerted by the handle.
Loops: Loop handles are the most common handle type for woks of all types and materials, and is usually made of bare metal. Cooks needing to hold the wok to toss the food in cooking do so by holding a loop handle with a thick towel. Cooking with the tossing action in loop handled woks require an incredible amount of hand, arm and wrist strength not commonly found in amateur cooks. Loop handles typically come on pairs on the wok and are riveted, welded or extended from the wok basin.

Form and use

Woks by design are meant to be used over a gas stove which has either concentrically sloped grates or burners that are recessed below a round "pit" in order to encompass the wok's shape. Sloped grates on a stove provide stability to the curved wok. A recessed "pit" stove provides not only stability for the wok, it also concentrates heat by directing all the hot gases produced onto the wok instead of allowing it to escape around the wok. This allows foods to be stir-fried at a very high heat, sometimes hot enough to deform the woks themselves. Pit stoves are typically used by professional chefs in most Chinese restaurants, since they have the heating power to give food an alluring "wok hei".

Woks are also sold in western countries, where they are sometimes found with flat bottoms, this makes them more similar to a deep frying pan. Flat bottom on woks allows them to be used on a western gas stove which usually has flat grates that does not allow enough stability for a round wok. For this reason, woks with curved bottoms sometimes come with metal rings to stabilize them.

Woks, be they round or flat bottomed, do not generally work well for stir-frying or other quick cooking methods when used on an electric cooker. These stoves do not produce the large and quick amounts of heat required for stir-frying, although it is possible to find round-shaped electric stove elements that will fit the curve of a wok. Coupled with the lower heat retention of woks, most stir-frys done in traditional woks on electric stoves have a tendency to stew and boil rather than "fry", thus not producing wok hei. However, a wok can benefit from the slow steady heating of electric stoves when used for slower cooking methods such as stewing, braising, and steaming, and immersion cooking techniques such as frying and boiling. Most chinese cooks used cast-iron pans for stirfrying on electric stoves since they hold enough heat for the required sustained high temperatures.

Advantages

The main advantage of wok beyond its constructed material is its curved concave shape. The shape produces a small, hot area at the bottom which allows some of to food to be seared by intense heat while using relatively little fuel. The large sloped sides are also make it easier for chefs to employ the tossing cooking technique on solid and thick liquid food with less spillage and a greater margin of safety. Curved sides also allows a person to cook without having to "chase the food around the pan" since bite-sized or finely chopped stir-fry ingredients usually tumble back to the center of the wok when agitated.

The curve also provides a larger usable cooking surface versus western-styled pots and pans, which typically have vertical edges. This allows large pieces of food seared at the bottom of the wok to be pushed up the gently sloped sides to continue cooking at a slower rate. While this occures another ingredient for the same dish needing high heat is being cooked at the bottom. The pointed bottom also allows even small amounts of oil to pool. As such large food items can be shallow fried, while finely chopped garlic, green onions, and ginger can be essentially deep-fried in both cases with very small amount of cooking oil.

Almost all Chinese families own at least one wok. It is most often used for stir frying, but can also be used many other ways, such as in steaming, deep frying, braising, stewing, or making soup.

Trivia

In the joke sport wok racing introduced by the German comedian Stefan Raab, woks are used to carry people down a bobsleigh track. In November 2003 the first "official" championship was held in Winterberg, Germany.

References

Young, Grace (2004). The Breath of a Wok. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-3827-3.

External links

Wok Seasoning and Care from thaifoodandtravel.com