Barbara Grunes - Wok Every Day: From Fish & Chips to Molten Cake—Recipes and Techniques for Steaming, Grilling, Deep-Frying, Smoking, Braising, and Stir-Frying in the Worlds Most Versatile Pan

BEFORE YOU CAN COOK IN A WOK, YOU HAVE TO BUY ONE. OR, IF YOU ALREADY OWN ONE THAT HAS BEEN GATHERING DUST, YOU NEED TO GET IT OUT OF THE CUPBOARD, CLEAN IT, RESEASON IT, IF NECESSARY, AND START USING IT. TRUE, YOU CAN STIR-FRY IN A DEEP SKILLET (ALSO CALLED A SAUT PAN), BUT IT REALLY IS NOT THE SAME. THE WOKS DEEP, SLOPING SIDES MAKE IT A UNIQUE, ALL-PURPOSE PAN. MOST MANUFACTURERS OF ASIAN-STYLE COOKWARE USE THE TERMS WOK AND STIRFRY PAN INTERCHANGEABLY. WE PREFER THE TERM WOK BECAUSE YOU CAN USE THIS MARVELOUS PAN FOR ALL SORTS OF COOKING METHODS OTHER THAN STIR-FRYING. WHEN BUYING A WOK, YOU NEED TO DECIDE WHAT TYPE AND SHAPE TO GET NOT AN EASY DECISION BECAUSE MANY KINDS OF WOKS AND SIMILAR PANS ARE AVAILABLE THESE DAYS. BASICALLY, YOUR DECISIONS BOIL DOWN TO THREE: WHETHER TO BUY A ROUND- OR FLAT-BOTTOMED WOK, WHAT SIZE OF PAN YOU NEED, AND WHAT MATERIALS IT SHOULD BE MADE OF.

If you want to stick with tradition, get the big bowl-shaped pan with two handles made of either plain metal or metal and wood. Its the only pan to use if you have a traditional Chinese stove: a wood- or coal-fired fireplace topped by a long shelf with holes cut into it.

The woks round bottom sits in the hole over the fire and gets blazingly hotideal for cooking foods in a small amount of oil or for creating a good deal of steam. Some professional-style home stoves sold in Western countries also have optional burners designed especially for woks. Its a nice addition if you use your wok frequently and can afford both the stove and the special burner.

However, the bowl-shaped wok does not transfer well to the flat gas or electric burners of Western-style stoves. Thats why these woks come with a metal ring that sits atop the burner and holds the pan steady as you cook. This ring works fine on gas stoves, although electric stoves are a bit trickier. While the metal ring can be used successfully on electric burners, we prefer a flat-bottomed wok.

The traditional bowl-shaped wok is very deep, which allows you to control the cooking by pushing foods up the side to slow down their cooking and keeping them in the bottom of the pan for more intense heat. For example, if youve stir-fried a mixture of vegetables and chicken and want to thicken and reduce the sauce, just push the cooked ingredients up the sides of the wok, leaving the sauce in the bottom to bubble away. The depth of the traditional wok also makes it ideal for deep-frying, steaming, and boiling. The rounded bottom makes it especially easy to toss and stir foods as they cook.

The biggest disadvantage of the round-bottomed wok is that, even with the ring to hold it, the wok tends to rock and slide with vigorous stirring and tossing.

So why do we call it a wok? Wok is a Cantonese word that means cauldron or pan. The term came into wide use in the United States because many of the early Chinese settlers in North America came from southern China. In Mandarin Chinese, the word for pan is guo.

Many of the woks sold for Western kitchens have the traditional deep, sloping sides, but their bottoms are flat, making them much more stable on gas and electric burners. Although some purists say its not as easy to stir-fry foods in them as in round-bottomed woks, we think the difference is negligible. They are just as versatile as the traditional bowl-shaped woks and are ideal for most kitchens. Flat-bottomed woks often have one handle rather than two.

Some manufacturers make pans that are very similar to a wok but have somewhat shallower sides and a wider, flatter bottom. Theyre like a skillet crossed with a wok, and usually have one long handle, like a regular saucepan. These pans go by different names, including stir-fry pan, chefs pan, and