I had no chance to research or review woks before getting my first one – it was given around 25 years ago as a wedding present (I say “around”, but I do know the exact date, honest!)
It is a very large, traditional cast iron wok - good looking and probably very expensive. It distributes the heat really evenly. However it is very heavy. And takes a long time to cool so food needs to be taken out once ready, or it will continue to cook. If you’re feeling strong the best value I’ve found in my review of woks is here from a specialist shop, Cast in Style – a more manageable 14″ one (enough to feed 4 – 5 people), together with a lid, chopsticks and more. And the best looking cast iron wok I’ve reviewed is here from Amazon.
We were finding it too heavy as middle age crept up on us.
So, in the 90’s I looked at reviews for a replacement wok to buy. Non-stick seemed like a good idea. These woks are usually made from steel with a Teflon non-stick coating. A bad move! Although they may be non-stick, they’re not non-scratch – and some members of the household (maybe me included, I’m not telling!) damaged the surface fairly soon after we bought it. Not only that, but these woks cannot cook at the high heat necessary for stir frying. Once the temperature gets close to the right temperature the coating can breaks down. Also, the surface doesn’t allow the juices to stick to the pan and brown – losing much of the traditional stir-fry taste.
The wok became virtually unusable, so, last year I started looking around to buy a new wok.
I saw that some woks are now made with a material called Xylan, a new, apparently more scratch resistant material that includes small particles that are almost as tough as diamonds and I’m told by friends that they work very well.
Ken Hom endorses this latest 32cm (12 1/2″) non-stick wok here available from John Lewis, which boasts an easily folded away handle for easy storage. And this smaller (10 1/2″) wok here and slightly larger (12″) wok here are very good value from money from an excellent shop – Cook in Style.
However non-stick wasn’t for me again.
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