Hey guys and gals I thought I would tell you a bit about one of my cooking hobbies, wok cooking.
The whole process is lightning fast, I am talking raw ingredients to fully finished in under 2 minutes. Chopping takes more time than cooking. On high, this is like cooking on the surface of the sun! If you stop stirring for even 5 seconds, you just burned it! It's hard to explain, but it's like BBQ on steroids! If you are not faint of heart and ready for a cooking adventure read on!
The problem with most experiences with wok cooking is lack of heat. Watch some youtube videos of professional wok cooks and you will gain some respect. The burners are like a jet engine! If in the past you have used a wok on the stove it probably didn't work too well. It's like trying to cook an egg over a match.
I found a wok burner for $70 locally, but before I knew about this, I made one of my own for much cheaper. I never purchased the real one and still use the homemade one. I bought a turkey frier at a garage sale for $10. I modified it by putting a wok ring (for stovetop cooking) onto it with some stainless hose clamps. It's not nearly as redneck as it sounds, and it works great.
I really enjoy using this, and I only cook outside with it for safety reasons. You don't cook everything on high, but when you cook on the highest setting, it is really fun. You have to be on the ball with this.
I use peanut oil as it has a higher flash point. Vegetable oil, or olive oil basically turns into a fog so thick you can't even see the food. Then if a little seeps (in vapor form) over the edge to the flame you have some truly crazy 3 foot dancing flames on your hand. Lesson: don't use oils with a low flash point and cook outdoors.
I chop vegetables I am using into smallish thin pieces. You can use CHEAP cuts of meat, and it takes almost nothing meat wise. 4-6 oz of meat is plenty for two people this way. I use kitchen shears to cut it into thin pieces, sort of like fajita meat. The overall theme is, have everything laid out ready to dump in the wok. This includes seasonings, sauces, oil, everything.
A simple dish like beef stir fry would go like this:
Turn the burner on, put the wok on top. In about 10 seconds it will be very hot, add a spoon or so of oil. Add garlic to the oil, but hurry, you don't want it to burn.
Dump the meat in, stir vigorously and constantly. Once the meat is half cooked or so, dump it out of the wok onto a plate. This takes very little time, 20-30 seconds or less.
Add a little more oil, and start adding vegetables with the ones that take longest first. You can find cook times for various veg online. Once you get the veg cooked to the right amount (this is all very fast) add the meat back in, and then the sauce. Once it's all done, put it in a dish, then clean your wok.
I found my wok in a scrapyard, I swapped it for other old steel I dropped off there. I cleaned it really really good since it had surface rust and such. I then made a long handle for it (after finding the short one it came with burnt me like crazy). I made it out of a piece of hickory wood I had on my woodpile. All I did was cut it to the right size, carved it down to fit in the wok handle piece, and oiled it down really good. I even left bark on it for a grip. The pics included turned out sort of weird, the finish looks better in person but the flash made it look odd. The finish is really black on the bottom, but it's hard to explain, it's like varnish looking from the oils used in cooking. It is cleaned after use with a bamboo brush and boiling water in it, drying over heat, then applying oil with a rag/paper towel. It's like cast iron where you don't want to soap it. It has been in the cabinet for a few months, so it has some grime on it, it gets cleaned before use again.
I hope you guys give this a try, it's so much fun you won't believe it. There is a ton of recipes and resources online also.
The whole process is lightning fast, I am talking raw ingredients to fully finished in under 2 minutes. Chopping takes more time than cooking. On high, this is like cooking on the surface of the sun! If you stop stirring for even 5 seconds, you just burned it! It's hard to explain, but it's like BBQ on steroids! If you are not faint of heart and ready for a cooking adventure read on!
The problem with most experiences with wok cooking is lack of heat. Watch some youtube videos of professional wok cooks and you will gain some respect. The burners are like a jet engine! If in the past you have used a wok on the stove it probably didn't work too well. It's like trying to cook an egg over a match.
I found a wok burner for $70 locally, but before I knew about this, I made one of my own for much cheaper. I never purchased the real one and still use the homemade one. I bought a turkey frier at a garage sale for $10. I modified it by putting a wok ring (for stovetop cooking) onto it with some stainless hose clamps. It's not nearly as redneck as it sounds, and it works great.
I really enjoy using this, and I only cook outside with it for safety reasons. You don't cook everything on high, but when you cook on the highest setting, it is really fun. You have to be on the ball with this.
I use peanut oil as it has a higher flash point. Vegetable oil, or olive oil basically turns into a fog so thick you can't even see the food. Then if a little seeps (in vapor form) over the edge to the flame you have some truly crazy 3 foot dancing flames on your hand. Lesson: don't use oils with a low flash point and cook outdoors.
I chop vegetables I am using into smallish thin pieces. You can use CHEAP cuts of meat, and it takes almost nothing meat wise. 4-6 oz of meat is plenty for two people this way. I use kitchen shears to cut it into thin pieces, sort of like fajita meat. The overall theme is, have everything laid out ready to dump in the wok. This includes seasonings, sauces, oil, everything.
A simple dish like beef stir fry would go like this:
Turn the burner on, put the wok on top. In about 10 seconds it will be very hot, add a spoon or so of oil. Add garlic to the oil, but hurry, you don't want it to burn.
Dump the meat in, stir vigorously and constantly. Once the meat is half cooked or so, dump it out of the wok onto a plate. This takes very little time, 20-30 seconds or less.
Add a little more oil, and start adding vegetables with the ones that take longest first. You can find cook times for various veg online. Once you get the veg cooked to the right amount (this is all very fast) add the meat back in, and then the sauce. Once it's all done, put it in a dish, then clean your wok.
I found my wok in a scrapyard, I swapped it for other old steel I dropped off there. I cleaned it really really good since it had surface rust and such. I then made a long handle for it (after finding the short one it came with burnt me like crazy). I made it out of a piece of hickory wood I had on my woodpile. All I did was cut it to the right size, carved it down to fit in the wok handle piece, and oiled it down really good. I even left bark on it for a grip. The pics included turned out sort of weird, the finish looks better in person but the flash made it look odd. The finish is really black on the bottom, but it's hard to explain, it's like varnish looking from the oils used in cooking. It is cleaned after use with a bamboo brush and boiling water in it, drying over heat, then applying oil with a rag/paper towel. It's like cast iron where you don't want to soap it. It has been in the cabinet for a few months, so it has some grime on it, it gets cleaned before use again.
I hope you guys give this a try, it's so much fun you won't believe it. There is a ton of recipes and resources online also.
