Electric Wok?

[DavoRulz]

Hey all

Living in rental houses, essentially negates my ability to get a gas burner stove around here. I used to be able to make good stir fries on my mum's gas cooktop with a good wok, but I just can't get anything to cook well on an electric stove. Basically I get it to burn and stick at the bottom and not cook up top, just can't get an even heat in the wok.

Is using an electric wok better than a wok on an electric stove? My understanding is that the elec. woks have elements up the sides of them too. Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[strongbad]

i've got an electric frypan, it's pretty good. it's a breville one thats dishwasher safe. it has thing that you plug into the side of it, goes up to 2200w. its non stick and looks like a banquet dish with a glass lid. paid about 70 bucks for it, best piece of cooking equipment ever!

the greatest thing about it is that its a pot, frypan, etc. has a setting which keeps your food warm too. i've made spag bol with nothing but this thing, does the pasta, does the meat sauce too.

http://breville.com.au/products_detail.asp?prod=470 <-- thats the one i have, it says rrp 99.95 but it was on special at the good guys for about 65

[BobsYourUncle]

I've got a sunbeam electric wok, one of the extra large ones (something like 7.5 or 8 L, as seen in my iron chef entry). I used to have a smaller sunbeam one, but the non-stick coatings don't last forever. This new bigger one is better - it's got the same heat capacity, but the heat spreads out much more evenly, all the way up the sides.

[MR CHILLED]

Originally Posted by BobsYourUncle

I've got a sunbeam electric wok, one of the extra large ones (something like 7.5 or 8 L, as seen in my iron chef entry).

I have the same one but perhaps an updated model. It is absolutely fantastic, heats up super hot incredibly quickly and heats up the sides too.

[SyN]

to me electric wok is as bad as an electric car
wouldnt go near one to be honest

[MR CHILLED]

Originally Posted by SyN

to me electric wok is as bad as an electric car
wouldnt go near one to be honest

For what reason(s)?

[bl4ck32]

Originally Posted by MR CHILLED

For what reason(s)?

they dont stir fry in the traditional sense, but they do have their place...

[DavoRulz]

I would imagine it's a bit difficult to throw food around in an electric wok

That being said, it's gotta be better than the shit wok on shitty little electric element at the moment - I can make some nice stuff in the setup I have now, it just takes more effort than it should and usually results in a burnt layer stuck to the tiny little circle at the bottom of the wok because it's a shit wok heh.

[Pablo_H]

Originally Posted by SyN

to me electric wok is as bad as an electric car
wouldnt go near one to be honest

I don't use one either because I have a decent wok and a 900mm gas oven with a wok burner.
But electric woks are better than trying to use a wok on an electric stove, or even a gas oven that doesn't have a large wok burner.

[sir_trancelot]

Originally Posted by SyN

to me electric wok is as bad as an electric car
wouldnt go near one to be honest

they work well for doing steamboat

[Dave2972]

You can buy gas wok burners from BBQ/camping supply shops, hook up a hose and regulator to a gas bottle to get that wok red hot for that favorite seared frying style. Or you can turn it down a bit.

Word of warning though, they get hot, hot enough to burn what it sits on after a while of constant use so at least sit it on an old wooden cutting board or a large ceramic tile, etc. Its not from the flames from the top of the burner but the whole unit heats up enough to melt plastic or even char a wooden cutting board that has been sitting under the burner, i.e. through contact with the burner's feet.

The good ones are usually cast iron and have interchangeable gas jets and a gas tap for regulating the heat and can be free standing, i.e. not have to mount in a BBQ unit and use the unit's gas tap/dial like a normal BBQ burner.

There are various burner sizes, from small to large ring single burners, and then the double and triple ring burner models for large woks.

So hunt around and check out the range and if you are serious, you will need at least a 9kg gas bottle for your burner if you want to do more than a couple of cooking sessions, depending on your heat requirements. You could be using a kilo of gas per session if you cook multiple dishes. As usual, YMMV.

I've used electric woks, and they just don't get hot enough to do a stir fry in one or two batches for a meal for 4 or more but they can do an OK fried rice. Pretty much forget about smoking type dishes on the electric wok.

[SyN]

yes sorry let me clarify
i wont use them to cook asian dishes like i would on a wok.
they could be ok for steamboat/pasta/other stuff

but not stir fry. stir fry needs to be done on a gas stove, on as much flame as you can get from it. wok needs to be VERY high temperature to get good texture/crispiness/consistency

[jesh]

When our kitchen was being renovated (for like 6 months ) we used a little butane camp stove for all our cooking. Brilliant for stirfries cause it's portable and really hot!

[CyC-EM]

What electric woks are good at and what i use mine for is slow simmer stuff
Curries and mince dishes

I will simmer cook meals for a couple of hours on the low setting and cooks perfectly.

I have never turned my wok up to high because I do not trust the non stick stuff to handle the temp it can get to and belive me the breville wok can get hot very quickly. we have used the older one to cook chips in once we no longer cared about the coating.

[Willybomb]

Mine barely cooks anything with any speed on the highest setting. We've used it all of once...