Spec me a new wok and frying pan

Soldato
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Hi all,

After a new wok, in Lakeland they have a 30cm tri-ply with lid for £69.99. Seems quite nice, but for that money, there must be a lot of other choices?
They make a frying pan in that range too. Frying pan needs to be able to go under the grill.
 
Associate
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What heat source will you be cooking on? If gas you can't really go too wrong with a carbon steel wok from the asian supermarkets for about £15. They take bit more looking after and some initial preparation to season but should well outlast any coated pan. Just keep soap away from them are you are good to last years.
 
Soldato
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Will be on gas. Not sure what I have now, other than its black. It has an annoying hot spot I think and food burns and stick badly to this area.
How do our clean the carbon steel ones without soap?
 
Permabanned
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Hi all,

After a new wok, in Lakeland they have a 30cm tri-ply with lid for £69.99. Seems quite nice, but for that money, there must be a lot of other choices?
They make a frying pan in that range too. Frying pan needs to be able to go under the grill.

For a wok I would go for a carbon steel "London Wok".

Plenty of videos on youtube on how to use and season etc.
 
Soldato
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Carbon steel wok for sure. Buy a decent (long) metal spatula and ladle-thing too, though. Using shorter/normal plastic utensils is pretty painful as you end up with your hand in the wok :p
 
Soldato
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I'd second the carbon steel suggestion. They're marginally more work but there's no non-stick coating to wear off so will outlast a significantly more expensive non-stick pan while working better.

Non-stick in a wok seems a bit incongruous anyway as the coating will wear off more quickly under high heat conditions (i.e. stir fry cooking).
 
Soldato
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Though make sure you read up on proper use and care of a cast iron skillet if you go down that route

Also if buying a pre-seasoned pan, still season it yourself once you get it.

Great article hear by Kenji from SE on Cast Iron pans:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/06/how-to-buy-season-clean-maintain-cast-iron-pans.html
 
Soldato
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I'd second the carbon steel suggestion. They're marginally more work but there's no non-stick coating to wear off so will outlast a significantly more expensive non-stick pan while working better
Although you have to put the time in at the beginning to season it properly (burning on the oil etc.) I'd argue it's actually less work. Afterall if you're generally stir frying similar base flavours (ginger etc.) it's no issue if it's not cleaned 100%. Obviously you want it clean, but you don't want to scrape off the patina so a quick rub with hot water is all I do. Takes 30secs.

That said, I suppose I do re-oil it after washing, to combat rust. So maybe I've just proved myself wrong :p
 
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Don
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Also if buying a pre-seasoned pan, still season it yourself once you get it.

Great article hear by Kenji from SE on Cast Iron pans:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/06/how-to-buy-season-clean-maintain-cast-iron-pans.html


Mine got to the stage of cooking eggs without sticking and then my missus cooked with tinned tomatoes and stripped it all back. By the time I got to it it was rusting on the draining board :(

It's nearly there again and she's had a dress down and her marks for the week knocked down.

I love mine and it's definitely better than eating off Teflon
 
Soldato
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From reading that link it looks like I have scalling on mine. Perhaps I should season it, as I've never done this. Stop washing it with soap and dishwasher and perhaps it's will be OK.

Should you not clean frying pans as well with soap? Treat them like a wok?
 
Soldato
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Blimey, What a palaver. :p Why don't you just go and buy some from Ikea at a reasonable price. My 365+ wok and frying pan are very nice. I've used the wok more than the frying pan, but it's way outlasted other woks I've had.

image.jpg
 
Soldato
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Will be on gas. Not sure what I have now, other than its black. It has an annoying hot spot I think and food burns and stick badly to this area.
How do our clean the carbon steel ones without soap?

Bamboo brushes or a general dish brush, and hot water. I sometimes use soap, but only a very small amount just enough to degrease it, and it's not taken the layer of seasoning off my wok.

But mostly you won't need to use soap, a properly seasoned wok is naturally non stick, so a good brush with hot water is enough.
 
Soldato
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Blimey, What a palaver. :p Why don't you just go and buy some from Ikea at a reasonable price. My 365+ wok and frying pan are very nice. I've used the wok more than the frying pan, but it's way outlasted other woks I've had.

image.jpg

Teflon woks just aren't good at being actual woks. A seasoned wok's coating is a better nonstick surface than a Teflon coated one.
 
Soldato
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+1 carbon steel wok should be a wok for life (if handle is well made/stuck)
easy clean hot water, scrube,wipe-out
Run at high 250C + temps with metal implements that will kill non-stick, will also get browning/caramelisation if you want it.
Used a cast iron creuset one for 25years, takes longer to get the (gas) heat into it , but does not move on the hob, so can use one-handed adding ingrediants with other.
 
Associate
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I picked up a non-stick Carbon steel wok from The Range a couple days ago. Not as authentic as seasoning one up yourself, but it's a lot less effort involved. Plus, wok's are a lot harder to get an even seasoning on as they generally have a wooden handle so you can't put them in the oven!
 
Soldato
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Carbon Steel Wok for <£15 as others have said. I got one, really easy to season with the aid of YouTube.

As for the frying pan, I got some Russell Hobs carbon steel ones from Morrison's for ~£15. Again seasoned they work really well, but if you want non stick then I'd look at the Circulon Infinite twin pack for about £60 on Amazon usually.

(To be honest I'd recommend having both).
 
Soldato
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I've never really understood the differences between a frying pan and a wok other than one tends to be deeper than the other. Both cook food in the same way though.
Most home cooks probably use them in a similar way yes. In laymans terms if I'm doing a pad thai it gets done in the wok because trying to stir prawns, noodles, beansprouts etc. for two people even in my largest frying pan ends up with most of it all over the cooker :) There is more to cooking with a wok than size when it comes to the professionals though - the wok burners are crazy-hot, you get wok hei if you're doing it right. The centre of the wok should remain very hot and chefs push food around to different areas for different cooking temperatures. Woks are also used for steaming, are better for sauce in some respects as they're deeper. Etc etc..

One could argue that most home cooks will never get a carbon steel wok hot enough at home due to limited power of their gas burner, but in my opinion it's much more fun clattering around with the metal wok and metal utensils and doing it properly than having to be careful with plastic spatulas etc. in a non-stick wok that you'll probably eventually ruin :)
 
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