Woking on the Small

Fred19Flintstone · November 2012

I really want to start woking. For my large, I'll give Santa an opportunity to get a spider, AR (I know, not needed to wok, but why not go all the way?) and wok from CGS. I decided I could get away with buying the small woo for my small and I hope Fed-Ex gets it to me real soon! In the mean time, I have no idea what size wok I should get for the small (CGS doesn't offer one), where to get it and what else I would need. Is the woo all I need for the wok? Any set-up advice would be appreciated. I read a wok thread recently and the concensus was to go to an asian market for a wok. Well, they haven't been invented here yet so I'm left with on-line ordering. Thanks for your advice.

Little Steven · November 2012

I would think the ideal would be something larger than the interior diameter of the small. It would stop the heat from running away. Mickey woks on a mini. He might have something intelligent to add....for once

nolaegghead · November 2012

I feel like a party pooper saying it, but the propane cookers (that come with turkey fryers, crawfish boilers, etc) are a superior heat source for wok cooking over the egg. I'm going to use the best tool for the job, and those heat up in 15 seconds, change temp in 5 seconds and get much hotter than using an egg as a heat source. And I bought mine for $17. (not including the propane tank, already have a bunch of them). Plus, you can't use your egg for other stuff if you're using it for a wok. You could be smoking rice!

Botch · November 2012

I do all my wokking on my Small, with a woo and a 12" cast-iron wok from the Wok Shop. With this setup, you need to pile the lump fairly high to get the heat close to the wok (folks who wok on their Large often invert their woo, and use a wok with loop handles so it fits inside; I don't want to go that route).

That being said, I'm interested in the $17 propane burner that Nola mentions; no wait time for the lump to light and wok cooking generally doesn't pick up much, if any, smoke flavor. Got a link, nolaegghead?

I've looked for an indoor stovetop that has an integral wok ring with high-temp burner; I've only seen one (on Amazon) and it cost 1/3 the price of my entire house!!!

nolaegghead · November 2012

Botch said:

I do all my wokking on my Small, with a woo and a 12" cast-iron wok from the Wok Shop. With this setup, you need to pile the lump fairly high to get the heat close to the wok (folks who wok on their Large often invert their woo, and use a wok with loop handles so it fits inside; I don't want to go that route).
That being said, I'm interested in the $17 propane burner that Nola mentions; no wait time for the lump to light and wok cooking generally doesn't pick up much, if any, smoke flavor. Got a link, nolaegghead?
I've looked for an indoor stovetop that has an integral wok ring with high-temp burner; I've only seen one (on Amazon) and it cost 1/3 the price of my entire house!!!

I bought mine at Academy. Last I checked, they were about $28. Still, not a bad price, 'specially if you got a propane tank. Comes with a regulator.

R2Egg2Q · November 2012

Fred - If you got the Woo with handes I think the handles could prevent you from using a 12" wok. I have a 12" carbon steel round bottom wok with metal handles from The Wok Shop that fits well with my Woo which does Not have handles:
http://wokshop.stores.yahoo.net/wok2steelhan.html

I haven't tried the 12" just on the fire ring (without the Woo) yet but in this post: http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1141359/wok-size-advice Richard Fl shows pics of it & other Wok configurations and a 14" wok on a Small.

Focker · November 2012

Fred,

I use this hand hammered 12" carbon steel wood handled pao wok from The Wok Shop. Standard setup, sits right down on the grate.

http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/woks/wok-our-hand-hammered.html

Fred19Flintstone · November 2012

It looks like the small needs a 12" wok. I bought a stock woo, so it will have handles. Looks like I'll have to figure it out when it gets delivered. As far as the large goes, I have a little bit of time to decide on either using the Egg or a propane cooker. Thanks for all the responses!

Solson005 · November 2012

II just got a spider for my large and am really liking using it with my 35 year old carbon steel wok.

For my small I have a woo and ordered a 12 inch wok from the Wok Shop, it will be delivered early next week. I am curious about the handles on my woo which may get cut off..

Something I may be adding to the Christmas list is this.

Tao Charcoal burner imported from Thailand.

They also sell a propane burner that gets up to 100,00 BTU where you can boil water almost instantly its $175 so it is quite a bit more than a turkey fryer one. But it is used by millions of chefs in Thailand.

The website has some good videos about street vendors in Thailand and it is where I got my Granite Mortar and Pestle years ago.

Austin Egghead · November 2012

Thanks for the link. Just found a few item that will shrink my wallet :-j

Woking on the Small

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