Wok
A wok is a deep round-bottomed cooking pan of Chinese origin. It is believed to be derived from the South Asian karahi. It is common in Greater China, and similar pans are found in parts of East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as being popular in other parts of the world.
Woks are used in a range of Chinese cooking techniques, including stir frying, steaming, pan frying, deep frying, poaching, boiling, braising, searing, stewing, making soup, smoking and roasting nuts. Wok cooking is often done with utensils called or whose long handles protect cooks from high heat. The uniqueness of wok cooking includes the Cantonese tradition of wok hei, "breath of the wok".
History
The origin of the wok is unclear, but most scholars believe it originated from the karahi, as well as the Southeast Asian kuali. These cooking vessels are universal in South and Southeast Asian cuisine for stewing and quick evaporation. They likely entered China via Central Asia from India where it evolved into the wok.In his 1988 book The Food of China, E.N. Anderson writes:
The first possible depictions of woks in China appeared in the Han dynasty. But these are conjectural, since these "woks" were made of clay and were only used to dry grains. Metal woks only started to appear in China in the Ming dynasty, where it was first used for stir frying.
Characteristics
The wok's most distinguishing feature is its shape. Classic woks have a rounded bottom. Hand-hammered woks are sometimes flipped inside out after being shaped, giving the wok a gentle flare to the edge that makes it easier to push food up onto the sides of the wok. Woks sold in Western countries are sometimes found with flat bottoms—this makes them more similar to a deep frying pan. The flat bottom allows the wok to be used on an electric stove, where a rounded wok would not be able to fully contact the stove's heating element. A round-bottom wok enables the traditional round spatula or ladle to pick all the food up at the bottom of the wok and toss it around easily; this is difficult with a flat bottom. With a gas hob, or traditional pit stove, the bottom of a round wok can get hotter than a flat wok and so is better for stir frying.Most woks range from or more in diameter. Woks of are the most common, but home woks can be found as small as and as large as. Smaller woks are typically used for quick cooking techniques at high heat such as stir frying. Large woks over a meter wide are mainly used by restaurants or community kitchens for cooking rice or soup, or for boiling water.
Materials
The most common materials used in making woks today are carbon steel and cast iron. Although the latter was the most common type used in the past, cooks tend to be divided on whether carbon steel or cast iron woks are superior.Carbon steel
Currently, carbon steel is the most widely used material, being relatively inexpensive compared with other materials, relatively light in weight, providing quick heat conduction as it has a low specific heat capacity, and having reasonable durability. Their light weight makes them easier to lift and quicker to heat. Carbon steel woks, however, tend to be more difficult to season than those made of cast-iron. Carbon steel woks vary widely in price, style, and quality, which is based on ply and forming technique. The lowest quality steel woks tend to be stamped by machine from a single 'ply' or piece of stamped steel. Less expensive woks have a higher tendency to deform and misshape. Cooking with lower quality woks is also more difficult and precarious since they often have a "hot spot". Higher quality, mass-produced woks are made of heavy gauge steel, and are either machine-hammered or made of spun steel. The best quality woks are almost always hand-made, being pounded into shape by hand from two or more sheets of carbon steel which are shaped into final form by a ring-forming or hand-forging process.Cast iron
Two types of cast iron woks can be found in the market. Chinese-made cast iron woks are very thin, weighing only a little more than a carbon steel wok of similar size, while cast iron woks typically produced in the West tend to be much thicker, and very heavy. Because of the thickness of the cast iron, Western-style cast iron woks take much longer to bring up to cooking temperature, and their weight also makes stir-frying and techniques difficult.Cast iron woks form a more stable carbonized layer of seasoning which makes it less prone to food sticking on the pan. While cast iron woks are superior to carbon steel woks in heat retention and uniform heat distribution, they respond slowly to heat adjustments and are slow to cool once taken off the fire. Because of this, food cooked in a cast-iron wok must be promptly removed from the wok as soon as it is done to prevent overcooking. Chinese-style cast iron woks, although relatively light, are fragile and are prone to shattering if dropped or mishandled.
Non-stick
Steel woks coated with non-stick coatings such as PFA and Teflon, a development originated in Western countries, are now popular in Asia as well. These woks cannot be used with metal utensils, and foods cooked in non-stick woks tend to retain juices instead of browning in the pan. As they necessarily lack the carbonizing or seasoning of the classic steel or iron wok, non-stick woks do not impart the distinctive taste or sensation of. The newest nonstick coatings will withstand temperatures of up to, sufficient for stir-frying. Woks are also now being introduced with clad or five-layer construction, which sandwich a thick layer of aluminum or copper between two sheets of stainless steel. Clad woks can cost five to ten times the price of a traditional carbon steel or cast-iron wok, yet cook no better; for this reason they are not used in most professional restaurant kitchens. Clad woks are also slower to heat than traditional woks and not nearly as efficient for stir-frying.Aluminium
Woks can also be made from aluminium. Although an excellent conductor of heat, it has somewhat inferior thermal capacity to cast iron or carbon steel, it loses heat to convection much faster than carbon steel, and it may be constructed much thinner than cast iron. Although anodized aluminium alloys can stand up to constant use, plain aluminium woks are too soft and damage easily. Aluminium is mostly used for wok lids.Handles
The handles for woks come in two styles: loops and stick. Loop handles mounted on opposite sides of the wok are typical in southern China. The twin small loop handles are the most common handle type for woks of all types and materials, and are usually made of bare metal. Cooks needing to hold the wok to toss the food in cooking do so by holding a loop handle with a thick towel. Cooking with the tossing action in loop-handled woks requires a large amount of hand, arm and wrist strength. Loop handles typically come in pairs on the wok and are riveted, welded or extended from the wok basin.Stick handles are long, made of steel, and are usually welded or riveted to the wok basin, or are an actual direct extension of the metal of the basin. Stick handles are popular in northern China, where food in the wok is frequently turned with a tossing motion of the arm and wrist when stir-frying food. The classic stick handle is made of hollow hammered steel, but other materials may be used, including wood or plastic-covered hand grips. Because of their popularity in northern China, stick-handled woks are often referred to as "pao woks" or "Peking pans". Stick handles are normally not found on cast-iron woks since the wok is either too heavy for the handle or the metal is too thin to handle the tensile stress exerted by the handle. Larger-diameter woks with stick-type handles frequently incorporate a "helper" handle consisting of a loop on the opposite side of the wok, which aids in handling.
Cooking
The wok can be used in a large number of cooking methods. Before the introduction of Western cookware, it was often used for all cooking techniques including:- Boiling: For boiling water, soups, dumplings, or rice. In the latter case, guoba often forms.
- Braising: Braised dishes are commonly made using woks. Braising is useful when reducing sauces.
- Deep frying: This is usually accomplished with larger woks to reduce splashing, but for deep frying of less food or small food items, small woks are also used.
- Pan frying: Food that is fried using a small amount of oil in the bottom of a pan
- Roasting: Food may be cooked with dry heat in an enclosed pan with lid. Whole chestnuts are dry roasted by tossing them in a dry wok with several pounds of small stones.
- Searing: Food is browned on its outer surfaces through the application of high heat
- Smoking: Food can be hot smoked by putting the smoking material in the bottom of the wok while food is placed on a rack above.
- Steaming: Done using a dedicated wok for boiling water in combination with steaming baskets
- Stewing: Woks are sometimes used for stewing though it is more common in Chinese cuisines to use either stoneware or porcelain for such purposes, especially when longer stewing times are required. Small woks are for hot pot, particularly in Hainan cuisine. These are served at the table over a sterno flame.
- Stir frying: Frying food quickly in a small amount of oil over high heat while stirring continuously.
Wok hei
To impart the traditional way, the food is cooked in a seasoned wok over a high flame while being stirred and tossed quickly. Constant contact with the heat source is crucial as the addition of new ingredients and each toss of the wok inevitably cools the wok down; therefore, cooking over flame is preferred. Consequently, many chefs may cook in small batches to overcome this problem so that the wok is still as hot as it can be, and to avoid "stewing" the food, instead. When cooking over gas stoves or open flame, it additionally allows for the splattering of fine oil particles to catch the flame into the wok; this is easily achieved when experienced chefs toss the wok and can be a demonstration of experience. For these reasons, cooking over an open flame is preferable to other types of stoves. Cooking with coated woks notably will not give the distinct taste of, which is partially imbued from previous cooking sessions. In practical terms, the flavor imparted by chemical compounds results from caramelization, Maillard reactions, and the partial combustion of oil that come from charring and searing of the food at very high heat in excess of. Aside from flavor, the texture of the cooked items and smell involved also describe.
In Hong Kong, wok hei is traditionally street food, cooked in open-air dai pai dongs over a very hot kerosene flame. Due to government regulations, the number of such stalls has been reduced from hundreds to about 20 in 2024.