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Wok Wikipedia

Image:Wok.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A wok on an electric stove
The wok (from the Standard Cantonese|Cantonese pronunciation wok6 of Chinese language|Chinese 镬, pinyin hu?) is a versatile cooking utensil used especially in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

In Indonesia the wok is known as a wadjang, while in Malaysia it is also known as a kwali.

It is a round-bottomed pan that ranges from 30 cm to a meter or more in diameter.
Almost every Chinese family owns one. It is most often used for stir frying, but can also be used many other ways, such as in steaming and deep frying or to make soup. One advantage of woks is that the shape produces a small, hot area at the bottom while using relatively little fuel.

Woks are also sold in western countries, where they tend to be given flat bottoms and nonstick coatings. This makes them more similar to a deep frying pan than a true wok. However, the flat bottoms mean that they can be used on an electric cooker. Woks with curved bottoms normally come with metal rings to stabilize them on a gas stove. When such a wok is used on an electric stove, the ring should normally be placed upside-down so that the wok is in contact with the burner.

In a joke sport introduced by the German comedian Stefan Raab, woks are used to carry people down a bobsleigh track. In November 2003 the Wok Racing|first "official" championship was held in Winterberg, Germany.

Seasoning
Carbon steel woks need to be seasoned before use. This is somewhat different from seasoning cast iron, but it is for the same purpose -- to provide a nonstick coating and prevent rust from forming on the cooking surface. The exact procedure for this is something of an art, but in a nutshell:

• You will need a gas stove or some source of intense heat. An electric burner is probably not sufficient, but you might have some success. Sturdy leather gloves also might be handy: You will be dealing with very hot metal.

• Don't do this to anything other than a carbon steel wok, or you will likely ruin your wok. If your wok has not got a black nonstick coating, is somewhat bluish in color except for some rust spots, is completely unlabeled, and you got it for a low price at an Asian market, it's probably a carbon steel wok.

• You will need a well ventilated area, as you will be generating lots of smoke.

• Remove any protective oil coating from the cooking surface with steel wool or a scouring pad. Make sure you have it perfectly clean. Dry it off, or rust will form almost immediately.

• Wipe the inner surface of the wok with a cooking oil that smokes at high temperatures, such as peanut oil. Keep the surface coated at all times while seasoning the wok, but do not allow puddles of oil to form. If you do, you will end up with a gummy substance and you will have to clean it off and start over. Keep a cellulose sponge or folded paper towel handy to wipe the oil around.

• Starting with the edges, keep a hot flame beneath one point of the wok at a time. When the oil starts to smoke and changes color to a shiny dark yellow, turn the pan a little and work on a new spot. You can keep building up layers this way, but make sure you've coated the whole wok before you do more layers. It is probably unnecessary to do more than three.

• You should end up with an even, shiny, dark yellowish-brown coating all over the inside of your wok. Let it cool and rinse it off, and it is ready to cook on. If you get streaks in the coating, your oil may have been too thick or you didn't remove all the original oil coating. Scrub that area clean with steel wool and season it again.

Care
Rinse your wok clean after every use, and put it away dry. Use soap sparingly to avoid removing the seasoning. Over time, as you use your wok, you may build up a black, burned area at the bottom. This is considered desirable. Supposedly, it adds flavor to food you cook in the wok.

Last Modified:   2005-02-26