The Joy of Woking

Woot!
 
You'll love that set-up. The ring aerates also so you get a nice high even flame like in restaurants. Good call on that set-up, much better than flat-bottom for gas.
 
Well, I was so excited for the CS wok to come in, that I couldn't help making some stir fry today.  I used the big heavy cast iron wok that I purchased quite a while back -- I didn't manage to take any pics of the actual cooking process... Once I start in, I don't have much time to mess around.  I usually have everything in a line and just start dumping ingredients.  This particular meal included the following:
 
[Roughly in the order added]
Peanut Oil
Minced Garlic [from my dad's garden.. yum!]
Chili Paste
Bamboo shoots
Carrots
Broccoli
Shredded Broccoli
Pea Pods
Sesame Seed Oil
 
Then I topped it off with soy sauce and Sriracha.
 
I even managed to set off my smoke detector making this one.  :-P
 
Vkvzbc5.jpg
 
Did you blanch the broccoli first? I've seen in Chinese cooking they do that in a separate wok.
 
Nice dish. Love bamboo shoots!
 
No rice?
 
The Hot Pepper said:
Did you blanch the broccoli first? I've seen in Chinese cooking they do that in a separate wok.
 
Nice dish. Love bamboo shoots!
 
No rice?
 
I didn't do rice today... usually, I try to prepare the rice a day in advance so that it can sit in the fridge overnight.  It always seems to cook up better that way.  This was more of a spur of the moment thing.  :)  I have never tried blanching the broccoli... I will have to give that a shot next time.  My carbon steel wok should be in Wednesday, according to Amazon.  I am sure there will be more pics to come. 
 
A couple videos back, Yan Can Cook, beef w/broccoli, he was blanching first because everything else cooked in a couple minutes in the hot wok. Makes sense. 

Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idGvS0pKiC4
 
Jeff H said:
Did someone say new gadget?
 
Wife got this for me for Christmas:
 
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Now to get nice heat marks on it and a few layers of seasoning before I test it out.
 
Cooking on induction though so I don't know if I can get the heat discoloring anywhere but around the bottom. I'll just have to try and see.

Using coconut oil by the way. It has the highest smoke point and seems like the slickest oil I have used.
 
Drink!
 
Letterman kind of came off as a jerk in this clip.  But, Yan is entertaining as usual:
 
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9-vxC0YqFg[/youtube]
 
Well, my CS wok arrived.  I just completed the seasoning, and made my first stir fry in it.  Here is the process I used for seasoning:
 
I filled the wok up about 2/3 with water, and brought it to a boil.
 
I then scrubbed the heck out of it with warm soapy water and steel wool to remove the manufacturers coating.
 
I heated it up on the stove, rotating to heat all sides until it turned to a kind of brownish color.
 
Wiped the whole thing down [top and bottom] with peanut oil, then let it cool before wiping off the excess oil.
 
I repeated the heating and oiling 3 times.
 
Then I threw in about 1 Tbsp of peanut oil and and half of an onion, and stir fried it until the onion chunks were black, while rubbing the chunks all over the surface of the wok.
 
After that, I washed it out with water, and proceeded to make an actual meal.
 
I made a couple of rookie mistakes though.  I am used to the heat retention of cast iron, so I managed to overload the wok when I started cooking.  I also forgot to turn the burner back up to high before adding the bulk of the vegetables.  I was able to increase the heat, and move the veggies up onto the side of the wok, which quickly heated the bottom portion... after that, it was smooth sailing.  Never lost the sizzle.  All in all, I am pretty happy with the purchase.  I just need a little more practice with it.  It is much easier to toss the food in the carbon steel wok.  My CI wok probably weighs about 15 pounds... where this one comes in at about 3 pounds.  :)
 
Here is a pic after seasoning, and first stir fry:
 
vjOkedc.jpg
 
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