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For some reason, even the largest burner on my stove does not get hot enough to keep a wok cooking properly. I think possibly the grates are too high above the flame. I don’t like this stove much, but I bought it used, so I can’t do much about it. Anyway, does
anyone have any suggestions for an auxiliary burner that I could try? I noticed in Misen’s video they have a separate burner they use for the wok demo.
NOTE that that store is for restaurants, so some of those will be very high wattage and/or might be 220V. If you order one make sure it will work in your house.
I’ve got one of these portable butane burners and am very happy with it. Even though I’ve never used it with a wok, I think this would work well. It’s 15,000 BTU’s. BradNorthGA has one also, maybe he’s used it with a wok and can comment.
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Are you setting it on the burner or are you using the ring designed to hold the wok after you are finished cooking. Once I quit using the ring to cook my wok got plenty hot and sustained the heat. I cook on a gas stove.
If we are talking indoors, one of the butane powered burners like Panhead John posted above would be ideal. I wouldn’t recommend an induction burner - I think wok cooking benefits from an actual flame.
If we are talking outdoors, I think any outdoor propane burner such as a cheap turkey fryer burner or patio burner would be great. I have two standalone patio cookers with 65,000 btu banjo burners, and another 2 burner patio cart that has a 65,000 btu banjo style burner, and a 105,000 btu jet burner. I imagine for a regular wok 30,000 btu will be plenty. I’ve got stuff from Bayou Classic and King Kooker I think. Camp Chef makes some excellent outdoor stoves as well.
Have you checked to see if your burners are adjusted properly? The gas and air flows on some models are adjustable and can give you more output if adjusted properly. My gas company will do that when they install a new range.
A normal kitchen stove, either gas or electric does not come anywhere close to providing the btu's necessary for "real" wok cooking. Most home stove burners max out in the 20k btu range whereas "real" wok burners throw out 5X (or more) that amount.
Those portable butane burners are very handy but they don't put out any more heat than your normal stove burner. I've not seen any of those that put out more than about 18K btu's. Same with an induction burner.
That said, a billion plus people on the planet use woks daily without using a "real" wok burner. There are a wide range of wok recipes/uses/styles that don't really require afterburner level heat.
If you are using a gas or electric home stove with a round bottom wok and wok ring - don't. Get a flat bottom wok and do away with the ring. One trick with using that setup is that due to the lesser amount of btu's you'll just need to cook in smaller batches to ensure that you don't end up steaming rather than "scorching".
I suggest watching some of the many videos out there (and there are a lot of good youtube channels for wokking) that show techniques using a wok on a normal stove/burner. A home stove can get your wok literally oil smoking hot but you just need to think smaller batches.
My old stove was better. Perhaps I do need a flow adjustment. With my old stove I could at least keep small batches from steaming instead of frying. You are correct about home stoves though. Not nearly enough BTU output.
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There was a little mention of cooking with a wok on the pod cast. Just thought I’d toss in my 1 & a 1/2 cents into the fray. Cast Iron was mentioned, it is not good for Chinese
I think Polarbear777 hit the nail on the head - that Wonder Wok webpage is right on, that you just won't achieve the BTU's and flame level needed for "proper" wok cooking on a normal residential stove. You would need a high output burner, special ventilation and probably a sprinkler system to cover emergencies, like in a commercial kitchen. The next best thing is one of these outdoor burners. I think almost ANY outdoor burner of 60,000 BTU's or higher will do it. I'm going to have to take my wok outside and give it a whirl some time, as I have been disappointed at even my ability to maintain my initial oven-applied seasoning on a standard gas cooktop, with burners that are probably topping out at 12-15,000 BTU's.
Of course, if I am outside, I've got a 900 square inch flattop for the stir fries... so I am not thinking about the wok when out back...
That is the dilemma really. I bought my carbon steel wok to cook on in the winter when I don't feel like going outside, and we had quite a few nice winter stir fries using the wok. I just feel they could have been better with more heat.
I did a search and the gas powered wok burners I found for commercial kitchen use are all 95,000 BTU's or more! You aren't installing one of those in your house for sure...
Yikes! I feel like it’s a combination of my stove, and the Misen wok I just got. It is a bit thicker than my old one, and I think that for this reason it may have trouble staying hot. I can get it hot, it’s staying hot, even with small batches that is the problem.
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