If you are cooking for one or two, I say use a big frying pan or saute pan. Sloping sided pans work best. If you are cooking for more than just two, a dutch oven or small stockpot will work in a pinch. Most of all, you want a large pan even for just a small amount of food so you can stir it up without it leaving the pan.

Do not use cast iron! All Clad would be better, but be aware that the veggies and meat can get stuck in that no-man's land between the side and the bottom, keep the food moving! Stir fry cooking is all about high heat from your burner or cook top.

Here is a link to my stir fry techniques on the Forum FAQ page under cooking techniques:

Here is a link that might be useful: Stir Fry Cooking

Thanks, Teresa.

I just realized that after over 2 years I still don't have a big frying pan. Why did it take me so long to notice? Anyway, back on topic, why not cast iron?

I'm wondering about that myself, since my wok is cast iron. (It's one of my favorite pans BTW.) I used it just this evening, and it sears beautifully.

How powerful is your induction burner?

I don't know how powerful it is--it was here when we moved in and was manufactured in 1983. So it's probably wimpy, unless new safety regulations have made the new ones wimpy. It still boils water on the high output burner PDQ though.

I think that the cast iron woks are made of a different cast iron - it's very thin compared to traditional American cast iron. It might be hard to get thick traditional cast iron up to a hot enough temperature for the best stir fry on a stove top because it has so much heat mass. But if it does get hot enough, it will probably stay hot when you dump food in.

It is convenient to dump everything into the pan, but stir fry often calls for putting the meat in to do the initial searing and then taking it out so you don't over cook it while doing the vegetables. If your stove/pan combination is a bit heat challenged, one can get better results by doing the vegetables in batches too then mixing everything together in the pan with the sauce at the end.

I think something that gets hot quickly and distributes the heat well like All Clad should work. I don't have experience with an induction stove, but I think the shape of pan called a "saute pan" or the shape like the Calphalon everyday pan (All-Clad has one named that which looks similar and would work for induction) would work well because they have a good flat bottom but higher sides to contain more ingredients than a traditional skillet. But you can use them for most skillet jobs too. For stir fry not getting stuff trapped at the edge, I think the sloped sides of the Everyday pan style might be better than the straight sides of most saute pans.

Because of its thickness and heat retention properties, cast iron might get too hot and simply overcook the stir fry dish.

It's pretty well impossible to get a pan too hot for stir fry cooking. If you have ever sat in view of the kitchen at a Chinese restraunt you would know that.
Expensive woks are the cast iron ones....Joyce Chen makes a lovely cast iron wok.
And never heat the oil in the wok....it begins to deteriorate before you can cook.
The rule is "hot wok, cold oil". Heat your wok, add your oil wait a minute or so then add the food.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: wok cooking

Thanks y'all. Of course now I'm not sure! It seems like it might be a style thing. If you like to push items to the upper sides of the wok while finishing things in the hotter bottom, cast iron might not be as good because the sides are too hot? And yet with cast iron it's not so easy to remove items that are cooked--you can scoop things out but if you're me, you can't just tilt it over a dish and scrape due to the weight (and usually the lack of long handles and a third hand).

I guess with the thinner pans I was thinking that when I add something cold, they'll cool off too fast. I still have the mentality that you wrap the pan in flame so it stays hot.

I decided the other day that what I was using wasn't working very well, and even when it does, it's not big enough to add a huge bunch of bok choy. I think I need to preheat more to avoid soupiness. And I need something tall enough to not make a mess.

So that's when I started shopping and started to realize how clueless I am!

Unless the pan melts, it would be impossible in a residential installation for a stir-fry to be too hot. Just modify your technique and instead of pushing stuff to the side, scoop it out and then put the new ingredients to brown. Use the traditional Chinese long-handled scoops to get your food out.

In a pinch, a stewpot works just fine. Don't use porcelain-clad cast iron, however - if you ever actually read the instructions given by Le Creuset and Lodge et. al., they don't recommend use of the stuff over sustained high heat. Differing thermal expansion rates can crack the porcelain coating.

When I had an electric smoothtop stove, and before I had the wok burner for my gas rangetop, I used a flat-bottomed carbon steel wok. I think that's magnetic?

I use my charcoal chimney starter, outdoors of course, with a very small amount of charcoal (1/2 quart?). I just set the wok right on the chimney starter. Talk about hot!!!

I have a cheapo wok ($19 I think), it seems just okay, are the pricier woks any better?

Thanks
Augie

Fori, I don't lift my wok to go anywhere when I'm stir-frying. Instead, I use my long handled wok scooper to dish each layer out of the wok, which rests on a platter while I cook the next. Sometimes I lift the platter to the edge of the wok while I scoop the contents into that, if the pieces are eluding me. It all goes into the wok for a final warm-up at the end, but not for very long. As I often par-boil some of my vegetables like broccoli, I use the wet paper towel they dry on to clean the wok between each layer of food I cook.

I agree that you can't get a cast iron wok too hot to cook in, although you can cook your ingredients too long so they overcook. Cooking the dish in layers keeps the wok from cooling down, and everything sears well. I personally wouldn't cook in a porcelain enameled wok if I had to worry about the coating, since hotter is better in this case.

I still have the mentality that you wrap the pan in flame so it stays hot. I agree with you completely!

Thanks for all the input. I'm not going to fry outside, Augie! :)

I passed on the LC woks, cute as they are (but they have a wok-shaped stoneware dish that's equally cute and much cheaper). Rhome, I think you're right about carbon steel! I hadn't even thought of it, yet that's so very wok-ky. And cheap enough to try on a whim...unlike that Demeyere wok I was eyeballing.

fori, If I was in your situation I'd try one of these French carbon steel fry pans.

Now why did you have to go and show me that????
How better is that than a non stick thing-ey!
(Don't need it.....nope....don't need it,,,)

Those look nice. How do you season something with a non-oven-able handle?

lindac, I won't comment on the whole non-stick business, but for people who want non-non-stick for whatever reason these are a good solution.

fori, Look at the alternative view of the pans on the web page. It's a plain steel handle. Very oven-able. (The note about tubular stainless is likely a cut-and-paste error. There are lots of them on the Chef's web site.)

--Doug

I think it has a slip off vinyl sleeve...
Linda C

But you can season pans fine on the stove top. It just takes a little more hands on. You get the pan hot and put the oil in, wipe it around. If someone needs them, I can look up the more detailed instructions.

I thought that "handle" was a bit too colorful...I couldn't load the alternate images for some reason.

I've had trouble seasoning larger pans on my cooktop, but the steel pans probably heat faster than the cast iron I've used. My cooktop shuts off (probably to prevent overheating) before the upper sides of a big iron pot get hot enough to season if it's empty. Yet if there's food in it, it performs fine.

Anyway, I tried stirfrying again last night, following everyone's instructions and did much better. Thank you for the excellent tutorial, Teresa! I still made a mess knocking veggies all over the stove and floor so I'm convinced I need a bigger pan, but it's definitely doable.