>>You are going to sell your wife?!?!>> LOL!

Personal anecdote: Back in 1974 I had just taken up wok cooking when I started dating my future DH, whose family emigrated from Hong Kong when he was 11 yrs old. I've always been proud of my cooking skills but was hesitant to try any Chinese stir-frying for them - not surprisingly!

After a few months of weekly dinners I offered to help cook the veggies. My future MIL was very proud of her new stove, a GE gas range. In those times there were no 'power burners' on everyday stoves and pro-style ranges were far in the future.

I stir-fried on her range, whose closed burners were not as good for a wok as the open burners on my apartment's classic O'Keefe & Merritt. She was impressed that I could do this "restaurant" technique, and commented, "Isn't this a nice stove? It's so much more powerful than what we had in Hong Kong!"

This family was solidly middle-class, and had lived in a lovely large 4-bedroom condo in Hong Kong. They showed me a picture of their condo kitchen: even smaller than my apartment kitchen, with one of those skinny underpowered 24" 4-burner stoves and what looked like a 9 cu.ft. refrig.

Made me look at my San Francisco apartment kitchen in a whole new light [smile].

Trevor would you mind doing the water test with a culinarian.

Hi, I just post a thread about my number for round bottom wok 13" with an open burner that I have, as well as induction hob.

• Volcano open gas burner (2.7kw+), 4min 16sec
• Outer sealed gas burner (5.5kw), 9min 57sec
• Induction with De Buyer ring (3.7kw), 2min 55sec
• Induction with Electrolux ring (3.7kw), 3min 34sec

Open burner wins, IMO.

The CC was 3mins 47sec

One issue with this boiling test is that it does not reflect the dynamics of woking. Gas burners, either open or closed, heats more area of wok than induction does. When woking, the food does not just stay at the center of the wok. I checked it on my CC, if I just smoothly swings the wok around the wok ring to partially utilize the heated side, the water will be gone in around 2 min 30 sec (the wok is still a bit hot when doing this second test. The actual time is just over 2 min. But the time will be longer if the wok is cold). This probably explains Chanop finds open burner is still better for wok even though induction heats the water faster in the test

Yes, I think the test does not tell every thing about wok cooking. One important point of the test is telling capability to transfer the heat to the middle area of the wok. For the volcano burner that I have, there is flame focusing directly to the middle of the wok, pretty much the 4" diameter area where 80ml of water pools at the bottom. The 5" sealed burner flame goes a fair bit beyond and does not transfer heat to this area of the wok as well.

I think it is important for particular style of wok cooking. For me stirfrying, I move food around a bit, use hotter middle part for searing and creating wok hei, and use cooler outer part for resting. Ingredients are add one at a time, and before adding new ingredient, I move what already are in the wok to the side, let them rest, may be add some oil while letting the middle part comes up to heat before adding new ingredient. Being able to keep the middle part hot is important for me.

Also note that for the burner that I have, the middle ring burner is only rated around 9K BTU, and outer ring sealed burner at 19K BTU, the timing difference of 4min 16sec and 9min 57sec shows the important of directed flame.

Since eshmh mentioned a bit of swirling the wok, I added swirling and my timing for volcano burner comes down to 3min 40sec, and for induction with De Buyer ring 2min 35sec.

At the moment, I prefer to wok on the gas. Just feel more at home woking on gas, and I have not found a good procedure to control heat on induction hob yet. On boost at 3.7kw, ingredients get charred easily. May be I just have to be a bit quicker through out, or do more wok toss and lifting it off the hob more often.

The drop-in Cooktek induction wok hob comes with a detached power control module with a rotary knob; power is easily controlled during cooking by rotating the knob. The hob unit has the power level display. Unfortunately, Cooktek's web page images only show the unit without the module. The module is visible in one image for drop-in flat-top, non-wok units.

I also notice a new product contestant for boiling water in minimal time (at least in a commercial setting). Cooktek now supplies a 208V, three-phase, 5 kW (44k BTU/hr equivalent) induction wok hob.

Wolf 16k btu sealed burner 8min 13sec

True the wolf has less power but that does not reflect time huge difference.

_____________________________________________________________

I ran this test on a Wolf DF-304 and the time was 5:37. Roughly two minutes slower than a 22K BS with Wok ring is to be expected mostly due to burner style.

The BS RNB is 22K so that is going to increase the BS time the OP is asking about as well.

Having said that in this case I'd still opt for the 22K BS RNB due to the fact that it's an open burner and BS offers a Wok Ring.

Question for those who do wok cooking on induction, do you have to leave the wok stationary or otherwise be very gentle?

One of the reasons we ended up with gas (open burners) was that my father, who stir fries a lot, did not think he could adjust to cooking on induction; too much wok movement and slamming going on. He claims he is too old to change ;-)

I do lift the wok up, and do wok toss, and shake with ladle and/or spatula, but I don't slam the wok back onto the ring, just put it back not feeling that I have to be gentle. When wok sits on the ring, I may jam ladle and spatula on the wok a bit to break up stuff e.g. clump of rice while doing fried rice, but nothing violent.

Thanks Chanop. He went to a demonstration a couple of years ago, but they told him just to stir and wouldn't let him pick up the wok. I remember him telling me about one youtube video on induction wok cooking where the cook would pick up the wok and toss, then the camera would cut away and the wok would be sitting back on the ring . . . ;-)

Here are a few videos on you tube for cooking with wok and induction that are bit more of Asian style: some on flat induction, wok induction, and commercial wok induction.

• https://youtu.be/PvC8hIjfCPI

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaYRkfenppE

• https://youtu.be/B-KiA_qAeNI

• https://youtu.be/BJeWEtEPU24

• https://youtu.be/gKW_OjhERzc

• https://youtu.be/SUl3Q5nDt_Y

• https://youtu.be/8SgBSNRJmSY

Thanks chanop. My father is -- flamboyant? -- in his cooking style. The commercial standalone units look interesting.

Joshua Woolls, we have a Bluestar and it stands up to a good beating from my dad.

Hi Chanop, would you say the Asko Volcano Burner is the best wok burner you can get in the Australian market at the moment?

Oaktown: The Cooktek has a metal ring at the top of the Schott Ceran glass bowl. The wok (supplied by Cooktek) rests on this ring without touching the Ceran (this is likely essential). This means that the radius of curvature of any wok one wanted to use has to be less than or equal to that of the Ceran bowl. I would not risk assuming that the ring design and its interface with the Ceran is intended to deal with wok slamming, but movement including bumping is certainly OK, and inevitable in any case.

As I noted above, power control is fast and easy. Waving around Cooktek's supplied wok one-handed will require some muscle, even empty, but there is a secondary loop handle on the opposite side from the primary extended handle that can provide additional control. I usually just leave the wok on the hob and move the contents around.

kas

@tunyendu, for a class of domestic indoor gas hob appliance, I do think that Asko Volcano burner is the best for smaller size round bottom wok. I think 12" - 13" thin carbon steel wok is probably the best for this burner, and the wok should not be overloaded too much.

I have also experimented with wok adapter on my flat induction top and the combination works quite well. So I am extrapolating that a wok induction hob like a model from AEG and V-Zug would work well. For next kitchen far in the future, I would get one myself. Local price is a bit dear. There are some grey importers that would do a great price, only risk you have is appliance break down and warrantee. Cooktek hob like Kaseki has is also available, the only trouble is to find a retailer who is willing to sell one to domestic end user.

When I bought my Cooktek, which my paperwork suggests was in late 2007, I evidently ordered it from Select Appliance, 150 W. Harris Ave., S. San Francisco, CA 94090. I believe Cooktek shipped it directly to me and billed Select Appliance. However, I'm not sure that Select Appliance still exists.

Amazon sells some, but I didn't see the 3500W wok drop-in model. A further bit of googling showed that Dvorsons carries the line (or at least a price list for it):

http://www.dvorsons.com/cooktek/cooktekinduction.html

Sorry to open up an old thread, but its quite on point and I thought posters here might have some insight.

I purchased the Bluestar Platinum (over the Capital, which I also seriously considered) largely for its wok capability with the grate removed. I'm quite happy with it, but it was mentioned above that I can perhaps get even better results with the specialized wok ring. Does anybody have any practical experience with the wok ring that they can share? Where do I get it, and how much does it cost? Thanks in advance.

Blue Star Wok Ring

I am not 100% sure but i think the link Geoffrey is only for the cooktop, again not 100% sure

@rlax52, I don't believe you'd ever use a wok ring with a Bluestar. It holds the wok properly without one.

Reviewing this resurrected thread, I note two deficiencies in my earlier responses:

Farther up the page I wrote: " This means that the radius of curvature of any wok one wanted to use [on the Cooktek hob] has to be less than or equal to that of the Ceran bowl." This was typed in error. The radius obviously has to be equal to or larger than that of the metal ring in order to rest on the ring and not touch the Ceran.

My comment at the top about a commercial wok range led to a question by Joshua Woolls related to use of a commercial range in a residential setting. Somehow I didn't respond at the time; maybe I missed it, or I assumed everyone would recognize that I was intending to point out that the Chinese restaurant range power was out of reach. Joshua's comment is generally valid, as far as I know, but might depend on particular circumstances such as kitchen construction methods. I am sure that approval by the code enforcement officer and one's insurance company would be needed in any case.

I haven't been here in years, but I was looking up dishwasher repair instructions, and saw this thread. Trevor sold me a BlueStar 10 or 12 years ago (and threw in a wok as a thank you gift). I have happily beaten that side and wok for years solid, and still get a thrill out of all that it can do.

I was doing spring cleaning, and snapped a screw holding on one of the igniters. I took it to a local machinist to have him drill it out, and he was blown away by the quality of the casting and the iron (to quote him "this ain't no f'ing fitting crap. What'd you get this? What is this, from the f'ing 50's?). The only thing thing that could make the stove better is room for another 12" in my kitchen!

Thanks, Trevor

I cook with a wok most everyday on my Blue Star Platinum, for about two years. On the whole, I find wok cooking to be the best feature of the Blue Star by far, but its not perfect.

A bit surprisingly, I find the power to be perfectly adequate for almost everything I cook. It might be true that restaurants have much more powerful burners, but they are also making restaurant sized portions and there is no way to use that sort of power in a residential setting. 25K BTUs is perfectly fine.

The major shortcoming is the lack of a proper wok skirt. If you cook on a professional wok burner, the skirt is a ring of metal on which the wok sits, holding it above the burner, but catching it at a lower point so that less of the wok is "inside" the burner. This has two very important functions.

First, it allows the wok to easily be lifted on and off the burner so that you can flip your food. In the Blue Star, the wok is fits too low in the hole, so that there is too much friction to move the wok back and forth on the horizontal plane, making it virtually impossible to flip your food, unless you are strong enough to do it vertically.

Second, the skirt blocks the flames from the handle of the wok. On the BlueStar, the flame is able to hit every part of the wok, including the handle, making it impossible to handle without serious heat protection (like a fireproof glove). I really hate this, and consider it a major issue that should be addressed.

So the range is good for wok cooking, but far from perfect. If they could design an accessory skirt so that the wok sits higher in the "hole" and blocks some of the heat from the handles. Alternatively, I could imagine that a gas outlet which narrows the flame pattern could accomplish this to some extent. If they could solve these problems, it would do much more than raising the power to make the range better for wok cooking.

Hi rlax52, have you looked into this bluestar accessory?

https://www.plessers.com/Bluestar/138901.htm

Seems like it would solve the issues you mentioned above.

catinthehat, so is the the answer to great wok cooking> Why don't they promote this little accessory? I drove to Sin City (Las Vegas) to see the BS hopefully live. Huge disappointment. They had a range but not the rangetop, nothing live. Nobody there really knew anything about the product line. Why wuld they take up valuable space and not know how to sell the product. I guess that's a marketing question. I could figure out the range would basically be the same but I really would like to see it LIVE. Woking is one of the things I really want to be able to do well.

Inga

@catinthehat thanks I’ll take a look at that. It looks like it might solve the problem of heating the handle (which would be no small improvement). Not sure it will make the wok easier to flip though as it’s still a not very smooth piece of metal that would facilitate sliding it around as a proper skirt would and has the added issue of raising the wok further (the higher it is the more strength it takes). Will definitely consider. Does anybody use this? I note it’s not on BS’s website (and pretty pricey for what it is).

@rlax52 yes it is pricey! I was actually about to purchase a couple for my range, although my range has not been installed yet. The heating of the handle you mention is an excellent excellent point. I also read that the bluestar wok ring does a really good job directing the heat towards the very center of the wok only (not the sides). When I stir fry, I like all the heat right in the middle and the sides cooler, I thought this product would be a big help. I actually have a 125k BTU portable commercial wok unit that I cook with outdoors when I have large groups over. It has a built in ring like you mentioned. It's just too much work and not necessary to use it to cook for one or two people though.

@ifoco Sorry to hear you bad experience in Vegas. Being a civil design engineer myself, it really appears to me Bluestar is an "engineer's" company run by engineers. They put out the best range on the market from a technical standpoint, but because of their focus and engineering management team, they completely miss the ball on marketing. I can 100% see how that would turn off many potential buyers, for most buyers that customer experience is subconsciously more important than the product. I personally give them a pass because of my background, and because I like the fact that the average person has no idea what bluestar is. I don't want people looking at my kitchen and thinking about the 12k $$$$ range.

catinthehat,

you're spot on. I don't see how their sales are going to grow when even the store manager didn't know much about the BS range. In fact they had a hard time figuring out where the range was. I told her your supposed to be able to wok just removing the grate. She struggled with that. I would have liked to have a wok and set it in place but I guess I won't see one live. Do plan on buying anyhow because for my purpose it seems to be the best from all the research I've done. I noticed how everyone in the place pointed out Wolf, Thermadore, Bosch and Miele. The vignettes for those brands were much nicer too. I think their name doesn't help much either "BS" :))

Inga

catinthehat,

Would you please report about your wok ring (in actual use) once your stove is installed. I would very much appreciate any information especially since I can't see/operate a range top up close and personal.

Thanks

Inga

Ifco, you should look at the capital open burner for wok cooking ,

While my wok cookung tecnique is lacking , the use of the wok grate above a 25k btu buner is impressive https://youtu.be/xgsVuzjKiCA

@catinthehat, I'll second ifoco's request for a report back on how it works for you. I'd thought that was only for ranges that did not have the removable grate.

@ifoco @opaone , of course I will report back my results. I just put one on order to test out. I will start a new thread when I have a good idea of its usage.

"it really appears to me Bluestar is an "engineer's" company run by engineers. They put out the best range on the market from a technical standpoint, but because of their focus and engineering management team, they completely miss the ball on marketing."

Not just marketing where Bluestar miss the ball. They are not cooks either. If they understood cooking and entertaining better then;

1) They'd have a better thermostatic griddle / flat-top with more even temps across the surface and a bit tighter control on the range of griddle temp. Score 1/2 for Wolf here (only 1/2 because Wolf's is still below better commercial griddles).

2) They'd offer a truly high-end option with 25k burners + griddle + good even oven (+ appealing kick plate without vents). For many people the RNB is actually a higher-end choice than their Platinum because of the thermostatic griddle and better oven.

3) They'd have designed their oven rack ladders to accommodate standard baking sheets and chaffer pans. They currently protrude about 1/8" too far.

4) They'd offer a hood liner with more front to back depth, more open aperture, and proper containment area to fill the gap between anemic and loud consumer hoods and very large and expensive but much quieter and better capturing commercial hoods (https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5161173/hood-faq)

Trevor,

I've been trying to look at the Capital open burner rangetop per your suggestion only to find myself more confused than ever. I cannot find a place to actually look at one, the only distributor listed on their web site is in Australia, not helpful to me. Many of the reviews are old and not very favorable. Also, if the high BTU burners are infact adjustable down to a simmer, why would I want a dedicated simmer burner. I really cannot find enough information to satisfy my curiosity. Can you offer any help.

Inga

Ifoco, If you can give me a call sometime I will do all I can to answer any and all your questions 978-810-4038

Sharing my wok experiences and asking for advice here: I currently have a serious outdoor wok burner and I am researching how I can get a similar set up indoors in my soon to be designed new house.

First my wok experience. For 3 years, I have been using a low end commercial wok burner that is on my patio:

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/cooking-performance-group-wok13-nat-13-natural-gas-wok-range-95-000-btu/351CPGWOKNG.html

It cost $500 plus $200 freight so it is not cheap by any means, but likely the least amount of money one can spend on a serious wok burner. And 3/4" gas line cost me a fortune to get installed. And it is a complete game changer, mostly because of the 95k BTU's it is advertised to put out. Before buying this, I tried to hack various wok arrangements but ultimately no hack came even close.

So why is it game changing? With 95k BTU, I have so much heating power, that I can cook everything a Chinese restaurant can, with absolutely no constraints. Sometimes it's too much heat and I burn fried rice when I get distracted even for a minute. Every stir fry can have crisp-tender texture and "wok hei" is easy to achieve (that's the smokiness of an intentional pan fire). I don't know what the minimum required BTU's are for achieving true wok cooking, but I do know my Viking range (15k BTU) in my kitchen even with a nice wok ring doesn't cut it whatsoever.

There are also several secondary features making a real wok burner function so well. The wok sits much, much lower than it would in a regular home kitchen. In a home kitchen (or likely any hack set up) the wok sits higher and this causes arm, shoulder and wrist fatigue very quickly. And that's why the commercial wok burners sit much, much lower and this truly makes a difference for muscle fatigue. Also, the wok ring on a commercial burner has the cut out in the rear for the hot exhaust to escape. Other wok rings may have exhaust coming out the front and that will simply burn your hand with either hot exhaust or from a searing hot wok handle.

The only downside to my outdoor set up is that every time I need to wash out the wok or get additional ingredients, I have to go back into my kitchen. This probably doubles or triples the time to make dishes and is important when I am making many dishes. In contrast, in a commercial kitchen, obviously, the rest of the kitchen is right there, but also the wok can be washed while on the wok burner allowing for very speedy turnarounds.

But some other notes. A high power wok burner is not magic. It still does take finite time to cook things. Fried rice takes surprisingly long, but if you watch you tube videos of the pros in restaurant kitchens, it takes them long too. Water does require some time to boil. Three quarts doesn't boil in seconds like one might think. As for a previous comment, that they cook larger portions in restaurants as justification for needing a smaller wok burner at home I think is incorrect. At a restaurant, the table orders many dishes (3? 4?), each of which are a certain size (think of filling up a Chinese restaurant oval dish). At home, I don't have the time to prep and cook so many dishes, so I make a much larger portion of 1 or 2 dishes usually, enough to feed a family of 4 and have left overs to pack lunch. So for such a purpose, the home kitchen shouldn't have a down-sized wok burner. Finally, the issue of oil. Chinese restaurant food is very, very oily, and the reason is that lots of oil allows for great heat conduction to quickly cook food. At home I have to choose: very oily dishes are very quick and convenient to turn around and my wife will complain, or cooking healthy with less oil requiring significantly increased cooking time. Finally, my 14" cast iron pan fits snugly into the wok burner, and that allows me to pan sear steaks to perfection.

But onto the advice I'm asking for here. Does any one have any good recommendations based on experience for an indoor wok burner? What will the home-owner's insurance or typical local building codes allow? How do you deal with flammability issues of adjacent cabinets? How can I avoid installing a fire suppression system into a home kitchen with a wok? Are there any range tops that allows me to address all of these issues easily? What's the minimum CFM required for a hood - I'm expecting to install a 1200 cfm hood regardless of wok burner or not? Do induction wok burner work as well, while sticking with commonly available 208/240V?

Thanks for your insights.

Commenting on your questions in reverse order:

(a) I do not have any experience with gas wok cooking, so even if I thought my induction wok technique was good, I couldn't compare. I can say that for quantities sufficient for several people, cooked sequentially in the induction wok and then combined and finished, my 3500W Cooktek can manage more than enough power. However, it heats a ring area of the wok so the very bottom (4-inch diameter?) is heated via conduction. I suspect a gas-experienced wok user would have to modify his technique somewhat.

(b) I recommend reading the first dozen pages or so of Greenheck's guide: http://www.greenheck.com/media/pdf/otherinfo/KVSApplDesign_catalog.pdf

particularly the table on airflow rates, to gain insight into this subject. I usually recommend 90 CFM/sq. ft. of hood entry aperture. This is realized (actual) flow rate; blower rated flow rate may need to be 1.5X or more of this value depending on various factors. Hoods need to overlap the cooking zone, and side skirts may be called for in some configurations. MUA is a big deal and needs to be addressed at the same time as the ventilation approach.

(c) If you were to use a commercial wok burner and commercial hood, the fire suppression is built in. I don't know what options are available to avoid a possible sprinkler mess vs. some other kind of chemical spray mess. Non-messy halon extinguishers may not be allowed in a home. What is allowed needs to be discussed with your code enforcement officer. I don't doubt that there is some construction approach that should be acceptable, but it is likely location specific. Also, ask your insurance company. Give up the idea of nesting the range and hood into a nice set of wood cabinets if you are going commercial. Stove and hood may need to be spaced away from any walls, which in most residences are combustible, no matter what surface materials are used to protect them.

In new construction, or with sufficient land, thought could be given to following the approach of 'higher-end' historical Chinese rural homes -- wood construction kitchens were separated from the wood construction living quarters for good reasons.

http://yinyutang.pem.org/

New wolf rangetop has wok burner of 36k..

Have you used a wok on it? How was the cooking?

I’m trying to decide on the wolf rangetop or a small blue star with the highest btu….

I realize this is an old line but can anyone recommend which Wok/brands will work best on a Wolf gas cooktop with the Wok grate?

Also which burners on the wolf 36 gas cooktop is best to cook using the Wok pan & grate?

Brian9937
Thank you!

I have this 14" round bottom, carbon steel wok that I use on my Bluestar RCS (open burner) range:

https://www.wokshop.com/newstore/product/carbon-steel-pow-wok-hollow-metal-handle/

I really like it.

John
Thank you. Does this wok need to be seasoned after each use to maintain it’s nonstick quality?

Carolyn

In terms of seasoning, a carbon steel wok acts just like a cast iron frying pan.

After the initial seasoning, just normal cooking with oil (eg. stir frying) continuously builds and maintains the seasoning over time. Never use soap or detergent to clean the wok. It will strip the seasoning off. Clean it by wiping it out, rinsing with clean water and then wipe again to dry. Also, cooking with acidic foods like tomato sauce can degrade the seasoning.

Here are some informational links at the Wok Shop website:

https://www.wokshop.com/newstore/wok-seasoning/

https://www.wokshop.com/newstore/wokology-101

John
Thank you. That’s good to know.