We had one, but it didnt get hot enough to quickly stir fry the food. Instead it got hot enough to cause the veggies to release their liquids and steam rather than the sizzling quick sear that is how stirfries are supposed to cook. My large cast iron skillet does a better job, although I realize you can use that on a glass cooktop.

I think that the electric wok would do a better job if one were to stir fry their ingredients in small batches and then mix it them together after everything was cooked.

With an electric wok, it won't matter what type of cooktop you have as the wok stands alone and cooks independently of the stove top.

I have a hand hammered carbon steel wok. It's awesome. It gets very hot on a powerful gas burner and makes stir frying and even simple things like browning onions quick and easy. It's like a cast iron frying pan in that you wash it only with water, then dry and wipe with oil, so that it seasons into a relatively non-stick surface but food does stick a bit. In any event, you don't want a standard non-stick surface on a wok because that will inhibit browning.

I don't think a steel wok would work on an electric stove. I'd wonder whether any electric wok could get hot enough to offer normal wok cooking. A wok that's no hotter than the temperature of a frying pan wouldn't work the same and the flavors would be different. There is a Chinese expression that translates as "Breath of the wok". This refers to the flavors imparted by a VERY hot wok and proper technique. A wok that isn't hot enough won't be any more useful than a frying pan with slanted sides.

I have two and love them both. One very large, the other one is a bit smaller. Don't get an electric one.

I once had a flat bottom Wok that I used on a glass cook top, You had to take care not to scratch the surface. I don't see how you'd use an electric Wok on a cook top. Guess I haven't seen one of those yet.

I now cook with a regular Wok on a gas cook top and use it quit a bit for pasta dishes. I stir fry Asparagus, Shrimp, Anchovies, whatever and the toss with cooked pasta.

DH loves his wok and fortunately we have a BlueStar gas stove with a high BTU burner. We remove the grate and set the wok onto the burner and since it is gas he can control the heat quickly.

I honestly can't imagine how effective an electric one could be.

Not that good on a glass top as it scratches the glass but those metal rings that you see at oriental groceries concentrate the heat on the bottom and can be used on regular gas and electric stoves. Until you have used it several times be aware that you have to lift the pan off the ring and not attempt to slide it off as the ring will come with the pan.

I would pass on the electric wok as there is no way that it would become hot enough to cook things correctly. Also many are sold with nonstick coatings which will quickly degenerate with high heat.

I have one. It was a wedding gift 30 years ago. It works fine. I maybe have used it 100 times, not often but not never. It does not do well when you put it on the stove burners (because it sits well there and I like it under the fan) and then turn on the stove. peeyew!!. It takes up a lot of room storing it. I think I could do what I do in it,in my largest pot--just sayin.

I had a cast iron wok once and did not use it more than once or twice. I don't like cast iron and tomatoes or anything acid, so that was a waste. I sold it and use my big stainless steel Revere Ware skillet. Much better.

My wok is similar to the one in maire-cate's photo, that also appears to be a steel wok.

"those metal rings that you see at oriental groceries concentrate the heat on the bottom"

I believe the metal rings do two things - they do focus the heat on the bottom of the wok (instead of going up the sides) and part of how they do that is by raising the wok's bottom higher above the burner. The range I have has a 'wok grate" accessory that I bought. It does the same thing but is more sturdy cast iron and I use that instead of the aluminum ring that came with the wok.

Try saying Asian in place of oriental. At least among the people of Chinese ancestry I know, the O word is mildly offensive. It has pretty much fallen out of use, at least in areas like mine with significant populations of people of Chinese and other Asian origins.

I've had a wok for over 30 years, and my current range came with a wok grate that holds the wok perfectly, and I generally use it on a high BTU burner. I use it for making popcorn and also for stir-fries, such as Pad Thai or fried rice.

Lars, do you have the G.E. Monogram? Because my cook top grates flip so it cradles the wok. I have the ring, but no need for it with this cook top.

Thank you !! I think I'll pass on the wok and keep using my frying pan. We're trying to eat alittle bit healthier , so I guess stir fry is the way to go. One more thing ... I've always wanted a cast iron fry pan , but I don't think it would be a good match with the glass top stove. I'm a klutz queen . I can hear the smashing glass now ~~~~ :(

I saw that ad but I have an electric one already (rarely use it) and I have a glass-top stove so I think it's better not to even try with the iron one. I do use a cast iron skillet occasionally but I'm very careful not to let it bang or slide around. The biggest thing about the electric one I have is that it takes up too much room to make it worth having for only rare use. So I store it in that cabinet over the frig. and you know how that goes. I rarely try to cook anything Chinese, it never comes out tasting right. I'll leave it to the strip mall joints since there are gobs of them around here. And since that's the only type of Chinese restaurant around, I don't know the difference between good and bad Chinese food, and for sure don't know what "authentic" Chinese food tastes like.

I have a gas cooktop. I've had the same carbon steel wok since the early 1980's. It has a flat bottom, and two wooden handles. It's very well seasoned at this point. I oil it after every use. I find that the carbon steel imparts an important flavor to stir fries that my other skillets don't. Not sure if it's my imagination or not. We're having a teriyaki ginger stir fry tonight with udon noodles.

RE: "oriental"

We have a sizable Asian population and that includes many grocery stores. That said, I know of at least two who use Oriental in their name. One is run by Koreans; the other by Vietnamese.

Are you suggesting that what you've read on a store's sign negates what friends and acquaintances affected by that label have told me?

My friend who is half Korean calls himself Oriental - you cannot use "Asian" as a convenient catch-all word, as it is not accepted by everyone. It is, however, appropriate to call Indians "Asian", as they are closer to the center of Asia, and people I know that are Indian call themselves Asian. I call Chinese "Chinese", and I call Japanese "Japanese". I find Asian to be a poor choice of words for either of these two groups.

My stove is a Bertazzoni.

You can share store signs, I can share what I've been told (many number of times), Lars can share what his friend's preference is.

When my husband and I met he had an electric wok. I still use it almost 40 years later. I really like it for the relatively rare times I do deep fry Due to the shape of it you don’t need as much oil .

I just placed an order online for takeout from a place called Mr. Wong’s Authentic Chinese Cooking & Oriental Market. I guess Mr. Wong prefers “Oriental” to “Asian,” too. :)

It depends where the people are from if they prefer Asian or another designation. Since the two oriental stores I most frequent have foods that include Pakistani to the Pacific Islands and sell to those clients no matter what I called the food I would offend someone that shops there. While Elmer may know people who are Asian I hope he never calls someone from Samoa Asian when they are having a bad day.

For years I had an electric wok. It worked great and it was nice to adjust the temperature immediately. I replaced it with the same one when it broke. Many years went by and eventually that died too. I was in Goodwill one day and I spotted an enameled cast iron Bodum Wok for $25. It weighs 14 lbs. I use it as a wok and also a multipurpose pot. It’s my go to. BTW I use all kinds of cast iron on my glass cooktop. Never any problems.

I've had an electric one for over 20 years. I don't use it often and debated selling it, then decided to keep it. Just have to find my recipes again. We used to eat stir fry a lot.

Have you bought anything from there? Can you also tell me the quality of stuff?

Personally I am sick of political correctness inspired not by the subjects but by usually caucasian SJWs who profess to speak for them. I have a wide circle of friends from all cultures and races and we all find this sort of thing at best laughable and at worst divisive and racist on the part of those who want to make the rules.

Here's a real life opinion from an Oriental regarding the issue in 2016 when Obama made his decree that Oriental would not be used in federal documents.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-tsuchiyama-oriental-insult-20160601-snap-story.html

I have never used one, but everytime I even here it mentioned I think of one time when my DS and DN and I were playing a game. I think it was Pictionary and my sister called it a wokwok. we still laugh about it.

We have one of those steel ones stored in a shed out back, if that tells you what I think about it :^) DH has kept it, but to me it's big and cumbersome and we have no place to store it. When we did store it inside, it was too much trouble to pull out to use.

We use cast iron a lot, but I prefer a ceramic non stick frying pan for stir frying.

One of the recipes we use to make was a very large recipe for stir fried fajitas. For that recipe, I would pull out our thin enameled turkey roasting pan and put it across two lit burners- it worked great.

I have had a carbon steel wok for 30+ years. I no longer use it much now with no family to cook for. In its place I just use a very large, deep sided skillet. I also now have an electric range rather than a gas range and don't believe the electric burners get hot enough to make the wok particularly effective, plus it wobbles without a flat base or ring :-) But it was invaluable for camping! Aside from a griddle, it was the only major cookware we used when camping.