The wok shop, service was absolutely awesome, however some of the merchandise is not very good. The first wok I ordered from there had a hole in it, two cleavers snaped in half where the metal meets the wood handle. I do have a spatula and strainer from there that work great. The shop is owned and run by a single woman called "Tane Chan" in San Francisco. She is a very nice lady who imports all her merchandise. She mailed me my second wok and cleaver free, thats great service! And talked me into buying a book called "The Breath of a WOK" by Grace Young. If you are considering cooking Chinese dishes I strongly urge you to get this book for you and your husband, it is one Hell of a lot more than a cookbook and is one of the most beautiful cook books I own if not the most, flat truth!! In fact I would get this book from Amazon.com before you buy anything associated with Chinese cooking, then you will know exactly what you are doing along with some of the most awesome Chinese recipes I have ever had! As I mentioned above there are countless manufactures of woks that you can get but I urge you to get a 14" Joice Chen wok with a spatula and wire scoop to fit. They are near the top a new Chinese cook should consider. See if you can figure out what this means "wok hay". Changeling PS. If I can be of any more help, don't hesitate to ask. To me it is a fascinating subject.

The two loop version is common in the home and in larger woks. Some restaurants use them in smaller sizes but that becomes nearly impossible with the high power jet burners. Go with the long handle one (aka "pow" wok). Yes, a damp towel is typically used to handle a wok without the long handle. The all metal long handles can sometimes get hot as well (noted above). I've "flipped" using the loop version and it's actually easier to lift but the grip isn't as good and your fingertips definitely gets close to the fire. Not recommended for beginners. Hand hammered ones are indeed thinner than machine pressed but that's part of the attraction. Thinner means lighter and better heat control. I've also found that after long use, the hand hammered ones hold the seasoning better. The steel used in the hand hammered ones are a bit different both due to actual composition and tempering process. On the plus side, this (some believe) creates a surface that can hold an ingredient a up on the side of the wok which can aid in fast cooking of different "stages" without removing the previous stage completely. For instance meat can be browned and pushed up the side before adding veggies in the middle. AFAIK, there is no scientific evidence of this so take it for what it's worth. I think there might be a slight benefit in this regard but hardly something most people will notice. The negative of the hand hammered woks is that the steel is more brittle than the machine pressed. That's why most restaurants don't use hand hammered woks even though many "traditional" chinese chefs prefer them at home. The abuse a wok goes through in a restaurant makes hand hammered impractical. sfjeff is correct in preferring welded handles. I've seen numerous woks fail at rivet points after just a few months in a restaurant. At home, it's probably fine. That said, not all welds are created equal. If you get a welded handle, then make sure the weld is not just along the rim of the wok. Personally, I think a 14" or even 16" hand hammered wok is perfectly fine. The flex is normal and doesn't indicate weakness. The handle will likely fail before the flex in the wok bowl becomes a problem. Carrying around a wok full of water usually requires counter support regardless of the type of wok. There is a trick or short cut to the initial cleaning and seasoning. You can burn away the protective coat instead of scrubbing. The coat is basically industrial oil/grease which can be melted with high heat. I'd suggest doing it outside on a turkey fryer burner or with very good ventilation if done indoors. Heat up the wok until it starts to smoke. Poor in about 1/2 to 1 cup of plain table salt. Let the salt and wok sit on high for a few minutes. There will be some smoke (maybe lots) and you'll start to see the steel change color to a slight bluish tint. Tilt the wok and move the salt around so that it has enough time to sit in each area of the wok for a minute or so. The salt might become clumply because it's drawing in the melted coating. If that happens, poor the dirty salt *carefully* in a flame proof container. DO NOT put in in water as that might cause an explosive release of steam. Poor some clean salt back in the wok to continue the process. The whole thing should take no more than 10-15min. Once the inside of the wok is clean, then let cool. Once cooled, wash with soap and water. This is the only time you'll want to wash with soap unless you decide to re-season for some reason. Now dry with a towel or paper towel and return to the burner. Heat it up to dry completely. If you've never done this before, it's better to wait until the wok cools again at this point. I typically proceed to apply the oil for seasoning while the wok is hot but that can be dangerous if you aren't extremely careful. Once cooled, take a dry paper towel and put some oil on it. Use something with a high vapor point like soy/canola/peanut/vegetable. Don't use olive oil. Put a thin to medium coat of oil all around the inside of the wok. You can also coat the outside. Now just apply heat to all parts of the wok until it starts to turn from bluish gray to a copper brown color. It might turn blackish in parts but that's ok. You'll need to heat each part of the wok past the point it starts to smoke so be patient and look for the color change. Once the complete inside surface is a nice brown to black color, then the seasoning is complete. This step should take at most 5 min or so on the 22k burner. You can let it cool a bit and then wipe with a clean paper towel and you are done. Don't apply water at this point or you'll need to heat it up again to get rid of any water. This doesn't produce the "pretty" finish sometimes seen in ads but it's fast and functional. I think it produces a longer lasting seasoning layer due to the higher temps but it can look a bit splotchy. To produce the "pretty" finish, you'll need to do it in an oven. Coat the wok and put in a 400-450F oven for 30min. For best results, put the wok upside down so the oil doesn't pool in the middle. Of course that means you'll have to put something under it large enough to catch any oil that might drip off. This will produce a very nice looking even season but it can be more difficult when there is a wood handle. Frankly, the wok will eventually turn black with use so I don't have a problem with it looking a bit splotchy at first.

Thank John for additional data point on BlueStar. 3min 40sec seems to be consistent with Trevor's test on Capital 3min 36sec with 25k BTU burner. For my AEG induction wok hob @ 3.2kW, it takes just 2min 52sec to evaporate 80ml of water. It is best however to see in pictures how this behaves. This is a 14" wok that fits the curvature rather well. It sits with bottom half or third touching the recess area. This is somewhere around where the water edge is. It is also around the area where induction coil locates. You can see the darker seasoned area. That's where the main heating zone and my main cooking zone is. At a few seconds in after the induction unit starts on P, we can see bubbles forming. That makes sense as it is the area where induction coil is. At 11sec, steam starts to form. Bubbles now form a solid ring around the edge. At 16sec, steam starts to fill up my cooking area. At 41sec, this is smoking hot wok. Water is boiling vigorously though out. It is a bit difficult to see with this amount of steam, but you know what it is. This show the amount of steam from a different angle. At around 2min mark, the huge heat from induction is dying down. This is mainly because the water level drops below the area of the induction coil. So it is entering the much cooler spot. The heat that keeps evaporating the water now is from conduction, which is not the best thing for thin carbon steel. You can see that it takes quite a long time to evaporate this very small amount of remaining water. The slight red glow clearly shows where the induction coil is. At last, we get there by 2min 52sec. Cheers to induction wok hob. You're the best.

Ah, the durian challenge. But before that let me note with respect to an earlier message that the CO detector needs to be near the potentially back-drafted combustion appliances, such as a hot water heater, and/or in the general living quarters, not near the hood causing the back-drafting. The Greenheck Guide here is much more thorough covering requirements than I can possibly type into this thread. Essentially one wants a commercial kitchen hood and MUA system with a specific flow rate more or less conforming to the "Extra Heavy" column of the Guide's Figure 4, page 9. This is 185 ft/min = 185 CFM/sq. ft. A means to keep the MUA relatively laminar in the room (a wide source is needed for a small room) will minimize cross drafts at the cooking zone. Under the hood would be a commercial wok stove, ca. 100k+ BTUh for each burner. All the requirements for safety would need to be incorporated into the kitchen, including fire suppression in the hood, lack of nearby combustibles, and commercial rules for the exhaust duct construction. The kitchen would be modeled on Beijing hotel restaurants of bygone years (where coal stoves were used) by having tile on each of the six room surfaces. The floor would have a drain. A steam lance, pressure washer, or other means of directly cleaning the walls, along with stainless steel cabinets, counters, and sink area would allow speedy but thorough degreasing at whatever intervals were necessary. (The floor drain would likely need a grease trap.) This construction may not be more expensive than modern kitchen renovations having expensive wood cabinets, stone counters, and magnificent floors. Oh, and the hood exhaust up-blast blower may need to be on a tall stack if wanting to deal with durian but not wanting to deal with neighborhood torch and pitchfork parades.