Where to buy a wok in Boston?

[Dave MP]

I'm in the market for a wok, which I'm buying for a friend of mine who doesn't have one. I probably want to buy a steel wok, doesn't have to be very fancy or expensive, but I want it to be decent quality. Was curious to know if anyone had experiences buying woks in Boston, and if anyone has advice about where I might shop. I know that places like Super 88 and Ming's have some available, but I am not sure whether the selection might be better elsewhere....maybe also department stores? Any help would be appreciated....would be looking to buy this in the next 2 days, so ordering online won't work for me. Ideally in Boston or Cambridge, but would go slightly farther (for example, Dedham) if that seemed best

Dave MP

[justbeingpolite]

Do you want round bottomed or flat bottomed? I've seen (and have) a good flat bottomed carbon steel wok at sur la table for about $30. It seasoned well, and works on gas or electric. A round carbon steel you could probably pick up at any chinese grocery. I'm sure you can get 'em much cheaper, but I like the heft and seasoning of the wok from slt.

[emannths]

link for the SLT product: http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO...

[Gabatta]

Lots of great options on Amazon.com, certainly more selection than you'll find in any stores around here. You can sign up for a free trial of Amazon prime and get free 2 day shipping or $3.99 next day shipping. I am not sure how much 2 day shipping is without the prime, but it is probably less than you will spend in gas and time running around (Amazon is also likely to be less expensive than most of the kitchen stores around here). You can cancel the prime trial at any time and Amazon has no questions asked 30 day returns.

Otherwise I'm sure China Fair in Cambridge will have a decent one, but I can't say what type or quality.

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China Fair
2100 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA

[emannths]

Quality? Aside from rivets that fail, is there any variations in "quality" among carbon steel woks? I doubt it... I'd just buy whatever intersection of cheap and readily available I could find.

Now...if I had some extra time, I'd probably get a cast iron or carbon steel wok like those from The Wok Shop: http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/...

[bear]

I bought mine for about $10 from Eagle Kitchen Supply on Lincoln St. just outside of Chinatown. Just your basic steel wok. They have a couple of sizes to choose. I doubt the selection is much better than Super 88/Hong Kong but you have a decent selection of accessories to choose from. Either place is a great excuse to grab a great, inexpensive meal.

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Eagle Kitchen Supply
166 Lincoln St, Boston, MA

[tatsu]

I guess the "pro" ones are really huge and don't have wood handles, they would burn off in a second in a chinese take-out kitchen. They have short handles actually that don't block other nearby objects and a towel is used to grab the handle I imagine to manipulate the wok in it's custom stovetop. More important is the long shovel like spatula which turns over ingredients very rapidly.

For home, everything is a trade-off. Wood handle is acceptable and perhaps desirable. A flat-bottom may transfer more BTUs, but the trade-off is food getting trapped in that corner it forms. Thicker sides and reinforced bottoms may retain more heat, but it's slower to react when you take it off heat.

The SLT is exactly what I just described, if you like those trade-offs, great. But the sealant used in shipping looks PITA for sure. I would take the wood handles off and blow-torch the damn varnish.

I use your basic round wok with one wood handle, it seems fine. It's probably thinner than the pro stuff, so it heats fast. The center or bottom of it is very hot and I visualize that is where the core "wok hay" http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/344167 is as I cook. I admit there is some seasoning involved that I was not aware of initially, it's more delicate process than a cast iron skillet.

So I would recommend the basic 15 dollar Chinatown special and start cooking! Be sure to get a proper spatula.

[opinionatedchef]

dave mp, i have an extra,broken -in one, if you'd like it. otherwise, i'd direct you to the chinese kitchen supply place at the corner of kneeland and harrison(if it still exists) or bear's place. and, as bear mentioned, the chinese vendors are really great because of the tools that they also sell.

[enhF94]

My impression is that you can't develop serious wok hei (the distinctive flavor from wok technique) on any home burner, since no home burner generates nearly enough BTUs. In all the wok-enabled pro kitchens I've worked, the burners look and sound like jet engines, you can feel some heat four feet away, and your hand will burn quickly twelve inches away.

As for make/model, I agree with folks who think of woks like cast iron skillets: cheap manufacturing is fine as long as it doesn't fall apart; what makes a great wok is years of careful use.

This isn't necessarily a reason not to buy a wok; maybe your friend wants to have fun. But it won't replace delivery.

[bear]

Excellent post, but a wok in a home kitchen is still preferable to a heavy pan if you use really high heat and have good ventilation. I also have had some success making a really hot fire on my charcoal smoker using hardwood charcoal, and with this method you don't have to be so careful about smoking up the house. Definitely not professional results, but darn good just the same.

[gimlis1mum]

Somewhere, many years ago, I read that you can simulate wok air by adding a tiny bit of liquid smoke to your stir fry. My palate is not sensitive enough to notice the difference, though.

I bought a Joyce Chen carbon steel wok for a friend as a wedding shower gift at Bed Bath &Beyond. it was a couple of years ago; I think it cost about 30 bucks. The JC wok looks identical to the one I bought at. Discount store in Los Angeles almost 20 years ago...wood handle is still there, and no lost or loose rivets. My "secret" tip for cleaning it is to make sweet and sour pork every now and then - the vinegar in the sauce really cleans out the wok ;-P

[Spike]

That's my understanding of wok hei as well...some kitchen stoves have a high btu burner for woks that that's probably the closest you'll get.
Sadly, if you don't have something like that, the round bottom ones don't work as well. Flat bottom ones let the food/oil get stuck on the bottom too long...

[StriperGuy]

Totally true. You can't really use a wok on any home stove.

I cheat by using my usual implement, a cast iron pan, which I get smoking hot.

Cause it retains heat better than a thin steel wok, I can get a little wok like char before all the heat it gone. But even that is a kludge. I had a wok for like the third time in my life until recently, but chucked it as I inevitably do, cause it just doesn't work on a home stove.

[Jenny Ondioline]

Lodge makes heavy cast iron woks. I can't pick it up and toss the ingredients about with abandon, TV-commercial style, but the combination of heavy cast iron and a high-output burner on my stove means that I can sear the hell out of anything I want. Although most of the dishes I regularly make in it (Ma po tofu, yu hsiang eggplant, ants climbing a tree, long beans with pork, etc.) don't necessarily require super-high-heat cooks.

[StriperGuy]

That would certainly do the trick. Though of course still not the same as a gas ring in a resto set up for serious woking.

[galleygirl]

I got both, a wok, with short handles, and the best spatula I found (good hand-feel, and a nice sharp shovel edge) in that small Chinese Market around the corner from ChauChow City, on the street where Taiwan Cafe is,,,Sun Market? Sun Imports...Sun is in the name somewhere....

[opinionatedchef]

sun sun. wilson is the well dressed and fluent- english son usually on-site.

[galleygirl]

Ah yes, thanks...And I got my wok ring there, too... My work-around for my home stove (gas) is that I turn the wok ring upside down, so the bottom of the wok hit the gas element, and brings the flame closer to the wok...

[opinionatedchef]

i threw away my ring at the get go. my wok sits right down on my burner, but then i have a commercial stove so that must be the difference in burner design.

[ChefJune]

I would head down to Chinatown, to one of the restaurant supply stores on Harrison. You can find much better bargains on much better equipment than if you shop one of the specialty retailers.

[Dave MP]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I ended up looking at the place on Harrison and Kneeland (Great Wall Kitchen Supplies), but their carbon steel woks were all the type without handles. So then I went to Sun Sun, which had a pretty good selection. Sun Sun also had some cast iron woks, but I chose a carbon steel one with a wooden handle. I think it cost $14.00. I also bought a good spatula (metal, wooden handle), a cutting board, and a pretty decent cleaver. Not a huge selection at Sun Sun, but everything seemed to be pretty good quality and fairly priced.

Dave MP

[enhF94]

Thanks for reporting back! I hope your friend enjoys it.