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Post by ironchefcanadian on Dec 13, 2006 13:12:31 GMT -5
Arianna, have you considered getting a butane tabletop burner? The cartridges are cheap and it heats up a wok a lot quicker than the electric elements. They also look like they can take a round-bottomed wok with more stability.
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Post by mickster on Dec 13, 2006 16:29:49 GMT -5
I have a big wok, flat bottom and I have a gas stove. My wok is a few years old and seasoned great but I use it for lots of things I probably shouldn't, like cooking chicken, meats, other non-stir fry types. Oh well, I love it anyway.
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Post by Arrianna on Dec 13, 2006 17:48:50 GMT -5
Bite your tounge Mickster! There's nothing that can't be cooked in a wok. lol
Yah, I have considered buying a butane wok burner. You can get them on their own frames. I've relegated it to the future when I have more room and money along with the thermastate, charcoal, grill with smoker I want.
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Post by eiko on Dec 13, 2006 18:37:40 GMT -5
We have an electric non-stick wok. It was a present to SO from a while back. LOL
But it is useful. We do stir fries in it of course, but we also do arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) and arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas and pork) which are Puerto Rican recipes. SO is half Puerto Rican and these are his attempts at recreating his grandmother's recipes (she'd be aghast at the thought of using a wok, you need a caldera!). He's done a good job. Enough so that we also cook paella in the wok. The cooking technique for arroz con pollo and paella are nearly identical. It wasn't until I realized that (just a few months ago) that I decided that I could cook paella. I'd always wanted to try, but I was intimidated by the huge recipes. It's not that hard really.
Eventually, we'll get a "real" wok. Like when we have a gas stove too. We have electric now. *sigh*
eta: I grew up with that butane camp stove. It's wonderful. You can do a wok on it, but you need to be a careful, most aren't deep enough. But it is sturdy enough to hold it. We used to use it for nabe dinners (the big heavy ceramic pots for shabu shabu and other similar dishes) mostly. And it sure came in handy when the hurricanes blew out the electricity!
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Post by Arrianna on Dec 13, 2006 18:43:22 GMT -5
Oh wait... does that make 5? I have an electric too (it was given to me free by someone who never used theirs) but I only use it for hotpot since I can put it in the center of the table for everyone to use.
Any chance of those recipes with wok instructions Eiko? I've never heard of doing that before.
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Post by eiko on Dec 13, 2006 18:53:42 GMT -5
Wok instructions? LOL!
No way. We experimented out of necessity with the wok because we were told over and over that you can't use a flat bottomed pot for arros con pollo and other similar dishes. We tried. We failed. Miserably. We'd had the wok, but it was gathering dust and out of desperation, we tried it because it was the only non-flat bottomed pot we had. It took a few tries to adjust to it, but once we did, it was perfect. The only reason the rest of the family knows we cook arroz con pollo and arroz con gandules in the wok is because we told them. Then we fed them and they stopped doubting. LOL It's SO's job to make enough arroz con gandules for Thanksgiving every year for some 20 people now. We do it in 2 batches in the wok.
The paella is still a work in progress. Because the ingredients are a bit different, the cooking time changes. But the technique is the same. We even get the scicorro (the toasted rice on the bottom of the pot) or pegao (In Puerto Rican Spanish). It's still easier than I thought it'd be, especially since a paella pan IS flat-bottomed, but the rice cooks better in a non-flat bottom pan.
The other thing that makes the wok ideal for this kind of cooking is that it has such a wide opening. Calderas and paella pans are all much wider than they are deep. A saucier or stock pot might be big enough, but water doesn't evaporate from them nearly as well as a wok or paella pan.
And temp. control is wonderful with the electric wok too. Makes cooking much easier.
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Post by Arrianna on Dec 13, 2006 19:39:27 GMT -5
Did I just get laughed at? O.o lol, I was just wondering if there was any little tricks or whatnot. Some of us don't have Puerto Rican grandmama's to tutor us in making them.
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Post by eiko on Dec 13, 2006 20:05:17 GMT -5
Just laughing in general. LOL I never saw the wok instructions at all. SO lost them before he even met me. Never mind any tips. LOL
We didn't have her either. SO wanted to recreate the recipes because she wasn't able to cook anymore and suffered from dementia. He had a very rough outline of a recipe for arroz con gandules and memories of the taste, he worked out the rest on his own.
Hmm, tips... make sure you let the liquid simmer to develop the flavors before you add the rice.. and use old, dead tomatoes, they taste better.
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Post by eiko on Dec 22, 2006 19:45:23 GMT -5
I would love to make an awesome lobster dinner but I haven't a clue how to. Hey Mickster found this site with some great tips www.livelob.com/lobstergram/shopYou can order live lobster from them as well (and other seafood). They also do Lobster Grams. ;D
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Post by mickster on Dec 24, 2006 16:37:39 GMT -5
Thanks for the link, Eiko. I joined the club. They have some yummy stuff!
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Post by ironchefcanadian on Dec 25, 2006 16:00:03 GMT -5
Got back from Scarborough Ontario yesterday. The Market Square / Pacific Mall complex sells good Chinese housewares cheap -- I picked up a hand-hammered wok for $15 CDN. I'm going to try to make mabo dofu tonight. (Not Chen's recipe, though. )
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Post by herringchoker on Dec 25, 2006 21:11:06 GMT -5
Great find, ICC!
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Post by Arrianna on Dec 26, 2006 1:12:37 GMT -5
Nice! I love my hammered wok myself. What size is it?
I have the sos pads, now just wish me luck.
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Post by ironchefcanadian on Dec 26, 2006 11:47:14 GMT -5
14 inch diameter. The steel is definitely thicker than my flat-bottomed one -- I think it's 12-gauge, as opposed to 14. Definitely stiffer.
I tried the seasoning method with ginger and green onions, and I think it worked well enough. Last night's mabo dofu turned out pretty well, and the spot on the bottom is still a good dark brown. (I understand that it takes a couple of years of constant use to get the wok patina to be brown all over, unless I bake it in the oven. I tried the oven method the first time I owned a carbon-steel wok, and that turned out disastrously.)
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