Conference turris::cooks

If you're going to use keywords, you can save a lot of time by using

		SHOW KEYWORD/FULL <keyword>  

It gives you a list of note numbers with that keyword, and does it much
faster than DIRECTORY will.  Unfortunately, there is no title information,
but it's faster to do a directory of a specific note number, or even jump
to it and read it, than it is to wait for a DIR/KEY to finish.


Re: woks.  There are a couple of companies that sell gas-fired hotplates
that you can use for wok cooking.  If that's out of the question, my
experience has been that an electric wok is no worse than using a steel
wok on an electric stove -- which you apparently are satisfied with.  So
an electric wok could be a good solution.

However, mysticism aside, you can do a very good imitation of wok cooking
with just a hot frying pan.
						>>>==>PStJTT

    
    Ordinary electric woks don't get hot enough (though I now have a
    European one that does) -- I'm told that concern over liability
    litigation means that in the US they deliberately don't allow domestic
    electric oil heaters to heat oil to the point that the more volatile
    cooking oils "smoke".  
    
    Alternatives are to use a flat bottomed wok (not quite as effective,
    but it works) or to get a gas burner. We had a bottled gas "wok burner"
    bought from a restaurant supply shop in Boston (sorry don't know
    which one - it was bought for us) that had a single gas burner set
    to provide (very) high heat, and a ring over it that would hold
    any reasonable (14" or bigger) wok. This was far and away the best
    solution to the problem...
                      
    /. Ian .\

    
    FWIW, I was watching the Frugal Gourmet over the weekend, and he's been
    doing a lot of Wok cooking lately.  He mentioned that he doesn't like 
    using electric woks because most don't get hot enough, but then he said 
    he was using a Maxim because he felt that they _do_ get hot enough.
    
    - Larry

    
    	We recently bought a Farberware wok, and love it!  It's made out of
    a fairly thick stainless steel, and gets plenty hot.  It has a
    temperature range of up to 500 degrees (roughly?).  I usually  cook
    at 300-350 degrees.  We bought it at Service Merchandise at $55.00 (on
    sale).
    	As a note of advise, I was told to stay away from the aluminum, as
    well as the "no stick surface" woks.  Good luck!!!
    
    				Susan

re .3

The Frugal Gourmet said the Maxim gets hot enough ... to boil water.  He used 
an electric wok to steam things in his bamboo steamer.  The main problem with 
an electric wok is that the heat cycles on and off to maintain temperature.  
If you were able to find one that used some other scheme, like an electric 
stove, it would work ok.  I used a wok on an electric burner for years with 
lots of success.  By the way, though even if you got an electric wok that was 
able to maintain the temperature without cycling on and off, you would not be 
able to control the temperature as easily as you can with a sheet steel wok 
(by pulling it off the burner when necessary).  Remember, you want a wok to be 
constructed the opposite of most pans:  it should be highly heat conductive, 
i.e., no aluminum, cast metals, or otherwise thick materials.

It still sounds like the basic problem is that you need GAS burners, not a 
fancy wok for use on a ceramic stove.  The Butane hot plate sounds like the 
best bet yet, and think about how handy it will be the next time the power 
goes out.

						     
							- JP

There's a single burner butane thing called Cassette Feu that is sold at Joyce
Chen's and perhaps other Oriental markets.  It takes liquid butane cartridges
(they look like regular aerosol spray cans) and is very convenient to use.  It
fits on any table top and is specifically designed for use with woks.  Since my
new home doesn't have a gas stove (how I miss the old one!), I use this for all
my stir-frying.

I have a no-stick electric wok and I prefer that one to the standard wok for
steaming.  It boils water just fine and you don't have to worry about rust.
I find that electric woks also do a decent job at deep-frying.  The automatic
maintenance of temperature is a plus for that job.  It isn't really suitable
for very high-temperature (above 375 degrees F) deep-frying of very wet foods,
though--heat recovery time is too long.  It's perfect for things like wontons,
though.

--PSW

    For anyone who's interested, Williams Sonoma also sells the Cassette
    Feu.  It's about $65, I think.
    
    --Sharon
    

    I know that this note is relatively old, but I'm only now (slowly)
    making my way through this notesfile.
    
    Anyway, Joanne and I have had a Maxim Wok for about a year and a half
    and I prefer the Maxim to a regular wok on our gas stove. The Maxim
    gets back up to the desired temperature faster than our gas stove.
    
    I don't know how much heat our gas stove puts out, but judging by the
    size of the ring of fire on the burner, it looks about average.
    
    	Marty Sasaki