Wanted: 12-14"

[bdan]

Figured that would get attention lol

This is a weird question for THIS Forum but there are people from Western Canada so ... maybe somebody can help me.

I want to buy another 12-14" round bottom carbon steel wok with riveted steel wire handles, lid and accessories.

My 30 yr old well seasoned/nothing sticks to it wok, got given away as the box was mislabeled. :sorrow:

Spent the last 3 hours looking for a Canadian online store that sells reasonable ones. Lots of USA sites but shipping kills the deal.

There isn't any so maybe somebody who lives in Vancouver and area or Calgary or Edmonton could give me the name of a brick and mortar restaurant supply store?

Whats available is amazingly stupid.

Flat bottom? Its a frying pan. Defeats the purpose.

Non stick? WTF? The high heat would wreck it in a heartbeat.

My favorite. Cast iron. R U effing serious?

Or even worse an electric one. Jesus H Jumpin' Christ! Yeah lets do it slower than slow.

Hopefully someone can help. PM me if you want. Thanks

EDIT: Doesn't that emoji look like someone blowing their nose? lol

 

[rlock]

Try the store Ming Wo, especially the Chinatown location on Pender.

Some years ago, I wanted to buy a carbon steel wok, with the two equal [narrow] metal handles [if that's what you mean by wire]. I could not find it anywhere else, but they had it at that location.

I do not recall if it was a fully round bottom or slightly flat, but it basically looked like this:

I'm not sure what sort of online inquiries you might make, but it's worth a shot.

 

[bdan]

Much appreciated! I have someone who can look for me there, should they not have an online presence. As most don't.

That pic is exactly what I want. Most woks I found have wood or plastic (??) handles. Hard to season in the oven.
EDIT:
http://www.mingwo.com/qs/search.php

It appears they just have the stupid expensive kind available. Or at least online.
I'll call them Monday

 

[cancowboy2001]

FWIW there is one on amazon.ca - about $95 all in.
https://www.amazon.ca/Carbon-Steel-Hammered-Wok-incl/dp/B00012F3H2

 

[bdan]

FWIW there is one on amazon.ca - about $95 all in.
https://www.amazon.ca/Carbon-Steel-Hammered-Wok-incl/dp/B00012F3H2

Much appreciate your reply! To give you my comparison, a 14" from an USA store was 18.95 usa + shipping. So a wok, lid, strainer and spatula could be had for $46 usa plus shipping. I figured that SURELY there would be a store in Canada that was close.

Not so far and some are just "Are you shitting me?!" expensive. Like $300 ... for just the wok.

 

[rlock]

Much appreciated! I have someone who can look for me there, should they not have an online presence. As most don't.

That pic is exactly what I want. Most woks I found have wood or plastic (??) handles. Hard to season in the oven.
EDIT:
http://www.mingwo.com/qs/search.php

It appears they just have the stupid expensive kind available. Or at least online.
I'll call them Monday

There's also another place right near it called "Tinland" (which I've never been to) but I was not able to find a store website. Maybe look it up, and if the first one doesn't pan out, then your proxy can visit that one.

 

[bdan]

There's also another place right near it called "Tinland" (which I've never been to) but I was not able to find a store website. Maybe look it up, and if the first one doesn't pan out, then your proxy can visit that one.

I'll try them. Thanks very much!

 

[summerbreeze]

ming wo and tinland are two of the best places in vancouver area for chinese kitchen equipment

tinland have a store two blocks east of ming wo (pender street location) right in chinatown, the other tinland store is on no 3 rd in richmond

ming wo have several stores but the chinatown store is the best for buy woks

season it with flaxseed oil and high heat, initial cleaning you stirfry garlic chives in the new wok and throw them out after, stir fry two batches

the sulfur in the garlic chives helps remove the metallic taste from the wok

 

[paprides]

^^^^^^^
This is good intel, thanks for this post.

 

[bdan]

ming wo and tinland are two of the best places in vancouver area for chinese kitchen equipment

tinland have a store two blocks east of ming wo (pender street location) right in chinatown, the other tinland store is on no 3 rd in richmond

ming wo have several stores but the chinatown store is the best for buy woks

season it with flaxseed oil and high heat, initial cleaning you stirfry garlic chives in the new wok and throw them out after, stir fry two batches

the sulfur in the garlic chives helps remove the metallic taste from the wok

Thanks for your post. Most woks come with a rust inhibiting coating that you need to scrub off first. Then it's seasoning time.

I just used peanut oil, but maybe flaxseed oil has an even higher smoke point. Have to Google that.

Had read that about garlic or garlic chives in the past but I'd think onions would do the trick as well seeing as they too, are high in sulphur compounds.

Its what makes you cry after all.

Well, that and the markup on a Chinese or Thai made wok here in Canada.

 

[resercher]

Figured that would get attention lol

This is a weird question for THIS Forum but there are people from Western Canada so ... maybe somebody can help me.

I want to buy another 12-14" round bottom carbon steel wok with riveted steel wire handles, lid and accessories.

My 30 yr old well seasoned/nothing sticks to it wok, got given away as the box was mislabeled. :sorrow:

Spent the last 3 hours looking for a Canadian online store that sells reasonable ones. Lots of USA sites but shipping kills the deal.

There isn't any so maybe somebody who lives in Vancouver and area or Calgary or Edmonton could give me the name of a brick and mortar restaurant supply store?

Whats available is amazingly stupid.

Flat bottom? Its a frying pan. Defeats the purpose.










Non stick? WTF? The high heat would wreck it in a heartbeat.

My favorite. Cast iron. R U effing serious?

Or even worse an electric one. Jesus H Jumpin' Christ! Yeah lets do it slower than slow.

Hopefully someone can help. PM me if you want. Thanks

EDIT: Doesn't that emoji look like someone blowing their nose? lol

Here is an idea if you have the time you may not but if you have more time than you have money. Quite often items that are not sold anymore for whatever reason . can often be found in second hand stores . Like the salvation army store value village etc. Usually at a very good price as well. Quite often What happens is an older person will die . They will have unused things that is given to the good will or salvation army good will and so on. . I managed to pick up a very good lands end jacket that looked to be brand new . It sold on the lands end sight for almost $100 I got it for 75 cents. You often see things still in the package from the store that they where purchased from .

 

[Edward Lei]

Thread title makes it look like you're looking for a monster cock lol

But yeah, hit up Chinatown (what's left of it anyway) for all your wok needs.

 

[bdan]

Thanks resercher, I will usually stop in at those types of stores as, you never know what you may stumble upon as you stated. But no luck on a wok sadly.

It's not that I don't have the money but rather that I know, for these basic woks, they are wholesaling for 8-10$ each. The rest is just markup. I'm all for people profiting from their labour but I have "other" uses for my money as well.

Like why we are all on this board

Thanks for your thoughts, much appreciated.

 

[Ms.Fiona]

Looks like you've gotten your answer but I was also going to say I've got all my best cookware (woks) in Chinatown.

 

[summerbreeze]

Much appreciate your reply! To give you my comparison, a 14" from an USA store was 18.95 usa + shipping. So a wok, lid, strainer and spatula could be had for $46 usa plus shipping. I figured that SURELY there would be a store in Canada that was close.

Not so far and some are just "Are you shitting me?!" expensive. Like $300 ... for just the wok.

depends on the wok

some western make woks made by mainstream brands tend to be a bit pricy compared to asian store prices

in the Asian stores there are two main shapes and two main materials, wide and shallow wok (Cantonese style) more round with single handle (northern china style) and materials are either hammered or spun carbon steel or cast iron (thin wall)

professional Chinese cooks only use carbon steel and far thicker wall than a home wok, the burners they use in a Chinese restaurant are so hot they would blow a hole in a home style wok. even the thicker wall professional woks don't last that long with the extreme high heat of a restaurant burner (like 20,000 btu)

never use stainless unless you are just steaming with it, stainless is a poor heat conductor and tends to have hot spots which will scorch (burn) the food in contact with them

the seasoning is cross linking and polymerizing components in the cooking oil to form a natural non-stick coating, it takes very high heat though (use a bbq with a lid) no plastic handles as well, pork fat used to be the favorite but the diet of our hogs has changed over time and apparently the fat rendered is not as good for seasoning as years ago (thank the food scientist for that bit on knowledge) flax seed oil is very high in the component which is cross linking or polymerizing and the recommended go to oil these days

seasoning your wok is a matter of professional pride amongst Asian cooks, its called "Wok Hay" which sort of implies a well seasoned wok is a happy wok, a happy wok produces better food.....

loads of info on the net these days regarding seasoning and what type of wok to buy, great store in San Francisco which sells woks. lots of info from them on what to do with your wok

if you don't want to season your wok, just take it to a small Chinese restaurant and ask the manager to get the cook to season it for you, might cost you some money ($10) or if you are a good regular customer. getting the protective coating off is not much trouble, just scrub with hot water and steel scrub pad. some people also use baking soda in the water, make sure you oil it right after scrubbing, it will flash rust otherwise

happy cooking

 

[bdan]

depends on the wok

some western make woks made by mainstream brands tend to be a bit pricy compared to asian store prices

in the Asian stores there are two main shapes and two main materials, wide and shallow wok (Cantonese style) more round with single handle (northern china style) and materials are either hammered or spun carbon steel or cast iron (thin wall)

professional Chinese cooks only use carbon steel and far thicker wall than a home wok, the burners they use in a Chinese restaurant are so hot they would blow a hole in a home style wok. even the thicker wall professional woks don't last that long with the extreme high heat of a restaurant burner (like 20,000 btu)

never use stainless unless you are just steaming with it, stainless is a poor heat conductor and tends to have hot spots which will scorch (burn) the food in contact with them

the seasoning is cross linking and polymerizing components in the cooking oil to form a natural non-stick coating, it takes very high heat though (use a bbq with a lid) no plastic handles as well, pork fat used to be the favorite but the diet of our hogs has changed over time and apparently the fat rendered is not as good for seasoning as years ago (thank the food scientist for that bit on knowledge) flax seed oil is very high in the component which is cross linking or polymerizing and the recommended go to oil these days

seasoning your wok is a matter of professional pride amongst Asian cooks, its called "Wok Hay" which sort of implies a well seasoned wok is a happy wok, a happy wok produces better food.....

loads of info on the net these days regarding seasoning and what type of wok to buy, great store in San Francisco which sells woks. lots of info from them on what to do with your wok

if you don't want to season your wok, just take it to a small Chinese restaurant and ask the manager to get the cook to season it for you, might cost you some money ($10) or if you are a good regular customer. getting the protective coating off is not much trouble, just scrub with hot water and steel scrub pad. some people also use baking soda in the water, make sure you oil it right after scrubbing, it will flash rust otherwise

happy cooking

Cool! Thanks for your reply. Interesting stuff.
After checking out the smoke point of flax seed oil, I wouldn't use it. 220 degrees F.
Peanut oil is 450F and, who knew, Avocado oil is 510F.
I was trying to stay in Canada if I could but I may have to go south to get a good price. I'll know more this week.
Again, thanks for your comments.

 

[summerbreeze]

For seasoning you just want a hard black skin to bond to the metal
After seasoning peanut oil is the best to cook with. Flaxseed oil is just the initial and periodic seasoning.

Does smoke when seasoning which is why BBQ is a good option.

No smoke alarm going off.

My wok is well seasoned and completely non-stick

Do my cast iron the same way

Happy cooking....

 

[bdan]

For seasoning you just want a hard black skin to bond to the metal
After seasoning peanut oil is the best to cook with. Flaxseed oil is just the initial and periodic seasoning.

Does smoke when seasoning which is why BBQ is a good option.

No smoke alarm going off.

My wok is well seasoned and completely non-stick

Do my cast iron the same way

Happy cooking....

Call me thick but I fail to see the reasoning behind using a different type of oil from what you cook with to season with?

Is it because it has a LOW smoke point? Or some unique biological property? Just curious.

As I stated, the 30 year old wok I had was totally non stick and was my favorite cooking tool. Next are my, equally non stick, 80 yr old cast fry pans I got from my Grandmother. I never re-season them I just rinse them off, put a bit of oil on a paper towel and wipe them down to combat rust. Works a charm.

Thanks for the info.

 

[summerbreeze]

flaxseed oil is a edible or food grade equivalent to linseed oil which is what is used in varnish

when heated, it cross links and forms a durable hard coating which is what makes woks non-stick (sort of like a non-stick paint)

think of it as coating your cast iron cookware or carbon steel wok with nature's teflon

http://www.thekitchn.com/i-seasoned...h-flaxseed-oil-and-heres-what-happened-224612