Cast Iron Woks

3 posts / 0 new

Sun, 2009-03-08 23:06

al-Qa'bong

Cast Iron Woks

I used a steel wok for about 20-25 years. It had a wok ring to fit over the stove element and worked fine. Then when we moved four years ago, my missus insisted that we buy a ceramic-top stove, which meant, according to her, that I couldn't use my old wok any more. She claims it will overheat the stovetop and damage it. I don't see how, but one never questions She Who Must Be , etc.

I've been using my cast iron skillets on the stove, and don't seem to have damaged anything, so a couple of weeks ago She told me about some cast iron woks for sale. We ended up buying one and I've used it a few times, but it never seems to get hot enough to do a good job.

We also use an aluminum heat diffuser that I found in a Chinese grocery (at least AI think it's a heat diffuser - I didn't ask). It seems to inhibit, rather than disperse heat.

Does anyone have experience with either cast iron woks or ceramic stovetops?

Mon, 2009-03-09 06:11

abnormal

I use a flat bottomed steel wok - works fine but then I'm careful not to "shake" the wok by sliding it around too much on the surface of the stove.

Mon, 2009-03-09 12:45

Boom Boom

I have no experience of the kind you're asking about, but I've used for about 30 years a stainless steel with teflon non-stick coating wok. Obviously it's something that can't be used on the highest stove setting, but it's been fine for me.

On the other hand, I have a collection of cast iron skillets, all about 30 years old, that work just fine on a regular stove even at the highest heat setting, although I wouldn't want to keep any of them at that setting for more than a minute - they turn an extreme red meaning the temp is wayyy too high!