I want to make stir fry and I know I'm supposed to use high

carbon steel

Also every single one of them says NEVER have the pan on with no oil in it.

I thought you're supposed to get the PAN NICE AND HOT before you add oil?

>>8146638
That's because you never put a nonstick on high heat, it'll degrade the coating and then you breathe that shit.
Use a carbon steel wok like every fucking Chinese restaurant does. But if you don't have a gas stove, don't bother with a wok unless you're willing to buy a 1-burner portable setup.
If you have electric, get a flat-bottom saute pan instead.

>>8146668
>If you have electric, get a flat-bottom saute pan instead
Will it get hot enough to make a stir fry?

>>8146676
It's not ideal but a flat-bottom pan, having a wider base, will take more heat from a flat electric coil than a round-bottom pan will.

>>8146684
I can't fucking believe they don't have carbon pans at Wal-Mart.

>>8146676
Without a proper wok burner you just can't get enough heat to do a "proper" stir fry nor a lot of other asian cooking.

That said, you can do a reasonable enough interpretation with an electric burner cranked all the way up and a pan that can take the heat.

>>8146686
I don't know if I've seen carbon steel there, but they definitely have stainless which should be fine on high heat. OP is just retarded.

Why does stir fry have to be super hot?

>>8146732
there's a cooking technique called flash frying that gives the food a unique flavor

you need a really hot pan and very small pieces of meat/veggie/etc

>>8146686
You can get a cast iron pan, but it can be hard to find ones with good sloped sides.

>>8146732
The whole stir fry flavor comes from the searing/fast cooking. Without the high heat, you are just heating the veggies in a frying pan.. which is perfectly fine, but it's not really a stir fry and won't taste like one.

>>8146731
>which should be fine on high heat.
Why do they day never to use high heat then.

>>8146763
To placate the retarded.

Just do it.

i dont see any links to any pans you cu/ck/s

>>8146780
How do I know you're not lying to me?

>>8146638

If you're cooking in an American kitchen with electric coil burners, don't bother, it won't work.

I've had better luck by putting a large, deep cast-iron pan on the largest burner, turning it all the way up, and letting it preheat for like 20 minutes with the fans cranked for any smoke that might come out.

>>8146638

my girlfriend got this pan as a present

are you guys telling me you cannot put it on rly high heat without it being damaging to the coating?

>>8147085

Everything I say is a lie.

>Nonstick pans

There's your problem OP

>>8147085
if you're going to have that mindset, 4chan is not a good place to be.

PTFE requires 600F to boil.

>>8146788
You buy no name carbon steel woks from a chinese cooking supply shop or a chinese supermarket. It's the only piece of cookware for which the cheapest most basic kind is the best that they use in restaurants.

I use my wok on gas for pad thai/ fried rice/ deep frying fish/ chicken/ tempura/ frying bok choi/ choi sum kind of thing but I use a saute pan for meat stir fries because it gets hotter. I can get a big shot of fire into my rangehood from oil or alcohol in my saute pan, but not my wok.

Doing stuff in batches helps a lot to keep heat up for asian cooking, and makes it a lot easier to not overcook stuff.

>>8146638
As others have said you need serious heat. A typical Chinese restaurant's wok burners are putting out 150k-300k BTUs. Even a good home gas range top is maybe hitting 12k to 14k BTUs.

Goods news is you can get a propane burning for around $50-60 that can put out over 100k. Look online for the ones used for home brewing and large crab boils that can handle bringing 30 quarts of more water to a roiling boil

. Bad news, is that these will have to be used outside. I picked up one about 8 yrs ago that has a 20psi regulator and pumps out 185k BTUs. It is hot enough that I wear welding gloved when I use it and you have to basically yell over the jet engine like sounds it makes; but can cook enough stir in a 16in wok to feed 5 people in about 4 minutes.

Also you can use a cast iron or solid metal pan and preheat them in the oven on the highest temp setting so they take on a good heat before moving them to the range top. Just use some extra heavy oven mitts when you handle it.

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>>8147156
damn son you must be ripped to get wok technique with a big cast iron pan

>>8147189
Nah. I got a thin hand hammered northern style wok (it has the dimples) and a smaller smooth wok. For cast iron you would have to toss the food Western style or be a complete beast.

>>8147156
>A typical Chinese restaurant's wok burners are putting out 150k-300k BTUs. Even a good home gas range top is maybe hitting 12k to 14k BTUs.

Is this even true?

Do you REALLY need that high of a temp to do stir fry?

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>>8147156
Would this work?

What does the high temperature do to the meat that i can't do by just leaving it on my shitty gas top for a little longer until it caramelizes?

>>8147365
that is exactly what he is describing.

>>8147357
Wok Hei my dude.

>>8147373
But it only puts out 54k BTUs

https://www.walmart.com/ip/King-Kooker-25-Tall-Heavy-Duty-Portable-Propane-Single-Burner-Outdoor-Cooker-Camp-Stove/10661038

>>8147380
buy one from northern brewer or a homebrewing catalog.

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>>8147365
This is what I bought https://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP1-Jet-Cooker/dp/B0002913MI

I cut off the tips of the triangles with a hacksaw so the wok would sit inside of it better. I I wasn't so lazy - yeah, 8 years lazy -I would take a grinder and round off the rough corners making a rounder spot for the wok to sit in.

>>8147368
>What does the high temperature do to the meat that i can't do by just leaving it on my shitty gas top for a little longer until it caramelizes?


Really high heat cooks it super fast. A typical wok cooking session would go something like:
>add meat to a searing hot wok with oil that is about to burst into flames for like a minute. Constantly moving it
>Remove meat to let it rest for a minute while you stir fry veggies starting with the hardest/longest to cook to softest/fastest to cook, never letting them rest.
>add back in meat and never stop moving the food in wok or it will burn fast.
>add in sauce and keep moving food through the sauces
>serve

The cooking is done really fast. The meats are seared quickly and let to rest a moment before being added back in. This leaves them slightly charred but extremely juicy. You will spend more time on prep than you will cooking. everything you stir fry will have to be cut to size and of a known cooking time/order to add. Any sauce/seasoning will have to be added in the right order. Oil fires can and will happen.

The wok itself is cheap thin-ish metal. This allows the wok to quickly heat up and cool down. A wok also has a very hot spot due to its shape.

Also, your friends will be impressed and your garage or patio will smell like a chinese restaurant for days. Plus, it is just fucking fun.

>>8146676
it's never gona be the same
why would you ever use electric

>>8146668
>That's because you never put a nonstick on high heat, it'll degrade the coating and then you breathe that shit.

Maybe buy a non-stick pan that isn't shitty instead.

>>8147515
>Maybe buy a non-stick pan that isn't shitty instead.
Like a $30 non stick well seasoned carbon steel wok.

>>8147457
This is the one friends. Use this and a wok.

Did anyone in this thread compare the two?

Like first making something with a carbon steel wok at high heat, and then making the same thing on a regular stove with one of those non-stick pans?

I'm actually curious about the differences

>>8146638
>stir fry
maybe a WOK

>>8147104
Breddy much, yeah.

For realy high heat, go carbon or stainless.
I don't like using high heat on cast iron, it retains too much heat for me.

>>8146676
Nope. It just doesn't work. I have an electric cooker 'cause I rent and don't even use my wok anymore.

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>>8146638
>What pans do I use?

A real wok. Not the silly "wok shaped object" that you posted in OP.

Should cost about $10 at an Asian market. It should look like pic related. Thin hammered steel. No coating, no plastic handle, no silly nonstick bullshit.

>>8147584

Yeah, I've tried to use a nonstick pan. Tried and failed.

The problem is that you can't get the heat high enough because you'd burn the nonstick coating. The result is that the food steams in its own juices rather than actually frying. Same concept as overcrowding the pan when you're doing a sear or saute.

The whole point of a stir-fry is the blisteringly high heat. You can't get that with a nonstick coated pan, or with an electric range. Heck, even a typical household gas range isn't strong enough really. You need a very powerful gas burner or other source of actual fire (like a charcoal grill).

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WOK THIS WAY!

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>>8148367

>>8147105
This can only be interpreted as a lie. Which means you tell the truth sometimes