13" Super Lightweight Cast Iron Chinese Wok

We are avid cooks of Asian food and have been through several woks over the years. Let’s compare the two best flat bottom woks— this Excel Steel Cast Iron and the Joyce Chen Carbon Steel.First, carbon steel woks are prevalent but not superior. All good woks need to be seasoned and this is not at all difficult. Once your wok develops its natural patina, it will be nearly nonstick and easily cleaned. This is true whether you settle on cast iron or carbon steel. The goal with wok cooking is the restaurant worthy “Wok Hei” cooking effect that adds a roasted flavor to your food. Being cast iron, this ExcelSteel work achieves Wok Hei wonderfully. Get it nearly smokin’ hot and carefully drizzle your oil down the sides—you will notice the flavor improvement.When replacing our old carbon steel wok we first ordered the Joyce Chen. If you settle on carbon steel it’s a great choice but only if you order the 2mm thick version. Although it’s 14” versus the 13” ExcelSteel we were also drawn to this cast iron wok due to its actually larger cooking width space at the bottom. Thus, although the ExcelSteel is not as wide, it has a great cooking capacity!Cast iron’s downside can be weight that’s cumbersome. Not here. You get all the advantages of cast iron at a weight and size that’s easier to handle than the Joyce Chen. When our Joyce Chen frustratingly arrived with a loose handle, we ordered the ExcelSteel and find it superior. It’s cooking beautifully!What about seasoning? Here’s what you need to do with this wok: Ignore the instructions. Use a green scrubby and scrub the full surface for minute or two. Then generously oil the pan on the stove, carefully rubbing the oil all around with a paper towel. Loosely wipe out the oil. After it dries, take another couple of paper towels and wipe off the extra oil on the surface. Do not worry that you will see a bit of darkish color on the paper towel. This is true of any cast iron and does not impart any health or cleanliness impact whatsoever.Which to buy? We love cooking on cast iron and this is the perfect wok! Although cast iron, it’s the perfect balance between weight, size, and overall handling. Don’t soak in water overnight or you’ll get some rust. If that does happen, just scrub, coat with oil and heat up to re-season—no big deal.Hope this too long review has been of some small help. Happy stir frying to you and yours!!!

Wow! I've been struggling to achieve heat with a carbon steel wok - won't work on my glass top stove or grill side burner - only the bottom heats up.I think cast iron is the way to go on an american stove top, and the light weight wok is (fairly) easy to handle. I've been struggling with the same simple recipe, but finally managed veg cooked on the inside, but lightly browned on the outside. The chicken pieces are also brown and tender, and the whole dish is crisp, vs soggy. The trick is the wok, which heats up all across the bottom and sides, and holds heat. This is what I did:Seasoning: I scrubbed off the factory seasoning with 000 steel wool and dish soap, until I saw a bit of bright metal. Then I seasoned 3 times using the flax oil and oven method: very fine slick of oil all over wok, upside down in very hot oven (490 deg F) for one hour, then cool slowly in oven. This gets you a hard, shiny very black cooking surface.Recipe: I used Grace Young's simple "How to Stir-Fry Chicken", found on line.Technique: Heated up the new, oven seasoned wok fairly slowly on med heat, until whole thing was hot (yay!) and a drop of water popped and evaporated. Turned heat up and added 2 TB peanut oil, brought to almost smoking and added marinated chicken. (Great sizzle as the wok holds heat as ingredients are added)! Let sit a few moments as meat browns, and then releases easily. Toss a bit and remove the meat (a little pink is OK here.) Add 2 more TB oil and veg and and aromatics (they burn if added earlier) - stir fry - gets a nice light char quickly (first time I've been able to do this.) I didn't find the wok unresponsive (hard to manage heat), as some say about cast iron. If I felt I had too much heat, I added a splash of liquid, then popped a small lid close down on the veg to steam them through. Amazingly, the liquid didn't damage the seasoning - stayed shiny and black. Once vegetables are mostly cooked, add back in chicken, sauce (sherry, chicken broth & soy), and stir a bit.Clean up: While still warm, scoured out in sink with scotch bright pad (no detergent.) What little sticky there is comes off easily. Then rub a thin bit of oil all over and dry wok over warm burner - make sure it's dry!Notes: This wok comes with a highly textured surface, and there is a lot of debate on the web about smooth vs rough cast iron. I had no problem with this (when well seasoned) surface releasing food. I believe the textured surface in fact holds onto seasoning better. My old cast iron frying pans, bought new, were also textured, but after much cooking now have a mirror bright shiny surface.Also, the handle stayed cool!

I searched for a wok, It's not really a wok, it's a pan with high sides. It's fairly well made, I think the handle could be made a little sturdier though. Still a good pan for the price, I use it mostly for deep frying.