Have fun with it, Lucille! Wok cooking is so very adaptable and forgiving ... I am sure you will be winging it with great success soon!

I posted to the recent recipe thread this morning (The one about cooking without recipes), and now it has disappeared. I cannot imagine why.

I enjoyed the posts there which were done in the spirit of sharing.

Cooking with a wok is all about the sauce and timing the different ingredient additions. Best to follow a recipe until you get the hang of it. Good luck!

By chance I made this several months ago and was surprised when my husband said that he’d eat it every day. :)

https://food52.com/recipes/82533-miso-brown-sugar-cabbage

Thank you for posting the link with the helpful hints. It looks delicious.

Cooking with a wok is all about having a very hot wok and following recipes carefully. Getting a wok hot enough can be a challenge on a standard cooktop. I have a better than average Viking range with a wok ring and even with that, it sometimes isn't hot enough. Be patient to allow it to get very hot before you start cooking. Good call to get a carbon steel wok - I have one too and it works great.

I've found that using a mise-en-place approach makes the cooking much easier. I use small Pyrex custard dishes and measure out/prepare all the different ingredients separately and in advance before I start cooking. I line them up in order of use to make it easier.

Happy wok-ing, you'll surprise yourself with what good recipes will create for you to enjoy eating.

Kenji provides workarounds for the temperature issue, pointing out that many homes both in the U.S. and elsewhere do not have restaurant quality ovens. For instance, for electric ranges he suggests cooking in smaller batches. I particularly like his book because he is teaching from the position that anyone can succeed in cooking well with a wok, while at the same time acknowledging that some results and flavors will be better with the higher temps. From his descriptions most people will succeed with most recipes if they pay careful attention to the science and art behind wokking.

Your description of the book closes the deal, I'll get it. He is very much about the science involved with cooking and he always tries iterative variations to figure out what works best with any particular preparation. And, to present procedures and approaches anyone following his advice will succeed with- that's very much his M O.

By chance I made this several months ago and was surprised when my husband said that he’d eat it every day. :)

That sounds good! I sometimes do a spinach stir-fry with miso. (I sub white in this recipe.)

https://leitesculinaria.com/239581/recipes-stir-fried-spinach-miso-ginger.html

I posted to the recent recipe thread this morning (The one about cooking without recipes), and now it has disappeared. I cannot imagine why.

I don't think the OP cared for some of the comments. That said, I last saw the thread mid day yesterday.

Judi, isn't that something! I wonder what people like that do in real life when conversations include things they disagree with or suggest they may be wrong about something? There are a few regulars here who seem prone to doing that when conversations start to question their views.

That OP I think said she preferred her grandmother's cooking and that she'd had said her first experience with Italian food when having pizza at age 16. Besides my obvious astonishment at these comments, I didn't have the heart to suggest that pizza is much more an American dish and is far more ubiquitous here than in Italy. So, arguably is not "Italian".

Lisaam - That miso-cabbage recipe looks and sounds really good. I guess I'm going to have to learn about miso.

DH loves his carbon steel wok and tonight made stir fry with shrimp, bok choy, peppers, baby corn, red onions, carrot shavings, bean sprouts and seasonings over rice.

He doesn't measure but as Elmer mentioned he prepares his vegetables and meat before beginning to cook. We have a BlueStar gas range with high BTU burners, the highest is 25,000 BTUs. It was designed to facilitate cooking with a wok, you don't need a wok ring since you just remove the grate and place the wok directly over the gas ports.

I'll look into the book - it might be a nice Father's Day gift.

I admire him. I'm not an instagram reader or user, maybe I should watch his stuff.

On a night when I don't really feel like cooking I enjoy his Buttered Lo Mein with Oyster Sauce Noodles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYVLP9IsDM4 

Here's his youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/kenjialt/featured

I wonder what people like that do in real life when conversations include things they disagree with or suggest they may be wrong about something?

I think it has to do a lot with how the replies are handled. I do not think many object to courteous disagreements.

I have been ambivalent about Kenji and wondered why - my husband goes to his recipes often, so he is brought into my life, and it isn't my style at all. I like to be more creative with cooking rather than following obsessive scientific processes, which seem to disrupt the flow at times (use a torch on your food to get Wok Hei just sounds tedious to me, but ymmv). And my husband has been cooking great food since way before Kenji - don't know why that annoys me a little bit, but it does destroy the creativity in a way. I once had to have chicken thighs in our cassoulet instead of duck confit because of Kenji (just a joke, but really we only make it once a year :))

This older article from 2015 reviewing his earlier cookbook helped sort me out on what bugs me a little - the article is funny and positive. I do like Kenji but with a grain of salt, and a dose of 'really?'.

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/kenji-lopez-alt-food-lab-cookbook

I posted this before, but for anybody into podcasts, Special Sauce has Kenji and Ed Levine from serious eats with special guests that I've enjoyed except for the movie episode about 'Fresh' - beware of that one.

Anyway, enjoy the new Wok! After all these years, we recently got a wok ring to stabilize and a wok spatula tool from Sur la Table with curved front and edges, well worth it!

Elmer, you might enjoy this piece about pizza's popularity in Italy. It's success in America is what gave it any prominence in Italy where it was seen as a highly regional food.

https://food52.com/blog/26979-neapolitan-pizza-history#:~:text=Pizza%20does%20have%20a%20long,as%20the%20“pizza%20effect.”

Big news! Kenji won a James Beard Award for Wok, second to his Beard award for his first book. Congrats to our favorite cookbook author!

https://www.eater.com/23747173/james-beard-foundation-awards-2023-media-winners-cookbooks-journalism

I use a wok all the time, although I rarely make Chinese food. I just find it a really useful pan for all sorts of things. The high sides mean you can stir and flip vigorously without making a mess on the cooktop.

I like to be more creative with cooking rather than following obsessive scientific processes

I see no reason not to have art and science together, and in his wok book Kenji very much espouses both. Having an idea of the science involved, to me, very much positions one to be able to let one create in an informed manner. Sort of like how many of the truly great painters would study anatomy prior to painting their famous paintings.

Well stated, Lucille, I apologize for presenting it as if it was a false dichotomy, creativity vs science. I completely agree with what you said. I know Kenji is well-loved and am trying to understand my own reluctance to enjoy him more. I'm very into Harold McGee, so don't mean to come off as anti-science. I totally agree it's important to follow sound techniques, especially for wok cooking which I've not been good at:) . My son has mastered it and am glad he lives here with us!

Thanks for a great discussion about wok cooking, I find it inspiring!

Thanks for the link, Zalco, I enjoyed that article.

My personal experience - I learned on my first trip to Italy in the mid-70s, and many repeated visits since, that other than somewhat in the South, the "American" notions of pizza we're accustomed to are mostly not to be found in restaurants. Other than those aiming for the tourist trade.

No argument here, Elmer, I respectfully duck out.

I never meant to say science doesn't play a role in cooking, so my bad writing has bitten me .

I'll continue to examine why Kenji 'bugs' me by myself.

Having not heard of the Wok book ( I don't follow either him or the cooking scene all that closely), I'm not surprised that it has become a best seller and award winner.

He's the opposite of a hack, as those familiar with him know. He's meticulous in developing recipes, taking endless notes as he works on each individual one to produce maximum outcomes while still being do-able in home kitchens.

My one beef with him is that some of his recipes can be a bit too involved. With repeated experience with individual ones, I find with time and practice I can take shortcuts without compromising too seriously the end result. That makes them more suitable for me, a person who wants the results but without spending endless amounts of time to produce them.

" I'll continue to examine why Kenji 'bugs' me by myself. "

There's no obligation to like one recipe developer and not another, it's all personal preference. I was addressing what your comment said was the reason, nothing more. Choices are yours and mine to make. Good luck.

duck out

No, no, stay please. There is nothing wrong with a different point of view.

As for me, clearly wokking needs art, science, and *experience*. My attempt yesterday was somewhat clumsy but I know I'll improve if I keep at it.

Thanks, lucille!

Vegetables are amazing. Broccoli wokked with garlic, simple and delicious.

I'm really enjoying this wok discussion, thanks!

I posted before about the podcast 'Special Sauce' hosted by Ed Levine of Serious Eats, where Kenji is a frequent guest , but I'll mention it again because the most recent 2 episodes are fun, discussing his new wok book - they cook before a live audience.

Special Sauce podcast with Kenji, part 1

Thanks for the link, I'll enjoy listening to them.