If I had to choose my most used piece of kitchen cookware it would probably be my wok. I make just about everything in it. I've had the blackened old thing for about 25 years, and am very attached. In an earlier post I gave a little history of how I came to own it.
We bought our favorite, flat-bottomed wok when we were living in Australia. We were visiting a living museum — a reconstructed mining town focused on the 19th century Australian gold rush era. All the businesses of the town were functioning as they would have been back in 1861; the bakery sold bread, the foundry produced metal objects, etc. Since many Chinese people had been brought to the area to work on the railroads, Chinese culture influenced the products available in the town. The foundry of the mining town made woks, and, missing my wok from home while living in Geelong, I bought one! We still have it and use it often.
My wok-love must have worn off on my three boys because they all seem to think the wok is essential to a kitchen. So, I shouldn't be too surprised that the youngest recently ordered a wok from the San Francisco-based wokshop.com before he's even found an apartment. He got a 14-inch, flat-bottomed hand-hammered carbon steel wok, and I'm a little jealous. It's so pretty. And it's deeper than mine. Now I want one, too. Tsk.
Jordan's been reading The Breath of a Wok, a beautiful book about traditional Chinese cooking (not vegetarian) that I highly recommend if you want to get close and personal with your wok, and master the intricacies of Chinese wok cooking. He's learned a lot, and his already wonderful cooking has gotten even better. When the new wok arrived, he followed the directions in the cookbook to clean and season it. It took both of us taking turns to finally remove the stubborn oil coating on the metal. First the wok was scoured in hot soapy water, then salt and water were boiled in it, then both steps were repeated. Next the wok was seasoned by cooking onion in oil until the onion was charred. The seasoning is best done with oil and Chinese chives, but we didn't happen to have Chinese chives.
After the wok was seasoned, Jordan tried it out by cooking Japanese eggplant and bok choy.
The next night he whipped up a coconut soup and spring rolls.
Am I lucky, or what?
I took a turn, too, and stir-fried yuba, carrots and cabbage, which I can't seem to get enough of. I'm not saying the new wok is better than mine, but it sure LOOKS better.
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