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Asian Stirfry meets Camp Cookery
With Lodge cast iron cookware, you know what you're getting; a heavy and heavy-duty cooking vessel. With their recent process of pre-seasoned LodgeLogic, it hasn't gotten lighter, but definitely better. Specifically with this wok, ( as has been mentioned before ), it takes a while to heat up,but it holds the heat and cooks very evenly. The two best features for me were the two smallish loop handles, so much better for storage, and the best news by far.... a true bowl bottom on the interior of the wok, absolutely no flat spots to collect any food and debris. It's performed beautifully and with the LodgeLogic, it's a breeze to clean with a stiff brush after sufficient cooling. With it's price, it's a steal. I love this wok It may be heavy, but it's large and perfect for Mexican food, and Asian cooking. I'm thinking chili con queso in the wok with a fire in the stove, and warm chips on the stove too, in my living room during a nice family reunion. I love it. Nice Wok Worth The Buck Lodge products are always great this wok is no exception. Its nicely crafted. The only thing I would change would be the flat base design the wok is designed as to not roll off your stove, a feature I didnt need. I would prefer a round bottom for faster heating. This wok however is way stronger than any of the rounded ones I've seen so I chose it and have no remorse. LOVE this wok! Like my review says, I LOVE this wok. I am already a cast iron freak, owning no less than about 15 Lodge items, some of them going back 2 generations in my family. I use 'em, too. The wok is the latest add and I love it. Heavy, yes. That is a deterrent if I were trying to do fancy food tossing and flipping, which I don't...nor do Chinese wok chefs when using larger woks...there are other ways to accomplish the same thing less theatrically. High heat retention, perhaps. But I tend to heat my wok on "high medium high" as opposed to ultra high heat. I get great cooking temperature plus the wok sides are cool enough to "hold" other items - a key functional aspect of the wok shape. I know that other reviewers heat this up on High heat and that seems to work for them - I opt for a slightly lower version of High and make sure to heat it up for a good 5 minutes or so, and that approach give me great cooking temperature AND seems to keep foods from sticking. A snobby co-worker saw it delivered and commented that it would be too hot overall to work properly because woks are supposed to have hi-temp zone a the base and cooler zones up the side for proper stir-frying. I took that mental reservation home with me, but when I used the wok, found that it is not an issue. It "zones" great for proper wok cooking. Also, it cools off fast enough that I can wash/wipe it clean fairly quickly after finishing a dish....so much for the heat retention issue. The shape is perfect. The flat bottom makes it well-balanced on my gas range. The interior is just right for manipulating food to cook stirfry for 1-4 folks... maybe more, but to overfill it by much defeats the ability to move the food around in the way that is needed for proper wok-cookery. Awesome for deep-frying, a least for smaller quantities: the shape helps to reduce the amount of oil needed. Lodge's Pro-Logic line of pre-seasoned items is great. I have pre-seasoned a bunch of my earlier lodge items...with great results but admittedly it takes some doing ( my secret for seasoning is to just keep the item in the bottom of my oven between uses with a light coat of oil and let it keep seasoning with each oven use - works like a charm, but takes some time!) Fortunately, the pre-seasoned items make it that much easier to jump right in and use the cast irom items straight away and very successfully...I was bold about this and made my 1st stir-fry in this wok using cabbage and other reactive veggies...and NOTHING discolored. That is really good pre-seasoning. Lodge makes great cast iron...here in the USA which is a good thing too. So I recommend this product highly...but,after reading some of the other reviews, I do recommend that you know what the H you are doing before you cook in it ... otherwise, you might have results that have less to do with the cookware and more to do with the cook. Overated, but OK considering the price. I purchased this wok because of all the wonderful reviews, but this doesn't live up to the quality of other cast iron products I have. The interior/cooking surface is bumpy, as with other lower quality cast iron products, vs. the nice smooth/slick cooking surface on higher grade cast iron cookware. If anyone knows of a great quality cast iron wok with a very smooth surface, I'd love to know the brand and model. That said, this wok will do, especially considering the price, until I find the perfect wok. | |
