Great deal at $5.25, cheaper than last time
Product Details:
Cook up a storm with the Brilliant Basics 30cm wok. This kitchen essential features a carbon steel finish, a wooden style handle and a convenient hanging loop.
Product Features:
Wooden style handle
Hanging loop
Carbon steel
30cm diameter
Because the Amazon one you linked is proper carbon steel hammered into shape. The Brilliant Basics wok is just a carbon steel coating which peels off very easily. This wok won't properly season either. I would steer away from cheap woks unless you enjoy having your food contaminated by flakes of non-stick coating.
These cheap woks are usually some form of carbon steel with a non-stick coating to protect it because it is unseasoned.
The best thing you can do is scrub it with steel wool when you get it, to remove that coating, then season it properly yourself.
Dont bother removing the coating, just buy an uncoated one
@pipe: Sure, that’s the better option.
However, i bought a similar cheap wok about 20 years ago, when living in a regional area without much choice for shopping other than Big W and K-Mart, I scrubbed it, seasoned it, and it’s still going strong.
@pipe: Depends on your wallet
If you're time rich and cash poor, scrubbing is the way to go
If your time poor and cash rich, buy one that doesn't have a coating
if thats what it takes just buy a proper wok.
Hell if you want cheap, just get a solid cast iron one.
Are you sure that this is right? I don't think that "carbon steel coatings" are a thing. What you might be referring to is the coating it's shipped with to stop it from rusting. Like Mrlrlpe posted, it needs to be scrubbed off (and this is a bit of work to do right), then seasoned.
If it's carbon steel then it should take a coating of seasoning as well as any other carbon steel wok.
Agreed. "Carbon steel" is one of the cheapest metals you can get. It simply doesn't make sense to use it as a coating.
I think these are coated with non stick stuff? The ones they sell in Chinese grocery store only cost 15-20 bucks and they are carbon steel with no coating, but you ended to season etc, not sure if you can get wok hay with coated woks, at least it doesn’t make you look pro 😂
Why the down vote on this question? Good to have this type of questions asked (and answered) to help people come up with an informed decision.
why buy a Telsa, when you can just buy a Kia.
I agree, why pay $70 for a carbon steel wok? Carbon steel is cheap and you can get them for less than half this price.
Get a proper carbon steel wok, not this BIG W one. Don't pay $70. And make sure you do some research on how to season it first
This wok will be crap, probably last one use.
Regular price: $7.50, imagine how cheaply it was made.
Stamped sheet metal, then rivet a handle.
Woks are not expensive. Just a thin piece of carbon steel that heats up quickly.
Cheap crappy woks are not expensive
Fixed that for you.
To compare a $5 big-w wok to a properly stamped one is not correct.
I bought this for $7.50, it's a pretty good nonstick wok
I'd avoid. Go for real carbon steel.
What do you think this is made from?
I'm not sure, but they describe a "carbon steel finish", which users above have described can "chip off".
Not sure if you know this, but carbon steel can't chip off itself, and you don't describe a single layer of it as a "finish". They don't tell you what's under the finish.
It is described as a non-stick coating which chips off. There's a reason it costs a quarter of even the cheapest pure carbon steel wok.
Carbon steel is a really cheap metal. There’s no need to fake it.
These cheap mass-market woks are a piece of stamped carbon steel that is generally then coated with a PTFE coating. The coating is because it’s assumed most people buying them won’t have any clue how to season them correctly, and cooking with an unseasoned or badly-seasoned wok isn’t much fun.
If you scrub off the coating, then season them, they’ll be fine and will perform well. However, with the advent of the internet, and the plethora of Chinese grocery stores these days, you can just buy a better-made wok without the coating for not much more.
Yeah it's probably very similar to the wok Kmart sells… a really heavy steel wok with non stick coating.
If you like changing your wok fortnightly then go for it. lasted less than a month.
Why still havent anyone metioned uncle__
Now anyone can be a wok fkboiiiii.
Haiyaa
AIYAAAAA
Because his a CCP shill
Nieces and Nephews, Uncle Roger approves this wok
I honestly doubt it. No wok-hei.
As they necessarily lack the carbonizing or seasoning of the classic steel or iron wok, non-stick woks do not impart the distinctive taste or sensation of "wok hei".
Great for when you're woking from home!
Just pay the bit extra and season it, it really is worth it.
https://www.everten.com.au/d-line-carbon-steel-wok-36cm.html…
Any deals on a stainless steel pan for the lazy people ? (Me)
Bought this previously, it actually not good for wok. Carbon steel is a kind of special steel with higher carbon content, it is made from refinery factory and it has good thermal conductivity, so it can reach a higher temperature when cook. Basically, you can't get carbon steel coatings after the refinery factory. The coatings you talking about is teflon coating, because teflon is bad thermal-conductive, that is Why It's non- stick. Thin layer of teflon coatings can easily peel off, that's how cheap non stick pot was made.
Negging because I care about my Ozbargainers health!
Dont buy this and eat toxic non stick coating. Get real carbon steel!
don't most people use non stick coating pans?
Not all nonstick coatings are the same.
which are best??
I avoid them. I use stainless
This isn't a teflon wok from what I can tell. It isn't a carbon steel wok either, but it does have a 'carbon steel coating'. So it won't last like a real carbon steel wok, but it won't drop teflon flakes into your food like a cheap 'non-stick' wok either.
After reading comments about these knockoff woks with the coating can anyone link some good affordable woks?
Solidteknics - a bit pricy but made for last and in Australia too.
End up in landfill after 1st stir fry
You cant just buy a wok. It has to be handed down to from an auntie or uncle.
those are the best. Perfectly seasoned with decades of powaa
A high quality wok is very important tool to have in your cooking arsenal!
Does anyone know how the Coles Masterchef 28cm Stir Frypan with lid would compare?
(90 points promotion). Almost have enough promo points to get one of these. I don't stir fry (yet) but thought it may be handy addition.
I had a quick glance at the Coles Masterchef cookware the other day and thought it was all non-stick. If it is I wouldn't bother getting any of it, but particularly a non-stick wok. It's probably been said here numerous times already, but stir-frying is high heat. If you try to replicate anything asian using a non-stick wok it will be a disappointment. (Like me, you'll probably think the problem is you and give up.)
Not all asian cooking is high-heat stir-frying but a plain carbon steel wok will do nearly everything while woks with other surface types are needed for a relatively few specific things. e.g. When cooking a dish made of mostly tomatoes, plain steel reacts and makes it taste strange. So in that case you'd want a second one of stainless steel (or ugh… non-stick). Btw… I cook heaps of asian style food, and want one, but don't own a stainless wok yet. Anyway tomatoes aren't want most people think of with asian style food, and if it has a much smaller tomato content like a sauce tipped into a wok full of meat and/or vegetables toward the end of cooking just to warm and/or thicken it, then a plain metal wok doesn't noticeably change the taste then.
Basically you want plain carbon steel, with a flat bottom if you have electric hotplates (rounded bottoms are for gas), and concentric rings if you can find one with them (a circular pattern on the inner wok walls that mean the food doesn't all just sink straight to the bottom which results in a meal that's more like it's been boiled than fried). You can overcome the lack of rings somewhat by using high heat and flipping the food more often.
A non-stick wok might be useful for soups, maybe steaming, or for mostly-tomato dishes as above. But again I use my carbon steel for the first two, and the only tomato-heavy thing I make has a high-spice content so it doesn't adversely affect the flavour of that one dish.
Soon after stir frying in a non-stick wok the coating will get damaged, then food will stick, hard to clean, etc.
Thank you; that is some invaluable information. Have not seen those Masterchef items as yet but was just wondering what to use the points on. Only have 2 non stick items, 1 small pot for heating milk for hot chocolate and 1 frypan I mostly only use for scrambled eggs; several years old but looked after so no sign of any wear or chips. Only use wooden or that special rubber/plastic utensils that don't mark anything.
I actually have a heavy glass saucepan that gets a lot of use. Must be fussy to clean it properly or you may get a difficult mark to clean off (why I prefer to wash up myself, sometimes with steel wool on bottom outside.) You may actually find a glass saucepan like that better for cooking your tomato sauces. I usually just use a large stainless steel frypan for bolognaise, but as I tend to use pre-cooked tomatoes perhaps that is why I have not noticed any taste differences.
Yeah cooking without burning the coating is difficult. I bought a Tefal one just for eggs. I'm so careful with monitoring its temp but I still cooked the coating to brown. I always said I wouldn't buy non-stick, then did, and after a few uses took only seconds to brown it. Later I realised eggs refuse to stick to my (seasoned) cast iron frypan if I just add a little butter first.
These kind of woks in general only work well on gas cooktops. I've not used this specific one, but have been through enough over the decades…
If you're using an electric cooktop good luck and set expectations low.
I ended up buying an electric wok and that's certainly much better but also use a Lodge pan/skillet for many similar things and that works well once it's properly heated. Just use a couple of wooden spoons to move stuff around to simulate tossing the food around in a traditional wok.
This wok/frypan looks like it has a non stick coating. It is better to get a carbon steel wok without any form of coating (bare metal) and season it through regular use. It copes better with the high temperatures of stir frying.
This "Brilliant Basics 30cm Wok" is so bad that I won't even bother to return and it went straight to the bin.
Pay slightly extra and you get something a lot better from Woolworths
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/102312/coo…
That just a deep non-stick frying pan?
Why would someone buy a $70?
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07DWK4DCG