Cheapest price yet for a tri-ply clad stainless steel wok from a quality brand.
Tramontina Grano Triply Stainless Steel Clad Wok 32cm/5.2l $149.98 Delivered @ Myer
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You can't season stainless steel because it goes away as soon as you wash the thing. There are lots of videos on Youtube that shows you how to cook on stainless steel and the main takeaway from that is to preheat the pan on medium or medium-low for a few minutes and test using water droplets. When the droplets dance around on the pan like mercury balls due to the Leidenfrost effect, that means the pan is hot enough. Turn the heat down, then add enough oil and swirl it around to coat the bottom of the pan, and add your food to be cooked. Things like eggs, fish, beef, basically proteins will stick to the pan initially; but in time the food will release and that's when you flip.
Thanks for the info. Have read about seasoning SS stuff, but as you say, after washing it doesn't stay! I'll try the preheating technique you mentioned.
Thanks to others for comments as well. Don't have carbon steel anymore as we use induction.
Buy what Asian restaurants use. Carbon steel woks. Yes you do need to season them but once done they will last for ever and take all the abuse thrown at it.
I will second Kevmev's comment.
If you want a seasoned wok, then you want carbon steel - which is different to stainless. Here's a guide on preparing and using it.
If you want a carbon steel wok, get one from your local Asian market. Make sure you have a gas stove (even a portable butane one) to cook on.
If you're looking for recipes for your existing wok, then look at Indian balti/kadai dishes, that use it for stews/curries, rather than a fry pan. The other option - and this is an advanced technique - is letting stuff stick, and just waiting for it to release.
Silly question - but is the 'release' you wait for just the outer layer of the food.sticking to the pan, and an inner layer becoming warm enough to separate from it?
No, the release comes from when the outer layer goes from sticking to the pan to not sticking to the pan.
Thanks for the detailed answer.
We have a non-induction electric cooktop. We have two 24cm stainless steel frypans, one from Scanpan and one from Essteele, and she said the Essteele one is better in making the kind of food that she makes often (deep fry dough). The dough doesn't expand enough why deep-fried in the Scanpan pan.
The only reason I could think of is the heat.My wife is now looking for a bigger pan. She thought of a wok, because with a wider top smaller bottom, she could save the amount of waste oil. I wonder whether a wok is suitable on electric cooktops? Would heat be an issue?
A wok will work fine on non-induction electric cooktops if the wok is flat-bottomed, which this Tramontina one is. Clad tri-ply also helps with conducting the heat from the cooktop to the parts of the wok that are not in contact with the cooktop.
Yes I think the issue might be heat retention. I've ready many reviews and watched lots of videos about the differences of stainless steel pans - I'm moving to them since my non-stick pan started to deteriorate. Cheaper pans with thinner sides does not retain heat as well as fully clad pans. Also, pans with a disc bottom heats a little unevenly compared to full clad pans.
If you do a lot of deep frying, I would suggest you consider using an enameled cast iron pot instead of a pan or a wok. Cast iron is heavy, but it retains heat much better than anything. You also want to consider the safety of having lots of boiling hot oil in a pan or wok with a long handle which can be easily bumped.
@kevmev12: Thanks. Is that "enameled" important?
We have some pots of that kind from Aldi, which my wife was using to bake sour dough bread, and the enameled layer was peeling off after some time.@Averell: Not really; as long as it's cast iron, it'll be fine. I'm going to strongly recommend you NOT use a wok (stainless steel or otherwise) for deep frying mainly because of safety issues. The wide top and smaller bottom of a wok and your electric cooktop having a small flattish surface means if the wok is not directly centered on the electric hob, one little bump or nudge on the wok basin or handle and you'll be spilling boiling hot oil everywhere including yourself. The other reason is carbon steel and stainless steel is not quite as good with heat retention as cast iron is.
The enamel layer on your existing pots is chipping or cracking because of intense temperature change (thermal shock), or hard physical impact from cooking utensils or cleaning.
My thoughts on pans, i guess it applies to woks. I have all of these for different uses. All of my saucepans are Tramontina triple ply and over 30 years old. 1 finally failed after my parner left it on the stove to cook dry and burn away (sad face). I contacted Tramontina Brasil and they said i could not buy this size or model anymore but they gave me a 30% coupon to use on the online Australian store. Anyway my thoughts below.
Stainless: Difficult to get the temperature right to have foods release without sticking but with practice works well.
Carbon steel: Needs to be seasoned properly (a little bit of work to do it properly) and has to be reseasoned after burning or excessive scrubbing. Also need to get the temperature right to enjoy the non stick seasoned surface.
Cast Iron. Needs to be seasoned differently to carbon steel and more work and has to be reseasoned after burning or excessive scrubbing also. Also need to get the temperature right to enjoy the non stick seasoned surface.
Enameled cast iron: Can use it without seasong just a light wipe with oil creates a nice cooking surface. (all of my pans would be this if it were lighter).
Ceramic or "stone" coated: Needs to be seasoned (Much easier process) and avoid low smoke point oils to cook with.
Non Stick Teflon type: Easily scratched and possible health risks avoid low smoke point oils they will clog the surface.
Tramontina are excellent value for money for their stainless steel cookware, but I don't understand a ss wok.
You can get a decent carbon steel wok for $30, and cook like a pro (assuming you have a powerful wok burner at the bare minimum)
A stainless steel triply wok is useful for electric cooktops, where they will have better distribution of heat than carbon steel woks.
Ok, so being the owner of a stainless steel wok for some time now… How do you season it?
The thing's really hard to cook with & avoid burnt goods, unless you use a lot of oil or water… Neither of which are in the ingredient list of many stir-frys…