When you are considering purchasing a wok it can be difficult to find the right wok for you. There are many styles of woks. There are Mandarin, Cantonese, POW woks, and a few others.
Mandarin woks usually have only one long handle. This long handle is made of steel with a wooden or bamboo insert or can be without an insert. Mandarin woks do not have the shorter steel helper handle found on Cantonese (Southern Chinese) or Northern Chinese woks (POW woks).
Some woks have two short steel helper handles and I will call them helper handles because I don’t know what else to call them. Oher woks have one short steel helper handle and a longer handle of varying lengths. Some of those longer handles on woks are made of carbon steel and they have wood or bamboo inserted in them.
Mandarin Woks
| Woks | Description | Price | Buy |
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Top | Chinese Hand Hammered Mandarin Wok | Buy on Amazon | |
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Top | OKSLO Town food service Mandarin wok | Buy on Amazon | |
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Top | Town Food Service 16 Inch Mandarin Wok | Buy on Amazon |
Cantonese Woks
Cantonese woks are also called Southern Chinese woks and have two small steel helper handles. A purest on the subject of woks would also say that Cantonese woks are shallower than Mandarin or Northern Chinese woks. Most of the Cantonese woks that I have seen have the same pan depth as all the other woks. Almost all of the woks that I have recommended on this site all have the same depth if they are the same diameter. In other words, all 14-inch woks by different manufacturers have about the same depth. This confusing fact should not be a determining factor in your decision to purchase a wok.
| Woks | Description | Price | Prime | Buy |
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Top | Town Food Equipment - 30" Hand Hammered Cantonese Wok | Prime | Buy on Amazon | |
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Top | Town Food Service - 28 Inch Cantonese Wok | Prime | Buy on Amazon | |
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Top | Chef's Supreme - 26" Hand-Hammered Cantonese Wok | Prime | Buy on Amazon | |
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Top | Town Food Service - 14" Cantonese Wok | PrimeEligible | Buy on Amazon |
POW Woks
Northern Chinese woks (POW woks) are deeper and have one small steel helper handle and one long handle.
| Woks | Description | Price | Prime | Buy |
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Top | Pre-Seasoned Carbon Steel Pow Wok Red Elm Traditional Hand Hammered Stir-Fry Pan with Helper Wooden handle (14 Inch, Round Bottom Wok) | Prime | Buy on Amazon | |
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Top | Pre Seasoned Blue Carbon Steel Flat Bottom Wok -14 Inch Chinese Pow Wok - Traditionally Hand Hammered Woks and Stir Fry Pans by Mammafong | PrimeEligible | Buy on Amazon | |
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Top | COUNER Traditional Hand Hammered Carbon Steel Pow Wok with Wooden and Steel Helper Handle, Woks and Stir Fry Pans(14 Inch, Round Bottom) | PrimeEligible | Buy on Amazon |
All three of these wok styles can be hand-hammered or pressed. They also can be round-bottomed or flat-bottomed.
The traditional woks have rounded bottoms and are hand-hammered. When a wok is hand-hammered the sides are not as smooth as pressed carbon steel woks. This allows the food to stick to the sides instead of falling back to the bottom of the pan. When the food sticks to the sides of the wok, it is easier to control the heat on the side of the pan.
Round-Bottom Woks
- Pre-seasoned ---All carbon steel woks must be seasoned before use, but this wok has been completed by artisans, save you time and trouble .
- Perfect details（Round bottom） ---1.8 mm thick pot wall，hand-welded one-piece handle, joint reinforcement, will not fall off.Imported red eucalyptus handle, comfortable and durable, anti-scalding
- No coating ---No chemical coating, less smoke and easier cleaning than other iron pans
- Physical characteristics ---Traditional Chinese wok, cold forging and hammer hand, make the original iron plate more dense, physical non-stick
- Maintenance of wok and after-sales policy ---After each use（cant be cleaned with steel balls）, remember to dry the water droplets with cotton cloth or dry it with a small fire to improve the service life and no rust, healthier.
Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Round-bottomed woks are usually used on gas stoves with a wok ring or used on a wok burner. The distribution of heat on a round-bottomed wok is more linear than on a flat-bottomed wok.
Flat-bottomed woks came into being mostly for the Western world because of gas stoves. Gas stoves with wok rings can work on a marginal basis, but they cannot quite compete with round-bottomed woks for a variety of reasons.
Flat-Bottomed Woks
- Our woks and pans were chosen and filmed by A Bite of China. It helps us getting more attention but also more and more low-quality counterfeits flooding the market.
- Every wok has been through 12 processes, 36,000 times of hand-hammering. You can see all the hammer prints but hardly feel them. The hammered surface absorb less oil than ordinary woks.
- It is nonstick because iron is reactive and will form a protective layer of iron oxide during use. Its color will change during use when forming the protection layer until it becomes black. Please do not compare to your nonstick wok, it is recommended to use big fire high heat to preheat the wok before adding oil and ingredients. It conducts heat faster than coated nonstick woks so that it can lock the juice and nutrition inside the food.
- Flat bottom, both induction and gas stove suitable. It is an iron wok that can be passed on for generations. It has nothing but iron.
- It has been seasoned and you only need to wash it when you receive it. Iron gets rusted in water, so please dry it after use. Wipe a layer of oil over the cooking surface if you do not want to use it for a while. Dishwasher not safe.
Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
If you have a gas stove, then a flat-bottomed will work without a wok ring. If you want to use a round-bottomed wok on a gas stove then you will have to use a wok ring order to concentrate the heat into a smaller area and to stabilize the wok.
Wok Rings
- This cold forged plated steel wok ring is a vital piece of cookware for any Asian food eating establishment
- Wok rack has a innovative design is a very help tool for round bottom wok to use
- Used to support woks when cooking on a regular range, a wok ring sits on top of your existing burner and ensures that your wok won’t slide around while you’re cooking
- Used to support woks when cooking on a regular range, wok ring should typically be 4 smaller than the desired wok diameter
- Dimensions about: height is 1.37 Inches, bottom diameter is 9¾-Inch, top diameter is 7¾-Inch.
Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Recommended Reading
What is a POW Wok?
A pow wok is simply a wok with a single long handle, usually 6-7" so that the cook can flip and toss the wok over a gas flame similar to how you would flip an omelet.
Why Use a Wok With A Flat- Bottom?
Flat-bottomed woks are more stable on a flat surface than a round-bottomed wok.Flat-bottomed woks distribute heat to the bottom of the pan more evenly than round-bottomed woks, if used on a flat cooking surface.
What Should My Wok Patina Look Like?
Your wok will change color over time to light brown (tan) then dark brown and eventually black. These patina changes help to season your wok. It is a Good Thing!
Best Carbon Steel Woks [Top 5 Woks for Great Meals]
Copper, stainless steel, and aluminum do make excellent woks. Despite this, Asian chefs prefer to use carbon steel. Why would they? This is partly due to the durability of the material and the effective nature of carbon’s heat conductivity.
What is the Best Wok Burner?
A Wok Burner produces a massive amount of heat which allows the cook to use wok cooking methods more efficiently. Wok burners usually produce 50,000 BTU's or more.
Cast Iron Wok Stands vs Wok Rings?
Cast iron wok rings will solidly support your round-bottomed wok or your flat-bottomed wok. Cast iron wok stands are not made for electric stovetops either ceramic/glass tops or electric coil tops.
