A key part of Thai Cuisine is the Wok, you can follow a recipe step by step but oftentimes certain flavors and temperatures can only be reached by the use of a Wok.
A wok is a deep, bowl-shaped frying pan with sloping sides that distribute heat evenly. With strong Asian roots, the wok dates all the way back to the Chinese Han dynasty. Traditionally it is a round-bottomed, high-walled pan, It is commonly designed with either two side handles or one long handle.
With better heat distribution you receive less hot/cold spots, and ensure that everything in the wok is finished cooking at the same time. Also, because of its shape, tossing food such as stir fry is a lot simpler and allows for the ingredients to fall back into the wok.
In this article you will learn how to prime a new wok – the basic steel carbon wok which is the most popular for cooking.
- First you want to give it a clean scrub with soap, most likely the wok will still have oil and dust on it from wherever it was manufactured so giving it a basic scrub down is a necessary step.
- After washing, dry the wok and transfer it to your stove, wrap the handles in heavy duty aluminum foil to prevent burning.
- Set the wok over high heat. Once the wok heats up, it will start to turn a dark brown color and begin to smoke. This indicates that residual oils are burning off.
- Tilt the wok to apply heat to all the areas of the wok making sure to burn residual oils off of the wok, it will turn a blue brown color. Once the wok is all heated it should turn a blue tint.
- Turn off the burner and set the wok back on the stove. Carefully pour about 1 cup of water into the wok to cool it off. Beware of the hot water splashing!
- Once cool, give it another scrub.
- Return the wok to the heat and make sure all the water is evaporated.
- Add oil to the wok over low heat. Spread the oil around the wok and let it marinate for 1 minute.
- Turn the heat off and use a folded paper towel to wipe off the oil, careful not to burn yourself!
- Then reheat the wok until it is smoking. Then turn off the heat and give it another light scrub with water.
- Now you can start cooking!
Now that you know how to prime your own wok you can make your own tasty wok fry dishes at home! Or you can save the extra work by visiting our four locations in the Seattle area and try Thai Ginger’s very own wok fried dishes!