Products |
Go to the archives |
By
Published: Aug 12, 2009
Category: Food and Wine
Like a lot of suburban families in the 1950s and ‘60s, mine voted for “Chinx” on Sunday night. That meant the Chung King Chicken Chop Suey kit. Remember this artifact? It came as a set: a can of insanely caloric dried chow mein noodles on top of a can of pre-cooked Chop Suey. Mom only had to cook up some white rice and season with soy sauce.
We thought it was just delish.
At college, there was a lot of chatter about a Chinese restaurant just down the road. With good reason --- Joyce Chen was cooking authentic Mandarin specialties. Then she got a cooking show on PBS, using the same kitchen as Julia Child. That’s when I bought my first wok.
I’ve bought many woks since then. And discarded them all. Oh, I seasoned them, as directed. And I wiped them clean, as instructed. But it didn’t take long for my stir-fries to merge with the metal and create a bumpy, second surface that was like an archeological record of my Chinese dinners. Soon enough, the wok of the month seemed dirty. I scoured it. The metal rusted. And I was on to the next.
Joyce Chen’s Pro-Chef 14-Inch Round Bottom Wok looks like the best of breed. Yes, you need to wipe it with a little oil to season it. Yes, you shouldn’t clean it with anything abrasive. Yes, it’s better on a gas stove than an electric.
Why bother? Because you’re switching --- maybe so slowly you don’t even notice --- to those vegetable-intense, meat-or-fish-sprinkled stir fries that are said to be so life-extending. And that old frying pan just screams burgers.
To buy the Joyce Chen Pro-Chef 14” Round Bottom Wok from Amazon.com, click here.