Equipment Review: The Best Woks on the Market

Byamazingfoodstv


Over the years, we have tested traditional woks several times and reached the same conclusion: Their rounded, wobbly design is not suited for conventional, flat-topped American stoves. You’re better off using a large nonstick skillet. But recently we’ve noticed wok-style pans that split the design differences between a skillet and a wok and wondered how they compare.

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49 Comments

  2. This is a good example of why I don’t believe a thing on America’s test kitchen. First their chosen woke has terrible reviews on amazon. Second using a nonstick as a wok makes zero sense because you can’t preheat it. Stainless steel however is great for stir fry because you can preheat it and it’s easy to clean.

  7. Once again, ATK to the rescue! Excellent review and an education to boot. My entire family uses your cookbooks, watches your how to videos and watches reviews before buying anything for our kitchens.

    Absolutely top notch 👍👍👍

  14. i know this video is kind of old, and would like to see an updated version. mainly because now we have peking pans or stir fry pans, with large walls and large bottom diameter. i think they are more optimal than woks, no?

  18. The taylor Wok is a piece of garbage that is coated in a film that doesnt come off. The Taylor company doesnt even email or call back for returns, refunds, or replacements. Instead they sale you a defective product take your money and ghost you.

  20. Absolutely do not buy from Taylor and Ng. If you look up their reviews you can see a lot of unfulfilled orders, people trying to get a hold of the company and never hearing back, and only a few people actually ever getting their orders. A lot of people seem to go months without getting it. I placed and order with them before checking reviews because I trusted America's Test Kitchen. It's been a week since I placed my order (not long) but they said it was gonna ship in 5 days. My order still says "processing" so I sent an email. No response. I tried calling. Straight to voicemail and the voice mail box is full. I look up reviews. Surprise surprise. TONS of terrible ones.

    ATK should take down this video and make a new one. Even if the company is legit and the owner is just having a hard time keeping it running you shouldn't be directing viewers to a place where they may struggle to get the product you suggested.

  37. I saw a video on YouTube a couple weeks ago by a Thai cook in Canada. She enthusiastically endorsed the 14" carbon steel wok. However, she sheepishly admitted that most home cooks in Bangkok used 14" stainless steel woks because they did not want to deal with the care of the carbon steel woks. They cannot be that bad.

  38. Taylor & NG should be removed from any promotion. Ordered one of their woks in 2020. Still waiting. And they kept my money in the meantime. Check out reviews online, this is normal practice for this seller. Not recommended.

  40. A real wok doesn't have a flat bottom, but a round bottom. It is this unique shape that allows it to generate high heat quickly and distribute heat evenly. You won't see any flat bottom woks inside a Chinese restaurant kitchen. The only reason there are some many flat bottom "woks" is that manufacturers know that not every household has a gas stove. A round bottom wok also has to sit on top of a ring to stabilize it over the fire. They intentionally made the bottom flat in order to sell more of them. Essentially, a flat bottom "wok" is just a large round frying pan. It's not a real wok, just like the fortune cookie is a western creation.

  42. Taylor & Ng has raised their prices nearly 40% since this video was made. That's more than triple the cumulative inflation rate since 2019. They're also out of stock on most items until Fall of 2022, including flat-bottomed woks. Meanwhile I believe the cookware market has been rejuvenated by many newfound stay-at-home lifestyles. This test could use a refresher!

  43. I picked up a used Le Creuset enameled cast iron wok. Terrible. It was so heavy and the heat was hard to control. Resold it. It was my only piece of Le Creuset, it was beautiful, but it was useless. Lesson learned! Thanks, Lisa and all the folks at ATK, for this video.

  44. Cooking with traditional round gas burner fans the heat out to the side so you don’t get the proper heat in the center of the wok. This one dude I found online sells a “wok mon” round steel dohicky that changes the flame into a proper wok flame rather than the fanned out burner. If you’re really serious about wok cooking I’d check it out as the straight up flame is how Asian restaurants cook on a wok. I’m not affiliated with him I just think it’s a great idea.

  45. I think that these people are morons and I don't ever believe anytthing that they include in testing.
    They remind me of Consumer Reports… testing something like 8" car speakers… in one particular car… and only including 5 different speaker brands that bothered to send them samples.
    The only thing that makes this reasonably believable is that 2 Asian cooks are doing the cooking.
    Their WINNING WOK links to a ROUND BOTTOM WOK on Amazon that is Out of Stock…!

    There's no reason to omit non-stick Woks. I've been using Calphalon Hard Anodized Nonstick woks for decades (Signature and Premier lines) and they beat the hell out of anything that I ever used in China. But… I didn't have choices in China – just used the brands that a lady friend chose for her restaurants.

  48. I often try to use the items recommended by ATK and rarely am I disappointed. However they need to recommend a runner up wok because I have been waiting for over a year now to get this wok. And let me just say if you can't access the item being recommended then it's a fail. I mean I could completely understand that a recommendation from ATK could cause a run on the item 3 maybe 4 months but a year? Come on! I'm over this particular recommendation and Taylor and Ng. 🤷 Sorry not sorry.

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