I have a baby wok. It is cast-iron and metallic grey with a crackly surface texture, something reminiscent of elephant skin. My wok has a round bottom, two handles, and aspirations - or rather, I have aspirations for it. It is simple in shape and material, and will eventually be able to tell its own story through the patina it will develop on its surface - the sort of thing that takes time, and countless meals. This relatively new addition to my kitchen has been sitting on my stove lately next to my old cast iron pan - one black and slick, the other young and fresh with barely a bruise of color beyond the grey. If you have a minute, I'll tell you how it got here. This all started when Grace Young took me wok shopping in San Francisco's Chinatown a few months ago.
Actually, Grace and I chatted about wok cooking while signing books next to each other last year at a conference. I told her how my dad would cook with a wok once or twice a week when I was a kid, after taking classes at the local junior college. Grace and I agreed it would be fun to go wok shopping the next time she was in San Francisco. I'm junior varsity on the stir-fry front and I was excited that Grace was game to talk me through my wok options. And she did! Grace is awesome, and her enthusiasm for wok cooking is infectious. I came home with the perfect wok.
Now, I believe in serendipity, and although I suspect Grace! had pla nned to set me up with a carbon steel wok (which I think would have been perfectly nice to cook with), fantastically practical with it's flat bottom and wood handles. Tane, the owner of The Wok Shop, had a run on those the previously day. Instead, a traditional Chinese-made cast iron wok was handed to me - the kind Cantonese home cooks swear by to impart the coveted taste of wok hay. There are few things I love more than cooking in cast iron, and I knew in an instant this was the wok for me. In the months since, my wok and I have become fast friends. I think people have the idea that cast-iron is fussy, but it's really not so. My cast iron skillet is a slippery as any non-stick, and my wok is well on its way.
Grace was in SF last week, and she came over for lunch (and to take my pan for a spin). It was fantastically helpful to see some of her cooking techniques in action. We made two dishes with fresh ingredients I'd picked up at the farmers' market. This one was a simple fried rice stir-fry made with day-old brown rice, sunchokes, sweet corn, toasted nuts, and punches of flavor from basil, ginger, garlic and the like. Big thumbs up. I wrote up the recipe down below.
There are definitely some considerations related to choosing the appropriate wok for your cooking surface (flat bottom vs. round, etc), and Grace's books (Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge / The Breath of a Wok) are inspiring references for everything you need to know. There's a bit of a learning curve, but once you're going it's a fascinating cooking vessel with its own personality and temperament. My wok has certainly impacted some of my favorite one-pan meals for the better. I think my wok set me back just $15, but it's the sort of thing that a year or two (or ten) from now, it will evolve into something priceless. I have to tell you, one of my favorite things is when Grace posts photos to her Twitter stream of people holding their woks - many have made long journeys, provided a lifetime of meals, been passed down from generation to generation. Look at this photo of Florence Lin with her wok from the 60s. That's what I mean when I say my wok has aspirations. Thank you Grace, and I look forward to many more wok meals together. xo-h
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