Anything you cannot do with an Always Pan, you can do with a Perfect Pot
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My serious answer would be a rondeau or a large saute. 5-8qt or so. Itâs pretty much the same as Kaleoâs dutch oven, but the wide floor has been more versatile for my use.
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Man, what an ugly pan.
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Staub Perfect pan:
In all seriousness, I read that since 2020, colorful cookware is a huge trend. No longer people want somewhat standard boring color.
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Always Pan. Perfect Pot. Always Perfect!!!
Oh, the color is ugly, too, but the ugliest aspect for me is the shape and handle.
I think the âcolor cookwareâ trend is at least partly because of the interior design trend in sterile, bland finishes, blank walls, blocky everything. Plus, people are far less likely now to stay in any one place very long before they get a different bland box.
I canât imagine spending Le Creuset Outlet prices on nonstick.
So, youâre now inventing quotes and attributing them to me?
If youâre going to spam me with my own quotes, at least have the courtesy to quote me directly, rather than inventing straw men and knocking them down.
Are you now claiming to speak for a billion odd people, and what they believe is the distinctive attribute of wok cookery? Perhaps you could scale back your ambitions a bit, and enlighten us as to what you believe to be the distinctive attribute of wok cookery, Saragama, since you havenât graced us with your opinion so far. What sets the wok apart from, say, a karahi or other bowl-shaped cooking vessels? What makes it unique?
Iâve never claimed that the wok is not the right tool for these other tasks, simply that they could be performed just as easily (or more easily) in other vessels, as you indicated yourself when you described the versatility of the karahi.
For my part, Iâd rather perform most of these cooking tasks in a low casserole or rondeau, between 24 and 28 cm in diameter. See below in this thread for others who feel similarly (Kaleo and FF among others). I am hardly unique in having this preference.
Again, I didnât write âmostâ; I wrote âmanyâ. Please stop misquoting me.
FWIW tempering spices often equates to shallow frying. Sometimes you just toast the spices in a dry pan, but often you fry them in a thin layer of oil. Sabzis and other vegetarian dishes often begin with a quick sautĂ© of spices and/or aromatics, but unlike a stir-fry the temperature doesnât remain high throughout. Once the bigger pieces of vegetables are added, the temperature is reduced and the pan is covered to allow a gentle simmer. Can you name a single south Asian dish thatâs stir-fried exclusively?
So, not a karahi, then? Interesting.
Per Saragama, the karahi seems like a worthy alternative?
For my part, Iâd choose a casserole/Dutch oven with a diameter of 24-28 cm.
What I want to know is, how did they get Richard Dreyfuss to narrate?
P.S. I really enjoyed the video and will be looking at more stuff on their channel. Thanks!
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For NYT and WaPo, the content is fully present and so you can hit refresh-then-stop a few times rapidly, and itâll stop bugging you with a paywall and instead merely suggest (in a collapsible pane) that you might consider subscribing.
This doesnât work with WSJ and ChiTrib, though. Their pages load without content past the lede.
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Wonderful hack. Thanks.
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To the extent you define wok hei as inviting the flame into the vessel to flash-fire the vaporized oils, I do this with regular frying pans, as long as they have fairly steep sides so the food wonât tumble out with the pan tilted, as easily (if not more easily) as with my wok.
The âif not more easilyâ comment is because the lower side height on these pans makes it easier to tip and get the flame to come inside using the burners I have available. Theyâre not exactly weak (18K & 15K front stove burners, 12K outside on the grillâs side burner) but theyâre not the blast torches you see in commercial Chinese cookery.
(Caveat - see my thread on how badly gunked up my exhaust fan got.)
Edit - but now in reading further through the thread, I see your comment that the flash-flaming of the vaporized oils is only part of the story. And I have not tried this with a CS pan specifically because the sides are sloped enough Iâm afraid the food would slide out. Iâve only done it with stainless and hard anodized aluminum pans. But I think my cast iron would fit all criteria. Iâll try one of them next time.
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This is amazing - thanks!
Arenât they all?
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Just to clarify the rondeau is right for me. I answered a question about what other vessel is as versatile as the wok. Iâm not interested in being an example for your post. I get that the cookware forum is a numbers game and itâs easy to compare 7mm discs and thick clad as being better than carbon steel, but I wonât pretend I know better than entire cultures worth of home cooks and professional chefs. And how dare you ignore the easy bake oven.
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Who was making this comparison in this thread? If anything my argument was for carbon steel or cast iron, as theyâre considered essential to producing wok hei.
Itâs a pretty significant part of the story, though. According to Kenji, anyway, tossing food through the steam and igniting the aerosolized oil droplets produce many of the Maillard/caramelization reactions one associates with wok hei. Just sorry to read about your poor exhaust fan!
