I have a torch I specifically bought for one dish, and have yet to use it more than once. Good thing it doesn’t take up a lot of space 
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Mine is the baby sized one. I’m not going with a modified tank flame-thrower.
Yeah, this is a little over fist-length. Just enough to torch a salmon nigiri — which is what I bought it for 
Our first home had a glass smoothtop and at the time I already had a round bottom wok (the rental where we previously lived had a gas cooktop) and ring. Performance was suboptimal. Switching to a flat-bottom wok was an improvement, but I never did get the kind of heat I wanted even then. Plus, I was afraid all the tossing and shaking of the wok would scratch the glass (I don’t recall that it did, though). It worked well enough for the ~8 years we lived there and I don’t regret it. My experience dates back to 1986, and I don’t know if glass cooktop tech has changed over the years or not. I do know that it was definitely not induction.
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I touch up spots on a roast.
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I like it, yeah its good for stir frying and deep frying on the wok, it does take up some shelf space but its not that heavy.
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Speaking of shittily seasoned woks (i.e. mine, clearly 
)… does one go through the same motions when reseasoning a wok as in the initial process? I’m kinda over stuff sticking.
I season my carbon steel wok with every use (and my CS griddle), but I’m pretty minimal about it. Clean, dry on heat, add a homeopathic amount of oil, wipe, bring it to the smoke point, wipe again and take off the heat and wipe again. It takes 60s at most.
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Bit of elbow grease with a choreboy and then you can add fresh seasoning, but are you sure seasoning is the problem? A lot of people seem to have sticking issues because they don’t let pans heat up enough first and/or overcrowd them. Heat the pan/wok super hot, add a small amount of oil, wipe it out, then add fresh oil of however much you need, and then actually cook. (At this point you can drop the heat if what you have is too much, but I don’t think you can really overdo wok heat on a home stove.) It works like magic. Find some old Martin Yan videos on YT; he demoed this technique a million times on Yan Can Cook.
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Adam, has some good suggestions Natascha, but can you give a few more details…what kind of wok is it, ie, is it carbon steel? What kind of seasoning is on it now? Do you have a gas or electric stove? Round or flat bottom? I am no expert, just have more woks than I should have, and use them multiple times a week in my every day cooking.
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Almost, but make sure you remove the current seasoning layer first, just like removing old paint before putting on new paint. Once the wok is down to its bare metal, then perform the seasoning as you see fit. Thanks.
Thank you, @a_m, @wabi & @Chemicalkinetics for your input. I think @a_m might have figured out the culprit: overcrowding the wok, which results in Asian risotto, but not fried rice.
I do get the wok to pretty high temp before adding the oil, then aromatics, but I should probably fry larger rice quantities in increments before adding any veg & other ingredients on top of it all
Next time I have it upstairs I’ll take a pic, so you can also judge the seasoning job I did. As I mentioned upthread, I don’t think I did a terribly good job, even though I followed the usual directions
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Me too. I use my flat wok. Made in the USA, too. Carbon steel, though, so you need to dry it after washing.
That is my problem too. I don’t make enough where there are two full batches, but it’s more than what should be done in one batch, and I default to being lazy. Or really - impatient!
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Not sure if this is actually already covered, but aside from getting the wok thoroughly heated before adding oil, as covered, can I also suggest adding less liquid and in small increments poured down the side of the wok gently. It makes a difference and a small amount of added liquid goes surprisingly far with rice. Sorry if that doesn’t seem useful or has been covered. Those are 2 adjustments I made long ago that upped my fried rice quality immensely.
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Just toss in a bit of MSG and you’ll make Uncle Roger proud!
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It’s in there. I keep it on the counter.
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This is the key with home wok use: work in smaller batches, and make sure the wok is hot when dropping the initial oil, and when adding sauces (and drizzle sauces in around the edges, so it sears before hitting the food). Much of the fun flavour is in that sear on the wok edges as you add oils and sauces, at least in your home kitchen.
Kenji and others have mentioned that that scorching is a big component of that smokey flavour typical for Cantonese style dishes. The other component of wok hei is more difficult at home, without using a separate torch. Even my 45k BTU burner isn’t enough power to atomize and burn oil from the toss (those restaurant jet engine burners just aren’t practical for most people).
