Breville EW30XL Electric Gourmet Wok
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Breville EW30XL Electric Gourmet Wok
Customer Review: A pot in the shape of a Wok...
Summary: 1 Stars
I didn't want to be the odd man out by writing a negative review for a product that otherwise has glowing tributes. I however believe that most of the reviews like the top rated one which say that this 'Wok has some serious heat' are at least a little bit misleading to people who really understand stir frying.
If you have watched the chefs in the act, some part of the flame is over the pan. I do not know what this translates in terms of degrees F or C but what I can make out is that if a design degrades this heat by more than 20% to support a fancyful non stick coat/lid/butterfly shape/blah blah blah what is ends up becoming is a pot... a beautiful one indeed but sorry everyone.... I beg to differ.... IT IS NOT A WOK... IT IS NOT EVEN ANYTHING CLOSE TO ONE.
If you love to stirfry try this $15 alternative. Get a large cast iron skillet. Heat it over an oven till it attains (more than) serious heat. take this outdoors (or to a large area with good ventilation) and for the next 3 minutes STIRFRY! I heated my own till the base becomes red hot and frankly achieved results never possible in the fancy world.
So what am I doing here comparing an expensive electric WOK to a lowly skillet? Well most of this is about explainig what it takes in the real world to actually strifry and last but not the least trying to save some of us some $$$ as well.
Customer Review: Heavy Duty Cooking
Summary: 5 Stars
Hi everyone, well I just got this Wok a couple weeks ago. First off, I'm no kind of chef at all and this is my first Wok so can only tell you what has appealed to the 'rookie'. First, I was pleasantly surprised at how heavy it was, alot of woks I had seen before didnt seem very durable. I dont have to worry about bumping into it and creating a disaster thats for sure. Second, I really like how thick the glass is on the lid, really nice to see inside while its cooking.
The no-stick surface is really great, they have a name for it but I forget offhand but I can tell you this is the first non-stick surface I ever saw that food actually did not stick too even if I overcook the food by accident. After 5 cleanings I still cant get anything to stick, I just wipe it out good and she's ready to roll. I did disassemble via the release lever on bottom and dishwasher clean it once to try that out, nice and simple.
With its 6 quart size (didnt realize how big 6 quarts was until it arrived!) you can feed a full sized family with this thing, I'm single so my portions are much smaller and so I can cook 1 or 2 person meals in almost an instant once I've pre-heated it. Another great thing is it seems to get just as hot on the sides as the bottom so I'm not having problems with irregularly cooked foods.
Customer Review: Hot Enought to Actually Stir-Fry Food!
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this wok. For the past five years I've lived in houses with electric stoves, which do not get hot enough quickly enough to actually stir-fry with. I purchased this item based upon these Amazon reviews, and it's been terrific. The wok heats quickly to a very high heat, and (almost as important) cools fairly rapidly, as well. I've broken out all of my old Chinese cookbooks and am having a blast.
I have to agree, however, with the other reviewer who has complained about the way that the wok bowl attaches to the base. It's very difficult to reattach the wok once you've removed it for cleaning, and I'm afraid that I'll twist the little handle right off at some point. So like that other reviewer I've stopped detaching the wok from the base altogether and am cleaning 'em both. (Which is why this product gets 4 stars rather than 5.)
Excepting that, the wok seems to be quite sturdy and well-made. It's got a good heft to it, and the glass lid fits well. This wok is also quite stylish, too.
While cooking with the Breville Electric Wok isn't quite the same as using a regular wok over a gas flame, it's pretty darned close. I highly recommend this item.
Customer Review: Great Wok
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this wok based on the great reviews, although I still had some trepidation about how well a non-stick, electric wok would perform. After using it for a while, I can say that my worries were baseless; this is a great wok.
The other reviews are spot-on. Some real thought went into this wok's design; it's well made and a pleasure to use. It gets super hot for searing the food, responds quickly to temperature changes, and cleanup is a snap. I've made some excellent Chinese dishese with this wok.
The only negative thing I have to say is that you can't easily lift and pour from this wok while cooking. For example, let's say you are deep frying some meat, and then need to pour off most of the oil and reserve a couple tablespoons for stir-frying. Although the wok detaches from the base, you need to manipulate a dial on the underside of the base in order to do so. Your other option is to lift the entire thing, including the base, but remember that the cord is plugged into the base. This kind of thing can be worked around, though, so I didn't think it was a big enough deal to dock a star. Just something to keep in mind.
Customer Review: Best. Wok. Ever. (IMHO)
Summary: 5 Stars
Short review: if I could, I'd marry this wok.
Slightly longer review: I've owned stovetop woks for close to 20 years; it's an incredibly versatile utensil, though I've used them mostly for "stir fried random" (i.e., stir frying whatever random veggies I can pick up in the produce aisle that day, along with some chicken, beef or pork).
My first ex-wife and I owned a high class electric wok ages ago. When I was ready to replace my well-used stovetop wok, I wondered if there was an electric wok worth the investment, so I scoped all the reviews here, and decided to buy the Breville. Suffice it to say that the reviews here won't steer you wrong.
The *first* time I used this wok (after reading the instruction manual, which includes many quick tips on stir frying--most of which were new to me), the quality of my stir frys increased at least 200% or so--and I'm still learning! After a few more weeks of practice, I shall have no hesitation about inviting friends over for stir fry--and I considered myself the world's worst cook before I bought this.
Stop thinking about buying this wok and ORDER IT NOW!!!