Mr. Bar-B-Q Cast-Iron Wok
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List Price: Our Price: $44.00 Availability: Usually ships in 3-4 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Mr. Bar-B-Q Cast-Iron Wok
Customer Review: Best buy in cast iron woks
Summary: 5 Stars
This wok is great and an incredible bargain. I have a few Lodge Pro Logic pre-seasoned pans that I use regularly. Lodge's pre-seasoned wok however was double the price of this one, so I tried it. I couldn't be more pleased. I have an electric range and cast iron is essential for certain types of cooking. I use this wok for cooking Chinese food. When I first got it, I washed it very thoroughly several times. I then seasoned it two times by simply applying a thin layer of canola oil, inside and out, and placed it upside down over some foil in the oven at 350 for an hour. I let it cool in the ove for a few hours and repeated the process. Voila! A nicely seasoned wok. Although I usually cook in cast iron at low to medium heat, Chinese stir-fry style cooking requires high heat.
I sit the wok on the large electric burner, turn it to high and let it heat up for 5 minutes or so. I have all the ingredients pre-cut, pre-marinated, pre-mixed, etc. I cook the meat/shrimp first with a bit of oil for about 1 minute (or less) and remove. Then I stir-fry the vegetables along with some garlic for about 2 minutes. Add the meat, sauces and corn starch slurry and 30 seconds later it's done.
I've been cooking Chinese food for a long time and this wok is fabulous. It beats any other pan that I've ever tried. I suggest getting a really big wok spatula and spoon so that you can remove the food quickly from the pan. Clean-up is easy with just water and a bit of dish washing liquid. Dry the wok, coat the inside with a little oil, then put it away and it's ready for the next use. I've used mine about 6 times and it's already developed a very nice dark patina at the bottom.
Customer Review: Cast Iron Is Heavy, But Is The Best Cookware. Period.
Summary: 5 Stars
This wok is truly great. I've had it for over two years now and it is one of the most used pieces of cookware in my kitchen, even over most of our All-Clad and Calphalon pieces. It is heavy, but it is cast iron, man! It is supposed to be heavy. Well, my wife does not like how heavy it is but she too loves to cook in it. We use it for everything imaginable; stir fry, deep fry, soup, browning...you name it. This is a great buy!
05/2009 - An update. My family have been using this wok for over 5 years now and I can report that it is now a beautiful black, completely nonstick wok and remains one of the most used items in our kitchen for a variety of uses (not just stir-fry). No problems ever with any of the materials and it continues to improve with time. At only 5 years old, this cast iron piece is still just a baby. The only down side, it is still heavy, which does not bother me at all, but my wife still does not care for that, but when she wants to use it I will always get it out for her. In fact, 75% of the time, it stays on the stove-top ready for the next meal as we use this so often, at least every other day. A quick rinse under the hot water faucet while the pan is still hot and a wipe with a paper towel cleans it quickly now. A quick wipe down with a light coat of Pam on a paper towel after cleaning it out and it is protected until next use, and that oil film then adheres to the surface upon the next pre-heat adding to the nonstick properties. Whats not to love? It is a simple thing.
Customer Review: Has its good points, but still not quite what I wanted.
Summary: 3 Stars
I love cast iron and wok cooking, so this was almost a no-brainer purchase. I love cast iron because of the ability to season it to a non-stick surface naturally. The biggest downfall of this piece of equipment is that I cannot quite accomplish that because the cooking surface is not smooth enough. The surface is fairly rough and irregular, which is slightly difficult when trying to stir-fry.
On the other hand, it is a very convenient size for cooking; neither too small or large, and very sturdy on the stove. The handles are not only convenient, but necessary because it is very heavy. It stands alone so you can use both your hands for just the cooking. It does make storage difficult due to its size, and because of its weight, you can't cubby it standing on its side. I have to keep it on top of my fridge and then I have to wash it before I use it each time.
The last problem I had with it is that, no matter how long I seem to leave it on my gas stove prior to cooking, it doesn't seem to get quite hot enough or retain high enough heat to get a really good sear or even, quick softening of the veggies. I would venture to say the thickness through the base is detrimental. I want to love this item, but I can't quite get there. I must say, in its defense, that I haven't found one better, either.
Bottom line: if the inner surface were smooth like the inner surface of other cast iron skillets, I think it would be much much more useful.
Customer Review: A wonderful cast iron wok
Summary: 5 Stars
I received this wok a couple of days ago in good shape, no cracks or nothing. To confirm this I slowly striked the wok with wooden laddle and I was able to hear the lovely ringing sound. If it's cracked and hidden under the intial coating you will not hear any ringing sound.
I throughly cleaned the wok twice under hot water and detergent using a scrubber. And then I placed the wok for seasoning in the oven for 1 hr using a thin coat of oil as per the instruction. And then removed it and applied another coat of oil and reseason it again. During this process some weird smelling fumes came out but it gradually reduced during my second seasoning.
Cleaned the wok again under hot water and started to cook veggie & shrimp stir fry. The food turned out to be really good and I can say the difference in quality of the food between the thin wok I already have. Heats up evenly and nicely. I love this wok and it will be in my kitchen forever.
Here are some of the info about the wok.
1) Yes, cast iron wok's are heavy and this is not preseasoned.
2) Yes you will get the weird fumes when seasoning as other reviewer's told.
3) Its worth the money, you will not get a big & heavy wok for this price in any other chinese or indian store(with Amazon's 5 star service)
4) Yes, the wok heats up slowly and evenly.
5) Yes, it will be non sticky if its seasoned properly.
6) Yes, cast iron wok will rust if proper care is not taken.
Customer Review: Defective
Summary: 1 Stars
I wish that I could write a review on this item, but I can't. That's because both the original one and its replacement arrived cracked. The first one looked intact grossly, but when I started scrubbing the heavy black coating it appeared that in fact it had a crack that was covered by the black coat. It was about 2 inches long, running straight down from the rim towards the bottom. Knowing cast iron, if I had tried to heat it for seasoning purposes it would probably have cracked all the way through and split the wok in 2.
I sent it back to Amazon and they quickly shipped a replacement. The 2nd one arrived in worse state than the first. I could tell it's broken even without opening the package, by the rattling sound inside. Upon opening it was apparent that one of the two handles was broken off completely, together with a significant part of the rim. I didn't bother taking it out of the box. I tried to create another return, but Amazon sent me back an email saying that I cannot get it replaced a second time, and instead I should send it back and wait for them to decide what to do about it. I hope I'll get at least a refund.