Flat-Bottomed vs. Spherical-Bottomed Woks: What’s the Distinction?

Woks are available in all shapes, sizes, and constructions. And for the common shopper, there are various questions with regards to buying. Carbon metal or iron? Fourteen, 16, or 18 inches in diameter? Skinny or thick gauge? Picket or steel deal with? Riveted or welded?

However possibly the best—and maybe a very powerful—choice comes all the way down to form: Must you get a flat- or round-bottomed wok? 

I’ve glossed over this matter previously, and the advice for many residence cooks has been to decide on a flat-bottomed wok. However for the sake of readability, and making your personal spending choices, right here’s the complete case for every, laid naked.

Flat-Bottomed Wok Professionals

Merely put, a flat-bottomed wok is the only option for most individuals cooking on a western vary. Whether or not you cook dinner on fuel, electrical coil, ceramic, induction, or perhaps a fancy French prime, chances are high your cooking floor is flat, and all of your pots and pans are additionally flat.

For the common shopper who may simply be dipping their toes into wok cooking, a flat-bottomed wok gives a straightforward and handy possibility, and has a number of benefits: 

• It sits simply on any flat cooktop, offering a secure and secure cooking floor.
• On most flat heating components, it heats up sooner and extra effectively than a round-bottomed wok, which is arguably a very powerful issue for efficient wok cooking.
• When it comes to dealing with, most residence cooks will really feel snug tossing and flipping meals in one of these wok, for the reason that movement is almost similar to utilizing a normal sauté pan.
• Right here’s an usually missed level: There’s barely extra floor space on the backside than a round-bottomed wok, so technically, a flat-bottomed wok can maintain extra meals.
• It’s suitable with most induction burners because it’s a) flat and b) is often product of carbon metal or forged iron, that are each naturally magnetic.

Flat-Bottomed Wok Cons

Regardless of its versatility, a flat-bottomed wok has a number of drawbacks:

• Whereas it may be used on a standard wok burner, a flat-bottomed wok tends to burn meals on the backside, for the reason that warmth is so concentrated on the flat base.
• You can’t recreate the true round “flip” movement with a flat-bottomed wok, so meals can’t transfer as seamlessly by means of every cooking zone of the pan. As a substitute, you’re relegated to the basic, herky-jerky movement of a traditional skillet.
• Relying on the fabric and gauge, the underside of the wok could warp over time, so it doesn’t relaxation completely flat, or it loses its effectiveness on induction surfaces, which depend on even contact with the component. 

Spherical-Bottomed Wok Professionals

If flat-bottomed woks are so versatile and handy, then why trouble with a round-bottomed wok? Properly, not everybody on this planet cooks on a flat Western vary. And for the diehard fans amongst us, for individuals who pursue perfection and old-school authenticity, a flat-bottomed wok simply gained’t lower it.

So right here’s the breakdown: 

• A round-bottomed wok is the best alternative for a true wok burner. Due to the wok’s rounded building, the highly effective flames from a burner can stand up and over the lip of the wok with ease, which facilitates that coveted wok hei flavor—a trademark of some restaurant-quality Chinese language dishes.
• It may well provide barely extra even warmth distribution in comparison with a flat-bottomed wok for the reason that warmth supply just isn’t completely heating the underside.
• It allows a extra round tossing movement, or “flip.” This method is crucial for stir-frying and permits the meals to journey by means of a number of warmth zones because it cooks. The flip can also be a definite talent, so it’s a completely totally different method from tossing meals in a flat skillet or flat-bottomed wok.
• It’s simpler to scoop and scrape meals from a round-bottomed wok resulting from its curvature.
• It’s much less vulnerable to warping over time than a flat-bottomed wok. And even when it does warp, it doesn’t actually matter, since a flat cooking floor just isn’t required.

Spherical-Bottomed Wok Cons

In fact, a round-bottomed wok carries a number of disadvantages:

• A round-bottomed wok can’t be used on electrical, induction, or ceramic cooktops. These heating components gained’t warmth up the wok sufficiently, and the wok itself will wobble and lack stability.
• It lacks versatility throughout a variety of heating sources in comparison with a flat-bottomed wok.
• A round-bottomed wok can work on a fuel vary, and relying on the scale of your grates, it could actually even stability moderately nicely within the heart of these grates; but it surely’s certainly not as secure as utilizing a flat-bottomed wok.
• Typically, a wok ring or equipment just like the Wok Mon are essential to make use of a fuel vary successfully. Whereas these instruments afford loads of stability and elevated airflow for the wok, they’re an added value and could be cumbersome as you’re tossing and flipping meals.

The Backside Line

So which wok form must you select? I might nonetheless argue that for most individuals, a flat-bottomed wok is the only option. It’s extra versatile, it really works throughout a variety of heating components, and it’s extra intuitive to deal with.

However on the finish of the day, the very best wok form is the one you’ll truly use. So when you’re dedicated to studying genuine round wok tossing, or when you’ve gone all in on a custom-fitted outside wok burner, then possibly a round-bottomed wok is a more sensible choice. And when you don’t thoughts just a little wobble in your fuel vary, then possibly proudly owning a round-bottomed wok isn’t such a dealbreaker in spite of everything. 

The selection is yours. And to be fully sincere: I personal each kinds anyway. 

FAQs

Can you utilize a round-bottomed wok on a fuel range? 

Sure! However with a few caveats. Individuals with round-bottomed woks can use a wok ring or related accent to prop the wok up, offering a secure floor on which the wok can relaxation. For others who could be extra freewheeling (or frugal), it’s doable to stability a round-bottomed wok within the heart of the grates of a fuel range, proper above the “eye”. In fact, the latter possibility is basically depending on the type and form of your range grates. 

Are flat backside woks any good?

In fact! They’re handy, secure, and work throughout a variety of heating sources, together with fuel, electrical, and induction. They may give you nice outcomes, and for first-timers, making the leap from utilizing western type skillets to flat-bottomed woks is pretty simple.

Why We are the Consultants

• Tim Chin is a frequent contributor to Severe Eats. He beforehand labored at America’s Check Kitchen.
• Tim has examined woks and kitchen torches for the positioning, amongst different issues.