Babish Carbon Steel Flat Bottom Wok and Stir Fry Pan, 14-Inch

I shopped online for a few years looking to replace the wok I had in my 20's (71 now). I knew exactly what I wanted, but everything fell short in one way or the other until I saw this Babish Wok. I ordered it instantly and had to wait because it was on back order, but I had waited for years already so a bit of a backlog wasn't going to deter me. Glad I waited. This wok is everything I wanted. It's an actual wok, not just a high-sided frying pan with way too much flat surface on the bottom to be a real wok. It's really pretty, until you make it your go to kitchen work horse and then it starts looking like it's 'loved.' So happy I finally found this. And even on my coil-burner electric stove, it heats up great. I don't need a support ring, the handle comes off so you can use it in the oven. The handle is just the right angle for my older wrists. It's not to heavy but made of really nice carbon steel. It ticks all the boxes I had....even the price. And it Cook's and cleans like a breeze. I highly recommend this. I'd give it 10 stars if I could.

This wok is so big and beautiful, it's a pleasure to have it on my stove and to cook in it. However, it gave me a very hard time when cooking with it initially. I learned to cook well with every other wok we have (cast iron, stainless steel, and non-stick) and I am definitely not new to carbon steel pans (thicker French ones), but this one was way too unusual and the eggs were sticking and burning, tasting bitter, no matter what I was trying to do, I was not able to pass the fried egg test three times in a row. One or even two out of three eggs were sticking. In desperation, I tried the rural Chinese method of frying pork skin with green onions in it, smothering the sides and rubbing the bottom forcefully with pig skin and onions, until the onions were charred, and washing it with boiling water and that did it. It is now as non-stick as Teflon, i.e. I can fry an Asian style egg in it (or three eggs in a row) even without oiling the wok, and it/they won't stick and taste crunchy-crispy and delicious. It heats up so fast, within a minute, and its bottom cooking surface gets so exceptionally hot even on medium setting (on 5 out of 10 it reaches 300C!!!), that I am only able to use it on 3.5/10 level max. The bottom gets hot very evenly and the sides stay cool or warmish for a fairly long time, it takes them 5-10 min to get too hot to touch. This makes stir-frying very easy and quick, in a true Asian fashion. There is no warping of the bottom at any temperature, it is sturdy. So, in the end I am very happy with this wok. It is a bit heavy for me, but only because I don't really have a use for the helper handle when stir-frying and the helper handle does warm up significantly with time and requires a silicone handle cover. The protruding pieces of rivets on the inner surface do not allow me to use a 32cm/12.5" steaming insert that I have. I would have to either search for a steamer basket with a smaller or larger diameter or forget about steaming things in that wok. which is a pity for water boils in that wok instantly and it is very well suited for steaming jobs. These two things are the only mildly inconvenient details about this wok that I found. Everything else is simply extraordinary, very high level of quality of design and functionality. For those who look for a carbon steel wok, this one is a winner.

This is an amazing wok - thick enough to be sturdy, smooth inside to be able to season well and keep clean, flat bottom but with curves on the edges to be able to stir, perfect slope to the sides, wide enough to contain the food with movements, and a removable wooden handle so it can be seasoned in the oven. The price is an excellent value. The only downside for some folks would be is that it is not pre seasoned or nitrided or whatever. However it is not difficult to season it - just takes time and must follow directions. BUT when you do it yourself, that means you get an excellent price.

So I ended up with this wok for a few reasons, easy removeability of the handle and the width of the base compared to other flat bottom models being the two main ones. Overall I'm pretty thrilled with it. First off, packaging. I've bought pieces of AV equipment that weren't as well packed as this wok. Hell, I'd hazard this was the best packed piece of cookware I've ever bought. It's a small touch but definitely helped. First seasoning was a bit weird because the instructions aren't on amazon.ca. I eventually found them in the item description on the .com site. Basically I just took the handle off, gave it a good was with soap and water, put it in my oven at 500F for twenty minutes, took it out, rubbed it down with sunflower oil, put it back in the oven upsidedown for an hour, then turned the oven off and let the wok cool with it. The first few uses it definitely was a bit prone to sticking if I wasn't careful and kept things moving. But it definitely works as a wok should. It changes temperature rapidly, the bottom is evenly hot while the sides taper off, allowing you to focus items that need more heat over ones cooking slower up the sides. It's definitely a bit heavy but not unmanageable and the wood handle works great. Washing up is pretty easy. Water and a scour pad has dealt with anything I've done in it and after each use I give it a light polish with sunflower oil and a little time on the heat. I'm a half dozen meals in on this and it already has a great patina going. In short, would highly recommend this wok. I know it seems a bit wanky getting a product from a line endorsed by a youtuber (even a solid one like Babish) but this is definitely worth it, especially if you need a flat bottom wok instead of a round because of the type of stovetop you have.

I live in the US but, because of work, I lived in Taiwan ROC for a good while. While I lived there, a friend of mine took me to the night market to buy a real, authentic, hand hammered wok. I purchased one bit I put it away, as the kitchen in my little apartment was rudimentary at best, and there were so may good places to get good cheap Chinese food within walking distance. I learned to love Chinese food, and we cook a lot of it in our house. It’s tasty, quick, and better for us than a lot of American food. When I got back to the States, I pulled out the hand hammered wok, seasoned it, and was immediately disappointed. The flat part of the bottom was too small. A small portion of what we were cooking got too much heat and a larger portion didn't get enough. We went back to using a frying pan. Recently I purchased https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003IYI70A/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title. In the book, Grace Young goes into a lot of detail about how to purchase and care for a wok. I decided to look for a new one. I wasn't satisfied with any of the woks available at kitchen or department stores or Oriental food stores locally, so I started searching online. I found this one. When I got it, like the stubborn cuss I am, I decided to ignore all of Grace Young's advice about seasoning the wok. I have used Crisbee https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E1PMBK6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 cast iron and carbon steel seasoning for a long time and it has worked very well. So I took the handle off the wok, followed the directions on the Crisbee puck, seasoning the wok 4 times in my oven. Since then, we have used this wok a lot, and all I can say is wow! It cooks so much better than my old wok and better than my frying pan. There is a larger flat area on the bottom that helps with cooking and keeps the wok more stable. The angle of the handle is not as steep as our old wok and that makes it much easier for my wife is vertically challenged. I listened to Grace Young and use a mixture of salt an oil to clean the wok. Then I dry it, put it on the stove over medium low heat for a couple of minutes, rub a very light coating of crisbee on it, let it cool, and put it away. The seasoning on the wok gets better each time we use it. I wish I had found this wok a long time ago, it is great.