How did you get a hot enough flame for Chinese stir fry in the US?

[Smaug]

One small problem, I'm curious to know how you guys with Chinese wives in western countries or Australia deal with it: How does your wife cook stir fry on these stove tops that are not hot enough? Ivy is struggling with that now, trying different ways to get more heat. I got her a nice cast iron wok; a round-bottomed one with a ring. None of our burners are hot enough, or evenly heated enough. They have a ring of fire around the outside, but nothing in the middle.

Is an electric wok better? Maybe the heat is more even? In "Chinese Cooking for Dummies" Martin Yan says his electric wok is good for traveling, but not hot enough sometimes. Is he comparing it to a real Chinese cook-top, or a regular American stove?

Please let me know if you've found a way to cook Chinese on a hot enough fire. I want to get her comfortable with that.

****

For now, she's been cooking (Chinese) during the week (since she can't work yet) and I've been cooking mostly on weekends. (American)

[David E]

My wife tried an electric Wok.....dont work, they go on and off with the thermostat and just dont do it.

I was able to order a dedicated Wok burner for my stove and while we waited for it to arrive and be fitted, I bought a "bolt-on" Wok burner assembly for my BBQ (which lives in the courtyard and could be used for daily cooking) as a temporary fix.

[Pineau]

Smaug, I know the problem from my old house which had a gas stove. .

We now use a flat bottom skillet and an electric heating element. When Fiona cooks the elements are RED HOT. I sometime turn them down and get told to leave them alone.  But the point is that they get plenty hot enough.  The biggest problem we have her is getting things hot enough before the boil away. At 3 feet short of 5,000 feet things boil away at a much lower temperature. We must keep the pot covered.   

You can find the gas burners with 3 or more rings of fire but they probably wont match your decor. Try Amazon.com they have a few that are propane fired.

When we lived in China we had an electric induction stove. It got really hot. We only use it when wh ran out of gas or want hot pot in the living room.

[maxx]

We use a Gas stove at 5325 feet above sea level. If your using a standard electric stove. It probably isn't getting hot enough. The best bet for you if you do have a electric stove. Is to do Like Gerry suggested or David E suggested.

Also if you do switch to a gas stove. And if you are going to do this kind of cooking in the house. You will need to upgrade your exhaust fan. My wife has burned up two exhaust fans in the last seven years. She burnt up the motors with the smoke and oil. I seen some commercial grade exhaust fans at the Asian market the other day in Alb NM. So I think it wouldn't be to much trouble to switch your old one out. There seems to be a good supply of them. When I looked at it was a straight forward install. You mite think about also getting a piece of stainless steel and mount it to the wall between the stove and the exhaust fan. Stainless steel will make a good fire block. And it is easier to clean. Then tile or rough stone. Yes I know the stainless may look like hell but it will save you allot of work down the road.

[JohnB]

what I find that worked was an induction cooktop. Most popular in Europe nowadays.
I bought mine from Amazon. Easy.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=induction+cooktop&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Ainduction+cooktop
Just look at the reco's on a cooktop of interest.
By the way, the few Asian stores in Spokane all sold single induction cooktops for around $60.
Induction cooktops get up to around 460 degrees which is HOT for any type of cooktop.
Must remember to use carbon steel cookware ( I cook with DeBuyer) or something not stainless or corrosion resistant
steel. Induction will not work with CRES.
Check with a magnet your cookware at home.
Or, pursue your inquiry on Amazon.

[shaun]

I bought a wok propane burner at a local Korean grocery store.  I use it in the laundry room next to the kitchen as it gets quite hot when cooking.  I can run it outside into the back yard if need be from there.

Elevation about 136 ft above sea level.

[Smaug]

We live in a small apartment now with a natural gas stove; don't really want to mess around with a separate propane burner just for this.

I read the reviews on Amazon on the Presto stainless electric wok; folks seem to think it is a lot better than a wok on an electric burner. One reviewer even commented on something I'd noticed before: namely that teflon-coated woks seem to heat up OK the first time, but then after food is added, they never really get back to that searing hot temperature that is needed. They ARE thermostat-controlled, but everyone seems to think the temperature is hot enough. We'll see, it is due here Friday. (along with a Presto rice cooker)

No matter, because Ivy destroyed our teflon wok on the first time by using the stainless steel turner, instead of a wooden one or the big rubber spatula we have.

I looked on ebay for high BTU wok burners and found a cast iron one and some others, but they are all "for outdoor use only." No good to us.

Our apartment doesn't have a range hood, but it has a window next to the stove, so we'll use a window fan for exhaust. I need to find a better one than this little one that we have now.

[Arnold]

Qing has no problem with our new Gas stove, which has a front "Turbo" burner (extra large) and it does great. Of course I had to install a high powered exhaust fan, that meant removing the Micro that had come with the house.

[Pineau]

Arnold....AWESOME looking stove. I want one.

Smaug.  If your in an apartment the maybe you should settle for a single burner induction electric unit. They are not very big and will fit just about anywhere on the kitchen counter. Near a window with a dual exhaust fan!  Jing burned up about three of these but they are cheap.  http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-HAWF2021-Dual-Blade-Window/dp/B00008XET9/ref=sr_1_2/180-6546076-1186845?ie=UTF8&qid=1400712730&sr=8-2&keywords=window+fan


It took some shopping, so we came to buy this Kenmore (Qing dislikes LG) and I/We do have all our appliances from Kenmore. Ps: I'd stay away from all GE stuff.... crap!

[JustJim]

I have been very impressed by the quality of the appliances in China.  I know we say that their stuff here in the US is not good, but who's fault is that?  The importers are buying crappy stuff. 

Their cook stoves are designed for their style of cooking.  Two burners, both high output and far enough apart that you can easily accommodate a wok.

And the exhaust fans are really good.  They are are at a slant and I think that makes them more effective.  But the most amazing thing I saw was when Mei was cleaning her exhaust fan.  After cleaning the outside surface ( I actually did that part... ) she took this clear container, filled it with hot water and attached it to the bottom of the fan and then turned on the fan.  The water was sucked up into the fan and then it drained back down into a separate compartment - you could see the grease in the water.  She did that two more times and the water was clear.  Such intelligent design.

I would like to have one of those cook tops here in the US, and one of the exhaust fans also.  We were talking about her bringing some of her other cooking appliances - her rice cooker, her electric cook top.  I know the voltage of these are 240 - I am an electrician so there's no problem there.

Anyways, I am just thinking about ways to make her feel comfortable here in the US.  And I guess I like their highly efficient and simplified way of cooking.

[maxx]

You can buy the cooktop the exhaust fan the rice cooker in the U.S. For cheaper then you can ship that stuff from China. And you don't even have, to rewire it. If you do decide to ship it your looking at almost 2 months. If you are lucky.

[JustJim]

Do you have a source Maxx?  I honestly thought the designs where so much better.  My point about the quality was not that the Chinese do not want to share it with us, it was more about that US merchants want to make as much profit as they can and one way to do that is to import the cheaper appliances.

I really was impressed with the quality of the things they have over there.  I guess I grew up with the notion that "Made in China" was inferior to "Made in America."  From a nationalist and patriotic point of view I still try to purchase things made in America, but now at least I know that the quality of Chinese made things can be exceptional, but I am not going to be seeing those things here because of the profit margins.

[shaun]

The Made in China vs Made in America thing is an issue I deal with all of the time.  I have a growing business in the flea market near were I live and almost everything I sell is made in China.  People see that and say that my product is crap.  Fortunately I have a lot of customers when they hear it jump in and tell them that my merchandise is not crap.  Everything I sell is top notch quality, or I won't sell it, for a more than reasonable price.

I am constantly telling people that the reason places like Walmart and other places sell crap is because there is a lot of profit in it and ignorant people will buy it because they think hey are getting a great deal.  I'll also ask them if what I sell is crap why is my business growing, why are my customers coming back, and why am I so busy?  It is because China makes a lot of good quality product.

Sometimes I think I should get shirt printed that I don't sell crap!

[maxx]

Ok David E can probably explain this better then I can. He has a better grasp of how this trade thing works. Go to your shirt drawer pull out a t shirt. Look to see where it was made. It probably says China. Now go look at one of your high dollar shirts. It probably says China, or some other Asian nation. Now go look at the appliances you have got in your house. They are all made in China.

4.3 million Americans are unemployed. The reason 4.3 million Americans are unemployed is because of the trade defecit. For example Me and Shaun are going into business. And we are going to make and sell t-shirts. So me and Shaun are up and running. And we are selling t-shirts. Now we know that that there is a huge Market in China for are T-shirt. But we can't sell t-shirts to China because of are labor costs. And the import duties. If you try to sell your product to China the taxes and the import fees would bury you in a couple of months.

Now lets reverse it me and Shaun are in China making and selling t-shirts. We run a honest business. We pay are employee's good. We treat them fair. So we want to import are t-shirts to the U.S. no big deal we just ship the t-shirts in the U.S . There is hardly any import fees. It is pennies compared to what we would pay. If we were making them in the U.S and trying to sell them in China.

Some rightouse congressmen was trying to fix the trade imbalance years ago. He now works at Burger king making whoppers.To many American companies have taken there companies off shore.Because of the price of labor and government regulations.

[maxx]

Sorry guys if I make to big a post my Chinese made computer freaks out. It is a H.P some of the best computers on the market. now some of you are disagreeing with me. You think your Mac is twice the computer. My H.P is What do's it matter. They are all made somewhere else and in ported here.

About the only one here who can afford the made in America label clothes, tools, shoes is David E. And maybe are fearless leader Robert Just because he uses them in his day to day job. I'm a hardcore wood worker. All my tools are made overseas. Because I can't afford to replace them with American made tools.

Shaun somebody telling you that they don't buy or use Chinese stuff. Is the biggest fool in the room. Just about everything in there house, has ben manufactured overseas in the last ten years. From silverware to high end electronics. There is half a dozen clothes and tool manufactures left in the U.S. I cant afford to buy there products. Most other Americans can't either. Because of tax and government regulations, and wages. Has forced the manufactures to charge higher prices.

I had a native kid who used to work for me. He used to tell me on a daily bases how much he hated the white man. Finally I got tired of him running off at the mouth. So I told him to go live on the res. And stop using the white man toys. No phone no lights no recorded music no television no cars no designer clothes. I told him that these were all white man inventions. So he couldn't use them if he hated the white man so much and wanted to go back to the old ways. He never ran off at the mouth again about how much he hated the white man. The story runs along the same lines as not buying Chinese made stuff if they don't like it stop buying it. They dam sure cant afford buying American made on a daily bases.