well a wok has a traditional purpose which you can fake pretty well with a saute pan but not quite. the high gradually sloping sides of the wok allow you to control the amount of heat each ingredient receives. you can keep it at a very high heat in the center and move ingredients up the side to stay warm while you add the next ones. Like I said the effect can be fairly well faked but not perfectly.
Found this answer for you. I thought that it sounded reasonable. Many asian cooks will disagree with me, but, Curtis is correct that if you don't own a wok (I don't) and you use a regular pan, you most likely won't notice the difference in flavors. If you switched to a wok, you would most likely notice the difference more in texture of the finished product.
"The main advantage of wok beyond its constructed material is its curved concave shape. The shape produces a small, hot area at the bottom which allows some of the food to be seared by intense heat while using relatively little fuel. The large sloped sides also make it easier for chefs to employ the tossing cooking technique on solid and thick liquid food with less spillage and a greater margin of safety. Curved sides also allows a person to cook without having to "chase the food around the pan" since bite-sized or finely chopped stir-fry ingredients usually tumble back to the center of the wok when agitated.
The curve also provides a larger usable cooking surface versus western-styled pots and pans, which typically have vertical edges. This allows large pieces of food seared at the bottom of the wok to be pushed up the gently sloped sides to continue cooking at a slower rate. While this occurs another ingredient for the same dish needing high heat is being cooked at the bottom. The pointed bottom also allows even small amounts of oil to pool. As such large food items can be shallow fried, while finely chopped garlic, hot peppers, green onions, and ginger can be essentially deep-fried in both cases with very small amount of cooking oil."
I'm Chinese and my mother taught me to always cook with a good wok. When I lived on my own, I didn't have one and used a saucepan instead. My cooking never tasted as good as Mom's. Some years later, I finally invested in a large wok. And it made a huge difference. The wide surface area of a wok allows better heat distribution and food cooks more evenly. There's more space to toss the ingredients in, so stir fries are more evenly cooked. When we Chinese eat a really good fried rice that has been cooked in a wok at very high heat, we say it has good "wok hei" (or wok flavour).
Yes, there is a big dfference. I would like you to get a cast iron wok and seasoned it, email me if you want to know how to do it. Cast iron produce smoky flavour on high heat, use sesame oil for the purpose of this exercise.
chop some garlic and fried some rice in wok and a frying pan and taste the different. I teach cooking and I always have to demostrate how to bring the
best flavour by different equipmets and methods of cooking. Hope this help you to clarify it.
When you are not brought with a wok, you would not know the difference,
Perhaps the sense of taste is not sharpen when you need to. Any Asian cook would agree with me,
I think they have five thousand years of experience more than anyone cooked in the pan to prove it!
Answers
May 14, 2010
I'm not sure what you mean by 'Sy'...but in the end there is no difference.
May 14, 2010
well a wok has a traditional purpose which you can fake pretty well with a saute pan but not quite. the high gradually sloping sides of the wok allow you to control the amount of heat each ingredient receives. you can keep it at a very high heat in the center and move ingredients up the side to stay warm while you add the next ones. Like I said the effect can be fairly well faked but not perfectly.
May 14, 2010
Found this answer for you. I thought that it sounded reasonable. Many asian cooks will disagree with me, but, Curtis is correct that if you don't own a wok (I don't) and you use a regular pan, you most likely won't notice the difference in flavors. If you switched to a wok, you would most likely notice the difference more in texture of the finished product.
"The main advantage of wok beyond its constructed material is its curved concave shape. The shape produces a small, hot area at the bottom which allows some of the food to be seared by intense heat while using relatively little fuel. The large sloped sides also make it easier for chefs to employ the tossing cooking technique on solid and thick liquid food with less spillage and a greater margin of safety. Curved sides also allows a person to cook without having to "chase the food around the pan" since bite-sized or finely chopped stir-fry ingredients usually tumble back to the center of the wok when agitated.
The curve also provides a larger usable cooking surface versus western-styled pots and pans, which typically have vertical edges. This allows large pieces of food seared at the bottom of the wok to be pushed up the gently sloped sides to continue cooking at a slower rate. While this occurs another ingredient for the same dish needing high heat is being cooked at the bottom. The pointed bottom also allows even small amounts of oil to pool. As such large food items can be shallow fried, while finely chopped garlic, hot peppers, green onions, and ginger can be essentially deep-fried in both cases with very small amount of cooking oil."
May 16, 2010
I'm Chinese and my mother taught me to always cook with a good wok. When I lived on my own, I didn't have one and used a saucepan instead. My cooking never tasted as good as Mom's. Some years later, I finally invested in a large wok. And it made a huge difference. The wide surface area of a wok allows better heat distribution and food cooks more evenly. There's more space to toss the ingredients in, so stir fries are more evenly cooked. When we Chinese eat a really good fried rice that has been cooked in a wok at very high heat, we say it has good "wok hei" (or wok flavour).
May 17, 2010
Yes, there is a big dfference. I would like you to get a cast iron wok and seasoned it, email me if you want to know how to do it. Cast iron produce smoky flavour on high heat, use sesame oil for the purpose of this exercise.
chop some garlic and fried some rice in wok and a frying pan and taste the different. I teach cooking and I always have to demostrate how to bring the
best flavour by different equipmets and methods of cooking. Hope this help you to clarify it.
http//:nyonyapassions.com
May 30, 2010
When you are not brought with a wok, you would not know the difference,
Perhaps the sense of taste is not sharpen when you need to. Any Asian cook would agree with me,
I think they have five thousand years of experience more than anyone cooked in the pan to prove it!
Http:/nyonyapassions.com