Eh, yes and no. You are getting the areas that are in contact with the cooking surface red hot, which with a flat bottom wok is a really small area. Since most woks are made out of thin metal, you aren’t getting much heat transfer to the majority of the pan like you would with gas.
Tbh the best option imo for stirfry is just to have an outdoor wok burner hooked up to a propane tank. Unless you have an industrial stove, you aren’t getting the pan hot enough on gass either.
There are actually special wok induction plates. The are shaped like the wok and are much closer to the real heat distribution of a gas burner. Nevertheless I don’t think that is necessary. My wok gets plenty hot where it matters and I make a killer fried rice.
I mean… It is, especially depending on what and how much food you are cooking.
My wok gets plenty hot where it matters and I make a killer fried rice.
Making a “killer fried rice” isn’t the end all be all of wok cooking. I have had plenty of white people make what they claim is great fried rice that is greasy dog shit because they can’t get their woks hot enough.
As someone who grew up in Chinese restaurant kitchens… I can assure you a flat bottomed wok on an induction stovetop is never going to be adequate for traditional Chinese cooking. If there is an induction plate shaped to fit a round bottom wok and you could rock the wok on without damaging it…that would be a different story.
Until then I’m going to stick to using my outdoor burner, especially considering that the only electric utilities I have access to are already created with natural gas.
As someone who grew up in Chinese restaurant kitchens… I can assure you a flat bottomed wok on an induction stovetop is never going to be adequate for traditional Chinese cooking.
Seconding this. I am but a humble gringo, and I do love an induction Cook top, but the insistence that everyone in earth can move 100% to induction in every instance only applies if you’re only making European dishes where flat bottom pans are standard.
Eh, yes and no. You are getting the areas that are in contact with the cooking surface red hot, which with a flat bottom wok is a really small area. Since most woks are made out of thin metal, you aren’t getting much heat transfer to the majority of the pan like you would with gas.
Tbh the best option imo for stirfry is just to have an outdoor wok burner hooked up to a propane tank. Unless you have an industrial stove, you aren’t getting the pan hot enough on gass either.
There are actually special wok induction plates. The are shaped like the wok and are much closer to the real heat distribution of a gas burner. Nevertheless I don’t think that is necessary. My wok gets plenty hot where it matters and I make a killer fried rice.
For a stove top, or like a stand alone device?
I mean… It is, especially depending on what and how much food you are cooking.
Making a “killer fried rice” isn’t the end all be all of wok cooking. I have had plenty of white people make what they claim is great fried rice that is greasy dog shit because they can’t get their woks hot enough.
As someone who grew up in Chinese restaurant kitchens… I can assure you a flat bottomed wok on an induction stovetop is never going to be adequate for traditional Chinese cooking. If there is an induction plate shaped to fit a round bottom wok and you could rock the wok on without damaging it…that would be a different story.
Until then I’m going to stick to using my outdoor burner, especially considering that the only electric utilities I have access to are already created with natural gas.
Seconding this. I am but a humble gringo, and I do love an induction Cook top, but the insistence that everyone in earth can move 100% to induction in every instance only applies if you’re only making European dishes where flat bottom pans are standard.
Proper wok cooking needs gas, end of story.
Both. There are stove tops available with a place for a wok as well as stand alone devices.