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Wok on the Wild SideThe thrill of 170,000 BTU backyard wokking |
When I ventured into the kitchen of a back-alley Chinese restaurant one night, I discovered that what makes food great is the same thing that makes relationships great: heat.
The chef there had a flame you could use for smelting, a 19-inch wok on top, and another flame under a cauldron of seasoned, boiling water. It would cost me at least 30 times more than that for a pizza oven, and pizza cooking is not a spectator sport. Wokkery—that’s a spectator sport. Like bonfires, fireworks, and women spraying their hair while smoking.
In addition to a few cooking tools and a side station for parboiling vegetables, I bought a 19-inch steel wok and a 170,000 BTU propane burner. Yep, 170,000 BTU. (A professional-style home stove, by comparison, might have 16,000 BTU burners and a 45,000 BTU oven.) Then I took it all outside, mainlined the beast to some pure Canadian propane, and got a flame that could interfere with local observatories.
To make a meat-and-vegetable stir-fry, the Chinese chef boiled the vegetables, oiled the wok, fried the meat, rescued the vegetables, took out the meat, added the seasonings and vegetables, put the meat back in, and slid the food onto its serving plate. The whole process took less than three minutes.
I started slowly. Because when you’re cooking on the surface of the sun, you barely have time to look for an ingredient, let alone open a bottle. You need a plan for quick and easy delivery of every component. I thought out my motions beforehand; I made sure I could move fluidly and safely around the heat. I started with just one wok, cooking the vegetables and meat one at a time and combining them at the end.
Then I moved on to the full-on wok and cauldron show. Once I became comfortable with high-temp wokking, I could serve massive numbers of guests with delicious, ready-made food. My outdoor parties were simultaneously entertaining and delicious—a performance-art mix of ballet, flame, and hot oil.
Not that you should try this at home—you shouldn’t—but you should know anyway: Smoldering oil will explode into flame if given the chance. If you’re around it, you need an oil-fire fire extinguisher. And because the heat is so intense, beginners should turn the heat down or off between cooking the meat and cooking the vegetables.
Illustration by Bill Younger
interesting but not very practical
WHere can I get a propane burner ?? Have the wok and propane tank already.
there's nothing like a REAL Chinese stir fry. in Cantonese restaurants, if you sit near the kitchen you can hear the ROAR of the fire when the wok is lifted - that's why they literally call it the "fire dragon". And chefs are judged by the taste of the "wok hei" -breath or spirit of the wok - in the dish.
I second that request; Where did you get the 170,000 burner and and stands??
When You say "main line"- does that mean you can tap into a regular home gas line or does it need to be upgraded? Not too sure my neighborhood association would love this but I agree that this would be a far more interesting outdoor kitchen feature than a pizza oven.
Sqobbare: You can use turkey fryers. Click or paste the below link into your browswer.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/tem...
I bought a very high output single burner on legs from a sporting goods/outdoor shop in the US--in Oregon a few years ago. A friend had a version made up using a commercial stove burner here in Colombia. Also brought a much less expensive but much heavier burner from Thailand. Street cooks in China and SE Asia all use them. Woks are cleaned between courses by a ladle of water and a sweep with a broom like bamboo wisk.
Type 'King Kooker' into eBay and pony up your $25 -- you're good to go. Nothing impractical about this rig, except for the need to cook outside. (It's not a solution for weeknight dinners at most homes)
The question about main line gas: it can be propane in a tank or natural gas with a fitted connection. Both will be regulated by a valve to avoid overkill (literally).
I have a smaller burner (70,000 BTU) but it is just as easy to use a nested hotbed of lump charcoal, direct heat, in the Weber kettle. I don't know how many BTU's it puts out, but it is considerable.
I just bought a Big Kahuna burner setup and propane tank, out of frustration with indoor stovetop wokking. I'm still getting used to it and am maybe a bit reticent about setting the heat as high as I really need it. It's wonderful though...already it's twice as good as the stovetop, and there are lots more BTU's available.
I'm a vegetarian, so stir-frying is a favorite cooking method for me.
I found some nice propane burners on the outdoorstirfry.com website. Dr. Zhou makes some modifications on powerful chinese burners and creates a great home product. His higher end wok burners have high power BTU ratings, up to 130k and 160k BTU/hr. I've ordered a PowerFlamer and am waiting to start using it. His products seem better for wok cooking or stir frying than trying to take a turkey burner and use it with a wok.
Anyway, I'll let you know when I start using it how it turns out!
That picture is quite humorous. I can just imagine the panic that's racing across a beginner's mind in that situation.
I just came upon this site, and thus just saw that this was a blog entry. ..
I wrote this as an article back when Chow was a magazine, and had no idea it was a blog.
The burner is a Turkey-Fryer burner.
I'd love to have a set-up like a the Chinese restaurant were I observed this technique. The valve handle for the gas is a five-inch lever that's about knee height. The chef knocks the thing with his knee to turn the fire hot - and you really hear it! Their fire is hotter than my 175,000 BTUs, so he only has it on when food or liquid is in the wok. The valve on my set-up isn't nearly smooth enough for quick on-and-off action.
The part about 'don't do this at home' is because most people could really hurt themselves cooking with 175,00 BTUs. If you're careful and skilled enough not to kill yourself or burn down your neighborhood - this technique works great, makes restaurant-quality stir-fry, and can serve a lot of folks fresh-cooked food in minimal time.
I have a King Kooker outdoor wok setup. I think it's only around 50000 btus. It does the job, although I am not terribly impressed with the build quality. After I bought my King Kooker, I was in Chinatown in LA in a housewares store (under the Empress Palace dim sum mecca). They have a stellar outdoor wok burner that looks like it could power a jet for around $40. Their setups are MUCH sturdier than the King Kooker I have, and much cheaper than a Big Kahuna. If you are near an urban Chinatown, check there first.