I’m pretty sure I remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown went outside and cooked over a charcoal chimney starter in order to get enough BTUs for a proper stir-fry, because American residential stoves aren’t typically capable of it. (And even if they were, teflon would be both pointless and harmful because it would (a) interfere with the fond creation/deglazing that you’re trying to achieve on purpose, and (b) off-gas toxic chemicals due to the high heat.)
In other words, a teflon-coated flat-bottomed wok is just dumb, even for Americans. It literally has no reason to exist compared to a frying pan because you can’t actually do wok cooking techniques with it.
Edit: I couldn’t find a video of the Good Eats episode, but this article corroborates my memory, at least.
flat bottom woks are plenty good in my experience, yeah it’s not the exact same thing because duhhhh, but it’s a whole lot better than a regular frying pan for stir fry.
Hell, I think it’s a crime and I’m a lily-white American!
The flat bottom is pretty damn sus, too.
it’s an American style wok, suitable for stove top burners that are gas, resistive electric, or inductive electric.
Traditional woks would sit upon a ring over a gas or otherwise fire burner, which typical american homes do not have.
I’m pretty sure I remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown went outside and cooked over a charcoal chimney starter in order to get enough BTUs for a proper stir-fry, because American residential stoves aren’t typically capable of it. (And even if they were, teflon would be both pointless and harmful because it would (a) interfere with the fond creation/deglazing that you’re trying to achieve on purpose, and (b) off-gas toxic chemicals due to the high heat.)
In other words, a teflon-coated flat-bottomed wok is just dumb, even for Americans. It literally has no reason to exist compared to a frying pan because you can’t actually do wok cooking techniques with it.
Edit: I couldn’t find a video of the Good Eats episode, but this article corroborates my memory, at least.
flat bottom woks are plenty good in my experience, yeah it’s not the exact same thing because duhhhh, but it’s a whole lot better than a regular frying pan for stir fry.