What oil should I use?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

A quick note on smoke point, I think time must be a factor in burning oil. I had my wok up to 650F the other day, spooned in a little semi-sold tallow which melted instantly, let it get up to shimmering temp, a little smoke and then some beaten eggs, quick stir and out of the wok. Repeat for tofu and veggies. Definitely not burned in any way. So oils may be elastic in terms of time vs. temp.

[Otter74]

Canola oil, peanut oil or grapeseed oil. Basically, vegetable oil.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

A quick note on smoke point, I think time must be a factor in burning oil. I had my wok up to 650F the other day, spooned in a little semi-sold tallow which melted instantly, let it get up to shimmering temp, a little smoke and then some beaten eggs, quick stir and out of the wok. Repeat for tofu and veggies. Definitely not burned in any way. So oils may be elastic in terms of time vs. temp.

I have to assume that adding the item to be cooked and stirring probably cools it off enough to keep it from burning so that makes sense. If it was something like a cast iron skillet with a large heat soak it probably would have heated up and burned anyway, but since it was a wok that can cool off quickly by comparison, no issues.

[flatbutt]

I do all of my stove top cooking in cast iron so heat is something I watch carefully. It can go from a simmer to flambeau very quickly.

[berettafan]

Indeed the whole point to a relatively light carbon steel wok is fast response to temp adjustments. if you watch videos of street food with woks you'll see constant temp tweaking.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by masraum

I have to assume that adding the item to be cooked and stirring probably cools it off enough to keep it from burning so that makes sense. If it was something like a cast iron skillet with a large heat soak it probably would have heated up and burned anyway, but since it was a wok that can cool off quickly by comparison, no issues.

I totally get what you are saying Steve but it's a tiny amount of oil and very large wok, and better, the new stove burners put out some serious BTUs. Boils 2 gallons of water pretty fast, much faster than last cooktop.

The best thing to do is hit it with the Fluke temp gun during the whole process to see what's going on.

All that said I want to get a 100K BTU wok burner as I'm just starting to produce some really authentic stuff.