[jyl]

Don't spend more than $40 for a wok. Either get a cheap thin carbon (not stainless) steel one from an Asian grocery, or a thin (not thick) cast iron one. No stainless, no Teflon, no fancy woks, no stupid $500 woks.

Get a fairly large wok (at least 12"). Not because you want to fill it up, but because you don't want stuff to fall out.

Get a broad wood spatula. Shape the tip to match the curvature of your wok. Get a wire spider with a long handle. Each should cost like $1.

Prep all the food ahead of time. Cut into pieces of uniform size. Stuff that takes longer to cook needs to be in smaller pieces (meat), stuff that cooks quickly can be in larger pieces (some veg). Marinate meat if desired but pat it dry. Moisture is your enemy.

Cook each type of food by itself or with similar food. Heat oil in the wok, when the oil is shimmering and moving, add a small batch of the food, move it around with the spatula, then remove it with the spider. Batches should be small enough that it fries quickly rather than steams or boils. Meat should go from raw to brown, not spend much time gray. Undercook a little bit at this point. With a standard burner, each batch can be no larger than 1/2 cup if meat, 1 cup if veg.

Do not clean wok between batches. Add and reheat oil as needed.

When all batches are cooked, if you want a sauce then put some flavorful liquid (like a broth) with a little thickener whisked in (cornstarch, about 1-2 tsp per 1 cup liquid) in the wok and boil it until it thickens. Pour the sauce into a container.

Reheat wok, combine all the cooked batches for a final short toss in the wok. Add sauce at this time.

Do not clean the wok with soap. Use hot water and a stiff brush to knock off solid bits and let the rest of the oil and food residue "season" the wok. After a few uses the wok will be non stick.

The above is a process that will work even if you have a standard burner of 6-8K BTU. If you do have a 20K BTU burner, then you can do things a little differently.

The above is a process for stir frying. You can also use a wok to boil, steam, poach, whatever.