In article >,
ChattyCathy > wrote:

> isw wrote:
>
> > In article >,
> > ChattyCathy > wrote:
> >
> >> Steve wrote:
> >>
> >> > I have an electric stove, wondering if I'd be just as well off with
> >> > an electric wok rather than a stovetop model. Are the wattages high
> >> > enough on electric woks?
> >>
> >>
> >> If you're talking about the "stand-alone" woks i.e. appliances that
> >> have their own heating elements/thermostats and power cables and can
> >> [allegedly] be used on the counter-top, they're not as good as other
> >> woks, IMHO.
> >>
> >> I have one of those stand-alone electric woks - a Kenwood, which IIRC
> >> is made in the USA. The heat therefrom goes up to "more than hot
> >> enough"
> >
> > It's not how hot you can get it when it's empty -- it's how hot you
> > can *keep it* after you toss the meat in; the steam carries away a
> > HUGE amount of heat. And that's where an electric wok simply cannot
> > keep up with a gas one.
>
> That's what I meant when I said, (which you chose to snip)
>
> "The heat therefrom goes up to "more than hot enough" -
> but it is not "constant" heat as the thermostat keeps kicking in and
> out, so the heat varies"

I cut it because it didn't matter. An electric wok, with the temperature
dialed all the way up to "nuclear fusion", might get that hot when
empty, but will still cool down a lot when you put food in it, and it
will not recover until nearly all the water has been cooked out of the
food (unless you cook in very small batches).

Electric skillets and woks draw about 1,500 watts (about the maximum you
can get out of a US electrical outlet), which is equivalent to about 85
BTU per minute. The entire circuit that supplies an electric cooktop is
probably 220 volts at 30 amps, or 6,600 watts. Which is still only about
375 BTU/minute. And that's if you could somehow use all four burners at
once to heat your wok.

An "ordinary" domestic gas stove will have a burner or two capable of,
maybe 9,000 BTU. Professional cookstoves might be capable of about
double that. A wok ring in a decent Chinese restaurant can probably do
something north of 65,000 BTU.

And that's why the Chinese dishes you cook at home, good though they
might be, cannot be the same as what you get in a good Chinese
restaurant, even if the owner gave you his secret recipe.

Isaac