Town Food Service 14 Inch Steel Mandarin Style Wok

if you are looking for a light wok where you can flip your food with one hand while you are cooking, this is the wok for you. It is an easy wok to cook with because it is light. It only weighs 2lbs.4 oz. But it is also thin. Because it is thin, it cools quickly so you'll need to have a high flame and heat while stir frying but it heats up fast and it great for stir frying. The wok is 13 3/4" in diameter, 4 3/4" deep, very round sides with round bottom, handle is 7" long with an 1 1/2" diameter. The handle is hollow with a hole at the end. The handle is welded only to the rim of the wok and not to the side of the wok. The handle does get hot but if you are stir frying, your cooking should be quick and the handle won't get too hot to hold bare handed otherwise just use a pot holder. It is a MUST that you wash/scrub with soap and burn off the protective oil coating before you season the wok. It is a coating you don't want to eat. Just use a scouring pad with soap and scrub. Then on high heat, burn/heat the wok all around. The wok might start to smoke so turn up your vent. Let it burn for 15-30 to 45 minutes depending on your stove. The coating will be burnt off by then and the wok will look silvery black. The original" just black oil coating" will be gone between your scrubbing and burning. Now you are ready to season the wok. Wash the wok again before you start to season it. I won't go into seasoning as there are many YouTube videos you can look at. After seasoning, never wash your wok with soap. Just use a brush preferably a bamboo brush to scrub off food particles and hot water. This will help build up the golden brown patina on the wok. The more you use your wok and clean it the way I said, the deeper and richer the golden brown patina will get. This golden brown patina adds flavor and non stick to the wok. Believe me as I am Asian and I have used a wok for over 50 years. I got this wok because I bought an outside wok burner and needed another wok to go along with it. If you use the wok on a gas burner with a grid the wok will stand pretty much upright and leveled without a ring but if it is on a flat surface, the wok will tilt towards the handle as that is where the weight is. On my Viking stove, I don't need a ring as the stove grid held it leveled without the wok tilting. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the welding could have been better. They should have welded the handle to the side of the wok also and not just to the rim of the wok. I have included pictures so you can get a good idea of how the wok is.

Great purchase in my opinion. Came pre-oiled and ready to cook with. Heat distribution is perfect. Easy to clean. Now I'm in heaven cooking oriental at home.

This wok is terribly unbalanced. The handle is so heavy it tips the whole wok over to that side. I had a hell of a time trying to keep it in the right position to cook, and yes I used a wok ring. The heat distribution is bad. It never seemed like it got nearly as hot as I was expecting, even with the flame on high. It does arrive filthy, covered in manufacturing oil, and not seasoned, but it also arrives with very clear instructions on cleaning and seasoning. I don't expect this wok to last me the rest of my days, and I won't buy it again.

This pan was nicely seasoned and ready to use after a little prep to remove the factory oil. My only complaint is that its a little off balance so it likes to sit in the wok stand listing towards the handle, but once food is in the wok that doesn't seem to be much of an issue. Handle stay cool enough to use with no mitt even over high heat gas wok burner. I got the  Joyce Chen 31-0066, 13.5-Inch Nonstick Steel Dome Lid for 14-Inch Wok  to go with it, and am happy with both.

Oooh I tried so hard to stir fry in a pan for so long.It never worked well. Why did everything lack the fresh snappy mouthfeel?STEAM.What was I missing? . . . A wok.Let my embarrassment be your guide.You know the drill . . . everything prepped, added in order of cook time,Also it's a round bottom so you need to buy a ring.

I had no idea that this particular wok would be as complicated to start using as it was. While I was prepared to have to season it, I did not know that it would be coated with a disgusting, chemical coating. Reviews here say that there are lots of videos on YouTube, which I did watch but my question is why would I have to go through that process? There were absolutely no directions with the wok when it arrived. This lead me to believe that it was basically ready to go.It required massive amounts of scrubbing to get rid of the coating. I am not afraid of using elbow grease but this was excessive. It smoked constantly and set off smoke detectors numerous times. The coating is also on the outside so that smokes as well.It is finally seasoned now, but I am not thrilled with the performance at this point. Disappointed with this purchase and do not recommend.

I bought this Mandarin style wok to compliment my larger Cantonese wok. This wok is formed with a significantly deeper bowl. I recommend this particular wok because of the way the handle is welded on using a reinforcing gusset on the underside of the handle. It should never break. Similar woks form the handle by pinching the end of a tube closed and riveting that to the edge of the wok without any gusset. In time that style of handle will fail right where the handle is pinched and bent. This Town Food Service wok, on the other hand, should last forever.Don't short cut the seasoning process. It takes a bit of work to scrub off the protective coating and you need a LOT of high heat to properly season any wok. I use a powerful gas BBQ grill. But, in the end, it's well worth the effort.