JOYCE CHEN Classic Series 14-Inch Round Bottom Carbon Steel Wok with Birch Ha...

It's a round solid bottom carbon steel wok. The handles are solid and well made so far. I love the price and prime delivery. It came all the way from Taiwan. So it keeps all the stars. I had an non-typical sized 13-inch Chinese cast iron wok for 2 years. 14 inch makes a lot of difference in the volume but still fit reasonably into my twin kitchen sink. My typical wok ring is for 14 inches and above. It was slightly too large for my old wok. Carbonized food residue can integrate with the cast iron or come off in trunks. I think carbon steel should be better. I would have got the small steel loop handles if they are not more expensive including shipping. For seasoning I can put the whole wok in the oven or the gas barbecue. Also, wood will break down sooner than metal, right? Without the wood handles, it could fit better in the sink. However, the wood handles are much more convenient than without. I can happily live with it. The wok comes with a clear protective lacquer. The boiling, hot soapy water, and abrasive pad helps to remove most or all of it. I don't know if there's something special about my hand dish detergent - Palmolive pure & clear ultra. When the undiluted detergent make contact with the wok surface, the surrounding area seems to have lacquer still on it. And before the lacquer comes off completely, wiping the wok with kitchen paper towel will result in greenish color on the paper. And when the wok seems to be very clean, it seems to rust on one side (slightly brownish spots) as soon as you are washing the other side. The seasoning instructions are a bit brief. I would dry the wok first completely before adding oil for example. And they should say what to expect after you season the wok. Peanut oil has a higher smoke point so I wonder if that would make the kitchen less smokey. I would say the idea of seasoning is to get a least a brown color on the shiny carbon steel surface, black doesn't hurt as long as it is even (see my pic). If you don't do that during seasoning, a proper stir fry will do that for you (unevenly though). The sturdy wood handle is great to manoeuvre the wok to get some brown color on the side. The area near the rim doesn't matter much as it is not hot enough during cooking and food don't get there to be carbonized. For after use care you don't actually need to put oil on it, as long as you don't use detergent. I dry it by flame because when it is wet, any normal rust will stain the sink. I don't know why I didn't season the bottom of the wok. I didn't remember if it is in the instructions. The whole bottom rust after use. For the oven seasoning method I used to put oil on both sides. For this one I just smear oil on the bottom and put it under the stove, normal side up.

This is a good wok, traditional round bottom. Great value for money spent. The wok, in the right hands, takes the place of nearly half the gadgets in Western-style kitchen. It is a: steamer, frying pan, pot, and even a smoker. It is an irreplacable part of the Chinese kitchen, and I love it. . . in China. Here are some facts about the wok that you need to understand to appreciate this carbon-steel beauty. 1) This is a bone crushingly heavy wok, heavier than most that I encountered in China. A review from the Joyce Chen Flat bottom wok (with the same thickness) said it was flimsy. It is NOT a flimsy wok. You definitely get your money's worth in steel with this item. 2) American stove burners are usually very wimpy compared to Chinese stove burners (Much taller, and hotter) These facts come together to make this wok of probably minimal use to you in the American kitchen. The thickness of the steel prevents it from really heating up hot enough to get the full "flash fry" benefits of stir frying. It pains me to say this, but this wok will probably, in most American kitchens, be more like an awkwardly-shaped ethnic frying pan than the awesome tool of athletic culinary might that it has the potential of being. USE HIGH HEAT, and be sure you heat it up really hot before you begin cooking. Don't stew your meat (unless that's your intention). High heat in your kitchen is probably the Chinese equivalent of a Chinese "medium". Of course, you might have an awesome, high heat stove whose burners resemble a jet engine's. If that's the case, I envy you. Fact 3: Most of the negative reviews of this product are due to user error (For example: not understanding how to season a wok. . . Hey! It's on youtube! Season it in the oven! It's easy! You'll need a scrub brush, a wet towel, a piece of aluminum foil, green onions and maybe ginger and garlic before you begin.) This is a great wok! Best of luck!

I want to start out by saying that I've owned this wok for about 6 months now and it is still serving me well. There are also no issues with the metal or the cooking surface in general when properly seasoned. My biggest complaint about this wok, is not about the wok, but those horrible seasoning instructions that is comes with! DO NOT FOLLOW THE SEASONING INSTRUCTIONS! THE PROCESS IT DESCRIBES IS NOT THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF SEASONING A WOK! Needles to say that process did not work for me. There are many instructional videos on how to season a carbon steel wok on YouTube. Do your research! There are many ways of seasoning, but none of them look like the instructions on the sheet! The way I seasoned my wok: 1. I scrubbed the inside and out side of the pan with soap and an abrasive sponge to remove any leftover oils from manufacturing. ( this should be the only time you ever use soap in a wok without a non-stick coating! ) 2. I boiled a good amount of water in the pan, like the instructions said, to help lift the oils left on the pan from manufacture and any leftover soap. (you don't really have to do this, but I did to be safe.) 3. Put the wok over medium to high heat until the center turns a dark metallic blue color. Once the center of the pan has turned completely blue ( I believe it take like 5 to 10 mins ) tilt the pan on its Side and allow its side to turn a dark blue color as well. Keep rotating the pan until the whole thing is dark metallic blue. 4. After the pan has changed color it should be ready to use. However, I didn't trust this. For a last measure of seasoning, you should stir fry a bundle of chives and sliced ginger until completely burnt. Using your spatula rub the chives and ginger on the sides as your frying. This helps to establish a patina on your wok, which will grow stronger the more it is used. 5. Enjoy. Please do your own research into seasoning carbon steel woks. I have just posted my method for reference! Otherwise this is an excellent wok! And has defiantly cooked some good meals! :)

Before I begin I just wanted to give a little insight, I am a culinary arts student who recently found a huge respect for the art of Wok Hei. Upon extensive research, I found that the only way to even closely resemble authentic Asian cookery at home would be through the use of a properly seasoned carbon steel wok. $30 for a simple bowl of carbon steel is not cheap, our school uses 12" woks that cost a mere $15 a piece and we had them for about 4 years; thus I assumed this would be a quality wok. I received the wok and I was actually surprised at the thickness of the material, its thicker than a standard Cantonese style wok. This material is perfect for standard western home kitchens as it helps retain some heat when you add fresh product for cooking, minimizing recovery time. So I received the wok and seasoned it until it was perfectly black, after the seasoning process concluded (about an hour of a smoke filled house) I noticed the handle got worryingly loose. The cheap little ALUMINUM (are you kidding) rivets began working their way out. I thought this was a fluke, so I contacted amazon and they quickly sent me a replacement. The second wok handle felt secure and in-place, so I proceeded with another hour of seasoning, and once again the handle got ridiculously loose, even more than the first. Woks are supposed to last a lifetime, and the value of the wok comes from the quality of the patina you buildup over years of cooking. What good is a wok if you have to replace it all the time because the handle falls off? In the end its a good wok, but its NOT WORTH THE HASSLE. The two cheap aluminum rivets ruin everything. Next wok I buy I will head to Chinatown and buy an authentic, quality wok. __________________________________________________________________________________ For those leaving one star reviews because of rusting issues, you need to understand that a carbon steel needs to be properly seasoned. These types of high carbon alloys will rust from the sheer moisture in the air, thus the reason you are advised to scrub the wok before seasoning, as its coated in a oily wax to prevent this issue. The directions aren't very clear as to how to properly season it, but here is my method I use and it work's perfectly. [Note: If you don't have a gas stove with a burner with at-least 10,000 BTU, this wont work that well. If you have an electric stove, don't even bother with this method, do it at a friends home.] 1. Scrub the wok with hot (as hot as you can stand) soapy water. Use a stainless steel scrubbing pad, note that scotch pads or abrasive sponges wont work, you really need to scrub the surface with a metallic sponge. Scrub the inside and outside very thoroughly, you will smell a metallic chemical smell, this is the coating coming off. Place the wok onto high heat, and add about 2/3 full of a wok of hot water and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and scrub/ clean again. 2. immediately dry the wok and place it on a high, emphasis on high here, gas burner. The wok will turn black near the burner, keep turning the wok so it gets black on all sides, cover the helper handle with a soaking wet paper towel to prevent the wood from burning. 3. After the wok is completely black, you might see some areas with a sticky residue, these areas you did not remove the factory wax well enough. Scrub these areas again. If your wok looks perfectly black in a single toned sheen, proceed to the next step. 4. Add a touch of oil to a small bowl & dip in a folded paper towel, using a paper towel held with a pair of tongs, carefully spread the oil onto the hot wok, outside and inside. It should begin to smoke upon contact with the oil. Your oil shouldn't drip and pool, just enough to cover and give a nice sheen. Return to flame, turning to heat evenly. 5. After the wok stops smoking add another sheen of oil as in step 4. Repeat about 5 times. 6. Your wok should now be completely black and almost ready for use. After the wok cools a bit, take a medium onion with about a 1/2 cup of oil and sir fry until the onions get a very, very deep brown, (est 10 min on medium high) making sure you spread the oil to all the sides. Now just drain and discard the oil and onion. Wipe with a paper towel & your ready to WOK!

After reading mixed reviews I was a bit skeptical, but decided it was the size, price, quality that I wanted so bought it. I have only had it a couple of weeks, but have used it perhaps 6 or 7 times. I did not have any trouble cleaning the manufacture's coating off, and creating a nice cooked on coating. I was worried about the coating coming off, and rust appearing so after each use I water soak and use a brush to clean off food bits, and then dry on the stove and add oil after dry and wok is still hot. So far I have had no issues with the handle, or with rust. I did have an issue with my coating coming off when I made sweet/sour stir fry. I assumed it was the acid in the pineapple but I am not positive. After this problem I heated the wok very hot and cooked on an oil glaze again. Seemed to work, still no rust or issues with wok. Updated after using for a couple of years: I use it probably 5-6 times a month. This product has never rusted, or come apart in anyway. I still give it 5 stars. It works great. I still heat dry on stove after washing, and cook on an oil coat after each use which maintains a nice patina. Picture below is after two years of use.

After doing a bunch of research I've found that carbon-steel, round bottom is the way to go and I was not disappointed. The carbon-steel heats up very quickly and although it may not hold the heat like that of a cast iron, isn't the point to have the nice hot center for cooking anyways? There have been some issues with others about the handle and here is whats going on: When you receive the wok it comes in three parts: the bowl, the handle, and a threaded rod for attaching the handle to the bowl. If you look on the bowl where the handle attaches you will see two little "wings", if you will, that look like a stop block to keep the handle from going all the way down to the bowl when screwing down the threaded rod. That is only partially right. If you stop there the handle will indeed rotate freely. I however continued on and as I kept tightening it down the wings embeded themselves into the wood of the handle thus preventing the handle from turning. The wood is fairly soft so no more than hand turning should be needed. However I discovered this when trying to season it and the heat very potentially softened it some. In short if you attach the handle correctly you should have yourself a really great cookware which will serve for many years. Lastly others haven't mentioned sesame oil for seasoning but I used it to add a little bit more to my seasoning and it worked great. Just don't let it pool and cook on that way. Otherwise while cooking it will come off leaving an unseasoned spot on your wok.

This is the first time that I had to season a wok appropriately, and I followed the directions exactly. However, either the factory coating didn't come off properly or I somehow didn't do it right, because the surface is rusting, and it makes the food inedible. I will try re-seasoning it, but I am not impressed. Also, the bottom of the wok is flatter than I have experienced, so that even though I have a gas stove and try to rotate it around in the Chinese style in which I love to cook, it still pretty much stays in the same position. I should have just bought a cheaper one at the Chinese store. On the pro side, it is very sturdy and the handles are nice, but it has been much more of a pain than it should have been.

It looks like a nice wok. I haven’t used it yet. I just seasoned it. It is a big wok. Sturdy. Should hold a nice amount of food.

Strong and works well.

I will admit I did remove the back handle at once when I received the wok - this is just a personal preference - hate me for it or not - I will explain tho that to season carbon steel requires blowtorch heat and that may not be available to some people - I used a wok burner and heated the pan past the bluing stage and then used oil three times to get the seasoning needed - i have had zero issues and it is non stick and deals with acid foods very well - there may be other methods but this is the one I used and it works - not everybody has a wok burner so just saying - I found that if the wok is seasoned using this method it is very good to use

Great wok! Mine turned blue when I dry heated it up over a propane stove outside (to burn away the manufacturers coating - yes, I washed it in hot soapy water first too). The handle rivets were a bit loose, had to use a hammer and anvil to tighten it up (strike the rivet twice). Love it!

I strongly not recommend this pan, it showed rust since the first use when I was still cooking I could even taste a strange and bad taste in the food, after I washed I could clearly see rusts in all over the pan. I can't believe the bad quality of this pan I'm disappointed. Don't buy it bcse it like you gonna eat poison. I returned it of course

Good for deep frying