How I Cook in a Really Hot Wok on My Back Deck
Dangerous, delicious, and fun.
I have two woks: my indoor wok and my outdoor wok. My indoor wok is old. For years, I used it to make stir-fry on my residential gas stove and my weak-sister venting system. I followed all the cookbooks that tell how to adapt stir-fry recipes to the home kitchen.
Chinese home cooks, I figured, don’t need commercial kitchens with over-the-top powerful wok burners — so why should I?
Because I’ve always cooked on a residential stove, I’ve spent a lot of time waiting for my wok to heat up enough to stir-fry. Once hot, I would cook the protein in batches to maintain the heat, fry the vegetables separately, and put up with my wife's complaints about the smoke and airborne grease.
It was all good. Well, not good, but acceptable. Until it wasn’t.
This year, in my annual culling of backyard cooking devices, I dumped my Blackstone Griddle and bought a wok burner. I got mine on Amazon: Portable Kahuna Burner with XL Pot and Wok Brackets.
I chose this one because it was only $118 and would be at my door in two days. It produces 65,000 BTUs and puts out flame like a rocket engine. It is the burner used by men who deep-fry turkeys. (And I regret to admit I was once one of those.)
