How often do YOU wok cook? If you liked this video, you might like this Ninja NeverDull Knife review video, too: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nJLkc0nlHXY.html
Thanks for your video. This video is definitely 'definitive' and covers my similar experiences as well. If people are expecting wok hei out of this, they're going to be disappointed because that temperature gradient isn't going to allow for constant searing. However, for the price and utility, it's not a bad buy to start out with wok stir fry because of that induction base. A major benefit is being able to season the wok outdoors, which removes the headache of the entire house smelling like smoke, in addition to the accessories provided for many uses.
I suspected early on that the induction coil did not extend as far up as you believed. And the heat discoloration on the bottom of the wok at the end of the video confirmed it. So it's only about a 6" coil, like on most NuWave induction tops. Also, I'm betting the wok thickness is probably consistent from the bottom to the edge, which would explain the rapid heat loss. (How quickly the bottom discolored is also a hint.) A good carbon steel wok will have a thick bottom and a thin edge. (It also wouldn't keep tipping from the weight of the handle as much.) Btw, to steam veggies in a wok you pull them up the sides, put water in the bottom, and then put the lid on. And the rack is for steaming large stuff, not so much for draining fried stuff. lol That's all from general knowledge. I do have experience, though, with induction woks that we had in a shop in a dining hall I worked in. They had small stainless woks, and are mostly used for hot holding, but we did cook in them as well.
Great stuff, beast! Yeah.. Once it got past about half way up, the heat dropped way off on it... It's still a decent little wok, imo... But just not as much as I was hoping for.
The 600 & 900 watt settings are more for RV camping / van life or ancient outlets that can't supply the higher power. They're there if you really need them, but if you can feed it 1500watts then for this thing that's really what you need to do. As for the 'un-needed' vent hole ... if you've ever had a lid vacuum seal itself onto a counter you'll appreciate it being there to keep that from happening. For myself, I'll be using the pre-heat on the initial start up pretty religiously just to help avoid pan warping. From what I understand with induction it's the cold pan OFF trying to ramp to 100%ON HOT that is the underlying cause of most of that. So intentional slower starting it will be for me.
Ah good point... Never looked at the RV angle. The air hole issue ended up not being much of a thing anyway, since the pan doesn't make a good seal anyways... Slightly different shape. Agree with out in the preheat too.... Good practice to be in... Cheers!
Nice detailed review. I like the design and feature of the unit. It is super compact. But in terms of power, it is severely under powered. I have been cooking with concave induction wok hob/cooker for over 10 years now. There is a very significant difference between the heat conversion efficiency between different materials. The best of the best is cast iron, carbon steel comes next but it is significantly lower in performance. Then finally there is stainless steel. SS is the worst performer. If you are only boiling and don't care how long it takes, then it is fine. I have a 5000w Commercial Induction Wok Hop. And i only use single handle cast iron wok. In this combo, i do most of my cooking in the 2000w to 3000w range. Very occasionally to finish off the dish i will use 4000w for just a few seconds of rapid wok tossing, which if you are super keen in imparting further wok chi, you can combine with a propane burner to momentarily torch the surface of the food. But 2-3kW is what most being used if it is cast iron wok. In my experience, carbon steel doesn't quite do the job. It is about twice as slow, meaning unnecessary wait time before reaching ideal temperature. Also the surface temperature rapidly drops after you add ingredients. This doesn't happen to cast iron wok. It maintains the high heat. If you are really serious about wok cooking with induction, cast iron is the only way to go. But it is a lot more difficult to find an ideal cast iron wok... carbon steel is everywhere and cheap... not so with single handle cast iron wok. If the manufacturer releases a 2000w /3000w version, i may be interested to get one for camping trip and power this from my solar set-up. The delay between the wok leaving the surface and entering error mode is acceptable. You only need 0.5s to 1 sec for proper wok tossing. Overall the design is nice. Just need to wait for a high power version. My Commercial 5kW unit only has 1x rotary knob to select 1kw, 2kW... to 5kW. No fancy feature. All Stainless steel construction for ease of cleaning. Maybe an all stainless construction is a nice feature to look for as well.
This was a great review for a guy looking for a dedicated wok cooker. One thing I would have liked to see is how this maintains deep frying oil temp setting throughout the cooking process. I've been trying to use one on a regualer gas stove, but gave up trying to guess and constantly adjust the burner, usually ending up overheating the oil. Like with deep frying bone in chicken pieces with the extreme temp variation you get and how well the unit preforms keeping a set temp. That is what I will mostly be doing, with one as a deep frying station.
Hi, Allen. This uses a pretty thin carbon steel wok, so it doesn't retain heat super well. There was a pretty noticable temp drop when I was adding ingredients to it for a bit. Not sure how much it will affect frying oil, but I'd imagine there will still be a drop there of some sort. The temp the the wok gets to always seems to be a little less than what the dial is set to, as well. I should probably try doing something like a tempura recipe in it or something.
@@JoesPhenomenal Thanks for the reply, Joe, and info. I'll be using a heavy cast iron wok for my deep frying so it may not be as big an issue with temp regulation. In my mind, the cooker is worth the investment to see for myself how it preforms with my cookware. 👍
I’ve had the unit for 2 years and I do all my frying in it without a problem. When you put a lot in it the temperature will drop but goes up fast enough. Don’t forget that if you put a soup pot of water it boiling in 48 seconds.
Very well explained, in My opinion. I am not a "CHEF" by any stretch of the imagination but, I do like to EXPLORE in My laboratory (lol). Thanks for bringing this to us.
Hey Joe!!! HI!! Great review. I'm puzzled by the product. I do a wok with one hand on the wok handle and one hand on the spatula. I move both the spatula and the wok around over a gas flame. This way I can keep the oil moving and the food moving and even give stuff a toss. But it looks like. you can't lift the wok off the base because if you lift it it shuts down? What happened when you dumped out the broccoli? Did it shut down and need to be reset? I didn't hear it start to scream (beep beep). And.. if you lift it it stops heating because it looses contact. Also... if you spill any food bits into the base while cooking it will interfere with the induction contact with the pan??? I appreciate your in depth explanation of the controls. I do like that you can select the power level. Thanks for great review. Also enjoying your kitchen shed build. HUGS
Heya Daisy. You can lift it off. It will give you a little time before it shuts the burner off if you remove it. I was able to dump the veggies and stick it back on with plenty of time to spare. Seems like around 7 or 8 seconds. If you drop anything on the induction surface that's big enough to inhibit the pan from making contact, it will end up stopping after several seconds, also. I still think the gas flame method you use it better for wok cooking though. It looks like they wanna ban gas ranges these days though for whatever reason.
@@JoesPhenomenal they're talking about not putting gas ranges in new houses. We learned gas stoves are really bad for kids' (and adults) lungs, so it makes sense to move away from them. I have kids and a gas range in my rental house, so the standalone induction ranges help me not give my kids asthma.
Stuff is great. But for viewers for eu. You can not use it out of box. Because of voltage difference in us. But there are workarounds for it, which are safe.
Yeah.. Those adapters work ok, but I hear they can be unreliable? Is that a thing? If they do an EU release, I'd imagine that they would make a 240v version, but who knows.
@@JoesPhenomenal Well, i use a voltage adapter plus and extender with a built in back spike protection. The back spikes into the home grid is the major problem with the adapters. Those can damage all equipment connected to the same grid as the adapter. But these are VERY rare occasions, i mean 1 from 1000 but can happen. All in all, if you plug the adapter into a socket or extender with back spike protection you are good to go. The ideal woul be a 220v version of the induction plate, but it is what it is :) Anyway, the wok is awesome. But i needed some time to learn how to cook with it.
I have one, and it works but....... It heats really well and then seems to forget to keep the heat on. Your sizzling away and then notice that the heat suddenly goes away and you have to turn up the temp to keep frying. Also the main drawback to a burner is no wokhay
Yeah... It's a little rough with the heat retention depending on what you got on it... If you're not cooking a large portion, it seems to do really great though.
It may work well but the problem: You're going regular (indoor) cooking, presumably. By using this thing on your counter or table, you forfeit the hood, so aerosolized oil will get everywhere. It's easy to discount that, but it does matter and you're really going to want to do high-heat cooking with good ventilation inside your house. Sorry to be a party pooper, would be nice if that problem didn't exist.
Thanks for the great input... In my case I only use it on the counter like that for RU-vid vids. For cooking I usually just set it in my cooktop under the range hood to account for that. Excellent points though!
Does it give you the wok smoky flavour if using on high? I really want a wok burner but don’t have the space so hoping I can get something that replicates a gas wok burner
@kanethecracker Thanks! I was thinking about doing some sort of seasoning video for that thing.... The fact that it's portable makes it easy to just bring it outside for that.
To me, it looks like you have at least twice what you should in a pan that size. No experience with that cooker, but I’m assuming it would work out better if you cut the recipe in half.
I don't think I would buy that nuwave induction for my wok. I'm perfectly happy with my gas wok range. Love the dragon-like flame that comes from the wok range.
If youre worried about not getting enough heat up the sides, in theory you should be able to just do 2 batches or whatever and get the correct heat both times.
Very true.. The point that Nuwave was trying to make with the curved induction surface was that you'd be able to go up a lot farther on the sides though. It still does a nice job, and I like it, but I still think a big flame with a traditional style wok is hard to beat.
What's the voltage rating of this burner? I'm not fron US so I'm concerned if i order from amazon us and receive 110 V. That won't work in my country..
@@JoesPhenomenal that sucks for me. Here's to hoping induction takes off already. I dont want to keep a potential hazard in my house just to have a proper wok.
I doubt the induction coils go up the sides of the wok. My guess, they are just around the bottom. I could be wrong. How about a tear down video? Love your videos.
They go up a little bit... Seems like the heat levels stay up pretty well until you get about 40% of the way up the side which is reasonably close to the edges. They tear down is interesting though, in any case. If the review vid ends up popular enough, I'll have to do a video for that. Thanks for the love, Stevek!
Well... Induction produces instant heat, but the metal from whatever pans you use need time to get up to temperature... That kinda varies based on the material used. It's a lot faster though and way more efficient. The compelling thing about that wok, was more for the fact that you get a curved induction surface. Since induction ranges only work on stuff making direct contact, I liked that you would have a decent wok option for that tech... I still think gas is better for a wok, imo though.
Yeah... I felt it should be a little bigger too. It's a good option if you don't have gas cooking, since you don't have a flame to come up the sides of the wok. The shape might have something to do with how far the induction coils can be curved around the bottom or something like that.
Heya.. well that's a lot of power! A 20amp outlet can only produce about 2400watts or so. so you'ds have to go with 240v outlets... and even for those, you'd need it to handle about 130 amps . But... that would be crazy powewrful! I think full induction ranges come in around 4000w, and that's at full power with all the burners on.
7:01.. no.. not it’s not.. mine redetects it and resumes energy transfer Lol.. damn I’d hate that.. imagine wok tossing and having to reselect that everytime you toss 😆😆😆
I have had a terrible experience with NuWave product support. I bought induction cooker and after only 2 months it just stopped and gave an error code. NuWave customer support has been awful awful. I’ve sent them pictures, receipts and many emails and they have done nothing. Now a year later I have a non-working NuWave in a drawer. Please never buy NuWave
8:20.. that’s because it’s an afterthought to please the Karen’s and people who want to use it like a soup pot 😆😆… yes I know woks are the most versatile pan in the kitchen, but woks shouldn’t come with lids.. I’m not roasting the idea, because again woks are used all over the world for different reasons, and dish types.
@@JoesPhenomenal Sorry, but that induction cooker is a waste of money and time. Real stir frying sears the food, leaving it succulent and crispy with a slightly charred flavor. Your induction cooker, however, induces all the flavor and water to run out of the food, leaving a soggy insipid mess. You might as well use a lowly kitchen stove. A better apparatus is to purchase a gas turkey fryer and modify it for use with a wok. It's not rocker science and there are plenty of videos showing how to rig something up with minimal effort. It produces a ton of heat and requires you keep the food moving to prevent burning. Of course, you should use it outdoors as it generates a ton of heat and smoke. The difference in the stir fry is night and day and is often far superior to what you can get from the very best Chinese Restaurants.
@bobweiram6321 hey... I like that turkey fryer idea... You're right about the wok... It just doesn't maintain high enough temp to really match a good wok on a gas fire.... I suppose it's ok for someone with really limited space and no gas cooking though.
