Round Bottom Wok

I've bought this round-bottom wok (鑊 Huò, 炒鑊 Chǎo huò, 炒鍋 Chǎo guō) as a gift for someone with no stir-frying experience, and was afraid that the wok might not get seasoned properly were I to gift it in its original shape. I did run into a small problem of my own, however, in that I currently live in an apartment with an electric range which makes it impossible for me to season the wok using the traditional gas stove techniques. Turns out gas stove is not necessary, and in this case, when I was done, I began to feel that unless you have a powerful gas furnace, you might be better off seasoning in an oven anyway. The result at the end of the process was awesome, and the wok looked spectacularly beautiful so much so that it could be used for decoration. Hopefully, the pictures will do it justice. The Mammafong (媽媽芳 Māmā Fāng) wok is one of the nicest woks I have seen in a long time. It's made of 16-gauge carbon steel. You may wonder which gauge steel is optimal for stir-frying. Well, in a commercial setting with crazy-hot burners you'll run into thinner 17-to-18-gauge woks. For home use, several highly-rated Amazon vendors tout the benefits of 14-gauge steel as it retains the heat better due to its increased thickness. I feel that 14-gauge is a little too thick as it takes too long for my taste to heat up and too slow to cool down, plus it weighs more which might make it more difficult for some to handle. The Mammafong wok is right smack in the middle where it needs to be at 16. About size. In as much as a 14-inch wok appears to be well-, if not best-suited for a regular-size Western range, I hope that one day Mammafong will carry the same line-up of woks in 16 inches. I have a lot of mouths to cook for. :-) The wok, just like the vast majority of others, comes with protective oil that needs to be removed (see the seasoning instructions above). What I didn't like was that the inside of the metal tube that holds the wooden handle was not protected. I had to wiggle the handle multiple times to be able to dislodge it from the wok, and when I finally did, I discovered there was some rust on the wood as well. A minor issue that does not affect my overwhelmingly positive feelings about this wok, but still room for improvement. On a related note, I would love for Mammafong to start selling handle replacement kits (one handle and two Phillips screws). I expect the handles to become damaged over time, and I would love to have perfect original replacements ready for deployment as soon as needed. Another great product to develop would be a wok adapter for barbecue grills. As far as I know one doesn't exist as of today (October 2019). The wok heats up fast and evenly, with the heat coming all the way up to the edge, on an electric stove (in case you missed it, do choose the flat-bottom wok for electric and induction stoves; the round-bottom wok I am dealing with here is for someone with a gas range). Before I forget, I thought it was a nice touch for Daphne, the CEO of Mammafong, to contact me through Amazon after purchase, and email me a small collection of family recipes in the PDF format. Thank you very much! All in all, the wok has been a joy to use, and I'm sure it'll be a welcome gift as well. In fact, I'm scheming to purchase several more units, for myself and several family members, season all for everyone, and start cooking. I can't recommend this wok highly enough and hope that with time Mammafong will expand their line-up of high-quality cooking utensils (I'll be watching closely :-)).

Recently ordered this wok, and have just completed my first cook. Obviously I can't speak to it's long term durability, but at this point I am very pleased with my purchase. I'd seen a few negative reviews stating that the wok would rust or no matter what they did food stuck to it. This was not my experienced. I spent an hour or so with the wok when it first arrived, cleaned off the machine oil coating that protects it in shipping, then went through the seasoning process. The seasoning process can't be rushed, so take your time, follow the instructions or watch one of the many YouTube videos on how to season a wok, and make sure you do it correctly. If you spend this time up front it will save you many headaches down the road. Back to my first cook; I decided to make some fried rice. I thought cooking a fried egg then adding starchy rice would be a good test as to whether the seasoning took and the wok was working correctly. The picture I've attached shows the wok immediately after I took the food out. The wok is uncleaned, not even wiped with a paper towel. As you can see, nothing stuck. So, early on in my purchase of this wok I am extremely pleased, and would definitely recommend it. Any negatives? Not really, though if I had it to do over again I think I would have gotten the flat bottomed wok. I love the traditional rounded bottom, but I have to keep a hand on it to keep it stable. I do have fire ring so I will try using that next time, but it's something to consider if you're reading this and thinking about buying.

This is my first experience using a wok, and it has been a huge success so far. I had no trouble following the instructions for seasoning the wok, and it came out great--no problems at all with food sticking. I found my kitchen stove did not generate enough so I ended up purchasing a separate gas burner. This is a big, sturdy cooking implement; it heats up quick, and the heat distribution is fantastic. If I could make any changes, I would make the wooden handle somewhat longer so there is less chance of getting one's hand on the hot metal socket in which the wooden handle is inserted. But that's a minor complaint. Clean-up is a snap--just put it in the sink, fill with hot water and scrub with a nylon sponge. It is just naturally non-stick. I am super happy with my wok.

This wok is what I've been looking for. It's big enough for stir frying without spilling, and it sits nicely on my burner. The wooden handle was a little bit off center, but I fixed that easily. As the wok is hand made, it's not as perfekt as a mashine made wok. However its very well made, and it works great. This is the real deal, how woks have been made for ages, and therefore very authentic. I will probably have this wok for the rest of my life, if I take care of it, and I will. It's very easy to wash off the layer of oil it comes with, which prevents it from rusting. After a few minutes on the gas burner, it's now a deep blue color, and it's seasoned well. Have made my first Chinese meal with my new wok, and it was very tasty. Great wok.

Excellent quality and so easy to season even though I had never done that before! I’ve done a lot of research on how to season a wok properly. Some of the hard core one suggest to turn on the gas stove into a super high heat but I wasn’t able to do it with my gas stove. However, I found this is the easiest way without burning my house down. The wok looks like it came with some sort of protective oil to keep it from rusting, so I scrubbed it clean before use. Then I rinsed it in hot water and put it on my stove in high heat to dry up the wok right away. Once it is hot and dry I poured the oil and swirled it around the wok, then turned down the heat to low and let it “cook” for a bit. The hot areas began to turn light blue and rainbow. I repeated the last 2 steps for few times and let it cool down completely. That’s how I seasoned my wok! So far I've made stir-fry noodle, vegetables and lots and lots of fried rice and it never sticks. Typically, I only use hot water to clean the wok because certain cleaning products may damage the seasoning. Overall it is an awesome wok with a great price!

I have mixed opinions of this wok, but take my opinion with a grain of salt because this is my first wok purchase. I followed the seasoning instructions closely: scrubbed the protective residue, heated the steel until it oxidized and turned blue, and added a few layers of polymerized oil. My nonstick coating isn't perfect but it's pretty good. The wok is lightweight, so it heats up quickly and it's somewhat easy to flip food. Cons: despite the wood handle being attached by screws, I couldn't remove the handle. After cooking a few times, the handle is somewhat creaky. Doubt it will last more than a few years. I'm also not convinced this is actually hand-hammered - looks like they took a cheap, commercial-made wok and made faux hammer marks on the inside basin. There are no imperfections anywhere else on the wok. Don't get me wrong, I think it looks great, but the wok / handle rivets look strikingly similar to several other woks on the market and I suspect this is just a marketing ploy. All in all I think this is a 3.5 star product.

A very good 14" wok -- it looks nice, works well, and is reasonable in cost ($30). I like the helper handle, and the weight is good. It does need to be vigorously scoured first (it has a protective coating from the factory to prevent rust), then it must be heat treated to create a smooth rust-resistant coating of hematite, and finally it must be seasoned 3 times (coated thinly, at least on the inside in high smoking oil /peanut or avocado/, then heated on high while wiping the oil around with a paper towel until the oil stops smoking -- this will produce lots of smoke. You should watch some YouTube videos on getting a new wok ready for cooking. To do the initial scouring I recommend using a stainless steel scouring pad with soap for dishes.

It's bigger than I thought and thought about returning, but decided to roll with it and I'm so glad I did. Hammer marks look awesome and really gives that hand-crafted look. I followed the included instructions to season it and it came out gorgeous. My pics show before, during, and after first use. For me, it heated up pretty quickly on my gas stove top. You do have to pay attention to how you set it down on your cook top to make sure it does not fall over as it is round on the bottom... there was a close call or 2 before I really paid attention. I was able to stir my vegetables around aggressively without anything flying out - which is why I became so glad I went with this size. Sauces did stick a little above the vegetables in it, but rinsed off easily with only hot water. Update: 5 months now having this wok. The areas where sauces would stick finally built up enough to where rinsing would not remove it. That was maybe after 15 uses or so. I scrubbed, re-seasoned, and have used 3 times since and seems to be back to normal. The 3rd pic is how she looks after roughly 20 stir-frys over the last 5 months. Still love it.

ya lo he usado un par de veces y tiene muy buen desempeño. pude templar muy bien el acero y estoy contento con la calidad.

I absolutely love my new wok, it is robust, doesn't feel flimsy. It was super easy to season it (follow packet instructions, my process is written below). It is quite heavy so don't expect youtube level flipping of the contents of the wok unless you have Arnold Schwarzenegger forearms, or are an experienced wok user with a large wok. I find that this wok can hold enough to make a single meal for about 5-6 people at most. But for that volume, I typically cook in batches to ensure appropriate cooking. The wok is super non-stick when seasoned with 1-2 layers per instructions below, so thats awesome. I am vego mostly, and have no issues, i cook a lot of onions, green cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage), carrots, eggplant, tofu. Everything cooks awesome in this wok. To season it, I used canola oil. The process was to heat it on a very large gas burner (outdoors, do not do this inside, the smoke will be super unpleasant), blue it all over, it will take a few mins to blue each quadrant of the steel, so this took the longest, maybe 15 mins of blueing; then once it is blue all over, including the helper handle, you tip in about 2 tbs of oil and carefully swirl it all around and wipe it with a dry paper wipe (i just used kitchen paper wipes lol) all over the sides, keep rubbing it all around and you will see it smoking and making the wiped areas dark grey or black-ish. I did this all over and on the underside of the wok too. after this I just cooked with it, it builds up seasoning fairly quickly, especially if you use animal products or use a bit of oil. I highly suggest you get a long wok tan (spatula), one that doesnt have a very wide head on it). I am glad I got the round bottom one, I only use it on my outdoor gas burner which it is mostly steady on. I would say that a long wooden spatula would do the trick as well. I found that a metal utensil scraped up the fresh seasoning quite easily, but now after a few weeks of use it is holding up to a metal wok tan fine. It feels a little pricey, but to be honest, the durability and user experience make me confident that this wok will last forever - so I would buy it again for sure. Perhaps the handle will need replacing at some point, or maybe just new screws (mine is sturdy thus far, but it seems to be the only potential point of failure), but thats easy to replace if you have a round dowel like piece of wood and are semi handy.

Bought this wok to replace a flat-bottomed non-stick wok. Was worried about food sticking to the wok when cooking and as a result, I put off this purchase for a long time. So I took the plunge and am pleasantly surprised. The seasoning process is pretty straightforward and after a few uses, it's pretty much non-stick. I am loving this wok.

Carbon steel wok quality is good. Comes with instructions on how to use it and maintain over time. Seller service was good. Product arrived when it was supposed to.

Best wok so far, had ordered another very well rated flat bottom wok which was flimsy and handle became lose during the seasoning process so returned it. This wok is pricey for $100 CAN but it is very solid built with heavier gauge of carbon steel. Doesn’t have any coating on it when delivered so you just have to scrub well with dish soap and get to the seasoning process. I burnt thru the wok first time on high flame and then started applying oil and repeated the process 3 times before cooking first meal. I have to say, if you have a natural gas range buy the round bottom wok to get the authentic wok cooking experience. It is much easier to stir fry due to round bottom of the wok and you just need the ring to place under to make it stable. Very happy with the purchase.