Mammafong Round Bottom 14-inch Traditional Carbon Steel Wok Pan - Authentic Hand Hammered Woks and Stir Fry Pans - Pow Wok with no chemical coating

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 :-)).

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.

Purchased this wok after doing a lot of research and reading reviews. This is a very well-made wok and obviously was handcrafted (not sure why som think it was machine made). Make no mistake, it is BIG - which is exactly what I wanted. But, if you are expecting a moderate sized pan, that’s not what this is.I followed the seasoning instructions, beginning with washing the factory oil off of it with a sos pad. But forgot to dry it with a towel before heating it (my fault). I put it on high heat and the wok changed colors brilliantly and right away. Had a couple very small rust specks during the heat-treating, but am willing to take the blame for that for not drying it properly after the initial wash.Followed the oil application instructions and repeated 4x. The cooked a perfect non-stick egg on it.I have a gas stove, with cat iron grates that sit pretty tightly together, so the wok does not sit perfectly flush if unattended, but that doesn’t bother me.Very happy with this purchase.

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.

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!