Lodge BOLD Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Wok, Design-Forward, 14 Inches

My wife and I previously owned a carbon steel wok. We had less than spectacular results, and because so, did not use it much. We recently went to PF Chang's and it inspired us to get another wok and try again. After a little research on Amazon Reviews,we went with the Lodge Cast Iron Wok. I got to say the difference between carbon steel and cast iron is huge on a home stove. We have only cooked two meals in the new cast iron wok and they both were great. We may rarely go out for oriental food anymore. I made chicken fried rice and only used 1 chicken breast, and my wife and I both got two meals off of that batch. Very economical way to cook, and I am normally a big meat eater. I think the difference is that the cask Iron Wok holds the heat better on a home stove, and sears much better. Mind you you need to cook on high heat, let the wok heat up first, then stir fry to your hearts content. The cast iron holds the heat, and the temperature does not drop as much as it does in a carbon wok. I chose to season our wok one more time just for the heck of it. The first time I used the wok my chicken stuck a little, but it was my fault, the wok was not hot enough. The second time I let it heat up until it was starting to smoke, then added oil,and I had no sticking whatsoever. Our challenge now is to learn more about the seasonings and sauces for Asian food, but we are off to a great start. I would highly recommend this wok. If you are on a budget, a wok it a great tool to use up leftover meat, poultry, or seafood. Just add some veggies, and some rice or noodles, and viola, you have quick, easy, healthy dinner. Lodge products never seem to disappoint me. I own a lot of Lodge products, and I highly recommend all of them. Look for them on sale on Amazon.com. Happy stir frying! Update 3-19-2013: Now that we have owned this wok for a while, I love it even more. I would say that the many times that we have not gone out for oriental food over the last year, and cooked it at home, has easily paid for this wok several time over. It is heavy, but very easy to clean. The oriental food we cook at home, tastes better too. I am such a fan of chicken fried rice. Now my wife and I can easily eat three times off of one whole chicken, and I found a way to eat more vegetables, that actually tastes good! I am amazed how you can use up leftovers. Great tool for the lean times ahead. Extend your food dollars to fight your rising grocery budget, get this wok, and learn how to use it.

First of all this wok is a beautiful piece to look at and to hold. Should last 1000 years. Second of all it met all of my expectations for cooking. It got real hot, held the heat, and was sturdy enough I didn’t have to steady it or even hold it while stirring. First meal came out tasting fantastic, nothing stuck to the surface at all, and I know with practice and time it will even get better. I’ve been wanting a cast iron wok for years now and didn’t know if it would be as good as my hammered steel, but it’s as good as I had hoped and on the home stove the heat retention is awesome!

We live in a rental home, the kind that comes with a very cheap, very finicky electric coil stove that can and will burn anything while somehow leaving other things uncooked. It's a painful stove, and if you're familiar with the kind of stove I mean, you know exactly how painful. Especially for high temperature stir fry and sautee purposes! But this heavy construction wok makes up for every fault in our underwhelming stove, beautifully. Because it is enormous (and it is HUGE), it does take a while to heat up. I usually leave it on the medium heat setting for 5 minutes, then move the stove setting to whatever temperature I need for cooking, to ensure that it is heated through. But once the heat is there, it is a magnificent pan. It works perfectly for stir frying vegetables and fried rice, but it also works great for any pan frying and sauteeing situation that requires constant stirring. The curved shape makes it easier to fall into a stirring rhythm, and the high walls prevent any of your food from jumping out of the pan and onto the stove. Storage can be something of a concern, given it's large size, but we keep it in the oven, since it is safe to accidentally leave in there during a preheat cycle, because of the full iron construction. As with all modern cast iron surfaces, it is not truly nonstick, because of the rough sand casting techniques and lack of in-house machining. However, for most of the high temperature, high speed applications you would use it for, it works fine right out of the box. If you do have issues with its finish, creating a smooth nonstick surface in your modern cast iron is relatively simple, but does take several hours of work: strip the factory provided seasoning (the black finish) by running the pan through your oven's self cleaning cycle, or by leaving it in an active fire, covered/filled with coals, for about three hours. When the pan is cooled, you can wipe the ashes off and it should have a more iron appearance: grey rather than black. The sandy cast of the iron will still be present. At this point, it's time for sandpaper. If you have an electric sander that can fit in your pan, that will make the process a lot faster, but most won't fit a pan with the kind of curve this wok has. A better choice is a wire wheel (bronze or brass) on an electric drill. But if you don't have either of these, regular sand paper will do just as well, it just takes longer. Start with a 60 grit, and work your way up through 100 and 150. The pan doesn't need to be perfectly smooth, it just needs to be smooth enough that re-seasoning it will take care of the rest. To reseason, coat the pan in a thin layer of edible oil (flaxseed is best) and bake it at 500F or as high as your oven can reach for baking purposes. It will smoke heavily. Leave it baking for an hour, then let it cool for an hour. Repeat this seasoning process as many times as you can stand (the smoke gets annoying after a while), or 8 times. If you can't make it the full eight, just remember to oil your wok very liberally the first few times you use it (always oil a pan when it's cold!!), and it'll develop some additional coating on its own.

There have been some comments here on Amazon about how the Lodge cast iron wok is not good for traditional Oriental stir frying, because you can't hold it in your hand in the manner of a lightweight wok. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The disadvantage is for those who want to practice stir-frying in the "wok hei" manner by holding the wok over a hot flame and tossing your food around. The Lodge wok is indeed too heavy for this type of cooking; its heavy iron construction requires you to cook in a different manner. However, there is a definite advantage to this wok, one that is especially apparent if you live in a typical American home with an electric stovetop or weak gas range. An average kitchen stove simply cannot produce the blasting heat required for Oriental "wok hei" stir frying. A light hand-held wok will not work on electric stove in particular, because you can't rest it on the coiled burners; while a wok ring will prevent a round-bottomed wok from contacting the burners on the electric range. Many American homes and apartments have this kind of stove. What can you do when you want to stir fry in a wok, but your stovetop isn't right for it? Fortunately, this is the advantage to using the Lodge cast iron wok! As other reviews have noted, this wok has a flat bottom that lets you set it directly on the stovetop heating coil of your electric stove, allowing it to absorb a lot of heat and get very, very hot. The most important factor to consider is that a thin wok transfers its heat directly to the food, requiring a very high source of heat; while this thick, heavy iron wok retains its heat, absorbing it from the stovetop and building its temperature higher and higher as it sits there on the red-hot electric heating coil. If you let this cast iron wok sit on the electric stovetop for too long, it will actually become TOO hot for decent frying. Your oil will heat up immediately when you pour it into the wok, and it may even burst into flame -- even oils with a high smoke point, such as peanut oil. Since you don't want to accidentally set your kitchen on fire, it is VERY important to remember this as you prepare to stir fry on your electric stove. Many Oriental stir fry recipes call for the wok to be set on "high heat" or on the "highest setting" of the stovetop. The heat retention properties of a heavy cast iron wok allow you to heat your wok to the proper temperature for stir frying, without turning your stovetop to its highest setting. In most instances, it is only necessary to heat up your stovetop at a setting of about 75% to 80% of maximum, or a setting of between 7 and 8 on a typical dial of 1 to 10. After between five and ten minutes, the Lodge wok will be hot enough to stir fry. Take a few drops of water on your fingers, and flick them onto the surface at the bottom of the wok. If the water sizzles and dissolves in about two seconds, the wok is hot enough for cooking. At this point, you can pour your oil into the wok, and start frying! Wok purists bristle at the thought of using a heavy wok, because it can't be properly held in one hand in order to flip the food and keep it in constant motion. Because the wok is so heavy, you can let it sit firm on your stovetop, while repeatedly bringing your wok turner into the food to keep stirring it and moving it around the wok. If you feel it's necessary to use your free hand to keep the wok sturdy on the stovetop, you can do so. Or, you can take a second utensil, such as a spatula, second wok turner, or a "hoak" (an oversized wok stirring and serving scoop), and use it to toss the food in the wok as it fries, in the manner of tossing a salad. The Lodge cast iron wok is a natural evolution from the thin Oriental wok, and it is especially suited for the modern American kitchen with its electric or induction burners. This is indeed different from the centuries-old techniques of Oriental stir frying, but it is the best way for you to get a tasty, well-cooked stir fry in your modern kitchen, in the "wok hei" style of cooking.

Often times, when the arcs of art and functionality intersect, the arch of art wins the day. According to my friends (and some enemies perhaps), I am a chef; (all be it, a self-trained one). I have owned a number of restaurants around the world and know a thing or two about the tools that I like to work with. For me, as a small-time artist, a tool, first and foremost has to be beautiful. I feel that regardless of what it is that I am making, if I relate to the beauty of my tools, that beauty emanates to my creation. A couple of months ago, I decided to purchase yet another Wok. I own a number of them; from the very expensive, to a well-worn one that I bought for less than two dollars from a lady in a Chinese village. It was so beautiful that I felt guilty for having taken it away from her. So, to rid myself from my guilt, I returned the next day and offered the lady a hundred dollars more at which time, she ran to the back into her house, uttered an excited series of words in Chinese and within minutes, she, her husband, and grand children returned to the court yard with all of their pots and pans. Since I did not speak Chinese, and she did not speak English, with great difficulty I conveyed the message that I did not need any pots and pans and just wanted to give her the money and leave. In any case, since then (which was many years ago), I have been looking for a wok that both looked beautiful and did what a Wok should do; sort of like an Arabian horse, it looks beautiful and runs fast. This is when I came across the lodge Pro Logic Cast Iron Wok; and ordered one. I was astonished by its beauty and quality. After using it a few times; I took it to a friend's house where I was going to be the chef for the evening. Well, he and his wife fell in love with it as I had. So, I told them to keep it and I ordered another one. I placed the new one under a beautifully framed etched picture of my beloved dog Mucho Gusto, a 260 pounds Spanish Mastiff, atop a solid walnut cutting block in my office. Simply put, it looks stunning. Every one who comes into my office, comments on that Wok and wants one. Now the Pros and the Cons: Pros: * Aesthetics: It is absolutely beautiful. The lines, the curves, and the organized whole, the Gestalt of this Wok approaches perfection to the nearest possible limit. * Functionality: It is heavy, thus very stable, shallow and marvelously tapered out such that the ingredients are not truncated to the bottom. * Heat Distribution: It distributes heat ever more so evenly than any Wok I have ever owned. * Price: It is worth twice as much as what they are charging for it (I hope this comment will not prompt them to increase their price). * Delivery: It arrived on time and was very well packaged. Cons: * Now I have no choice but to purchase another one for cooking since this one has become part of my art collection. * The corner of one of the handles has a chip on it (it looks as if it may have been dropped). No big deal, I will return it for a replacement.

I think most people have covered the benefits of cast iron and its counterpart, carbon steel nicely here. So I won't reiterate. I'll just list the pros and cons I've discovered from using this wok. Pros: - Good heat retention, allows for actual stir fry and wok hei (huo qi in mandarin) - Nice round shape; allows oil to pool at the bottom and lets you use less oil - Flat bottom allows more contact with heating element on regular stoves - Seasoning is much healthier than non-stick, more durable, and replenishes itself if properly care for - You can use metal utensils in this without damaging the wok Cons: - Very poor conductivity; cast iron is a very poor conductor of heat, and will take quit a while to heat up. Expect 10 min preheats if you're using a weaker stove. - Although it's large, unless you have a powerful burner, you're not going to be making large batches at a time. And if you have a powerful burner, it's a much better choice to get a nice carbon steel wok - Extremely heavy; makes it impossible to properly toss the food as normally done in wok cooking - Lodge cast iron is good quality, but unfortunately it's also unpolished. Unpolished cast iron will never be as non-stick as polished cast iron. To polish this, you'll have to sand down the inside till it's smooth then re-season. All in all, this is a great product, and will last a very long time. Also, in a normal home kitchen where the burner is usually very weak, it's one of the only ways you can reach stir fry temperatures and achieve a degree of wok hei. Unfortunately, you lose maneuverability and the ability to toss the food. A better solution might be to buy a cheap camp stove or wok burner and hook it up to a propane tank, and use a normal carbon steel wok. The product itself is great, but it's not truly fit for chinese cooking. Tips- before using it, or after the first use, season it using an oven. I usually rub canola oil or some other oil or fat with a paper towel in a very thin film then place it in the oven for about 30 min at 425 degrees and turn off the oven and let it cool down with the cast iron cookware inside. Do this several times if you need to, or just cook frequently in the wok. Also, cleaning is rather simple. Buy a nice dishwashing brush with a handle and after using the wok, while its still very hot, pour a bit of water in and brush the whole thing vigorously. Dump the water out, rinse the wok, and then simply towel off with a paper towel or rag. People online recommend wiping cast iron with oil after use; I've never seen the need to. My cast iron cookware is in excellent shape with fantastic seasoning and no rust anywhere and I've never wiped it down with oil after use. Just make sure it's dry after you wipe it down and you'll be fine.

After the debacle I experienced with the Joyce Chen carbon steel wok and which I reviewed, I was looking forward to a great wok. I found it with this cast iron wok. Although it comes pre-seasoned, I seasoned it in the oven by washing it out first with hot water (NO suds), drying it well, and then coating it with a thin layer of oil. I used grapeseed oil which is perfect for high heat. I then set it upside down in a cold oven and set the oven to 450, for 20 min. I let it cool down. It was cooled down by the time I started our stir fry dinner. I set it on HI on my electric stovetop. After I added about 1-2 TBL of grapeseed oil and brought it up to a heat where I could throw a drop of water in it. This took about 6 min. When the drop sizzled I knew it was ready for cooking. I then threw in chopped bok choy, mushrooms, green onions, peppers and broccoli. After only a few minutes when the veggies were still crispy, I transferred the veggies to a bowl. Then I added a little more oil and threw in a half pound of cleaned and deveined medium shrimp. It didn't take more than 2-3 min. to get the shrimp to a pink color and at that time added back the veggies, tossed all, and added a sauce made of garlic, fresh ginger, rice vinegar, a little sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, chicken broth (or water) and 2 TBLS cornstarch. The sauce was made in advance in its own container which I could shake up to blend all. After the veggies and shrimp were done I was able to add some of the sauce. All was immediately ready to be served directly from wok to a bed of rice which was already prepared in advance. I LOVE THIS WOK! Not once did anything stick. To clean it I washed it out with hot water and used a non-harsh scrubbie to remove anything stuck to the bottom. It was easy to clean. I then made sure it was dry and oiled it very lightly before storage. I store it in my oven which we always check to see if anything is in it before turning it on. What a PLEASURE TO USE THIS WOK after the horrible time I had with the carbon steel Joyce Chen wok I previously purchased here. I thought this wok would be too heavy to handle but it is not. I also purchased 13 or 14" heat resistant tongs to toss the food. I thought my wood spoon would be OK but really needed the tongs. I can't wait to make a stir fry with beef or chicken. What a great way to eat our veggies. The only time consuming part of all of this was washing and chopping the veggies. I did not want to put wet veggies in the wok either, as they would not crisp up but be more like steamed, something I didn't want in a stir fry. If you buy this you will not be disappointed!!

I've had several steel woks and they work OK, but the heat distribution and sheer bulk of this wok makes it really fun to cook with. I have a glass top range and this sits perfectly flat, is heavy enough that it doesn't slide around the burner. My steel woks all have stands for the woks and they are not really stable on a glass top. I put this wok on the large burner. It stays put there and heats up quickly and efficiently. It comes pre-seasoned, so the first time, just rinse it out, dry it, and put a coat of oil on it before heating it up. After cooking, I generally remove the food and put water in the wok, leaving it on the burner after turning it off. When I'm ready to clean up, most of the food that was stuck is now loose and can just be brushed off and rinsed. Once thoroughly dried, put a new coat of oil on it and you're ready for the next stir fry. They say these last a lifetime. I have a lot of cast iron. My oldest pan is a 12 inch Lodge frying pan that my mother received as a wedding present in 1946. I still use it daily and it's better than any non-stick pan ever made. I expect that my children and grandchildren will be using this wok someday and say the same about it. Great product.

Sometimes you buy something where you wonder, 'why did I not get one of these sooner' This is the third Wok I have owned(in 40 years of cooking), that last two being pretty decent non-stick coated types. When the last one started to lose it's non-stick properties after about 16 years (yes...quite impressive) I had a look online and noticed that if you get a very good cast iron wok and treat it well, then you can basically buy a heirloom WOK that will last for a lifetime, regardless of how much it is used. This LODGE cast iron WOK is one of those lifetime purchases! I have cooked Chile, many stir fry dishes, curries, even special fried rice, and NONE have stuck to this wok. The one tip I would give is to get a very rigid 'stirring stick' to make sure you remove as much food as it starts to stick without giving it a chance to glue itself. The quality of this wok gives a decent margin of error to minimise the chances of this happening. Do not expect miracles if you leave it for any more that 30 seconds if the ingredients are dry. The point is, you do not have to worry about damage caused by the possible rigorous stirring and scraping as it is made of cast iron, and not non-stick coating that has been getting a bad reputation in the last few years. There was some sticking of sauces, higher up the sides, but simply rinsing it or soaking depending on the dish, and this wok continues to impress. I have wiped it with vegetable oil after every use, and it amazes me every time how all the sticking just disappears whilst cooking, as long as there is moisture either coming out of the veggies or the meat. If it starts sticking, just look to add some moisture or oil, it is as simple as that. A class act that is getting more used the longer I cook with it. OUTSTANDING!

Works great on induction as the flat bottom provided a firm and stable base. It also heats up quite fast with induction. Only thing is it's too heavy to do hand toss

compra 100% acertada, el wok es perfecto, tiene capacidad suficiente para poder saltear la comida. Hay que secarlo siempre después de lavarlo tal como dice en el libro de cuidados para evitar el óxido. El wok es grande, robusto y pesado. Lo aconsejo sin lugar a dudas porque la verdad es que una vez que lo tienes solo te apetece cocinar en el todo el tiempo, y es que da muchísimo juego. Hay muchos más? Sí, pero como este de Lodge; ninguno!!!

Firstly,.. the Lodge cast iron is much better quality made than the off shore produced cast iron. Perfectly pre-seasoned. Sits perfectly flat. Used it on many dishes. This wok is amazing! Totally non-stick! For other reviews that say food sticks,.they don't know how to use a cast iron wok. It's quite simple, hot wok, hot oil before anything goes in (and yes, you do need some oil. For those who want to cook with no oil at all, stay with non stick coated cookware which have chemical coated composition that eventually winds up transferring to your food) Using a cast iron wok is the healthiest way to cook! This wok is also much easier to use than carbon steel which require a bit more attention when cooking. For pro and beginners alike. Glad I settled on a USA made wok. (China made cast iron lacks quality) One other thing, this is a wok that (obviously) you don't pick up and toss like with carbon steel woks. Put it on the element, put it on high heat and remember,... hot wok, then oil poured from around the top and pools at the bottom to heat,..when oil is hot,..then add ingredients and stir! You won't regret buying this wok. BTW, it gets 5 stars for all but "light weight" which obviously does not apply because cast iron is not intended to be light weight. Happy woking!

Muy buen wok, resistente y pesado como debe ser. Cocina parejo y guarda bien el calor. Ideal para salteados. Requiere curado, pero vale mucho la pena. Importante dar los cuidados adecuados