First try at a hiking wok

[Dale Wambaugh]

I like to do a little Asian cooking and a good wok is one of the basics tools. Woks are designed to use on concentrated fires to make full use of the fuel and the food is cut small to cook quickly. I think that is exactly in tune with an UL cooing system.

Most of the hiking fry pans are nasty things to work with and I've always wanted an UL non-stick wok for cooking and haven't seen anything close until today when I found this little aluminum wok in a thrift store. It's not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.

It is 9" diameter and about 2" deep. A traditional wok is more parabolic in shape and should be deeper. The idea is to concentrate the heat in a small spot in the center and move food out towards the edges if you need to slow the cooking process. You can see why that melds well with a small canister stove– the heat is all in the center. So this one is passable in shape and it would pack a little better. It is fairly heavy gauge aluminum with a non-stick coating. The bare wok is 6.6oz and the 7.5" MSR Blacklite fry pan shown for comparison is 5.8oz, so it's really not out of the ballpark for weight. I removed the handles, saving 2.4oz and the lid is scrap– stamped steel and 4.4oz by itself. It looks like a turkey roaster foil lid is the thing for now, or just plain aluminum foil. A lid is useful on a wok to steam tough veggies. I imagine your could bake in one.

The wok is shown on a three-leg Soto canister stove with an Open Country pot grabber. It needs one hand full time when stirring. In perfect world the wok and stove supports need to be a coordinated design and easily done. A more parabolic shaped version would actually be more stable I think, tending to nest inside the legs a bit more.

I would love to see this done in titanium with a non-stick coating, a more transitional wok shape and about 8" diameter. I would want a slightly domed lid and and folding handle. SNOWPEAK AND EVERNEW, ARE YOU LISTENING?

[Roger Caffin]

> I would love to see this done in titanium with a non-stick coating,
Um … personally, I think I would prefer it in aluminium. Won't burn in the middle.

Cheers

[Dale Wambaugh]

Cooking with a wok on a small burner and stand will be pretty much a "one-hand always on" proposition. That will also allow adjusting the heat by moving the pan. That is pretty much the method for a frypan anyway. Note that chefs have things in motion a good part of the time when sautéing.

Commercial woks are thin steel. I understand the heat transfer issues with Ti and I would prefer to have the pan as light as possible. The hot spot is not a problem with a wok vs a frypan and one of the reasons I want one.

[EndoftheTrail]

Imagine trail food that carry themselves!

(j/k!!!)

[Anonymous]

"Imagine trail food that carry themselves!"

One of the main ingredients in that classic Cantonese dish, UFO(pronounced oo fo). *

* Unidentified frying objects

[Dale Wambaugh]

We were poking our Springer Spaniel in the haunches one night (gently) and wondering if it was light or dark meat. He didn't seem to get the joke.

My wife was in a market in Canton in 1984 and saw puppies hogtied for sale. The elderly women were pinching them to see how fat they were. Kinda changes the idea of Puppy Chow, eh? Pets for us, food for others. The world is a fascinating place.

I was thinking more of trout and mushrooms, green beans, that sort of thing. A squirrel might be a lot of work, a rabbit maybe.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

GSI has made a wok for years…they are not super light but work well.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Definitely in the right direction. I guess they made a 9" and 11" and the smaller one has been discontinued. I'm thinking seriously about stealing the handle from a too-heavy frypan and putting it on my find.

Thanks for the tip!

The search for perfection continues….. :)

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I'll add that I have made a lot in my 2L super slick GSI pot though – which is way lighter than the wok :-D

[Ian]

This looks like a great idea. I wonder how efficiently it would boil water in comparison to a regular pot. I'd like to have something like this for my fishing trips which could double as my pot and frying pan.

This Vargo Sierra Cup is so close to simulating a flat bottomed wok. If only it was a little wider.

http://www.vargooutdoors.com/pots-mugs/titanium-sierra-750.html

[Rick M]

del

[Dale Wambaugh]

There are Ti woks available in the US too, but a form factor for hiking is still the problem. There are cultural issues with small woks I think, seeing that the cooking techniques usually call for a larger wok. Like many UL product demands, this would be a highly specialized item.

It could be pulled off with a Snow Peak Ti bowl and a pot grabber. Non-stick would be better.

[Nick Gatel]

"My wife was in a market in Canton in 1984 and saw puppies hogtied for sale. The elderly women were pinching them to see how fat they were. Kinda changes the idea of Puppy Chow, eh?"

… don't care much for professional football anymore either. Now, there are two reasons not to go to Ohio.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Canton, CHINA

I've always thought of Ohio as a flatter version of Kentucky ;)

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