Wonder Woks
Greetings, Friends of The Mala Market
Our lightweight cast iron woks with glass lids keep flying off the shelves, so this time we really stocked up! Not only is the 14.5-inch flat bottom wok back in stock, but, as promised, we've added a 13.5-inch flat bottom wok for those of you with smaller kitchens or cooktops (or stomachs).
For comparison, see the photo at top. On the left is the new 13.5-inch flat-bottom wok, and on the right is a 14.5-inch flat bottom that I've used for roughly a year. We love our "iron pots"—we also use the 14.5-inch round bottom version—more than ever, and are pretty sure you'll feel the same way about yours for years to come.
Enjoy!
🌶 Taylor & Fongchong 🌶
P.S. The perfect pairing for your Sichuan cast-iron wok? A Montana-made hand-carved wood wok spatula that's larger, wider and better shaped than all the others! Plus it's much quieter than metal spatulas on cast iron (or carbon steel).
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| Lightweight 13.5-Inch Flat-Bottom Cast Iron Wok With Glass Lid |
| $150.00 |
Several of you reported that you love the cast-iron wok, but that it is too large for you and your kitchen. So we ordered a smaller one! This 13.5-inch wok is exactly the same make and materials as the 14.5-inch flat bottom and is still plenty big for real stir-frying, though in smaller batches.
Here is why we love this wok made for more than a century in Sichuan, where the brand has Intangible Cultural Heritage status:
- Heats quickly and retains heat better than other materials
- At 4 pounds, as light as most carbon steel woks
- Preseasoned
- Nonstick
- Easy to maintain
- Comes with a tight-fitting glass lid
- Heirloom quality
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| Lightweight 14.5-Inch Flat-Bottom Cast Iron Wok With Glass Lid |
| $160.00 |
The 14.5 inch flat bottom wok is our pick for most Western cooktops, providing ample depth and width for tossing, turning and flipping food through multiple heat zones.
Our flat-bottom styles are compatible with all cooktops, including gas, glass/ceramic, electric coil and high-wattage induction.
Though carbon steel is now the norm, the cast iron wok is the original wok! Check out the reviews to see what the early adopters (mostly avid and experienced home wok cooks) think about cooking in this Sichuan heritage brand lightweight cast iron pot.
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Handcrafted Maple Wok Spatula
Earlywood, a Montana maker of hand-carved wooden utensils, teamed up with Kenji Lopez-Alt, author of The Wok cookbook, to design the ideal wok spatula for a 13-14 inch wok.
They made several design choices that make this spatula unique and superior:
- It is 16 inches long, allowing your hands and arms to remain sufficiently far from the flame and splattering oil
- It has a 4-inch wide head, which is much larger than other wok spatulas, so it can shovel large amounts of food and keep the ingredients moving in the wok
- The head has a sharp angle that fits perfectly around the sides of a 14-inch wok, accessing all the food for easy movement through the heat zones
- It's made of beautiful and durable maple, a hard wood
- Unlike metal spatulas, which can be quite loud when scraping a wok—especially against cast iron, but also carbon steel—this wood spatula offers a significantly quieter and more pleasant experience
Note that Earlywood makes separate versions for right-handed and left-handed cooks, so everyone gets the benefit of the angled design.
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Woks Await Their Forever Homes
The main part of our warehouse is full, so the woks get their own lovely side room.
Back in March, Florence Fabricant said this about our woks in The New York Times after using one for a few months:
"Having a good wok on the stove is critical for all kinds of cooking. A copious, heavy-duty yet easily managed example has been introduced by the Mala Market, a Nashville source for Chinese ingredients and equipment from Sichuan. Most woks are carbon steel but this one is cast iron, and you should know by now the advantages of cooking in cast iron. Yet despite the material and its generous size, it weighs less than five pounds. It is 14-inches in diameter with a flattened bottom to suit most American stovetops, though a round-bottom model is also available. It has two wooden handles, a tempered glass cover with a steam outlet and does not require preseasoning."
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| Lightweight 14.5-Inch Round-Bottom Cast Iron Wok With Glass Lid |
| $160.00 |
If you are lucky enough to have a built-in wok grate on your cooktop or a similar set-up, perhaps outdoors, then the traditional round-bottom wok is the wok for you.
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