I just bought a new cast iron Lodge Logic wok... From Amazon.com for 39.99 with free shipping. Normally, they are 65.00 bucks, and the shipping eats you alive because it weighs a ton. Get them now folk, supplies are limited, and I have heard rumours that they are discontinuing this particular wok model, which is quite unique and very good. It's flat on the bottom, for electric stoves, but inside the wok it's a perfectly rounded bottom. So basically there are a couple of inches of solid cast iron on the bottom of this thing, which makes for astounding heat retention. Go get one! :grin:

I dunno, I just had to have a cast iron wok. I am totally in love with wok cooking... I learned how to use a wok in cooking school, and used a wok like pan when I worked as a cook. But that was work. Since I got my carbon steel wok, I have gone batty with wok cooking. And I NEED a second wok on my stove. So I can do lo main in one and fried rice in the other.

Why, just tonight, I used my wok to make Italian food... And it was so much easier than using a skillet. And it tasted better. I made a nice pasta dish. I started out by stir frying some veggies... Fresh tender peas, some fresh white sweet corn, broccoli and cauliflower, and a lot of garlic. Some vidalia onions. Stir fried them and got hot wok flavour in to the veggies... I think it's called Wok Hee. Anyhoo, a nice toasty flavour in my veggies. Lowered the heat down a bit, poured in some half and half, a little ricotta, some parmesan, a little basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano, some olive oil, a dash of fresh ground pepper, and simmered it a bit. Was able to beat it with a wisk with out making a mess on the stove, which is a big freaking deal because every time I try to wisk my sauce in a skillet, no matter how hard I try, it gets bloody everywhere. Not one splatter on the stove when I did this in a wok. Which was great. I seared a little salmon in the cast iron skillet. I had some whole grain pasta and tossed that with my sauce in the wok. Served it with a nice fresh loaf of sunflower bread, which is really very delicious... It's made from sunflower flour, and it has toasted sunflower seeds all through the dough and crust. Bread wasn't buttered or smothered in cheese or garlic or anything... It's delicious just the way it is. Although it is mighty good to mop up leftover sauce. Mmmmm. Anybody's mouth watering yet?

It was so good and so different that my wife asked why the pasta tasted different.

Is it possible to fall in love with a cooking pan? I think I have. I have rediscovered my love of cast iron... It had been far to long since I had worked with my favourite type of pan... But now that I have rediscovered wok cooking... And been experimenting, I HAD to get a cast iron wok and combine my two loves.

The best part isn't even the taste... But the cooking. I love working over a hot pot... The steam, the aromas, the sizzle, the hot sweaty feeling of anticipation... It's a lot like being in love with a woman. Fickle and dangerous, you could get burned at any time, but oh so rewarding in the end.