I’m pretty sure I remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown went outside and cooked over a charcoal chimney starter in order to get enough BTUs for a proper stir-fry, because American residential stoves aren’t typically capable of it. (And even if they were, teflon would be both pointless and harmful because it would (a) interfere with the fond creation/deglazing that you’re trying to achieve on purpose, and (b) off-gas toxic chemicals due to the high heat.)
In other words, a teflon-coated flat-bottomed wok is just dumb, even for Americans. It literally has no reason to exist compared to a frying pan because you can’t actually do wok cooking techniques with it.
Edit: I couldn’t find a video of the Good Eats episode, but this article corroborates my memory, at least.
it’s an American style wok, suitable for stove top burners that are gas, resistive electric, or inductive electric.
Traditional woks would sit upon a ring over a gas or otherwise fire burner, which typical american homes do not have.
I’m pretty sure I remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown went outside and cooked over a charcoal chimney starter in order to get enough BTUs for a proper stir-fry, because American residential stoves aren’t typically capable of it. (And even if they were, teflon would be both pointless and harmful because it would (a) interfere with the fond creation/deglazing that you’re trying to achieve on purpose, and (b) off-gas toxic chemicals due to the high heat.)
In other words, a teflon-coated flat-bottomed wok is just dumb, even for Americans. It literally has no reason to exist compared to a frying pan because you can’t actually do wok cooking techniques with it.
Edit: I couldn’t find a video of the Good Eats episode, but this article corroborates my memory, at least.