DCS Wok Burner
Jaime
found anyone that actually has one. Does anybody on this board have
the unit, or know someone that does?
Any comments, positive or negative, on stand alone wok burners would
be appreciated.
-Jaime
Michael B
news:643c2c3c.0201...@posting.google.com...
I really, really wanted a freestanding Imperial commercial wok range in our
new kitchen. That's 120,000 btu's with the jet flame burner option <yeah!>.
But we decided that probably wasn't a good idea in an old wooden house. :-)
Instead, we installed a Viking 24" wok range adjacent to our stove (an Aga).
It works great, if you're seriously into Asian cooking. I know, I know...
30,000 btu's is just beginning to approach "real" Asian cooking technique.
But trust me... this is the most you'd want to deal with indoors in a
residential kitchen. And the food tastes incredible There is a hint of
smoky, charred flavor in the stir fry that we didn't get before, on our old
gas range. Meat and seafood is very tender and non-greasy, because the
outside is seared so quickly. I wasn't sure the dedicated wok range would
make a big difference, but it does.
The following comments are for the Viking wok range, but I imagine the DCS
and Thermidor versions are almost identical. It's just a big honkin' burner
in a countertop shell, and they all seem to have the same btu rating. We
went with the Viking because we were ordering some other Viking appliances,
no other reason.
I'm going to ramble on a bit here, because I did a Deja/Google search for
wok range comments before getting one, and nobody had posted anything about
them. I hope this helps someone.
The Viking unit has a grill insert for normal pots. It's good for quickly
boiling a big pot of water, and the burner can be reduced to a reasonably
low level. Not exactly a simmer, but close. It makes a nice secondary burner
to use alongside our Aga, which has some limitations in its top-surface
cooking abilities.
With the small insert removed, you have a big hole for a wok to sit in. The
burner is huge, and the flame comes halfway up the sides of the wok. With
our old gas cooktop, we got a patch of blackened/seasoned area in the
bottom of our steel wok. With the new range, the entire wok is black, right
up to the handles.
You'll want a bigger wok than you're used to, so you can work over it
without too much heat from the burner coming up the sides and burning your
hands as you cook. You might need longer than normal spatulas or wok paddles
also (or use gloves).
You need serious ventilation with something like this. The steam and smoke
just comes ROLLING out of the wok, when the burner is on high. You risk lung
damage if you're using something like Thai bird chilis or habaneros in the
initial flavoring of the oil. But that's what this style of cooking is all
about. We installed a huge custom ventilator hood that extends over both
the Aga and the wok range. The hood ended up being 9 feet long, because we
decided to extend it to reach a side wall. It has twin blowers separated by
a bulkhead in the middle, so we can operate each side independently. With
both blowers running, the total capacity is 1200 cfm (we probably
under-spec'd that slightly). Get continuously variable switches for the
ventilator blowers. It's much nicer than just a two or three speed switch.
We also installed a makeup air duct, with the vent located in a toekick area
near the range.
Put some kind of easy-to-clean backsplash area behind the wok range, because
you're going to get splashes of sauce and oil on the wall behind it.
Think about your surfaces to the left and right of the range, and how you'll
manage your ingredients and work flow. You'll be working FAST on a 30,000
btu wok range. Everything has to be right where you need it.
We put a Franke pot filler faucet in the wall, directly over the wok range.
Right after removing the cooked food, I turn the burner up to full for about
30 seconds. The empty wok gets smoking hot, and then I run water from the
pot filler. Boom! Instant steam and hot water. Then I swirl a bamboo whisk a
few times around the wok to loosen any stuck food. This makes cleanup very
easy, later on.
My S.O. and I love the combination of the Aga and the wok range. One is for
relaxed, predictable cooking. The other is for high adrenaline, scary
cooking. Yin and Yang.
Jaime
Thanks for your time. Your comments were exactly the kind I was
looking for. It is amazing that there are so few discussions on these
stand alone residential Wok Burners. I am planning on putting the DCS
30K Wok Burner next to a Garland 36" Cook Top. I am going to put in a
60" hood. I haven't decided on the hood yet, but I am very tall
(6'7"), so I am thinking that a hood with front controls may be
easier. How much ventilation do you have around the wok alone? It
seems that you are suggesting 600CFM. Is that alone enough for the
Wok? The kitchen pros are recommending that I put in a 1200 CFM
external blower, but I am wondering if that is necessary. I am using
a DCS wall oven somewhere else in the room, so I am only venting the
wok/cooktop combo. What has been your experience?
-Jaime
"Michael B" <mba...@REMOVE-NOSPAM.nightviewer.com> wrote in message news:<qirZ7.4717$wa.2...@bin6.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com>...
Michael B
> Michael,
>
> Thanks for your time. Your comments were exactly the kind I was
> looking for. It is amazing that there are so few discussions on these
> stand alone residential Wok Burners.
Remember to post some comments here after you get that DCS burner. I'm sure
there are others interested here, besides just us. :-)
> I am planning on putting the DCS
> 30K Wok Burner next to a Garland 36" Cook Top. I am going to put in a
> 60" hood. I haven't decided on the hood yet, but I am very tall
> (6'7"), so I am thinking that a hood with front controls may be
> easier.
That brings up another interesting point. There is a recommended minimum
height for locating a ventilator hood above your heat/smoke source. It
depends on the hood manufacturer, but some of them recommend minimums of
24"-30". That puts the lower edge of the hood right at head-banging height
for taller folks... especially with a deep hood (our hood is 24" deep). I
wanted to make sure I could lean over the stove or Wok range without hitting
the hood, so I located the lower edge at 76" off the finished floor (40"
above the cooking surfaces). I'm giving up a little ventilation efficiency
by having the hood that high. At your height, you're going to need to think
about that! You'll probably want your hood even higher than mine.
> How much ventilation do you have around the wok alone? It
> seems that you are suggesting 600CFM.
Yes, that's right. We have a 600cfm blower on each side of the hood, with
one sitting directly over the wok range.
> Is that alone enough for the
> Wok? The kitchen pros are recommending that I put in a 1200 CFM
> external blower, but I am wondering if that is necessary. I am using
> a DCS wall oven somewhere else in the room, so I am only venting the
> wok/cooktop combo. What has been your experience?
Well, I always run both blowers when using the wok. The second blower does
help quite a bit, in exhausting the steam and smoke. I don't think 600 cfm
would be enough by itself. Even with both blowers running, there isn't quite
enough suckage to prevent a thin haze of smoke at the kitchen ceiling, when
I'm really rockin' with the wok. I also noticed recently that there is a
very light dusting of oil and soot particles on the front edge of the hood,
after cooking intensively for about 2 months in the new kitchen. So the hood
doesn't grab everything. We may have slightly under-spec'd the cfm rating
for our application. On the other hand, it's at least 95% efficient in
exhausting the smoke, which is nothing to sneeze at (literally). It may be
that no hood is going to be 100% efficient in grabbing all the air over a
cooking surface, unless it extends way past the front edge of your stove and
range... and that would be a mighty big hood!
If you cook like us on a wok range, then I agree with whoever is
recommending 1200cfm (but it doesn't have to be an external blower). You
might get by with 1000cfm, 12000cfm is better, and anything higher is gravy.
You can always dial down a fan that's too powerful. You can't dial up power
that isn't there, if you find out that you need it. However, remember that
your duct size goes up as your cfm's increase. With our twin 600 cfm
blowers, we had to get two parallel 8" diameter ducts from the hood straight
up into the ceiling, then a 90 degree turn across the ceiling, a slight bend
around a chimney, then over a hallway, over a bathroom, and through an
outside wall. That wasn't easy, and it would have been more difficult with
two 10" diameter ducts. Our kitchen ceiling would have been lower, for one
thing. Find out what the duct size you need for the fans you're looking at,
and make sure you can handle the duct run.