I don't know how old it is, but I inherited it from my mother-in-law and she always bought good quality stuff, so it could be 40 years old, but it is still in great shape. I am trying to learn some Chinese cooking and I have a recipe that calls for heating sesame oil over high heat. The heating element goes from 100 dig F to 400 dig F. I set it to 350 dig F, added the sesame oil heated it for less than a minute then added the garlic. The garlic burned almost instantly (within 10 seconds). Is the temperature too high? Or could it be the heating element is just getting old?
Best Answer
I don't think there is anything wrong with the wok. Chinese wok cooking requires some seriously high heat, if it was really too hot, you'd be complaining of the oil smoking so much that your eyes sting, or even seeing the wok bottom glow if the kitchen is somewhat dim.
The more probable explanation is that, as you are not accustomed to this type of cooking, you did not know that the garlic will burn so quickly. I would suggest that you go through the options in the answer to this question about burning garlic (it's a known issue when you use high heat frying) or start with easier recipes.