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Concept
Wok
Summary
A wok (; Pinyin: ; Cantonese ) is a deep round-bottomed cooking pan from China. It is believed to be derived from the South Asian karahi. It is common in that country, and similar pans are found in parts of East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as being popular in other parts of the world.
Woks are used in a range of Chinese cooking techniques, including stir frying, steaming, pan frying, deep frying, poaching, boiling, braising, searing, stewing, making soup, smoking and roasting nuts. Wok cooking is often done with utensils called (spatula) or (ladle) whose long handles protect cooks from high heat. The uniqueness of wok cooking is conveyed by the Cantonese term : "breath of the wok".
The origin of the wok is unclear, but most scholars believe it originated from the South Asian karahi and the Southeast Asian kuali (believed to be the etymon of Mandarin 𡆇). These cooking vessels are universal in South and Southeast Asian cuisine for stewing and quick evaporation. They likely entered China via Central Asia from India where it evolved into the wok.
In his 1988 book The Food of China, E.N. Anderson writes:
Wok is a Cantonese word; the Mandarin is Guō. The wok appears to be a rather recent acquisition as Chinese kitchen furniture goes; it has been around for only two thousand years. The first woks are little pottery models on the pottery stove models in Han Dynasty tombs. Since the same sort of pan is universal in India and Southeast Asia, where it is known as a Kuali in several languages, I strongly suspect borrowing [of the word] (probably from India via Central Asia)--kuo must have evolved from some word close to Kuali.
The first possible depictions of woks in China appeared in the Han dynasty (c. 202 BCE - 220 CE). But these are conjectural, since these "woks" were made of clay and were only used to dry grains. Metal woks only started to appear in China in the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), where it was first used for stir frying (an original Han Chinese innovation).
The wok's most distinguishing feature is its shape.
Official source
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