Pork Steak with Mushroom Sauce (New Non-Stick Wok)

[Note: not a paid review]

Every so often kitchen equipment needs replacing as a result of breakage, failure or functioning inadequately.  This year has been the year for replacing a few things.  Much of the focus has been on replacing plastic with glass.  We tend to do a bit of research to find the best possible replace then keep an eye out for a good sale.  We had a large non-stick wok that served us well for many years.  Like most non-stick cookware the coating finally started going.  We searched everywhere and yet never found one like it.  The one we were trying to replace was quite heavy and bowl shaped but all the newer ones we found were so lightweight they would not stand-up well.

A few days ago my husband came home with a Paderno 30 cm wok.  It was the familiar bowl shape and quite heavy weight carbon steel.  Of interest is the coating that is double silicone rather than the traditional non-stick (eg. Teflon) coating.  This removes the issue with off gassing caused by higher temperatures experienced with traditional non-stick coatings.  As with all non-stick, it is recommended washing this pan in the dishwasher.

I decided to test out the new wok with a family favourite, pork chops or steaks with mushroom sauce.  This is a dish that can be done in the slow cooker but the best results are slow cooking on the stove.  A bowl shaped wok is ideal for cooking this dish.  Once the meat is browned then the sauce is added then allowed to reduce and caramelize.

I was quite impressed the performance of this wok!  I was able to brown the pork steaks nicely.  The sauce reduced as normal wih a bit less caramelization.  I served the pork steak over a bed of egg noodles topped with the sauce and garnished with parsley flakes.

First impressions of this pan are quite favourable.  It performed as expected.  Clean-up was a breeze!  I did notice a difference in the silicone coating though but in a good way.  In comparison to Teflon coated pan, the silicone coating on this pan is very smooth and slick (slippery).  This means even less oil is needed when cooking.

Home Hardware runs a sale on Paderno a couple of times a year.  This is the time my husband checks out what they have to offer then buys a piece of two if we need it.  The original price of this wok was $39.99 so definitely not on the high end of the scale for a piece of kitchen equipment especially given the quality.  He bought the wok on sale for $19.99.  This underscores that a kitchen can be equipped quite frugally if you have the patience to wait for the sales.