Woks come in 2 different bottoms, traditional round-bottomed woks, and “westernized” flat-bottomed woks. Both have their advantages, but there're reasons that traditional wok lasted thousands of years in Chinese kitchens. The flat-bottomed woks do not heat as evenly. The flattened area creates a little angle around bottom that makes it harder to manipulate your cooking utensil. Food may get caught in this area, becoming overcooked or even burnt due to lack of movement. This also could present a problem when you clean it afterwards. That little angle also increases likelihood that you will accidentally scratch wok while stir frying. The flat-bottomed woks were designed for better balance on flat American stovetops, especially electric stove. But there is a simple solution for that. You can purchase a “wok ring” that you put on stovetop, and sit wok over it for balance. We will go through that in more detail in Part 5, “Wok accessories”.

Peking: northern cuisine

The northern China presents a great contrast to rest of country. The North China Plain, edged by mountains to north, stretches away in west to borders of Inner Mongolia, and is crossed by infamous Yellow River . Due to its location, climate is harsh for much of year. The spring is dry and dusty, summer is hot and wet, and fall is calm, dry, and sunny, while winter is long and freezing cold. It is dramatically subject to drought from failure of late spring rains and to flood when Yellow River, for centuries unstable in its bed, floods over into low-lying countryside. Thus, lives and diets of people living in this region are dictated by these seasons.