Throne for a Wok

[toskysend]

I've used a cast-iron (or is a just an ancient high carbon?) directly over coals on a standard weber grill and the results, while they blew away any home-cooking with a wok, left a lot to be desired in terms of the heating component. Basically I've been making a bed of lit coal bricketts and putting the wok on top of that, the presence of a wok ring made little to no difference. The coals are only useful for a slim window if I'm doing a stir-fry, extremely inefficient, and it kicks up a ton of smoke and dust.

So, I'll looking to build myself a good, sturdy rocket-stove for a wok. I'm wondering if for my first attempt I shouldn't make something squatter to the ground. Other than that, I'm kind of stumped by this whole process/subculture.

[hpmer]

Check out pics of my set-up under the thread "My Portable Mayple Production Facility" donkey32.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=cooking&action=display&thread=460

I use a wok at the top of the heat riser. I'm building a new stove to make it easier to move (right now it takes two to transport the thing) but the top of the riser sits some 32" above ground. Add blocks underneath and it can easily be a nice 35-40" and no squatting to do the cooking (and after 5 minutes or so, no smoke.)

Cooking temps are reached in less than five minutes and it can use twigs as fuel (even burns them cleanly once up to temp), so the cooking window can be as long as you want. When I boil maple sap into syrup I've been known to cook it down for 12 or more hours.

I've got a thermometer installed to monitor the temps and it can easily get above 1000*F, though I find that for most cooking 400-500*F is more suitable.