WokHow much do you know about Chinese cooking?
If you know a lot, you're probably beyond what I'm teaching here. If all you know is that it involves a wok, here's the full picture:
Chinese cooking involves many techniques. Stir-frying is the use most people know for the marvelous pan called a "wok," but other common cooking techniques used in Chinese cuisine include boiling, steaming, deep-frying, and more. And many, even most of these techniques can be done in a wok!
Let's look at the most important tools you'll need:
Wok
The wok is a semi-spherical pan useful for
tossing and cooking a lot of food easily and quickly. The high heat at the
center/bottom cooks the food quickly, and stirring or tossing moves the cooked
food to the cooler sides. The plain uncoated steel wok is the most popular, and
it will serve you well if you keep it seasoned as you would cast iron. In China,
the wok fits into a hole in the top of a wood stove. Its shape makes it
decidedly unstable on the flat burner of a western electric or gas stove.
Manufacturers supply a metal ring to fit underneath the round wok, allowing it
to sit over a gas burner, but that same ring keeps it away from an electric
heating element, and the round bottom would contact the electric heat poorly
anyway. Flat-bottomed wok designs solved the problem in a way, but the heat is
no longer concentrated as well right at the center, so more oil is required, and
it's harder to toss ingredients. I found a heavy cast-iron wok with a
round-bottomed interior AND a flat bottom! It absorbs the great pre-heating that
makes 
good
wok cookery possible on a Western stove, and
it is the model I recommend. Mine,
illustrated, has two short handles, but I'd find it easier to use with a single
long handle. Choose the style that works best for you, or make do with a good
heavy cast-iron skillet and learn to work around its limitations — you can make good
Chinese food without a wok if you cook carefully! A 14" size is a good
choice for the home. I do not find any need for Teflon or other nonstick
coatings, especially in view of the need for very hot pre-heating, 
which
is very harmful to nonstick coatings. There are "electric woks," which
plug into the wall and look like a neat gift idea. If you receive one, take it
back to the store! I have never seen any model of "electric wok" that
can develop the serious heat needed to cook Chinese food properly, and it is too
wide and flat to make a good electric deep-fryer. (If you wonder what I mean
about serious heat, get a peek behind the scenes in a Chinese restaurant and
you'll see the equivalent of a blast furnace under the wok! The Chinese
restaurant range delivers 160,000 BTU/hr while the best home gas ranges max out
at 16,000 BTU/hr.)
Cleaver
Chinese
cleavers come in 3 sizes. All have square, thick blades of easily-sharpened
carbon steel. The medium size, which is best for most general use, is about
4" high with a blade about 6" long. You can use it for slicing,
shredding, chopping and mincing, and one great summer use: shucking corn! (WHAM!
Off goes the tip! WHAM! Off goes the stalk, and the shucks and inner silk
almost fall off by themselves!) You will also either need to sharpen it
frequently. A dull knife is frustratingly ineffective. Although I am a
"purist" about some things, I am no good with a sharpening stone and
steel … I am perfectly happy with the zippy little $10 knife sharpener I got
at a restaurant supply store.
Wire Strainer
Used
for deep-frying foods, the frying strainer is made from wire mesh with a flat
bamboo handle. A very handy item indeed. "Screen" strainers are shaped
wrong for use in the wok, and perforated metal ones don't drain quickly enough.
Wide-Blade Spatula
A very helpful tool for stir-frying and scooping up food. I find that a wooden spoon works well enough, but this works better. Buy one appropriately sized to the size of your wok.
Stacking
Bamboo
Steamers with Lid
This wonderful and picturesque item fits right inside the wok over some boiling water. You can stack several steamers, with items that need more vigorous steaming places in the lower rack. Also, you can even serve food right in them (VERY atmospheric!) Water must be replaced in the wok as it evaporates during cooking. Avoid detergent when washing bamboo steamers, as the bamboo will absorb the flavor of the soap. Simply rinse with water instead.
Metal
Steamer
You may see simple flat perforated plates offered for steaming things in your wok, but they just don't have the charm of bamboo and they are harder to handle and keep level. If you are steaming large quantities of food, like a lot of dumplings, you may want a large metal steamer dedicated to that task alone. It will hold plenty of water (no more running dry) and it has all the capacity you want! It cleans in the dishwasher and will serve you in many other cuisines as well.
Electric
Rice Cooker
Yes, it's an essential … you really, really need it, I assure you! You can do without it, yes, and you can also do without indoor plumbing, a car, air conditioning and a phone. As discussed in the chapter on "Rice," you can get one for a few dollars; certainly don't spend over $50.
The electric rice cooker is a "switch it on and forget it" device. Just add a measured amount of dry rice plus 1½ that amount of water (no salt, butter or anything else, please!) and it will switch itself off when the rice is perfectly cooked, and keep the cooked rice warm for several hours.
Yes, that's me. A rice cooker and his electric rice cooker. My kids say to remind you that in addition to teaching cooking and staying up till 2am writing e-books, you might benefit from exercise.