Someone replied to a comment below with this, and I really agree with this we used these mobile burners while working in the country club to cook people food away from the kitchen. We were able to literally cook anything on them I highly recommend getting one of you don’t have a stove
https://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG
This one has great reviews and I know of a popular cooking YouTuber (Pai from Hot Thai Kitchen) who almost exclusively uses it in her videos.
According to Amazon, it outputs 12,000 BTUs which is more than my gas stove and definitely enough to make a passable stir fry at home.
Everything is from the H-Mart housewares section. The stove is kinda like this and the grill is at Hmart too. There are similar pieces on amazon.
Not thinking of using an outdoor stove, more like this (https://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=gas+burner+indoor&qid=1597435719&sr=8-4) which I've seen used inside on a lot of Japanese youtube channels.
Any one of these style flat stoves. Dead simple. Strong, cheap, fuel is like $2 a can. Two of them side by side still cheaper and lighter than a Coleman (which I also own)
Second try If that doesn't work either just search "Iwatani Corporation of America ZA-3HP Portable Butane Stove Burner" on Amazon.
I have a couple of these that I use for cooking outside on the patio during the summer. I love them.
Just as a counterpoint, in places like Japan they use those little butane cartridge burners indoors all the frickin time.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H42TVG/
Like this. I don't know that there's any fundamental difference between that stove and yours, I can't imagine that there is, especially if it looks like that.
A regular gas stove with a blue flame produces nearly nil CO until you put a cold pan onto the flame. Once you do that, they all produce CO, even the ones built into kitchens. It's not very much and it reduces once the pan warms up.
I think the people in this thread so far are being absolutely overly paranoid.
I'm in the same boat. I'll probably just live with the electric for most things, and buy a single portable gas burner (like this one) for wok stir-frying and hot pot.
Have you considered getting a butane stove? My family uses this for things like hotpot/shabu shabu at the dinner table, or even korean bbq. Its small enough to take with you on (car) camping trips or picnics.
Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426778662&sr=8-1&keywords=butane+stove
You can always get something like this for fairly cheap. They're easy to store when you don't need it. http://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG
Not as high BTU as the commercial gas stove in the video, of course, but it'll be tons better at maintaining the frying pan at a consistent high temp when compared with an electric stove.
Hot pot is good, easy and fun.
I use the same butane burner as the restaurants use around here:
The butane cartridges can be had cheap at any Asian market or the camp stove section at a sporting goods store or even WalMart. One cartridge will simmer for hours. (easily over 8)
Maximum output is over 10,000 BTU, so you can cook anything with it. One cartridge lasts about an hour going full blast.
Things to consider, do you have good ventilation (for indoor use) and cheap/convienent source for the butane canisters (cheapest at asian groceries/hardware store)..
Itwani is a popular brand in asia to use for hotpots, indoor cooking.
I have this one. https://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG/
I got it for camping, it work well. I also use it on my roof top for grilling (I have a grill plate for it) on my roof top (not so great when it's windy, the wind shield like the one on the model you listed would be nice).
Not sure where you are located, but if you have a Japanese supermarket like Mitsuwa (they usually have a pretty good selectoin), or Nijiya (they might carry it seasonally), might be worth checking out. Nijiya had the model I have, and the slim model last year, at about half the price it's going for on amazon.
I think for the most part we might be just agreeing so passionately that it sounds like disagreement lol.
To be completely honest, I have extremely minimal cooking experience with those jet-engine restaurant stoves. A buddy of mine up in Beijing sorted that set-up for himself in his apartment and I played with it a bit there (they are really cool), but it's never really been a daily thing I've cooked with.
I've cooked Chinese food on: 16k BTU Chinese home stove, 9k BTU Chinese camper burner, 7k BTU Western style gas burner (at my brother's place, he had removable burner covers so it's easy to slap down a wok ring), an electric range.
Basically listed those in order of preference, and you're right that electric really sucks. Obviously you can't use a round bottom on an electric range, so I end up using their 14" non-stick skillet... so I think we're 100% in agreement there. It works in the way that everything works, but it can get a little challenging. If someone's got electric and serious about stir-frying, an Iwatani portable stove can fit a round bottomed wok and that model's 12k BTUs center in the right direction.
Regarding certain dishes over a high BTU restaurant stove vs a low BTU home one... I generally think it's really subtle. Basically the only dish I've felt like it's been a variable for me has been Ganchao Niuhe. For meats you can get the same juiciness from passing through oil first; for vegetables, the same even crispness from blanching first (both of which are way more convenient to do in a round bottom btw). When adding liquids, you just have to be good about drizzling them around the sides of the wok.
Even though there is something subtle that the intense heat can give for some dishes... at home you don't have the economic considerations as a restaurant, so you can use the nicest Shaoxing wine you can buy, really quality soy sauce, more dried seafood and mushrooms etc. So there's benefits and drawbacks.
>Non stick is fine for things that need lower temperatures. Not all Asian cuisines need high heat and a non stick would be fine for that.
I'll even go further - not all Chinese dishes need high heat! Like, just yesterday we were making some twice-cooked pork. The flame never surpassed medium, on our 9K BTU camper burner. That would be a dish that I'd have zero problem recommending anyone with any set-up make... even a non-stick/electric set-up wouldn't be too much of an issue.
I'm rambling, but there is one reason that I'd recommend a round bottomed wok to everyone, even if they plan to never cook Chinese food. Why? IMO, it is the ideal vessel for a home cook to deep fry in. To deep fry in a large round bottom you need, like, max of two cups of oil (you can get by with a 1/2 cup for a pass through, and generally I'll do ~1.25 for deep frying). It almost completely negates the headache of deep-frying, which is - what am I gunna do with that mountain of oil? Way easiest to strain and save one cup of oil... and if it goes bad, no biggie, just toss it. Combine that with a temp gun and deep frying's really no problem in a home kitchen at all.
Anyway, I think we basically agree on most fronts.
For larger pots and pans this one may work better : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006H42TVG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Have you considered buying a portable gas range and doing it outside? like this https://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478928361&sr=8-2&keywords=portable+gas+range
Would something that is "CSA Commercial Indoor Approved" like this Iwatani Burner still need to be okayed by the fire department?
Buy a portable butane stove. $35 on Amazon, canisters are available at any local Asian grocery store: (or just order them off Amazon)
http://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG/
Gets my wok up to 900F+ easily. Can also handle regular pots, pans, and cast-iron gear. If you don't have ventilation, just get a small fan & cook near a window so the smoke doesn't fill up your apartment (or just don't cook food that smokes a lot). For the veggies, get an electric steamer. A good-sized model is $40 on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Oster-5712-Electronic-6-1-Quart-Steamer/dp/B00019G8IS/
You can do salmon & veggies in here easily. It says it can do rice too, although I've never tried. If you have a bit more of a budget & don't want to risk any kind of smoke, pick up an Instant Pot for $140:
http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Pot-IP-DUO60-Programmable-Generation/dp/B00FLYWNYQ
It's an electric pressure cooker. Same idea as a crockpot, only cooks everything in 20 to 60 minutes rather than all day. And it's sealed while cooking. You can make everything in it - chicken, brown rice, broccoli, and it does have a basic saute feature so you could probably do scrambled eggs (it definitely does boiled eggs!).
What about a portable gas burner? You could do a lot with a burner and a pan.
If you want something versatile I'd go with a portable gas burner (such as http://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG/) and a pan (such as http://www.amazon.com/TAYAMA-TG-28C-Tayama-Hot-Pot/dp/B000K6LHC4).
I personally have a Zojirushi electric hot pot which is very awesome for many reasons but it may not be ideal for chinese hot pot because there is not a divider on the pot (for spicy half/mild half) and it is actually quite huge to store in a cabinet.