I will never understand why people will buy twenty tiny bowls so they can properly mise en place every single ingredient before they even look at the stove. But ask them to just get a big serving bowl and keep the components of a stir fry in there after you cook them but before you mix everything together with the sauce? It is like pulling teeth.
I have to learn the basics of stir-fry first! :) I’m a pretty basic cook, but haven’t really tried my hand at stir-fry.
I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge on the wok cooking though, and I didn’t know about the specifics behind wok hei, though I always love that flavor from restaurants.
However, sautéed green beans in cast iron on an induction stove is one of my go-to dishes at home. What I make is NOT 四季荳! I have to go to a restaurant for that lovely dish! There was another thread here on Lemmy we were talking about induction cooking and I had taken some picture that last time I made my green beans. You’re absolutely right on my overcrowding:
And after looking up your comment about wok hei temperatures starting at about 260°C and going as high as 371°C, you’re also absolutely right my regular methods are nowhere near that (but until your post I didn’t know about wok hei specifics). I used a FLIR camera when I was in middle of cooking and you can see I was only at about 150°C. This was the induction element set at 6 or 7 I think:
Yeah… homie, I think you are very much overthinking this.
Understand that “stir fry” is kind of a catch all for how a lot of Chinese folk (I think more the Southern regions but don’t quote me on that) cook. It is conceptually no different than sauteeing some food for dinner and it is 100% a “week night dinner” deal.
Go watch a video or two on what a (home) stir fry should look like. J Kenji Lopez-Alt and Chinese Cooking Demistyfied did a collab a few years back on almost this exact topic. Then… just make sure you are doing that when you cook. If stuff doesn’t sizzle “right” you are adding too much or the heat is too low and you should adjust that. And then, after a few times, it just becomes second nature.
No different than knowing that if you put the meat in the pan and there is no sizzle then you aren’t going to get a good brown and need to raise the heat or wait longer. Similarly, if the oil explodes across the kitchen when you put that thigh down? Maybe turn it down a notch or five.
A lot of this is just what you grew up with. A LOT of people (self included) over-stuff tacos. And I am sure there are people who get confused over how to make a sandwich. Hell, a friend always laughs when I am “over thinking curry” and points out it is just a stew that even kids make and I shouldn’t be measuring anything beyond “two bricks or four”. And stir fries are a lot like that.
Don’t get me wrong. There are some truly heinous things you can do with a wok. But stir fries are almost always what people are talking about when they insist that electric can’t be used for authentic Chinese cooking (and then ignore how much of China actually have electric stoves…).
OH. Another thing people tend to forget: There are flat bottom woks for a reason. Yes, it is less “authentic”. Except… most woks were cheap ass family everything pans and would get dinged and dented anyway. And as long as you are agitating the food, it doesn’t matter if the bottom is perfectly round or has a big flat spot so that the heat can be more directly applied.
The good news is that is super easy to remedy.
I will never understand why people will buy twenty tiny bowls so they can properly mise en place every single ingredient before they even look at the stove. But ask them to just get a big serving bowl and keep the components of a stir fry in there after you cook them but before you mix everything together with the sauce? It is like pulling teeth.
I have to learn the basics of stir-fry first! :) I’m a pretty basic cook, but haven’t really tried my hand at stir-fry.
I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge on the wok cooking though, and I didn’t know about the specifics behind wok hei, though I always love that flavor from restaurants.
However, sautéed green beans in cast iron on an induction stove is one of my go-to dishes at home. What I make is NOT 四季荳! I have to go to a restaurant for that lovely dish! There was another thread here on Lemmy we were talking about induction cooking and I had taken some picture that last time I made my green beans. You’re absolutely right on my overcrowding:
And after looking up your comment about wok hei temperatures starting at about 260°C and going as high as 371°C, you’re also absolutely right my regular methods are nowhere near that (but until your post I didn’t know about wok hei specifics). I used a FLIR camera when I was in middle of cooking and you can see I was only at about 150°C. This was the induction element set at 6 or 7 I think:
Yeah… homie, I think you are very much overthinking this.
Understand that “stir fry” is kind of a catch all for how a lot of Chinese folk (I think more the Southern regions but don’t quote me on that) cook. It is conceptually no different than sauteeing some food for dinner and it is 100% a “week night dinner” deal.
Go watch a video or two on what a (home) stir fry should look like. J Kenji Lopez-Alt and Chinese Cooking Demistyfied did a collab a few years back on almost this exact topic. Then… just make sure you are doing that when you cook. If stuff doesn’t sizzle “right” you are adding too much or the heat is too low and you should adjust that. And then, after a few times, it just becomes second nature.
No different than knowing that if you put the meat in the pan and there is no sizzle then you aren’t going to get a good brown and need to raise the heat or wait longer. Similarly, if the oil explodes across the kitchen when you put that thigh down? Maybe turn it down a notch or five.
A lot of this is just what you grew up with. A LOT of people (self included) over-stuff tacos. And I am sure there are people who get confused over how to make a sandwich. Hell, a friend always laughs when I am “over thinking curry” and points out it is just a stew that even kids make and I shouldn’t be measuring anything beyond “two bricks or four”. And stir fries are a lot like that.
Don’t get me wrong. There are some truly heinous things you can do with a wok. But stir fries are almost always what people are talking about when they insist that electric can’t be used for authentic Chinese cooking (and then ignore how much of China actually have electric stoves…).
OH. Another thing people tend to forget: There are flat bottom woks for a reason. Yes, it is less “authentic”. Except… most woks were cheap ass family everything pans and would get dinged and dented anyway. And as long as you are agitating the food, it doesn’t matter if the bottom is perfectly round or has a big flat spot so that the heat can be more directly applied.