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There are lots of techniques that will work, but the one in that video is one of the most foolproof, I think. I don't think there's anything magic about using Chinese chives except that they are cheap and a good shape for pushing around the wok without developing any residue.

This video from the Wok Shop in San Fransisco takes you through seasoning the Wok step by step and the method works beautifully. I think Grace Young mentions this method in one of her books.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNPe5-swL-k P.S. The Chinese Chives are really worth getting for this.....

I've heard so many differing opinions on this topic, from what types of oils to use (flaxseed vs Crisco vs grapeseed vs canola) to what temp/for how long/how many times to season it... and now i'm confused. Does anyone have a tried and tested, foolproof way of doing this?? The wok is sitting in its bag, still waiting for the factory coating to be stripped.

Tonight, I did a very common dish round these parts. 茄子肉末 (qié zi ròu mò). That is aubergine/eggplant with minced pork, done in the wok. The pork is marinated in the usual suspects - garlic, ginger, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, chilli flakes. The aubergine is sliced and stir fried. When almost ready, the pork is added along with any remaining marinade and perhaps a splash of water if it's drying out.. S+P. Chinese chives and chopped coriander leaf/cilantro. Eat. Simple Chinese home cooking. Incidentally, instead of saying "Say Cheese" when taking photographs, the Chinese say "Say Eggplant (茄子 (qié zi))" which has the same result. .

I live in the UK. I am not a professional chef. I'm looking for a range cooker possibly dual fuel; electricity and gas. What I've very keen on having is something with a gas hob which will enable me to do some wok stir frying. I've been suggested a Rangemaster and Lacanche. The Lacanche seems a little too expensive but I'm told it's the better range. There do seem to be some second hand models around but then there's the problem of a lack of warranty. The Rangemasters are very nice looking but have been told that they're not that good but not bad either and come at a fraction of the price of a Lacanche. I would be very thankful for some advice on what to get. I suppose I would preferably like the cost to be kept to below £1500. Thanks.

scubadoo care to share the recipe for the lamb and bean stew? Looks marvelous. I did something I've been planning to do for years - got an insert for the Weber with a round hole for the wok. This was up at the BF's mom's place and we had to get a new carbon steel wok and season it, which I foolishly did inside and set off the house fire alarms. I made dry-fried green beans and chicken with sichuan peppercorns. I definitely did not achieve wok hei, - counterintuitively (for me an inexperienced idiot) the Cantonese double-handled wok is much harder to toss or even to approach with the bare hands. I need to develop better technique with the wok scoop, or else try a northern wok with a long handle. I foolishly thought at the higher heat I could stir-fry larger quantities of ingredients at once - I was doubling the recipes. I should have kept to the Grace Young recommendations of small quantities in batches. And I think I need to get the wok and probably the grill much hotter. Nonetheless the results were tasty. Any tips much appreciated - I want to learn!

The wife and I watched The Search For General Tso about the ubiquitous chicken dish. So I was inspired to haul out the wok and try it with some firm tofu based on a googled "authentic" recipe from Chef Peng the creator. The sauce recipe surely needs some tweaking but it's tasty.

What do you have already? What kind of cooking do you do? Before "gadgets," I'd invest in 2 good knives - a chef's knife (or something similar) and a paring knife. A few saucepans (say 1 & 3 quart), an 8" and 10" frying pan, maybe a larger (8 qt) soup/stock pot. When I first started cooking seriously, I bought a Chinese cleaver and a good wok, and cooked practically everything with those. It's the cook, not the kitchen, making the food.

It also very much depends on what you want to cook. My kitchen is very simple by my standards, but ridiculously complex by my neighbours' standards. They have one wok and one knife. End of.

I do 99% of my cooking in an 8-year old wok - decidedly not sold as non-stick. It is ferro-selenium and years of use and careful seasoning have rendered it non-stick. But, I also have what you call a skillet. Some things (few) you can't do in a wok. Proper omelettes, pancakes etc which require a flat surface. I also use the skillet to fry the occasional couple of rashers of bacon for breakfast. It is cast iron, but has also developed 'non-stick" qualities over the years. No one needs Teflon etc. Except the stockholders.

We each fended for ourselves this evening. Kerry said her meal was not photogenic enough to post. It was a Bowl Meal similar to mine but with potatoes in place of zoodles. Leftover beef re-fried in the wok, chopped scallions added and then a ziplock bag of leftover zoodles. You would be amazed at how good this was. Both of us can be quite easily satisfied with very simple dishes. Thank goodness.

I have nothing from my first kitchen. Except memories. I moved too often. Too many countries. Too many wives! I started out wanting to cook something better than my family were feeding me. I knew nothing. My first girlfriend's father made me a simple omelette. I was amazed. Wow! Eggs taste good! I remember well the first wok I bought. It was terrible quality but very exotic. I had no idea how to use it. And an "Indian Cookbook" which was really a pamphlet full of hopeless recipes. But the spirit never died and slowly I got a little better and my kitchens got better, only to be abandoned and I had to start again. Still a thousand miles to go. Here is my favourite corner of my latest incarnation

I'm interested in where these were made - as I am with DDF's Rival blender. I don't remember my first kitchen that well - it was somewhere in Santa Barbara, I think. In any event, I still have the first Chinese cleavers I bought. And the wok tools, but not the wok. I have some cast iron, that I'm pretty sure was gifted or purchased at flea markets/garage sales. I have a few of the knives from my original set of Henckel's (tomato, paring). And I remember buying a set of pots and pans from Macy's - they were called Tools of the Trade, and were well made at the time. I still have the 8 qt. soup pot, and maybe a saute pan or two.

When I first moved out on my own I went to an Chinese market and purchased a wok that came with accessories which included a 2-basket bamboo steamer. I still have the wok, the rack that hangs off the side, and the steamer -although the steamer could fall apart any day now it barely survived a bad fire. I use the wok at least once a week for all sorts of things including popcorn and deep frying. I picked up a Wagner 6" cast iron skillet at a thrift store. It is still the perfect small pan for eggs and reheating single portions of leftovers. I got a 10" cast iron skillet, new Lodge, a few years later. This is still my go-to frittata pan. My mom gave me the 4 qt pot and 8" saucepan & lid from the Revereware she got as a wedding gift a year before I was born, I use these almost daily even though I own a fancy set of copper pots. My French rolling pin (tapered, no handles) came from a mall kitchen store, they had a sale going and a huge bin of them at $2 each. I got the only one in the bin made of tiger maple, and it's gorgeous. It still inspires me to bake. Oh yeah, I almost lost it! One former roommate threw it in the trash because she thought it was junk!

Likely the relative prices of electricity and gas have something to do with it, but here in Spain and a good part of Europe you will mostly see electrical cooktops at homes, unlike in the US. I would chose induction over any alternative any day. It is fast, powerful, efficient, clean, programmable, reproducible and safe. That said, to me the best world is a main induction cooktop and one or two powerful gas ranges for things like paellas, woks, or when there are power shutdowns.

The left handed Lamson Sharp fish turner, an 8" wood handled granny fork, and 2 wooden spoons my mama bought me. The 5 qt. white Kitchen-aid stand mixer my daddy surprised me with one Christmas because I loved to bake. A $3 wooden lemon reamer that fits my small hand. A $4 cat head biscuit cutter with a handle. I bought 2 just in case A thick heavy carbon steel wok that was on sale for $15 as part of a kit. It's better than what I see available today. Several sets Duralex Picardie glasses in different sizes that I still use to this day. My 3 cobalt blue ceramic dinnerware bowls, spotted them at a thrift shop for a $1 each, I bought the extra two just in case of breakage (knock on wood). Comfortable and deep enough to mix 2 eggs or 12, plus the yellow and anything else look so pretty against the blue. Family Heirlooms. I didn't buy them but asked for them and was given them about the time I outfitted my first kitchen. Some of them are a White Mountain ice cream freezer, my great uncle's dutch ovens from his sheep camps, my grandmother's cast iron skillets and wooden dough bowl, my grandfather's knives, cleaver and steel (he was a butcher), the 6 quart copper bottomed Revere Ware stock pot ( we call it the fudge pot in our family) and the wooden paddle used to stir and beat the fudge, my other grandmother's Texas Pecan Sheller, my mama's cake spatula.

bonkboo, the temp is 180 for about 30 minutes. You should press the water out of the firm tofu before putting it into the vac bag. A common approach is to then dry off the tofu, and broil it in the oven or deep fry in the wok after coating it with cornstarch.

Over the past several years I've gotten into the habit if choosing a single cookbook and tearing through it for a couple of months. Not necessarily with the goal of cooking every single recipe, but just using it as my central menu planning tool. This helps me on the exotic-ingredient front because I can focus my pantry purchases on the current cookbook, and keeps me from falling into a rut by forcing me to try things I would probably otherwise just thumb past. In the past I've cooked extensively from Land of Plenty, Breath of the Wok, Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge, Modernist Cuisine, Modernist Cuisine at Home, Fiesta at Rick's, and most recently More Mexican Everyday. They all fall into a similar pattern. They are relatively short (well, except the original MC), they are focused on a regional cuisine (or perhaps most importantly, on a relatively focused list of "specialty" ingredients), and there is sufficient variety to cover hot weather and cold weather, rainy days and sunny, main dishes, sides, soups, and salads, both vegetarian and meat-focused dishes, and most of the dishes can be prepared in a hour or less. That's a pretty long list of requirements, and I need help finding my next project. Does anyone have any suggestions, particularly among new-ish or forthcoming books?

Does anyone who still posts on eGullet, other than me, live in Nova Scotia right now? I have been a bit depressed lately about where I chose to buy a house, despite the fact that this area is beautiful, I am very close to the ocean from whence all manner of wonderful seafood is supposed to come, and I have a large house with good bones (and got it for a steal compared to what I might have paid for it located anywhere else in Canada), with a large kitchen - in which I store way too much food considering my household consists of only me and my dog now but I rarely cook any more (on the stove - the IP and my electric wok have seen a lot of use recently however). I eat what I like somehow despite all but it is a lonely feeling to think I may be the only one here with whom I can discuss culinary topics of regional interest with any success! The truth of the matter is that, while I think Peter the Eater (whose posts I have been re-reading lately and drooling over) and my childhood travels in this area, convinced me that Nova Scotia was full of interesting and delicious food havens, the place I chose to move to in Nova Scotia is definitely not even close to where those may be. I should have known that a place sometimes referred to as 'the end of the world' may indeed actually deserve that description, at least when it comes to food choices. Canso (which includes the small enclave of houses where I live, called Hazel Hill, just a mile down the road from Canso) was once a bustling fishing port but has seen very sad times of late. This is now a town of very old (and constantly dying) people, all of whom have (or had, in the case of those who have passed on now) magical stories of the 'olden days' but who have lost heart. One can find music occasionally but little laughter here any more. There are still fishermen here but most go away to fish or only fish to feed their own families it seems. There is still some 'fish packing' done locally too but I gather only for seafood to be shipped elsewhere - and there isn't much of it from what I can tell. When I bought my house here a few years ago, I had visions of throwing large dinner parties, replete with fresh looking/tasting colourful foods followed by fun, laughter filled, musical evenings with people dancing and singing and playing their instruments - 'kitchen party' or ceilidh-style in my dreams. I can see now though that that dream will never come to fruition unfortunately. I have lived in quite a few small towns in my life - the first being in the Yukon, far from the madding crowd and definitely far from a known purveyor of 'fresh' foods, and Frobisher Bay/Iqaluit where one fresh orange was hard to find and 10 times the price of that which was bountiful down south. I know what the food drawbacks may be in such places, but this one takes the cake. Somehow we managed up north to prepare foods that, even if a bit different from what the 'locals' ate regularly, was accepted and eagerly tried and enjoyed. I was always able to find others wherever I lived who appreciated colourful, fresh foods presented in an appetizing manner - except here it seems. They may be here (or nearby) here too but so far I have yet to unearth them - and I find the local cuisine is definitely not to my tastes - current or prospective. The local co-op grocery store where, especially in winter, I am often forced to shop has recently changed 'distributors' and the shelves have been 're-lined', supposedly to make things easier to find but, from my perspective, they just showcased what the locals are eating even more sharply than ever before - and it is not good. Just about everything, on every aisle, is ultra-processed (and mostly 'junk') food, full of chemical components that one cannot even pronounce. The 'fish/seafood' products, even those labelled as fresh, are mostly, according to the 'meat guy', shipped in from everywhere else and defrosted/relabelled. The laws now say that is ok I gather. There IS local fishing but the laws there, for some reason I cannot yet fathom, also mean that it cannot be sold in the local store or from the local docks (legally). Rarely do I see any product still made or produced in Nova Scotia or even Canada in this local shop. There is hamburger - but it comes in a tube and is repackaged in house. I am getting very picky in my old age I guess but I won't touch it because I have no idea where it comes from or what may be 'in' it. Much of the 'meat' actually seems to come in plastic tubs labelled 'riblets' - they sit on shelves and the floor away from the refrigerated section. Apparently those are a big seller. For me, that is so unappetizing that I cannot bring myself to buy them to try. And it seems no one here uses fresh herbs at all. Even the local pizza parlor uses only canned and jarred toppings, nothing fresh. And this is definitely a white Wonder bread, bologna and margarine town. At any rate, I buy chickens for my dog at the local grocery but very little else lately since it so depresses me. 10 minutes walking around and reading labels there takes my appetite completely away - but I am sure that is helping me lose a bit of weight and saves me money (except on the $15 chickens) though so there is always a silver lining I guess. I have tried, very carefully, to talk to locals about what foods they like to eat - but, frankly, what they like to eat these days, is what that store carries. I can survive fine but it makes me sad that I cannot see a way to invite any of them for those dinners I pictured because, though I know they would be polite, I am now fairly certain that the food I like to make is so far removed from what their traditional local tastes are they would either not eat much or they would not like it. I just cannot cook according to their tastes - I would get it wrong given my now longstanding love of 'fresh' foods with colour and a lot of 'taste' but not drowned in gravy any more or coated with fat and accompanied by one carb after another. I don't want to do that to them. They like their fish and seafood mostly deep-fried - a technique I never really liked but definitely cannot handle these days. I like my seafood much more 'nekkid' so to speak. They like their food overcooked and much of it sweet - sweet meat, sweet salads, sweet coated vegetables and heavy sweet desserts - as I discovered when I was once invited next door for dinner - where frankly I did what I would expect those same neighbours to do if they came here - I ate a bit and was polite but went home hungry. Unless I prepared something very safe in summer like perhaps a well done plain steak on the grill and offered sweet steak sauce to go with - I might chance that sometime - I just don't think I can accommodate them - and as a hostess that would be, as it always has been, my primary aim. So, as a good neighbour, I give them groceries once in a while (a few steaks I have found far afield, some freeze-dried treats - which they accept politely but honestly look horrified at) and I have received the odd bit of lobster or shrimp back on occasion which I accept with delight - but they do not divulge their secrets as to where they get them. I am certain that other areas of the province are culinary heavens - there is amazing food to be found in places like Halifax I know, and in the valley (Annapolis) but here ... not much that I can see unfortunately. I am ok personally when it comes to the food I like to eat. I am getting a bit bored but what I like is often quick to prepare which is good. I eat a lot of Asian primarily - heavy on the veg and light on the meat, with a zing to it all - (thank you, sriracha! - which I cannot buy here either) though some of the ingredients can be difficult to obtain within a day's drive of here. In essence though I have found that this place is just not the fresh food and seafood haven I had hoped it might be and I fear it will be years before I can move again, if ever - so I better get used to it! I can 'garden' and someday I will set up my indoor garden fully and I have my freeze-dryer (something that no one here has a clue about) but what I am missing most I think is the companionship of 'foodies' (hate that term but you know what I mean) in some proximity, especially those who may have or who still live in the north/northeastern area of the mainland, who have 'tips' for me on where to go to find the true jewels when it comes to foodstuffs - including the secret hideaways for buying really fresh local seafood, the 'grass fed' animals and free range eggs and 'organic' veggie farms. Summer is better when I can roam a bit but even that is iffy since I don't quite know where to roam (and roaming these days with an aging large dog isn't the easiest either). There are farmer's markets in summer (though again one needs to drive at least 70 miles each way and get there early morning - not something I am good at doing) but if there are other secret places to get things like that closer by, I don't know about them. I am not related to anyone here - and the network of 'related' folks is very tight - they keep their secrets well apparently or they just don't have any of that sort more probably. Funeral fare (I haven't yet seen a wedding - there are few young people left here any more I gather) is like what I remember from childhood - white bread egg/cheese/lunchmeat sandwiches and 'butter tart' rich, sweet squares. This is the standard served at all social and business meeting functions from what I can gather. I generally offer my condolences and depart fairly quickly when that part of the ritual is ushered out of the kitchen. I feel badly at those times (even though I know I won't be much missed) but I think it better to leave than to sit with an instant coffee and an empty plastic plate in front of me when these very friendly and genuinely nice people feel it is their responsibility to make me eat something - and I know I just can't bring myself to do so. My bad. I now have a personally trained palate and aesthetic sense that no longer seems to fit in a small town of this type (non-transient). It is not their fault. If I had a million dollars, I would start a restaurant here and take the massive losses that I would be certain to incur as I tried to 'educate' the locals (at a price they can afford to pay - this is a poor area now) about anything other than what I call 'junk food'. But, I don't and I am realizing I am too old to take on that crusade, even if Jamie Oliver were to visit my establishment on a weekly basis to help promote it all. I asked about what kind of a restaurant might work here and was bluntly told that unless one sold hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries and (crappy) ice cream (and little else) to forget even trying. Not even good pizza with fresh and different toppings (i.e beyond pepperoni and cheese) would fly here. I thought about offering to give cooking demos at the grocery store but a) there is no room in those crowded junk food aisles to set up a station and b) after numerous conversations with the locals I have determined they are just not open to real 'change' in their diets no matter what I might convince them to taste under those circumstances and c) it would probably devolve into me inserting frozen breaded highly processed chicken bits into a Cuisinart oven and trying to make some kind of sauce that replicates the taste of the sweet commercially produced stuff they like to dip that sort of thing into around these parts. It just makes me sad that the locals see no other option but to eat a massive amount of junk food. I am no 'angel' but I don't eat processed foods if I can help it and I am still chunky, but, it is sad to see so many Canadians, especially around these parts, who must be now composed primarily of chips and candy, boxed and frozen pizza, and fake 'side dishes' out of a package - since there is little else they can buy in the store. In larger, less remote places, they at least have options so it is more their fault than those of the stores - here, I can only blame the 'distributors', an evolving tradition based on foods probably best eaten if one is working outdoors under harsh circumstances year round, and governments who have stopped even locals from buying their own fishing 'products' in favour of importing shrimp and other seafood from polluted warm waters in far east countries, or, even though more local, 'farmed' fish raised under circumspect conditions off our own coast. I should mention that, if I can describe or preferably show a package of a product I would like to see stocked, the store will try (not always successfully) to bring it in but then I am the only one who buys it and the rest may go bad if I don't buy it all which makes me feed badly so I don't do that much any more. I have also toyed with the idea that someone (me, if I had that million bucks) should just start a store that would stock all the things I think people (especially me) should be eating/using/etc. but which are unavailable here currently - but again that would be a real losing proposition here. Ok .. I am going back to being upbeat and doing most of my posting about the marvels the rest of you get to experience from the fresh foods around you in warmer or more western climes. And then in a few weeks I will drive back down south and enjoy what I can along the way and during my stay there so that I don't feel so sorry that I cannot find the same in this area - because the locals are not interested in that sort of fare and what they demand IS eventually what the store will/would stock - which I believe would be better for everyone. Ah well - can't fight city hall it is said. Having dumped all that (with which I have no doubt unfortunately discouraged anyone new from ever moving to or visiting this area of a very beautiful province - sorry about that), I will reiterate my first question ... does anyone on eGullet still reside in (any part of) Nova Scotia, other than me? I know Darienne has some family in Halifax but I don't think they post here, do they? Anyone else?

Lion and Globe is also my preferred peanut oil for stir fry. It has a very pure peanut taste, so I don't consider it a neutral oil either. Given that I use my wok at least twice a week, buying a large bottle in Chinatown is the most efficient way to go. I do use Rice Bran oil, but mostly for certain Asian style salad dressings and slaws.

I am finding the 'keep warm' function (and the sauté function too) VERY handy. In fact, the other day, my fridge was full and 'my cold room' (which is one of the garage or the unheated room right beside it - winter only) was too warm to store the pot - and I was feeling very lazy anyway so I think I hit the 'keep warm' button several times and kept some chicken stock I had made earlier on 'warm' all night and most of the next day before I dealt with it. So, after about 20 hours on that setting, it gelled beautifully (since the stock still contained chicken bones at the point I left off). The bones were so nicely soft that I could mash them with a fork to be part of the dog's dinner. He needs the calcium but being a finicky eater he decided he was on a diet that did not include bones that day so they eventually went the way of all good compost. However, I shall use that method again in future. I also often just use the sauté function (with no pressure cooking at all) to make Asian concoctions rather than haul out the wok or use the stove.

I'm currently eating my masala oatmeal, but it isn't really that, exactly. On the first attempt, it was a smashing success, although it took a long time to cook and I think next time, I'll use my wok. Ingredients: About 1 inch of fresh ginger, chopped 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 large white onion, chopped 3 plum tomatoes, chopped 3 scallions, sliced (optional) 4 mushrooms, chopped About 5 tablespoons steel-cut oats 3 tablespoons urad dal 3 tablespoons or so of roughly crumbled "raw" cashews 2 dried curry leaves, crumbled into small bits 1 heaping teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon garam masala 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 1/6 teaspoon ajwain seeds 1 teaspoon amchoor powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 flat teaspoon sweet paprika 3 organic free-range eggs about 1 1/2 cups full-fat yogurt juice of 1 lemon, seeds removed a neutral oil (I used canola) as needed Method: Put a bit of oil into a wok or pan. Add the ginger and garlic, stirring until they are mostly cooked. Add the onions and more oil as needed. Cook until the onions are close to done, then add the scallions if you like and repeat the process. After that, add the spices and mix thoroughly. Then add the oats, urad dal, cashew pieces and curry leaf bits. Again add more oil as needed. When the cashews seem cooked, add the tomatoes. You will probably need to raise the heat a little, but be careful not to burn the oats or dal. When the tomatoes are mostly cooked and the liquid is somewhat reduced, add the mushrooms. Wait until the mushrooms are cooked to add the eggs, but it is not necessary to wait until the water evaporates. Mix, making sure to coat everything with egg. When everything is thoroughly mixed and the eggs are cooked, add the yogurt, mix thoroughly, and add the lemon juice. Simmer a bit to reduce the liquid somewhat and cook the mixture. The result should still have a good deal of liquid - indeed, the texture should be something like oatmeal, but crispier. Distribute it into bowls for eating. Thoughts on this improvised recipe: First, it was delicious. However, I couldn't taste the scallions, so I think I'll use them in something else. The ginger was somewhat present, but I think I'll at least double the amount next time to taste it more. I used few ajwain seeds because when I opened my newly-bought bag, they smelled strong, but I couldn't taste them much, so I'll put at least 1/3 of a teaspoon in next time. I also will use an entire container of mushrooms if I have one handy next time (I had only half a container left). The quantity of tomatoes seemed good; I didn't really taste them separately, but they were part of the mix and also helped add water to it. But more worked than didn't work. The texture of the oats was pleasant, in this combination. The lemon juice was great, and I don't think vinegar would be as good. The spices all came through except for perhaps the paprika and to a large extent the ajwain (and turmeric just gives food a subtle earthiness, so I'm sure it helped, but the taste wasn't that present even with a whole teaspoonfull), and the curry leaves were especially nice. The cashews also really helped. By the way, the cayenne was definitely present and the large amount of yogurt cooled it off some, but if you are sensitive to chili, decrease the cayenne or omit it, then taste it to see if any should be added. Next time, I may try using some mustard oil. I thought I had some, but I couldn't find it. I also would love to add some really substantial green vegetable to this like kangkong (water spinach), adding it before the tomatoes (or possibly in lieu of them, for a different variation). Final comments: The urad dal and oats form a paste, so be careful of that. If you prefer, add more oil (but I wouldn't have wanted more than I used, which I'm guessing was perhaps 1/8 of a cup in total at most). Some people might prefer using less oats, but the result was very good. Also, for those who like it (and aren't trying to avoid them because of their glycemic effect), you could easily add some raisins to the combination of urad dal, oats, cashews and dried curry leaves. And finally, I'm not sure what role the eggs had in this dish. I suppose they could be omitted, and I don't know what it would have been like if I had used 5 instead of the 3 I had left.

I usually use my Thermomix - it does the stirring for me. I have however made quite acceptable risotto recently in my IP with nothing doing the stirring. Prior to owning those handy appliances, I have used a wok, a saucier, a sauté pan, and even a dutch oven in a pinch.

My cooktop is 36" and my exhaust hood is a 36" Zephyr II with 10" exhaust duct and 2 fans, but I wish that I had purchased a wider exhaust hood. Some smoke, fumes etc still escapes when doing high heat wokking on the front burners

There used to be a place in Ottawa (downtown in the 'mall' on the bottom floor across the street from the Hudson's Bay - not sure if it is still there) that might have filled the bill that others are describing above - a sort of open food court where diners could choose from a variety of meals and/or assemble their own from bits and pieces of meals cooked at different stations and pay at one cashier area only. Many years ago I went there often and the food was always excellent and the assortment of choices very large - though I don't recall there being much really 'ethnic' representation in the offerings. But, that also brings to mind the many HUGE buffet type 'restaurants' in Vegas - which had (back when I went there a number of years ago now too) many different cuisines one could choose from all done in a single large area, to a pretty high standard. But, again, with either of those places or others like them, one pretty well eats from what the restaurant has on hand and is prepared to cook. There are also 'mongolian' restaurants where one chooses from a large variety of meats, vegetables, sauces, etc. and the 'chef' puts them all in a wok or on a grill and cooks them all to order - perhaps that is closer to a 'choice' for the customer, but, you won't find mac and cheese or grandma's apple pie there either. But, I don't really think any of the above addresses what I think the restaurant concept that Harrison is trying to research. I heartily agree with all the great 'this is why that concept is a problem' advice everyone here offered. I also think that what is being discussed is, as others have said, what 'personal chefs' do and that is probably not viable in a decent sized centralized restaurant establishment. (eta: I just read Alex's comment about Restaurant Jezebel and that very small place might be able to accommodate diners better but at that price point I doubt that is in the realm of millennials, especially those who are hungry tonight, not tomorrow or next month when they can get a reservation). Under what circumstances would I like it though, if it were possible? Hate to say it but most probably it would never appeal to me. But, there are people out there who like the 'Blue Apron' idea where ingredients are delivered to one's house and then they have to follow the directions and cook their own 'to order' dinner - but again, the offerings are chosen from a set menu even it varies often, not just at the whim of the customer. Maybe, hypothetically, they would find this idea which takes that whole idea a bit further, intriguing. Could you count on making money from them long term though ... I doubt it. And you would have to operate in a very large city to make it work at all I think - where you would have major competition from the whole roster of ethnic and other specialty restaurants which are also there and well established. Perhaps what work for me (once or twice, just for fun) would be if I source the ingredients (at least for any that are exotic) and give them and a recipe to someone else (in a restaurant setting where I know the health and safety standards are up to scratch) and they cook it all for me. I pay then only for the cooking and the place to eat it (or maybe I just do take out). But, even that is complicated and fraught with the great possibility of disappointment because not all chefs know all cuisines and believe me, for me not to cook for myself what I have spent time sourcing ingredients for, I would want to be sure that the chef I was delegating that responsibility to was an expert in that particular cuisine. But, then like most here, I LOVE to cook so perhaps I am not the right kind of person to ask about this. Good luck with your paper.