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Hi all, Great to know there are so many people out there who like to stir-fry bu using a wok. I have written a definite guide on stir-frying and is happy to contribute my understanding on this topic: The Definitive Guide To Stir-fry Hope this article can provide all the questions raised in this foru,. Thanks, KP Kwan

My DVR never has recorded the second part of Restaurant Wars. Sigh. I really want to watch it. Anyway, yes, glad to see Phil go bye bye. I just watched the last two episodes. I kind of rolled my eyes when I saw MC Hammer on, but I ended up enjoying that little quick fire challenge. Toups Legit To Quit LOL. Loved it. Nice to see Amar do well. The wok episode. Oh Kwame. Frozen waffles. I knew from that moment on he would be the one to go (I was rooting for Jeremy to go home, though...Taco Dudes=sorta lame.) Like Tom said, Kwame could have had an awesome concept had he made the waffles and flavored them. LOVED Pasta Mama. I would eat there. Go Isaac!!! PS--Anyone know who is in Last Chance Kitchen now?

Last night I made a chinese dish using rough chopped iceberg lettuce. In a medium hot wok add 2T refined coconut oil or other cooking oil 4T fine chopped garlic cloves. When the garlic is just lightly browned add 1/2 head of rough chopped iceberg lettuce and stir fry for a couple of minutes. The lettuce will barely wilt. Add in a sauce made with 1T light soy sauce/1T sugar/1/2 t salt/1T sesame oil/1T Shaoxing wine (I found a bottle in Chinatown Victoria yesterday). The dish was DELICIOUS!!!!! The lettuce was still nice and crunchy.

Gee it's hard to follow @huiray, with my so so simple version, but here goes anyway. I marinated some sliced chicken thigh in cornflour, rice wine, soy sauce and pepper. Stir fried it with garlic and ginger, splashed in a tiny bit of oyster sauce then set aside. Same wok, slivered onion, sliced wombok, soaked and sliced shiitakes and fresh bamboo shoots. I covered Maggi two minute noodles in boiling water, then chucked them in the MW for two minutes (ha ha great name). I poured on some heated homemade chicken and duck stock which came from the depths of the freezer. I can't remember what went in, probably star anise, onions, ginger.... Garnished with sliced spring onions, fried shallots and coriander (because I love it and have it growing well at the moment, which is rare). Clearly I need to work on my presentation. He who needs to be fed raved about it, so that's good

And another repost Despite being almost in the tropics (the Tropic line is just down the road), it can get quite cold here. Every year, around now, the temperature suddenly drops overnight from the mid to high 20s (ºC) to around 12 - 15ºC. I know that may not seem cold to many people, but please note that few house or offices etc have any heating. We simply throw on more clothes for the duration. By February, it will be down to 5-10º. Fortunately, winter is short. Anyway the drop came a couple of night ago so I made this. A one pot stew of beef with chickpeas, garlic, onion, carrot, celery, ginger, chillies, Worcestershire sauce. With new potatoes (Also cooked in the same pot). Winter food. In the wok

I love tempura. However, I find that unless one eats it immediately, texture can suffer. I have never successfully made it for more than a couple of people at a time because only so much fits in my wok at one time without dropping the oil temp too much. Unless your party plans include a cook standing at the stove while everyone else eats, I don't recommend it.

One tip that is often missed is to dry the steaks when you take them out of the bag prior to searing. If you don't do this, the sear will not work properly. After drying I rub in oil and salt and put the steak on a searing hot pan (as hot as you can get it and preferably on a wok burner) -- don't use non-stick as the high heat will denature the surface. Edited to change run (typo) to rub.

This is the lore, I know, but in truth it just makes the wok slightly easier to clean. And there's no difference in practice between seasoning applied over many years and seasoning done efficiently in 20 minutes. Ain't no magic going on! The woks used by professional Chinese cooks have virtually no seasoning; they get preheated hot enough to burn off any old oil every time they cook. Jeans are another story

So, here it is. I cooked the pork at 69C (156.2F) for 4 hours 30 minutes, and the beef at 58C (136.4F) also for 4 hours 30 minutes, one day before. Both were excellent, juicy and not dry. But the beef was a bit "tough", probably because of the type of cut, I don't know. As you can see the meat structure, it's quite dense. The difficult part was to brown it. Blowtorch doesn't do much, I use standard torch "attached" to a butane gas canister. So, I browned in a very hot skillet wok with oil instead.

If your food is burning in seconds, your wok is too hot. Simple. Most Chinese cooks will heat the empty wok then add oil and the garlic/ginger and briefly fry, keeping it moving all the time, then, when it smells fragrant, immediately add your meat or whatever. Again keep stirring and it shouldn't burn. If you really do think something is about to burn, add just a small splash of water - not cold oil. It will evaporate almost immediately but save your food from burning. Then turn the heat down.The idea that all wok cooking is done at full heat is a myth.

This. You don't want to dice or mince the garlic/ginger. Just mash the garlic clove/so it's broken open (use slices of ginger), stir fry that and then remove it from the oil before it burns. If it burns the second you put it in the oil/wok, then it's far too hot. Start on a lower heat to flavor the oil. Remove the garlic and/or ginger. Once that's done, crank up the heat and start the stir fry. Make sure you use a high smoke point oil (like peanut) for your stir fry..

If it's literally a few seconds, I wonder if your wok is too hot. I'd lower the heat for that step -- and in any event, you probably wouldn't stir-fry them w/o other ingredients for more then 15-20 seconds, yes? In some recipes, like this one, you add the garlic/ginger then immediately add some sauce and liquid. Sometimes you might even mix them together ahead of time, like here. And yes, I'm pointing you in the direction of hzrt8w's wonderful pictorials on eG.

I'm sure someone who does more wok cooking will reply and give you a better answer, but this is my approach. I put oil in the pan/wok, add garlic and then heat it gently long enough that the oil is somewhat infused with the garlic. Then I remove the garlic and heat the oil for the actual stir fry.

I've always wondering about this. Just abut every Chinese cookbook I own, says to heat the wok to the highest setting available (I use an electric cooktop with a flat bottomed wok), add the oil and when it begins to smoke, add the garlic (and ginger if required). Everytime, the garlic burns in a matter of seconds. So, I turn the heat down low enough so the garlic doesn't burn, but I was under the impression that you want a very high heat to a. sear the meat, b. cook the vegetables quickly so they remain crisp tender, and lastly, c. evaporate the water out of the added sauce to concentrate the flavor. Any commnets or suggestions? What do you do?

A combination plate. Pork tongue, white asparagus, fried rice, omelet. Eggs beaten w. some oil, white pepper, diluted w/ some water; fried in a very hot pan w/ plenty of very hot oil; lightly (Maillard) browning, folded over & removed with still runny top (now "inside"); all done in a minute or two. Braised pork tongue [Love Handle] sliced up and pan-fried after that in the residual oil. Sliced white asparagus tossed and lightly browned in the hot pan (a little more oil added) after that. Then, into the pan on full heat went chopped celery, 2-day-old rice, sea salt, chopped parsley; tossed around, covered briefly (trapping steam) at the end then stirring with the spatula in the usual manner. ETA: p.s. The pork tongue was already salted when it was braised (by Love Handle) but the only time I added salt in composing this dish was a light sprinkle in the cooking of the fried rice. Otherwise, the natural taste of the eggs, the celery+parsley+rice, the asparagus, all shone through, aided by the light browning/sort-of "light wok hei", if you would, that the hot cooking added to the food.

From yesterday: steamed crabs and octopus salad. Took us a very long time to finish dinner, and even then we couldn't eat all the salad. I also made some flat bread for the meal. Made a green sauce for both things (flat leaf parsley, minced capers, minced garlic, olive oil). I like this photo. Crabs look like sumo wrestlers, one of which is defeated. Today: leftover a bit of everything chucked in the wok. I used a Malaysian crispy shrimp paste/condiment and fish sauce to flavour the stir-fry.

Clockwise from top left: 1/4 cup soy sauce; 1 tbsp. sugar; 3 minced scallions; shredded ginger; 9 crushed and peeled garlic cloves; 1/2 cup rice wine; 3 tbsp. sesame oil. Not shown are 4 chicken legs and 4 chicken thighs. Warm sesame oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or wok. (Sam Sifton's recipe: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017456-three-cup-chicken has you do it in a wok but I've made this successfully in a Dutch oven.) Add aromatics and fry on high heat until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. I will get a wok eventually ... one of these days. Add chicken, skin side down. Reduce heat to medium and fry until chicken starts to crisp. Sam has you do it for 5-7 minutes, but I like to brown the chicken for longer than that. 15 minutes should do the trick. Add sugar, soy sauce and rice wine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the sauce begins to thicken. Shut off heat and stir in a generous handful of basil leaves, then serve. Three-cup chicken. You'll note that the pic has the addition of crushed red pepper flakes. That's because my partner doesn't like spicy food so I omitted them from the recipe and added a pinch to my portion.

Biased sliced about as thick as a nickel, shaken with flour. Shake, or brush off the excess flour. Toss in a watery egg wash and shake in a mixture of seasoned bread crumbs with copious amounts of garlic powder and tajin, Fry ( I use peanut oil in a wok) until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel and serve with aioli. In this picture, it is spicy lime and garlic. Great with cocktails or cold beer. ` Here are some with a lemon, garlic aioli: And some as a breakfast side (they are good with hot sauce too). HC

Another breakfast for the "zucchini files" that I have a feeling I will be putting together. These were thin sliced and stir fried in a screaming hot wok with garlic, tajin, salt and pepper. Dusted with parmesan cheese on the plate. I remembered the hot sauce this time. HC

I myself (as opposed to I myself someone else?) have never found shell-on shrimp/prawns tricky. I have a fond memory of my niece visiting a few years back. On her first day, I took her to my local market where among other goodies we bought some live wild shrimp. Back home I prepared some sea salt and some Sichuan pepper by putting it into a rice bowl. Then a very hot wok, shallow frying amount of oil and applied heat. Niece was instructed that her function for the day was to catch any of the shrimp which jumped out of the wok when I tipped them in. She thought I was joking. I waited until the wok was damned hot then threw in the shrimp. As I knew they would, the more lively leapt back out and niece scampered around the kitchen trying to find them, then throw them back into the wok. Few leapt out twice. The salt and pepper was tipped in and the shrimp and seasoning energetically stirred. As soon as they were all pink, they were served. Niece announced they were the best shrimp she had ever eaten, which will do me. Yes, they have to be eaten immediately, though. But that's how I always cook them. Shell-on is the default around these parts, although there are also shelled preparations. One generally prefers the shell-on dishes. Shell-on shrimp with green tea is a favourite. I'd give the recipe for the live shrimp, but it is so complicated that one isn't sure one can do it justice.

It can be tricky for a home cook, and tricky for me too. Often there is a trade-off between crispy shells/heads and still-completely-succulent flesh. One needs very hot oil in a big pan (or wok) and the place will smell for a while. ;-) So I might go for a "professionally-done" dish in a restaurant sometimes instead. :-) Still, a couple of examples I've posted here on eG: here, here. One tries to select fresh shrimp with thin shells, not too large. Chilling them helps also. Cornstarch helps. A couple of recipes here, here. Folks use Sichuan peppercorns in some recipes (general search here) but I myself never have. The formerly-active prolific eGulleteer hzrt8w posted a pictorial here too. Oh, one needs to eat it while still hot. As the dish/shrimp cools and sits on the plate the shells etc get UN-crispy faster and faster. With a big plate of this stuff I often end up peeling the shells off the last few shrimps.

from what Ive seen ( video's ) and read induction tops do not need vents. if there is an over right older one, the oven would need a vent not the top. at my HightEnd store I looked at 30 " blue stars. very nice. the unsealed burners put out 22,000 or so ( don't quote me ) and the rep said used them would melt the built-in hood/microwave. sealed burners are around 19,000 and much easier to clean I think. I can't imagine needing more than that ( just me ) in a home setting. just leave the wok on longer to preheat, or get take-out.

This is a de Longhi electric oven with gas cooktop now nine years old. There is no mains gas here, so it's plumbed into two LPG tanks at the side of the house. I would like the wok burner to be hotter. Other than that, it's a great cooktop. The long burner is good for gravies or a grill pan. The trivets make sliding pots around pretty easy. The oven has had its problems with temperature control. They seem to be fixed after a $250 visit from a tech a month or so ago. There is a largely useless range hood above it. Searing lamb equals smoke detector, if we had a noise detector it would go off too. Next time I would get the motor installed outside, and we've always suspected it vents into the roof cavity.

Ive been looking at ranges recently. Im considering a dual-fuel range ; gas on the top, electric for the oven. Of course, what Id really like is a range with an induction top, not the kind with discrete zones, but a continuous induction surface, sometimes called Vario and a combi-oven doesn't exist. Im not interested in replacing the standard 'hood' which is a microwave built in above the current gas stove that just pulls the warm are out to the kitchen so there are some BTU limits to the gas top so it won't melt the Micro. I don't mind as I don't need a bazillion BTU gas burners for a Wok. sealed burners appeal to me, they have less BTU and are easier to keep clean. the more professional ranges have these in the 19,000 BTU any idea if this is needs a new vetting hood by code ? Miele has a very interesting full electric range w an induction surface ( discrete zones ) but a steam injection feature for the oven for baking bread . Im allergic to contractors so its going to have to be a slide-in 30 " model. as If been meaning to get an electrician in here to add a few more 20 amp circuits to the wall outlets, a 240 V line for the oven is not out of the question. any one have a dual-file range ? any idea on the BTU limit for a vent/micro above the unit ? many thanks

SV is not always the way to go with certain foods and, to me, squid or calamari is one of those foods. I do calamari three different ways: Pressure cooker - http://www.hippressurecooking.com/calamari-in-umido-calamari-tomato-sauce-or-side-dish/ which produces a soft and succulent result. Wok - quick and easy, especially when serving with stir fry veg as well. Grill - this works best with calamari steaks, based with lemon and butter or with other additives such as garlic, chilli - just use your imagination. I do not deep fry calamari but sometimes do pan fry if doing only a small portion. Calamari also makes a lovely salad when mildly pickled.