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Played in the kitchen yesterday! De-boned and stuffed chicken wings. man! Tedious job as the wings were smaller than what I'd like, but better portion control 😏 I made a bunch and cooked up 5. Put the rest into the freezer. Still had filling left. Stuffed some large shrimp and wrapped them in egg roll wrappers. Too big for wonton wrappers. Still had a bit of filling left, so I did the rest with wonton wrappers. Deep fried in a big wok! The assortment The stuffed wings Had Moo Gua soup earlier And did up a pack of country-style ribs as Char Siu for baos later...

As @liuzhou and @MokaPot said, abalone needs to be tenderized or slow cooking. I shucked, cleaned, and blanched the little abalone in hot water for a few minutes. The 10 little fellas and re-hydrated Shitaki mushrooms went into the liner pot of the Instant Pot with sauteed garlic, ginger slices, mushroom soaking liquid, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and cooking wine. The whole lot was cooked for 50 minutes on high pressure. Everything was just tender, and each abalone was 2 bites! I also had some scallops on the shell to cook up. These were steamed on a rack in the wok with the Shanghai Bok Choy . The liquid from the abalone was perfect, thickened with cornstarch slurry. There wasn't much flavour to the abalone other than from the braising liquid. I was dreaming about the fresh baby abalone we enjoyed at a seafood buffet on the 15th floor of our hotel in Soeul, but alas, the ones I cooked didn't quite measure up.😉

Followed by wok hei'ng?

This was on sale/posted back in 2018. I am posting it again in case someone missed it... Grace Young's "The Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore" Kindle Edition $1.99US (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes. I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary.

Still working the chow fun jonesing. Yesterday, stir-fried with some pork shoulder strips and green pepper. Stir fried choy sum alongside. I will note that the rice noodles are probably best used within a day or two of purchase, or maybe frozen? These were a few days out, but still worked, though I had to smush them around in the wok more than when I first bought them.

I hung onto one of those portable butane burners when I stopped doing catering and farmer's markets, just to have on hand. Primarily it's a winter-storm backup for cooking purposes, and I toss it in my van during winter road trips or summer camping trips for similar reasons. Haven't had to use it yet, except for camping. Also, one day I will find myself a wok with a rounded bottom*, and my butane burner will then become the wok burner. *I know, I know, I can order them online. It's been a low priority, and I haven't gotten to it yet. Someday, when the time is right, I'll need to top up an order to get free shipping...

I have been jonesing for chow fun for quite a while. There was a vendor in Chinatown who would sell 3 or 4 different types of rice noodles; one could get a sackful for like $2. But when I went for a walk the other day, she was no longer to be found. Other stores I stopped into led to no success either. So I asked around, and found out a place called Kong Kee sells them, and I took another walk in that direction yesterday... I don't know what those characters translate to in English, but the address matched the one I googled. And sure enough, rice noodles! More expensive than before, but a few bucks netted me about 3 or 4 lbs. of them... As discussed elsewhere, wok hei is not happening too often at home. Now Serious Eats has figured out how to do it, (they call it torch hei) but I'm not in the mood for firing up the torch, and or burning down my apartment. So - I just stir-fried them, with a little beef and greens... They hit the spot.

A dinner I made with leftovers from the care packages that went to the kids. Black Bean Garlic Beef & Bitter Melon over Ho Fun. Good fresh Ho Fun is hard to find. At our local store, they are packed so tightly and vacuum sealed that they basically crumble when they hit the wok. Now, I use the dried noodles that I hydrate before cooking. They retain a bit of chew and so easy to stir-fry. I love the fresh noodles when I can get into the big city Chinese grocery stores. Had tofu and bell peppers in the fridge that needed using up. So, it was spicy tofu. ground pork, onions, and peppers in spicy toban sauce. Tossed in some ground up Szechuan peppercorns for that extra zing! A former colleague is married to a Chinese lady who has not done much Western cooking, like his favourite - lemon meringue pie. They were coming into town for apptns, so I made him a pie last night for pick up today! I only gave them half a pie as his wife is keeping close tabs on his calories!🤪 It helps us out too as we don't want to eat a whole pie!

No. Unless to store it. (And unfortunately I don't think it would fit.) I was looking for an induction compatible, dishwasher safe, low-sided pan that I could use on my Paragons as well as on the stovetop. All my existing frying pans are either non-stick or non-induction. I have been searing in a wok-like stir-fry pan from Thailand but the sides are really too high for the application. Speaking of bargains, that $30 stir-fry pan was possibly my best pan purchase ever. I use it often. I used it last night. It is getting all dented up but it doesn't seem to care. Anyhow I have a spare still in the box, waiting in the living room.

I did the 25 minutes @ 194F then i put it into a 132F bath for probably 30 minutes, Then into the Wok i sauteed the mushrooms and shallots in ( i luckily had them reserved) until the liquid was evaporated. (about 10 minutes). Again, i would not recomend this chefsteps recipe, and i will stick to tradtional, and at least try the instant pot recipe. I might bump this thread when i do. I just don't want people to see my results and assume chefsteps had anything to do with the final results because their results were laughable.

I don't remember ever being served ketchup as a sub for duck sauce. Duck sauce involves vinegar, soy sauce, apricot or other fruit jam and maybe garlic and ginger or something that approximates that combo. It was sweet, but not tomato-like. As for books the two I relied on when just learning to use my wok living in SF about 40 years ago,were Regional Cooking of China by Margaret Gin and Henry Chung's Hunan Style Chinese Cookbook. Those were the days when the original hole-in-the-wall Hunan Restaurant had just opened in Chinatown. I don't think there was much more than a counter for service. I lived three blocks up the hill on the cable car route.

"This is my rifle wok. There are many others like it, but this one is mine. My rifle wok is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle wok is useless. Without my rifle wok I am useless. I must fire my rifle wok true. I must shoot cook straighter than my enemy, who is trying to kill out-cook me. I must shoot out-cook him before he shoot out-cooks me. I will."

I have a phony All Clad wok I'd love to get rid of. It's probably about 15 years old and used maybe twice. I haven't touched it, but since it's been hanging on my pot rack for all that time, I'd assume it has a very healthy layer of settled aerosolized oil mixed with dust on it. In fact, I can practically guarantee it. It was quite expensive when I got it - do you think anyone would want to pay to take it off my hands or should I try to donate to some sad sap? OTOH, I got a Joyce Chen carbon steel wok relatively recently and have already used it a bunch of times. It lives on my stovetop since it (was pre foot burning) is the most common thing I use lately.

A few nights ago: Scallops, duck-fat and chicken stock "broasted" creamer potatoes, Belgian endive in the style of puntarelle, with anchovies and vinaigrette. My food stylist sucks. I jogged walked over to Chinatown (wait, I live in Chinatown, I walked west on Grand Street to Ken Hing (by the way @KennethT - they don't have that refrigerated curry paste you mentioned)), to buy some stuff for dinner. Though this stuff was in inventory, and pickled the day before: Cucumber pickle, Szechuan style. Cabbage and carrot sweet and sour pickle (Cantonese style?). In the freshly cleaned and seasoned wok... Shanghai bok choy. Simple stir-fry. Lo mein, with chicken, shitake, cabbage, snow peas, scallions, etc. Very good.

At this point, pandemic confinement is bringing out all sorts of weirdness (in me, the cat, et al.), I decided this needed to be used... Since I'm cooking a fair amount of Asian cuisine, why not? It was on a top shelf, kinda filthy as it hasn't been used in years, a nice scrubbing and re-seasoning did it proud. It's a Joyce Chen carbon-steel (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), probably heavier than I remember, cause when I went to do some flipping, I almost broke my wrist. I moved a phony All=Clad wok to where this one was...I'm going for authenticity!

Knee deep in house moving day, so no cooking. Where's the wok? Packed. So delivery lunch. Actually not too bad. Stir fried beef with pickled baby bamboo shoots. Nicely spiced. Rice and a negligible soup.

It is remarkable how many shophouse/street food cooks I've seen in Asia who do deep frying or jet burner wok cooking wearing shorts and flip flops. I'm surprised more of them aren't completely scarred from the waist down.

Not to split hairs, but semi Neapolitan and wok hei are, for the most part, realms of the obsessive. Steel plate was cutting edge a decade ago, but now it's pretty much become the defacto method for making pizza at home. It's everywhere. Every major book on pizza mentions steel. I've even seen Chris Bianco talking about it on Jimmy Kimmel. In the course of my travels, I've probably run across 3000 people who've purchased steel plates. I do spend a lot of time with obsessives, but I also brush shoulders with plenty of folks that just want have fun making pizzas with their families and not make a big thing out of it. Out of all these thousands of steel adopters, obsessive or not, young or old, beginner or master, not a single one has ever preferred the 10+ minute bakes they were getting on stone to the sub 7 minute bakes on steel. Now, out of this group, a handful of people had have odd broiler configurations that didn't play well with steel, so not everyone that buys steel is grinning ear from ear, but, that's the oven's fault (and the steel plate manufacturer's fault for fraudulent marketing), not the steel itself.

Moe's breakfast (I'm taking to work for lunch). Beef Black Bean and Black Pepper stir fry. Thinly sliced a thick NY strip steak that I had planned to grill last night for dinner and didn't. Instead of using the wok, I used this big round cast iron griddle pan that covers two burners on the stove. I forgot about this pan, probably because it is so big and heavy. I like it better than my Wok. Seared the beef, removed and then added the vegetables, onions, peppers, red and green, and thai chili peppers, fresh garlic, julienned ginger. Finished with a little broth, black bean sauce, pepper sauce, tossed the beef again to coat and served over rice.

Just different style of pizza. I wouldn't want a thick crust pizza baked so hot, obviously. But for a semi Neapolitan pizza, this Make a different. It's a bit like the discussion on wok hei in home cooking. Is it necessary or even desired in every dish? - no, but for those who love it's flavor in certain dishes it's worth working for.

Me too. And right now my absolute favorite quick pickle is this one from Woks of Life: https://thewoksoflife.com/asian-pickled-cabbage/ It's very basic, which means, at least for me, that it is multipurpose: works well with most Asian dishes and also with Mexican since it adds nothing but salt, water, vinegar, garlic and chile pepper to cabbage and carrots. The first step is to massage with salt. I like to add 1 small chile de arbol to the final jar, at the top, because my current batch of chiles is very hot. After 24 hours I remove it, since the mixture will increase in heat by the day if left in. One whole big cabbage seems the right amount, and along with the sliced carrots, perfectly fits one quart canning jar. Ready to eat in a day. Doesn't last long in our house.

Usually in January and into February I bring back some of my favorite Asian dishes, starting with this BBQ Pork Lo Mein. I love making it at home so I can be creative, mixing up the ingredients but always keeping the same noodles and sauce. I'm not constrained by a menu, don't wait for delivery, and the leftovers are delicious cold. For breakfast! 12 oz. fresh Chinese egg noodles 3 tbsp. soy sauce 1 1/2 tbsp. oyster sauce 1/2 tbsp. Chinese rice wine or dry sherry 1 1/2 tsp. honey 1 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 tbsp. sesame oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tbsp. grated ginger 3 green onions, cut in 1" lengths 6 shiitake mushrooms, stem cut off, sliced 8 oz. Chinese BBQ pork, cut in strips 1 1/2 cups fresh bean sprouts Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain the noodles and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese rice wine and honey. Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil and sesame oil. Add the garlic and ginger and quickly stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the green onions and mushrooms and stir-fry for another 1 minute. Add the Chinese BBQ pork and the noodles and stir-fry another 1 minute. Add the sauce and the bean sprouts and toss so to coat the noodles. Serve hot.

First time I've ever made larb and now I'm wondering why I waited so long. So easy to make and delicious. For the Dressing- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice 2 tbsp. fish sauce 2 tbsp. light brown sugar 1/2 tsp. Sriacha hot sauce substitute your favorite hot sauce For the Larb- 1 1/2 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into small cubes 1/2 cup chopped shallots 2 tbsp. finely chopped lemongrass 2 tsp. finely chopped lime zest 1 pickled Thai bird chile, chopped substitute fresh red chiles 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp. fish sauce 1/2 tsp. each salt and black pepper 3 tbsp. peanut or canola oil small butter lettuce leaves substitute iceberg lettuce small inner leaves 1 tbsp. fried garlic for garnish 1/4 cup shredded green onions for garnish 1/4 cup shredded carrots for garnish soy sauce on the side fresh lime slices on the side Make the dressing- In a bowl combine the lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar and Sriracha sauce and stir to combine. Set aside while you make the Larb. Make the Larb and serve- Add the chicken, shallots, lemongrass, lime zest, bird chile, garlic, fish sauce, salt and pepper and 1 tbsp. of the peanut oil to a food processor. Pulse the chicken until it's finely chopped. Add the remaining 2 tbsp. of peanut oil to a skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the chicken mixture and saute, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Cook until the chicken is done and starts to turn brown, about 8 minutes. Place small lettuce cups on a serving plate. Spoon some chicken mixture on top of the lettuce. Garnish with fried garlic, green onions, carrots and drizzle with the dressing. Serve slices of lime and soy sauce on the side.

Mushrooms and parsley were a different matter. Actually my younger son is a picky eater, as I've mentioned many times before. My older has a friend from China and enjoyed many non-western delicacies at his mother's table. The friend dined here. He described his mother's cuisine as "burnt wok food".

I use a wok scoop. I'd say the egg is around 75% cooked, but not fully. Next time, I'll take photograph.