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This is great because I get to use the word "metallurgy" again on eGullet. I think there are going to be three primary factors here: 1) the composition of the metal in your wok; 2) the thickness of the metal; and 3) the shape of the wok. I wonder which of these three is most responsible for the improved performance of your new wok. I'd be interested to know the exact type of metal used in each wok. Apparently, as between various types of iron and steel, there can be a very big difference in conductivity. I don't really have a good grasp of how thickness relates to conductivity. My understanding of the concept of conductivity in cookware is that it refers to the ability of cookware to distribute heat evenly over its surface in order to avoid hot spots. I think it's a fairly complex issue and that each metal has an ideal thickness for this purpose. Too thin or too thick and it won't be the best conductor it can be. This concept of conductivity, it seems to me, is not the same as the concept of how fast heat is spread. Perhaps a scientific type can straighten us out as to the exact formulae. Finally, I know you said the dimensions of the two woks were the same. But are they the same in shape? For example, is the flat part of the bottom the same size? Do the walls come up to the same height? These factors might be important.

I have two cheap, probably crappy woks (one flat bottom, one rounded bottom) woks purchased at Pratunam Market in Bangkok in the mid-70's. I probably paid 5 baht for them at the time. I have no clue whether they are stainless or aluminum. They must be "stamped" because the handles are not rivited on -- they are part and parcel of the woks. I should mention that until I redid the kitchen, I had a stand-alone propane burner thing with a lot of rings of jets. My stove is electric. Both of these woks heat and cool very rapidly. I have learned on the electric stove to use two burners at once -- one high, one medium or low. I should also add that the kitchen remodel was extensive cosmetic, but did not include new counters. The fact that my kitchen no longer has a place for my propane burner thingie has prompted me to tell DH that next summer, we will be replacing the counters on either side of the stove (probably with granite) and will be building in said burner thingie (techno talk). I've used these old woks for years, and love their responsiveness to heat. I can't imagine why anyone would want a "high end" flat (or round) bottomed wok.

For almost 30 years I used the same 14" flat-bottomed steel wok. Even when the handle loosened i wouldn't give it up. Last November everything changed. I bought a new wok, still flat-bottomed and still 14" and still made out of steel. But it was a thinner gauge metal, a highly conductive metal that heated more quickly and didn't retain the heat very long. It worked better! Could've knocked me over with a feather. It was hand-hammered and made in Hong Kong. I LOVE it. Haven't used that old wok even once since then. What kind of wok do you use, and why, and for what?

V, when frying them, I used a flat pan, not a wok, and having browned them very lightly on the other sides I leave them sitting on their bottoms until I think the latter have crisped up sufficiently. However, I still think yours sounds better. My concern is -- how do you control timing if you let the water boil away? Mine are only boiled 5 mins from frozen before I fry them. Also, do you use any oil?

FG was threatening to create a thread on reheating dumplings. Dumplings have never survived long enough in my house for the issue of reheating to arise, so I thought I would add to K's old dim sum thread instead. Here are related bits from the 'Most Popular Chinese Dishes' thread - if I got the quote thing right. V: FG: K: Unconvinced by K's assertion of the potential glamour, as opposed to unholy mess, of my method of cooking potstickers, I tried the other method last night: boiled in a pan of water then fried in the wok. Definitely less messy, apart from that moment when the dumplings are added to the wok with an almighty splatter. Altogether quicker and tidier but I'm not convinced by the results - elegant but a little anodyne. When using the wok I am unable to refrain from stir-frying out of sheer habit which means the dumplings got fried lightly all over. My wok is well-loved and old, so the dumplings don't stick at all. However, what I love about potstickers is the fact that on one side they are soft, and on the other they are crisp - almost burnt. My frying pan method often means they get stuck to the bottom of the pan and are damaged when I try to get them out - but that's part of the charm. Next time I'll try FG's way - in a deep pan. v

I have had trouble on occasion with too much oil residue on the finished popadoms as well. The things I noticed that were creating the problem were as follows. 1. Not using completely fresh oil. With fresh oil you can see the popadom almost instantly dry seconds after removal from the wok. Conversly, pre-used oil almost always sees the popadom leave the wok with an unwelcome sheen of oil. 2. The oil not being hot enough. This will be a persistant problem with oils with a low smoking point. 3. The oil being too hot - as the oil burns and breaks down you can get quite terrible results. It's very important to be fast whilst making the popadoms as they reduce the heat of the oil slightly when dropped in. Ensuring you have all the popdooms you intend to make to hand will help you produce them quickly enough to control the oil temp by swift, repetitive slight cooling of the oil. If you aren't fast enough, you need to try and control the oil temp by adjusting the heat being applied to the wok. Predictably, this usually means the oil is persistantly not quite hot enough. 4. Not standing the popadoms in a basket/container so they were upright thus allowing any excess oil to run off the popadom. 5. Variable qaulity of the popadoms - the poorer ones have tended to retain excess oil on their surface in my experience. However, it's not the easiest trick to know what is going to produce poorer results just by looking at them. Ideally, placing the popadom upright in absorbant paper should only be required to collect tiny amounts of residue. There should be no need to try and wipe the popadom or anything like that. I hope this helps.

This thread reminded me that I had a passion for frying papads some time ago - I would buy all different kinds in Indian shops and try them out and still have some lurking at the back of the cupboard. I think one of the reasons I stopped was that I could never get all the oil off them after frying, however thoroughly I tried to absorb it with kitchen paper. My method was with the wok, pretty well as ASC describes but without worrying about the shape. Any thoughts? v

FRIED GLUTINOUS (STICKY) RICE Try the following recipe but be careful to taste and check the seasonings (salt, soy, pepper, MSG). I'm writing this recipe out from memory and haven't had a chance to measure the exact proportions. I'd bet that it's on the money or pretty close. By the way, this is exactly the same techingque you would use for making regular fried rice. eatingwitheddie 3 c cooked sticky rice, chilled or room temperature 3 T vegetable oil 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 c finely minced onion 4 dried black mushrooms, soaked and cut into 1/3” dice 4 oz cooked meat: you may use one or a combination of meats such as roast pork, cooked Chinese sausage, ham and /or chicken, cut into 1/3” dice 4 waterchestnuts peeled, rinsed and cut into 1/3” dice (opt) 2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp ground white pepper 1/2 tsp MSG (opt) 1 T Kikkoman soy 1-1/2 T dark soy 1/2 c finely chopped scallions 1) Preheat your wok for 2-3 minutes: until it is smoking hot. With the heat turned to its highest level add the 3 T of vegetable oil swirling it so that the oil evenly coats the pan. Add the eggs and cook stirring for 5-10 seconds until they are mostly set. 2) Working quickly add the minced onions and mushrooms to the wok, and cook stirring constantly until the onions start to become translucent, about 30 seconds. 3) Next add the rice, meat and waterchestnuts and continue stir-frying for an additional 3-4 minutes: so that the rice grains separate from one another and the food starts to get hot. 4) Flavor the rice: When the rice in the wok is steaming hot, mix in the salt, pepper and optional MSG. Next add the two soys, and continue stirring so that everything is evenly colored and piping hot. Taste the rice for seasoning, it may need a little more salt or soy. Make sure to use enough dark soy so that the rice has a fairly deep brown color – a characteristic look for sticky rice. 5) At the last moment toss in the minced scallions, stir a few more times to distribute them evenly and serve. Keywords: Chinese, Main Dish, Intermediate, Rice ( RG146 )

Do you use a Chinese wok, or an Indian one? Does it matter?

An easy way to make the popadoms at home. You'll need; A Wok. 2l of oil with a high smoke point, perhaps sunflower or peanut oil. A pair of tongs. A carving fork. A basket lined with absorbant kitchen paper Focused attention on the task in hand - do not mess around with oils at this temperature! It's a useful idea to turn the handle of the wok to one side, away from your stomach, so as not to accidentally knock it. Heat the oil in the wok until it just begins to smoke. Break one popadum and drop a piece into the oil - if it expands almost instantly the oil is hot enough. Pick up a popdom with the tongs ( in your favoured hand), have the carving fork ready in the other hand. Place the popadom into the centre of the oil, release and start spinning and easing it into a circular shape with your tong and fork. Clasp the popadom and turn it in the oil and finish the shaping by dragging it out of the oil, up the side of the wok. You'll have about two seconds of reasonable flexibility still in the popadom to get the ideal result. This is why I find a wok so useful, the curved sides are perfect for the last moment forming of the popadom. Place the finished popadom in a basket lined with the absorbant paper to cool ready for eating. They will keep well in an airtight container for a few days, too. Be quick (the whole process takes less than ten seconds), but focus on safety until you are comfortable and confident with this technique. A mis-shaped popadom tastes every bit as good as a perfectly formed one provided you don't burn them. But, a burnt popadom is always better than a burnt you. They cost pennies so don't fret about perfecting your technique via experimentation. I just love popadoms. I can't get enough of the airy, light, nutty flavours they offer. Don't discard the oil - it now has an interesting additional flavour. While it is cooling, add a large peeled garlic clove, an eqaul sized piece of peeled ginger and a teaspoon of mixed peppercorns - removing the garlic and ginger when they starts to brown. Strain the oil to remove the peppercorns and bottle is when fuly cooled. Instant seasoned oil that's ideal for stir fry's or for use in marinades.

From the aforementioned feuilletage: "He has hired five dim sum experts from a Chinatown restaurant 'on Elizabeth Street' that neither Mr. Vongerichten nor the cooks will name, and an eight-man wok team, also from Chinatown, who also prefer not to talk about their previous employment." Why do you suppose? The secrecy I mean.

laura, for steaming I usually use bagged oolong or green teas steeped in the water. For smoking I use several old woks, lined with foil, lids also with foil so they can be crimped. I use leaves and mount the product (salmon or trout or tofu or whatever) on a rack.

Personally, I use a wok (stabilised with a wok stand) and a comparatively small amount of oil for the deep frying so things don't bubble over, and I open ALL the windows. Still, things do get pretty steamed up.

I wouldn't flavor the dumpling filling with vinegar or szechuan peppercorns but would suggest you make a soy based dipping sauce using both. Try something like 4T soy, 3T water, 1 T sugar, 1 T vinegar (regular vinegar works well -- but this is a good place to use black Chinese Chengkong rice vinegar if you have some available), 1 clove minced garlic, 1t minced ginger, a little sesame oil, and some (a little) of your Szechuan peppercorn salt. MSG is sold under the brand name 'accent' in the spice section of most grocery stores. If you find it and want to use it, it will add a nice savory and tasty quality to your filling. You can still make the dumplings taste quite good without the MSG. Dumplings and wontons are similar but with different shapes, skins and fillings. By the way, Szechuan pepercorn salt is meant to be used as a condiment for dipping roast and fried foods into. It is usually made quite easily at home and I have never seen it sold prepared already. To use Szechuan peppercorn as a flavoring agent in a dish we usually just use straight peppercorns which have been briefly warmed ('toasted') in a dry wok for a minute and then crushed with a mortar or in a little spice grinder (chop them with a knife if you lack this equipment). Send me some. We can't buy them in the US any longer! Illegal! Stupid!

Thai food. Buy decent red curry paste. Fry in a little oil, add a can of coconut milk, mix. Add chunks of fish, shrimp, mussels, scallops, etc. When they're cooked, add a can of straw mushrooms and/or baby corn. People go nuts. Noodles -- buy fresh rice noodles. Stir-fry some garlic and onion, shredded chicken or pork, add noodles, light & dark soy, a few dashes of fish sauce. The key is about a tspoon of sugar, then push the stuf to the side and crack an egg in the wok. That combo give the uniquely Thai flavor that most people don't expect in a home stir-fry. (Fresh hot basil is also good.)

How many different salts do you have? I think I have five, but I'd have to check. Fleur de sel Grey salt Sea salt (course generic kind) for the salt grinder Hawaiian (pink) salt Kosher I suppose it's six if you count table salt, but I only use that for absorbing fresh stains in the carpet and buffing my wok and cast iron skillets. What do you use your different salts for? Are there any others that I should add to my collection?

So how many different salts do you have? I think I have five, but I'd have to check. Fleur de sel Grey salt Sea salt (generic kind) for the salt grinder Hawaiian (pink) salt Kosher I suppose it's six if you count table salt, but I only use that for absorbing fresh stains in the carpet and buffing my wok and cast iron skillets.

QUOTE (johnjohn @ Jan 5 2003, 11:18 PM) ED - Does it make a difference in flavor if your wok is nonstick or not? The flavor is absolutely the same. It's simply that nonstick work well for certain things such as cooking eggs or noodles that might break into pieces if they stuck to the pan I would of thought using a steel wok would allow bits of the meat/vegetables to caramelize on the surface of the wok and when deglazed with stock, water, or wine the flavor would be enhanced. I have been using a nonstick one for the past 5 or so years, and have been happy with the results. But have been thinking about purchasing a steel one the next time I am in Chinatown. johnjohn

Suzanne F: Thanks for your: IMHO, it's not the gelatine -- if anything, that might act as a binder. I, too, was hoping that the gelatine would help the texture of the sauce, not hurt it. Thanks also for your: I don't see any mention of having removed the excess fat from the braising liquid. Did you forget to mention doing it, or did you not skim? Well, I did several drafts of that question, and some of them included lots of details but, alas, were too long. Yes, in this dish, I was concerned with both skimming for scum early in the simmering of the braising and skimming for fat in the braising liquid after the braising. I did try skimming, both times. The skimming didn't yield much either time. The early skimming was with a genuine skimming tool, 'spoon' with a very flat round bowl with many little holes, and the late skimming was with just a cooking spoon. A Fat Skimming Procedure: For the late skimming, I borrow a little from standard industrial separation techniques. With my crude pragmatic kitchen approximation, the procedure becomes: (1) From the braising liquid, take off a lot, to be sure to get essentially all of the fat, and don't mind getting maybe more of the water based liquid than the fat. So, now the original pot has no fat and have a small bowl with some water-based liquid but all the fat, and with the fat in a much higher concentration than in the original pot. (2) With this small bowl, skim getting essentially only fat. (3) For what is left in that small bowl, skim getting all the fat but likely including some of the water based liquid. Etc. Bowls with all fat, combine. Bowls with no fat, combine. The rest put in a third bowl. Continue until the volume in the third bowl is too small in total volume to worry with. Done. I did this procedure, and there was too little fat to be concerned with, in total. For the scum, the browning may have done enough to cook the proteins to reduce the scum and the simmering may have been gentle enough not to generate a lot of scum. The big chunk of fat in the tail of the chicken I did toss into the frying pan (actually used a steel wok) at the beginning of the browning. The browning was quite hot, the wok over 170,000 BTU/hour burner, so that chunk of fat likely went to smoke. I did put the bones, skin, scraps in a pot and simmered for a day or two. That pot did have a fairly thick layer of fat, likely from the skin. For the gelatine, one guess is that it grabs the water and leaves too little for the roux to bind with. Just a guess. For your: And any fat that leaches out of the chicken when it's heated in the sauce will just float on top. Well, the chicken doesn't get into the sauce until 'final assembly'. By then, the full collection of chicken from the braising has been separated into bones, skin, scraps in one pot and nice chunks of just chicken, very low in fat, in another pot. Only the chicken in this second pot gets combined with the sauce. This chicken is so low in fat that it can't contribute much to a separation problem after final assembly. It may be that the sauce has enough salt that this chicken contributes some water-based liquid after final assembly, but with a little stirring that should join with the sauce well enough -- and that's my experience so far. Net, the separation problem is not any worse after final assembly. For your Also, when you add the reduced braising liquid to the roux "all at once" do you just pour it all in and then stir, or do you whisk it as you're pouring? Wow! I'm getting a serious response from a serious cook that's been there, done that, gotten the T-shirt! There is some huge collection of recommended procedures for adding a liquid to a roux. In my question I outlined the procedure that has worked for me for decades. I worked this out back in the 1960s from direct experiments just with the basic ingredients and not connected with anything to eat. Made a mess in the kitchen for days, found something that worked, made notes, and have used the results since. The procedure has always worked fine until this case with this braising liquid. Back in the 1960s, there was a fairly serious kitchen supply store on the east side of CT Avenue in DC -- and that likely uniquely identifies it. They sold some long wooden cooking 'spatulas' with nearly all convex surfaces. They are a lot like wooden cooking spoons except have no 'bowls', just an oval 'blade' instead. Also, the quality of the wood is excellent, birch, maple, or some such. Actually, there were two woods available, and I have a supply of each. One of the woods is nearly furniture quality and I keep for folding egg whites, etc. The other has a little more grain and is better for sauce making. Naw, not for sale! So, the spatulas with the wood with more grain are excellent for stirring a roux because the wooden end of the oval blade does well wiping the roux off the bottom of the pot, keeping the flour and butter mixed, and not letting anything get too hot. So, I use one of these spatulas during the heating of the roux. I start by just putting the flour (room temperature) and the butter (refrigerator temperature) in a 2 quart (old) Farberware pot. I heat gently so that the butter does not separate and stir with the spatula. I get the liquid to be added -- reduced braising liquid, milk, cream, whatever -- simmering. Then I turn up the heat on the roux, get it bubbling gently, look at the seconds counter on my watch, often lift the pot off the burner to regulate the heat, and bubble gently with constant rapid stirring for 30 seconds when I'm in a hurry and 60 seconds otherwise. Right away (no delay -- have found that any delay here can hurt the action of the roux), I put the pot down off heat and dump in the liquid all at once. I just dump. All at once. Quickly I pick up the pot and the spatula, stir quickly, put the pot back on the burner, keep stirring quickly, wipe the spatula blade clean on the edge of the pot, put down the spatula, pick up a wire whip (of stainless steel, also bought in the 1960s), and whip violently. The usual result is a thick, homogeneous, glossy, slowly bubbling sauce -- VICTORY. Until now. For your Your final proportions of flour and butter to liquid should yield a somewhat thick velout‚ -- medium weight would be 2 T each flour and fat to 1 cup liquid; you've got 2 extra T flour for your 4 cups total liquid. I don't see a problem there. Yes, you get the picture. It has worked well, for decades, back to 'Coquille St. Jacques Parisienne', crab meat moistened with Bechamel, wrapped in crepes, topped with such a sauce, various efforts at poaching frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts, 'gravy' for Thanksgiving turkey, sauce from braising goose, etc. Yes, you are correct about the 2 T of extra flour -- it is a little cheating, but it has worked well. For Finally: did you try burr-mixing the sauce with a stick blender after adding the cream? If so, did it stay together, or break later? Don't have a stick blender. I just use a wire whip, but it's a good one, and I have a strong arm and whip hard. Besides, I didn't really try later: I added stock and cream and got a thinner but reasonably stable sauce right away. Also, with just the 4 C of liquid, it really looks like it has no real hope of being stable. So, the curious point, and the base of the question, is that the difference appears to be the gelatine. For Oh, please, PLEASE don't switch to milk. Yuck. Goodbye, flavor. Exactly! loufood: Thanks for And I don't know if this will help in your case but a quick fix for a sauce separated from overheating is to re-bind it a little at a time with cold water. Take your sauce off the heat, tip the pot at about a 45 degree angle if possible, drizzle in a little cold water/liquid, whisk gently as it starts to bind, start pulling in the separated sauce into the fixed sauce, repeat as needed until completely reincorporated. I've done that with hollandaise. But for this sauce for chicken, the separation was not total. Supposedly the universe is sheets and strings of galaxies surrounding large voids. Well, the sauce was sheets and strings of liquid butter fat surrounding large globs of thick sauce. So, it was enough just to pour in some hot chicken stock (from the pot of 6 quarts) and pour in some more cream (in this case, still cool) and whip. Then the sauce came together and was reasonably stable. Overnight in the refrigerator, it gets nearly solid. Heated in a microwave oven, it starts to separate again, but a little stirring makes it homogeneous again. But, without the extra liquid (e.g., stock and cream, more than the 4 C I was planning), so far I don't see the sauce becoming homogeneous or stable. These proportions always worked well before. The only difference I can think of is the gelatine. Thanks. schaem: Thanks for I rarely use roux, but I would try adding the roux to the sauce, not sauce to the roux. And do it little by little, as if you were mounting with butter. You can mount a lot of butter in a little sauce (gelatin not a factor) so you should be able to with roux (which must be even more stable than butter). WOW! Actually, in part I am borrowing from page 384 of Jacques P‚pin, 'Jacques P‚pin's Complete Techniques', ISBN 1-57912-165-9, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York, 2001. where he does "Chicken Pie", and much like you are suggesting he adds a 'buerre mani‚'. For more detail: He tops with puff pastry, and I'm not. He starts with a 3 1/2 pound chicken, and mine is 7 pounds. He reduces the braising liquid to 1 C, and I reduced to 1 1/2 C, although for the first trial I braised only the breast, legs and wings and did not include the back, neck, heart, and gizzard which I have included since (and, thus gotten more flavor and gelatine). To the reduced braising liquid he adds a 'buerre mani‚' of 1 t of flour with 1 t of butter. I didn't see the point of so little butter and flour and in my first trial used a roux of 2 T of flour with 2 T of butter. He adds heavy cream, and in my first trial so did I. In my first trial, I concluded that when the sauce was hot, it was too thin. In the refrigerator, cold, the sauce looks great; as it warms, it gets too thin for my tastes. Malawry: Thanks for your suggestions. You wrote: I agree with Suzanne that gelatin is an unlikely culprit, and that defatting your sauce will help if you're not already doing so. But I think the biggest problem is adding all your liquid at once to the roux. Even if you're whisking as you do it, it seems like the most likely issue to me. My roux-liquid combination technique has apparently been working fine for decades. But, even when the technique has appeared to work, maybe I've been too close to the edge and actually gotten sauces less stable than I should have. Now I'm over the edge. It is true that when I continued and added egg yolks and softened butter I got a less stable sauce, but I've always thought that this was to be accepted. I've been guessing that here something different has been going on. Maybe setting aside my personal roux-liquid technique and using a more traditional technique would make a stable combination. ngatti: You wrote: FWIW, Sounds like you haven't stretched the gluten in the roux enough. In other words cook it and stir it a bit longer. If your chicken stock is reduced to as gelatinous a stage as you say then the additional cooking of the roux won't sully the color. Instead of merely bubbling for 30 seconds. Vigorously cook and stir until you detect a faint odor of almonds. That's a blonde roux. Sounds like what you're currently using is essentially warm Beurre Manie. As Suzanne said, good for a thickening at the finish, but very likely to break if cooked for any length of time, and your description sounds like a broken sauce. WOW! Yes, you are correct; my 'roux' is just a 'buerre mani‚' that has received what used to be commonly described as some 'pre-cooking' of the flour to reduce the taste of "raw flour". The idea of developing the gluten in a roux is new to me but sounds promising. You're right about the color: By the time the chicken is browned darkly in a steel wok over 170,000 BTU/hour and braised and the braising liquid reduced, the liquid is quite dark, and nothing could hurt the color. A few drops of the reduced braising liquid that splatter quickly gel into at least a medium brown. Also, in the last trial, having run out of fresh parsley, I included 1/4 C of dry parsley flakes in the braising, and they mostly didn't want to strain out, made the reduced braising liquid still darker, and basically stayed in the final dish. Also, in one of the trials, I concluded that having ground black pepper present when the chicken is browned generates some interesting aromas, so have been adding about 2 T of such pepper to the chicken before browning, and that pepper, browned, makes the braising liquid darker, still. I am including the back of the chicken in the browning and the braising, and browning all that back skin should add a lot of browned flavor. The back should add some 'chicken broth' to the braising liquid. Similarly for the neck, heart, and gizzard. The back does contribute a little meat to the final dish but not much. And, I cut the wing at all its joints so that the wing skin can contact the wok surface better and get more brown. Also, somewhat related, after I boil the mushroom slices until they give up their water and boil the water away, I continue cooking the slices in a dry steel wok over high heat (the 170,000 BTU/hour propane burner) until the surfaces of the mushrooms toast. Here are some more browned flavors. So, I'm going for some 'rustic, robust' flavors and not some delicate chicken version of a 'Blanquette de Veau'. So, sure, cooking the roux until it starts to smell a little of toasted flour wouldn't hurt the color of this dish. These color and flavor points, then, partly explain why I'd rather stay with the cream, or even use P‚pin's heavy cream, and not go to milk: I'm guessing that the robust flavors of the braising liquid and then the delicate flavors of the cream create an interesting balanced combination, sort of the cream's white purity providing culinary 'retribution' for the dark sins of the browning! Actually, the robust flavors are not as overwhelming as might be expected: Including either parsnips or too many peas can dominate the dish. The cream can compete. Thanks for all the suggestions! Time to get another chicken, some more mushrooms, peas, parsley, thyme, butter, and cream, thaw out 4 C of chicken stock, shovel the snow from the propane cooker, and try again!

ED - Does it make a difference in flavor if your wok is nonstick or not? Also, an earlier post got me thinking about nuts in Chinese cooking - are the nuts usually salted and roasted - or just raw. thanks johnjohn

I make Chaat Papri with tortillas. It is an Indian street food dish. Traditionally we would use whole wheat crisps (similar to tortilla chips). These are tossed with cooked chickpeas, cubes of boiled potatoes, salted and flavored yogurt (I add finely minced mint leaves, toasted cumin seed powder, cayenne, salt and some black salt and very finely minced green chili). These are than garnished with generous sums of tamarind chutney and cilantro/mint chutneys (recipes are in the TDG piece on Bhel Puri), chopped cilantro leaves and juliennes of ginger. Lucknowi Chaat Crispy whole wheat wafers combined in a cool and tangy spiced yogurt sauce, tamarind-date chutney topped with chickpeas, potatoes and ginger. * 1 small package of whole-wheat tortillas (flour ones do just as well) * 1 16oz. can of chickpeas, nicely drained to wash away the canning juices * 3 large red potatoes, boiled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes * 32oz. Container of homestyle Plain Yogurt * 2 inch piece of ginger root, julienned finely * Tamarind-Date Chutney * Black Salt to taste * Salt to taste * 1 tsp Sugar * 2 tsp Chaat Masala * 4 tsp toasted cumin powder * 1 tsp cayenne pepper. Optional * 4 green chillies, chopped finely, optional * 1 cup of chopped fresh Cilantro * Sprouted mung beans or French lentils, optional * Lemon juice, only if using sprouts * Canola oil for deep frying Serves: 6 In a deep frying pan or wok pour enough oil to fill it to a depth of 1 1/2 inches. Using a long sharp knife cut the tortillas into 1/2 inch squares or bite sized diamonds and set aside. When the oil is hot (375 degrees F), drop a handful or two of the tortillas into the oil. Fry till golden brown in color and drain on paper towels. Do the same with remaining tortillas and when done let cool till the wafers are crisp. In a mixing bowl whisk the yogurt, black salt, sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, chaat masala, 2 tsp. toasted cumin and a quarter cup of the cilantro greens. The yogurt mix should feel like a light pancake batter consistency. Dilute with milk if needed. Set aside. In a serving platter or individual salad plates arrange the wafers, chickpeas and potatoes as you feel like. I often like to dip some of the wafers into the yogurt mix and arrange them loosely around the plate or platter. When you have used all the wafers, potatoes and chick peas, divide the yogurt mix equally over each plate or over the platter. Sprinkle the top of each plate or the platter with generous splatters of the Tamarind-Date chutney. Sprinkle the cumin powder on this and garnish with the ginger and cilantro. If using the sprouts, toss them with a little salt and lemon juice. You can arrange these on the rim of the plate or on the sides of the platter. Note: Chaat Masala, Tamarind-Date chutney and the Black Salt are easily available in Indian Stores nationwide.

A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR PREPARING SAUTEED RICE CAKES Sliced rice cakes are a food eaten all year round but are especially eaten during the New Year (which is coming up in just a few weeks). From a cooking point of view they are treated like those fat chow fun rice noodles. That is to say they require no boiling in water or preliminary cooking. They just need to be heated and flavored and tossed with whatever ingredients, meat, veg and seasonings that are to your taste. When just made rice cakes are soft and pliable but become firmer after chilling (sitting in the fridge). I might suggest a brief stay in the microwave as a means of softening them or another good and the traditional approach is to put a little oil in a very well preheated pan and put in the cakes, stirring them from time to time to keep them from browning and heating them up for a couple of minutes. I like to use my non-stick wok for this purpose. After heating you should then remove them from the wok and proceed to precook any meat or veg that requires it, remove that from the wok, and then start to make a seasoning sauce. Typically we might saute a little ginger, garlic and scallion, return the rice cakes, meat, and veggies to the wok, and then saute and season until everything is heated through, a minute or two. Flavorings should include a sprinkling of sherry or rice wine, salt (make sure to use enough or the dish will be bland), MSG (if you like), a little sugar (1t maybe), some white pepper, and a couple of tablespoons of soy. Taste the dish as you're tossing it to balance the flavors. It should be dry without any liquid sauce. Should you like it hot/spicy add some fresh or dried chile with the ginger and other herbals or some chile paste if you prefer that flavor. A drop of sesame oil right before plating will make your dish smell seductive. In Shanghai restaurants, which is where rice cakes are usually available, they typically make a saute using shredded pork, a little spinach, some shrimp and a little salted Shanghai cabbage.

Jason: You wrote that you want a 30,000BTU professional wok burner (approx ?) for the kitchen we are redoing. Dont have the space for it. Definitely over the top, but god do I want one. :) You mean 30,000 BTU/hour? Likely. Now, now, why struggle over something so small when you can get much more so easily?!!! I refer, of course, to that tool of the hot and powerful, an outdoor propane burner intended for heating pots of Louisiana shellfish on beaches. Constructed of welded iron rods with a cast iron burner in the middle with some brass fittings and a rubber hose ended with a regulator valve. Elegant? No. Powerful? Yes. I got mine at that esteemed emporium of the culinary erudite elite, Sam's Club. The packing box claims King Kooker Manufactured by Metal Fusion, Inc. 712 St. George Ave. Jefferson, LA 70121 (504) 736-0201 Model No. 88 PKP "FOR OUTDOOR USE ONLY". "170,000 BTU CAST IRON BURNER". Ah, they also didn't specify per hour. My notes also say http://www.kingkooker.com/ 1-800-783-3885 For this, outdoors is not a handicap: Really, you don't want this in your kitchen! Trust me on this one! For my last usage, I did a 'chicken casserole'. So, got a 7 pound chicken, cut it up, cutting at all the leg and wing joints, removed and discarded the red jelly material from between the ribs and under the membranes of the back. Cut the liver into a few pieces, sauteed gently in some chicken fat, removed to a nice dish, deglazed the pan with some chicken broth, reduced and stirred to get a smooth sauce, poured over the liver, set on a nice tray, put on the floor, and called my kitty cat. Continuing with the casserole, took a 14" diameter Chinese round bottomed steel wok, fired up the burner, which quickly melted the accumulated snow, heated the wok, added pepper to the chicken pieces and and browned them skin side down first, including the neck, gizzard, and heart, and added to a pot. Measured out 4 C of dry white Chardonnay, used about 1 1/2 C to deglaze the wok, added to the pot, added rest of wine to pot, added 4 C of French style chicken stock (essentially the P. Franey recipe in the 1970 Time-Life 'Classic French Cooking'), added 2 ounces of fresh parsley and a sprig of fresh thyme, simmered, covered, braised for 30 minutes, separated, put meat diced in one bowl, skin, bones, scraps, vegetables in another bowl, and returned braising liquid to pot. Poached 3 pounds of vegetables -- onions, carrots, peeled celery -- in the braising liquid and removed the vegetables. Strained the braising liquid. Put 24 ounces of large (about 1 ounce each) white mushrooms, sliced 3-5 slices each, in wok, added 1 C of water, covered, cooked until water was gone and the mushrooms had given up their liquid. Removed the cover, turned up the heat, and browned the mushrooms. In this operation, if the propane heat is high enough, actually can brown the mushrooms before they give up their water. Also, to get the mushrooms to give their water, should use a cover and not have the heat very high. If the propane heat is high enough to generate a tall column of steam, then again boil away the water before getting the mushrooms cooked. Poached 1 pound of frozen baby peas (Green Giant 'Le Sueur') in some water, drained, discarded the poaching liquid. Strained the braising liquid, reduced to 1 1/2 C, added 1/4 C minced fresh strong garlic, let the garlic simmer for maybe 20 seconds, added to a white roux, added light cream, whipped, corrected for S&P, combined with the diced braised chicken, the poached vegetables, the browned mushrooms, the peas, placed over low heat, covered, heated through, and ate with some of the white wine. The propane burner did well with browning both the chicken and the mushrooms. My unit is now old. The weather ruined the regulator, so I got some brass hose fittings at a hardware store and some rubber fuel hose at an auto supply store, used some epoxy, and made a new hose. So, I'm using this without a regulator (which may be somewhat dangerous) and using just the valve on the propane tank as the throttle. Works well enough. Also, since propane can be dangerous, I'm using this outdoors, on a very open porch, maybe 12 feet off the ground, with plenty of cracks between the boards of the floor of the porch. I have no commercial interest in this propane unit, but the power level, the 170,000 BTU/hour, is gratifying. As I recall, the price was about $30. I use the wok with a 'potholder' glove in one hand, to hold the steel wok handle, which gets hot, and a long commercial kitchen stainless steel cooking spoon in the other hand. Works well enough. The steel wok over that propane burner makes a nice way to brown 7 pounds or so of chicken. The heat from this propane burner cracked my Griswold cast iron frying pan, and I was disappointed to discover that the new frying pans do not have a machined interior. So, for doing sauteing over the propane, I've settled on just plain steel, either that wok or a steel saute pan.

I'm curious -- is there a general rule for how long to steam a whole fish? I'd love to do it, and have a big enough steamer tray for my wok, but have no idea. So long per pound, or some such? Is it different for whole, fillets, and steaks? And what happens to the fish if you overcook it? Does the flesh dry out as it would with other cooking methods?

I'm with Human Bean, I use what's at hand - usually the chopsticks in the wok if I'm steaming a large dish or I can use the insert with the rice cooker if it's a small item (like one BBQ pork bun). I usually steam items like fish; stuffed tofu, eggplant, or bitter melon; meat cakes (like beef and waterchestnuts, or pork and chinese sausage - I'm going to try a new one my mom suggested - pork with chinese sausage, water chestnuts, shitake mushrooms and dried oysters); savoury egg custard with shrimp paste; duck egg custard with pork and waterchestnuts; or even chicken with taro root and chinese sausage.