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Hi... My name is Luis Jiménez, I'm 43 years old and I'm very happy to join this community, I've been here before, but only as a lurker and I just decided to take the plunge and become a member. I like to cook and I like to learn, so, this seems to be the right place to be. I've been cooking professionally for the past 25 years and I'm the author of a book called "Pero querías ser chef..." (only in Spanish but hopefully soon in English too), I'm a blogger too but my main thing is to run the kitchen of a 200 seat restaurant in my home town, and as you know that is overwhelming sometimes but very rewarding too when things run smooth...wich is not easy, and I have to confess, as we say in the cooking world: "I'm in the weeds" more often than not. I'm a chef but I prefer to be considered a cook because that is what got me in the kitchen, my love for cooking and the love for the food that my mother cooked for me and our family. I like to sharpen my knives, to cook on the charcoal grill, the wok and the griddle, but also to cook with technology like rational ovens, thermocirculators and thermomix too. I'm an avid reader, a curious, and friendly guy that loves photography and motorcycling too. I'll be reading and learning as much as I can from you all, and if there is a question that I can answer correctly, I'll do so very gladly. Best regards from México amigos!

It's not actually a wok. It's a northern Chinese/Mongolian hotpot chafing dish. A soup is cooked elsewhere then added to the outer ring. Various ingredients (lamb/mutton and vegetables) are added by the diners, who essentially cook dinner themselves in the soup - fondue style. Very popular in winter. In fact, I hate winter food in China. It's the same every day. Here in the south we don't have the dishes with the central funnel/pot. The central pots seem to have various uses. I'm not sure which is most traditional. (Your chip and dip analogy may not be so far off. I confess I had to Google 'chip and dip'.) I will consult wiser people than me in the morning. You caught me at bedtime - I'll add more tomorrow, unless someone chips or dips in first.

Please, I need your help. I can't imagine what this wok would be used for. That piece in the middle is welded to the wok. Do you have any idea how this would be used? I saw this in my Chinese restaurant supply place and the young man that owns the store wasn't much help. The wok is about 14 or 16 in. wide. It looks like it would make a heck of a good chip and dip dish but I can't imagine the Chinese sitting down to a feast of chip and dip. Much less, eating them out of a wok. I'm sorry, I can't get the second picture out of this post

Why do Chinese recipes call for adding dried peppers directly to hot oil in the wok? When you add dried Japones or Thai Peppers directly to hot oil in wok they end up being like dried out shoe leather and have to be picked out of the stir fry! Many Hunan or Schezuan recipes call for this. I ask because in Mexican cooking dried peppers are reconstituted in boiling water first and then usually put in blender to make sauce. What am I missing?????

Thanks! It used to be available down here in So Cal but no longer. I was told that it was due to a family dispute but I didn't know if that was just the long distance distribution or if it was still available locally. I'll look forward to your wok adventures! And back on topic, I posted my lunch over in the Six Seasons thread. Radishes with Tonnato, Slivered Almonds (subbed in for the recipe's sunflower seeds) and Lemon:

Nope, but I'm sure it's sold at Asian markets all throughout the City. Speaking of which (this is OT), I'm starting to get into Chinese cooking. I will start a thread on that soon or join an existing one. Anyway, B bought a non-stick wok for me at this store for $20 that was made in Korea. I thanked him and told him I'd probably use it for steaming, and that we should probably visit the Wok Shop instead to get the real deal.

Sichuan Boneless Chicken (from Martin Yan’s ‘A Wok For All Seasons’), Baby Bok Choy in Oyster Flavored Sauce and Ginger Citrus Rice

I, too was thinking a turkey fryer burner or wok burner would be much less expensive. I also found one for home-brewing designed to boil lots of liquid quickly that looked more stable than some of the others. You could probably use it indoors under an adequate hood. But for now, I'd just get a bigger pot. Something like this - Is a triple batch enough for now? http://a.co/03NmrKd

This year I received measuring cups/spoons, several silicone spatulas of various sizes. A hot pad with school art work from my niece, a 7 piece set of silicone spurtles, silicone whisk, chocolates, Walkers shortbread cookies , and a Magic Bullet . (3 years ago I received a 14" T-fal nonstick wok. thus the reason behind all the silicone utensils.) And I forgot to add, a 2# wheel of Brie!

After many iterations, I sear straight from the sous vide cook with the following parameters: I use an iron, fully-seasoned wok heated over a wok burner to the hottest it will go. The outside of the steak has to be dried (I use paper towels). No oil in the pan, I oil the outside of the steak. A light sprinkle of salt is added to the oiled steak prior to searing. The sear on each side is very brief. I've also done a deep fry sear and that is also excellent.

Ooh, that looks good. I knew of the dextrose/soda thing from wok preps like Mongolian Beef, but I didn't think of it for steaks. Homebrew here I come.

My dinner posts are going to be limited to the weekends since I tend to wok work long hours during the week. This was last Sunday's dinner. Definitely more mundane than the above. Yogurt chicken curry served with mango pickle Roasted cauliflower Pearl couscous cooked in vegetable broth with preserved lemon, onion and cilantro Fresh pineapple for dessert

1) What is your favourite restaurant (apart from your own) I've been lucky enough to eat in starred restaurants, but if I'm being honest, my favourite, the place I was happiest in my mind and mouth, is a tiny hole-in-the-wall Sichuan place operated by lovely couple near my home in the Chinese countryside. He cooks; she does front-of-hole. When they get busy, which happens more than you might expect for a place in the middle of nowhere, they employ students from the local colleges to help out, and they are lovely too. 2) What is your most important ingredient in the kitchen, and why? My mood. Because you can't cook well, even for yourself, without love. 3) What tool is most important in your kitchen, and why? My wok(s). Because there is almost nothing you can't cook in a wok and lots you can only cook in a wok. 4) Which restaurant, anywhere, is your dream destination to dine? A tiny father and son restaurant on a lonely Thai island where I spent a honeymoon. The island was empty apart from me and the Mrs and the restaurant staff of two. We ordered crab and the son disappeared and came back dripping wet with a beautiful specimen he had just dived for. Father cooked it to perfection. Sadly, wife is no longer with us, but I dream to go back. 5) What trend do you see becoming popular in restaurants in the next year? Where? In the west, more regional Asian food. There is a plethora of unknown dishes, still. Here in China, unfortunately, more ersatz western dishes cooked by people who have only ever seen pictures of the real thing and then imagined the recipe. 6) What trend would you most like to see go away? The increasing misuse of words and phrase on menus which only demonstrate the writer's ignorance of their native tongue. "Iteration" does not mean "variation" or even "version". 'Flavor profile' nearly almost just means 'flavor'. Grrrrr! Just tell me what I'm going to eat. I'm not a moron.

I have a couple of glass things which I do use for oven stuff like cottage pie or fruit crumbles. Pretty much everything else is stainless steel, except for my woks which are cast iron, but what I really like to use is wood. Obviously in limited applications, but for serving or mixing bowls, there is just something that comforts my inner primeval. Ditto bamboo, cos that is what I can find most easily here beyond the bamboo curtain.

Last week, Liuzhou government invited a number of diplomats from Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar/Burma, Poland, and Germany to visit the city and prefecture. They also invited me along as an additional interpreter. We spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday introducing the diplomats to the culture of the local ethnic groups and especially to their food culture. First off, we headed two hours north into the mountains of Rongshui Miao Autonomous County. The Miao people (苗族 miáo zú), who include the the Hmong, live in the mid-levels of mountains and are predominantly subsistence farmers. Our first port of call was the county town, also Rongshui (融水 róng shuǐ, literal meaning: Melt Water) where we were to have lunch. But before lunch we had to go meet some people and see their local crafts. These are people I know well from my frequent work trips to the area, but for the diplomats, it was all new. So, I had to wait for lunch, and I see no reason why you shouldn't either. Here are some of the people I live and work with. This lovely young woman is wearing the traditional costume of an unmarried girl. Many young women, including her, wear this every day, but most only on festive occasions. Her hat is made from silver (and is very heavy). Here is a closer look. Married women dispense with those gladrags and go for this look: As you can see she is weaving bamboo into a lantern cover. The men tend to go for this look, although I'm not sure that the Bluetooth earpiece for his cellphone is strictly traditional. The children don't get spared either This little girl is posing with the Malaysian Consul-General. After meeting these people we went on to visit a 芦笙 (lú shēng) workshop. The lusheng is a reed wind instrument and an important element in the Miao, Dong and Yao peoples' cultures. Then at last we headed to the restaurant, but as is their custom, in homes and restaurants, guests are barred from entering until they go through the ritual of the welcoming cup of home-brewed rice wine. The consular staff from Myanmar/Burma and Malaysia "unlock" the door. Then you have the ritual hand washing part. Having attended to your personal hygiene, but before entering the dining room, there is one more ritual to go through. You arrive here and sit around this fire and wok full of some mysterious liquid on the boil. On a nearby table is this Puffed rice, soy beans, peanuts and scallion. These are ladled into bowls. with a little salt, and then drowned in the "tea" brewing in the wok. This is 油茶 (yóu chá) or Oil Tea. The tea is made from Tea Seed Oil which is made from the seeds of the camellia bush. This dish is used as a welcoming offering to guests in homes and restaurants. Proper etiquette suggests that three cups is a minimum, but they will keep refilling your cup until you stop drinking. First time I had it I really didn't like it, but I persevered and now look forward to it. L-R: Director of the Foreign Affairs Dept of Liuzhou government, consuls-general of Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos. Having partaken of the oil tea, finally we are allowed to enter the dining room, where two tables have been laid out for our use. Let the eating, finally, begin. In no particular order: Steamed corn, taro and sweet potato Bamboo Shoots Duck Banana leaf stuffed with sticky rice and mixed vegetables and steamed. Egg pancake with unidentified greenery Stir fried pork and beans Stir fried Chinese banana (Ensete lasiocarpum) Pig Ears This may not look like much, but was the star of the trip. Rice paddy fish, deep fried in camellia tree seed oil with wild mountain herbs. We ate this at every meal, cooked with slight variations, but never tired of it. Stir fried Greens Our meal was accompanied by the wait staff singing to us and serving home-made rice wine (sweetish and made from the local sticky rice). Everything we ate was grown or reared within half a kilometre of the restaurant and was all free-range, organic. And utterly delicious. Roll on dinner time. On the trip I was designated the unofficial official photographer and ended up taking 1227 photographs. I just got back last night and was busy today, so I will try to post the rest of the first day (and dinner) as soon as I can.

So, next I cut up a whole bunch of red bell peppers and onions and grated the ginger for the Honey Chicken. Then I moved on and cut up more onions and broccoli for the lo mein. I had some green beans that I had done in the Instant Pot left over from the tart the other day so I thought those would go good in there, too. Lo mein is super easy. Get a pint jar with a lid and put in 3T. of soy sauce, 1 t. sesame oil and 1t. sugar. Shake it up. Boil your water and cook your noodles --I use this brand Heat a bit of oil in a skillet or wok and sauté what ever veggies you think sound good--I did onions and broccoli--didn't have to do the beans as they were already soft enough. When the veggie are done to your liking add a shot of mirin and give it all a stir then add the drained noodles and your sauce. I put the pork belly in the instant pot along with the whole can of broth. 30 minutes, high pressure, natural release. Heavenly. And, we have a whole bunch of really wonderful broth to use later. Then, I used the other instant pot to make the rice. Then I tossed the chicken into the honey sauce. Then I fried the egg rolls. Then I had like 20 glasses of wine. Kidding. Maybe. Here is everything finished Honey Chicken Pork Belly Lo mein Eggrolls Our hunter's plate And this is happening as we speak---Chum is in her lookout chair in the shootin' house.

This is my first time ever making bread with yeast. I also had the issue of scale accuracy <1g so I went with volume using the scale as a sanity check for those ingredients. Proofed at ~75-80degrees for an hour and 10 minutes. I accidentally did the 30 minutes covered at 450f and finished uncovered at 470f but the bottom seems slightly burnt. Second loaf came out questionable as I only have one dutch oven and did it in my cast iron pan with a wok cover for a lid. I think it will taste fine it just didn't end up with as nice as an oven spring as this one in addition to botching the shape a bit. I like the taste, but I can't lie it feels like something is missing without natural yeast. The whole grains give it a nice flavour but I like a nice super sour bread. Dead nuts simple recipe though and I can't wait to get my hands on the full book. Fingers crossed! My bread journey is just starting.

We tried making shrimp chips in the fryer. Brilliant. We brushed the chips with a little oil and put them in the fryer at 390F for just a couple of minutes and they were cooked. The only problem is they curl up rather than being flatter like when you make them in a wok with tongs. Virtually no fat on them. Will be making these again. sorry no picture.

Another vote for the Lacanche. We have a Saulieu and it was the best kitchen decision we made in our remodel. I especially love the French top. You can do low simmers on it, or you can take the round center part out and pop in the wok ring, and it becomes a super high heat wok burner. The build quality is great but the technology is very simple, so repairs should not be complicated, if you ever need them. Their US office is also in NYC, so less shipping cost and easy access to parts for you. This is a range built to last a lifetime. And they are absolutely gorgeous, and will be the star feature of the kitchen. One place that we saved some money was with the cabinets. We got ours from Green Demolitions. They buy high end cabinets being removed from homes for redos (usually when a new owner with different tastes moves in). They only buy stuff that is in ver good shape. You have to spend some time looking through plans to see what will fit in your kitchen, but we ended up getting a killer deal on solid wood cabinets, and they included a bunch of high end (Miele, Sub Zero, Viking) appliances like warming drawers, dishwasher, wine fridges, under counter fridge drawers, etc. in our package deal. That allowed us to go a bit higher end on the range and on the granite (Madagascar labradorite and Volga blue). I would estimate we saved $20-30k on cabinets (over using locally purchased semi-customs, not full customs) and got a number of appliances (some of which we love but would not have sprung for otherwise) as a bonus. Oh, and as the name implies, recycling perfectly good cabinets is a good environmental decision.

This shape is known by several names: "sauteuse evassee", "Windsor", "Fait Tout". You are correct that this shape is of venerable history in the classical French batterie. The one on the right had no place in that history, although now it's called "saucier" (or less frequently here, a "sauteuse bombee"). The splayed shape was adopted for two main reasons: (1) it allows increased evaporation; and (2) as pan contents are reduced, the surface-to-volume ratio remains relatively constant. That constancy relieves the cook from making as many transfers to progressively smaller straightwall saucepans/casseroles when doing a reduction. The increased access with utensils and specifically whisks was incidental, IMO. The Windsor can be made using both the old joinery and the lathe-turning that was later adopted. The bombee would be very difficult (and wasteful) to do the old way, but easy on a lathe with the right mandrel. Only if the curvature turns back on itself (think bean pot or Ruffoni stocker) does it become harder. But it is still do-able--you just need to use what's called a "split chuck" in the turning. In the modern world of die pressing, you can stamp out either shape, but you can't turn the curve back to narrow. For use, I consider the two shapes mostly interchangeable. The Windsor is more linear in the surface:volume sense. I suppose, if you're one of those cooks who buys the theory of whisks better "fitting" into the bombee (I don't), you might be happier going that route. Note that even these compound-curved pans still have a bottom corner, and many whisks are fine and flexible enough to work in even a vertical wall "corner" (all of which have some radius anyway). The bombee probably would be better as a makeshift wok on the cooktop and as a zambaglione/sabayon pan. The Windsor is so versatile it would be my Desert Island pan.

There are certain things that home cooks typically do not own but are common in restaurant and bar kitchens. Things like salamanders, planchas, and deep fryers with cold zones. 240V induction units, blast chillers, wok burners, combi ovens, and real ice cream machines. Where home cooks have their Cuisinarts, the pros have Robocoup-jujitsu that can dice a case of tomatoes in two minutes flat. My question to the professionals in the audience is: Of this class of appliance -- of any type or application --which particular models/brands do you love? Why do you love them? Bonus points if they could conceivably be used in a dream home kitchen. I realize this is an extremely broad question, but I'm hoping to elicit people telling heartwarming stories about how awesome their broiler is, or anecdotes about which model of plancha the Adria brothers use in their kitchens. Maybe you're a bartender and there's a specific ice maker that makes perfect cubes for cocktails... or maybe you worked grinding brunch shifts and made a million tedious-but-perfect waffles using an especially trustworthy waffle maker.... whatever it is, write a love note to your favorite gear. Let us home cooks know what we're missing.

I've probably posted something similar before, but it's a favourite, so no apologies! Bitter melon and beef stir fry. With rice. Beef marinated in soy sauce and Shaoxing wine with potato starch, garlic and chilli. Wokked with the bitter melon and finally finished with scallions and sesame oil.

ARRRGGG! I need to retire from teaching so I can hang out here more! Enjoying everyone's dishes! A few dishes to fill our needs lately: Stuffed Bell Peppers with ground pork, shrimp, and waterchestnut. Had some deep-fried tofu cubes in the fridge, so stuffed them All fried in the wok then drizzled with oyster sauce gravy. Had a very windy day yesterday - worst at 65 km/hr. Needed comfort food, so we had steamed pork with salty fish (traditional Cantonese dish I grew up with). I also love soy bean sprouts stir-fried with ginger and green onions. Lots of rice was needed, and we especially enjoyed the soften "burnt rice" on the bottom of the pot with some of the juice from the steamed pork and fish. Tonight was a quick supper after doing a bunch of clean-up in the yard after the wind storm. A small roast pork, sticky rice (joongzi) steamed in the Instant Pot from frozen state. Steamed frozen mixed veg, and cole slaw.

Yes, very true. I pimped my 2-hob "camp stove" for wokking with a variable pressure regulator/gauge that will also win this race at 180K Btu. Do not try this indoors without a suppression hood! Now we wait for the reductio ad absurdum of an aluminum smelting induction heater hacked for culinary use...

After many approaches to searing meat, I use one of two methods, neither of which is a Searzall: deep frying for a minimal period, or heating my wok up on a wok burner to red hot temperatures, drying the meat, applying oil and salt and then searing. I'm happy and no smells of gas products.