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I still have things stored in the pantry closets in the garage, wok, salad spinner, food mill, large pots. I also bought an inexpensive island on rollers from Ikea, it’s in the actual kitchen, contractor made a top from the same slab as the countertop quartzite/cesarstone so all matches. It holds the CSO, Instant Pot, and foodsaver.

Yeah, you can do that, or just man up and cook it entirely in one go in the wok. Seriously though, I've done it both ways. Blanching/par cooking is fine, but doing it all with the proper heat control in one pot is way more convenient. I've never seen a professional chinese kitchen take two steps when one will do. If you pre cook, you're obliged to shock everything in cold or ice water to stop the heating process before everything overcooks. That's too much work - it's easier to sear/brown over high heat and then gently simmer for a minute to cook through. Boiling at high heat as the OP did is too hard on timing for non-professionals to do consistently. Even the pro cooks I've seen turned the heat down to a simmer so they wouldn't compromise the texture of the longer cooking veggies.

Since I started cooking with a wok forty years ago I have developed a technique and a familiarity based on trial and error such that I can make a simple stir fry practically in my sleep. Most of my stir-fries are fairly similar. I'm very lazy, and for the two of us I am not going to make more than one dish, so the basic dish typically involves a modest amount of shrimp, chicken or whatever protein, plus a variety of vegetables, usually cabbage, choi sum and Chinese chives. For a beginner I suggest reading and trying various recipes or taking a class, although I kind of agree that timing and experience and technique are also a matter of practice, practice, practice. I wouldn't have assumed this, but lately I am trying to teach my husband how to make our basic stir fry and it's trickier than I thought. The things my husband is good at, like baking bread, give you time to think and plan in a way that is very different from the speed of a stir fry. Remember that stir-fry came about because there wasn't a lot of fuel--a short burst of high energy was the best you could get from a small bundle of sticks. Okay, I don't know if this is totally true, but it must be a factor. A decent round-bottom wok is a necessity. My preference is carbon steel. So is the ability of your stove to produce a high flame as needed. So is making sure your wok is sitting in a stable fashion and at a distance from the burner that works well for you. After years of cooking on an under-powered gas stove we finally put in a small-size Viking range that can generate some real heat. I bought an interchangeable cast iron wok burner as part of the original purchase. If you cook with a wok once or twice a week like I do, that was worth the upgrade. I've never done a stir-fry outdoors, so I'm ignorant about that. I've never heard of a sauce packet, but it sounds like you can't get much variety that way. The basic ingredients for marinades and sauces are easy to work with and mostly cheap and will allow for creativity and different flavors. Books can help there, both with suggestions for purchases and ways to combine ingredients. Eventually you will find your favorites, and hopefully you have access to Chinese ingredients, although the basics such as various soy sauces, vinegars, rice wine, peanut oil, chiles etc are pretty available. For me this has become the most efficient dependable meal that I can put together without thinking, and it never gets old.

It's all about the timing. Food doesn't stay in the wok long. Your mis en place needs to be on point. A pro wok range setup always has a full pot of simmering stock going. Hard veg, like broccoli, are dipped into the stock for maybe 45 sec to get the cooking started before they hit the wok.

I've never seen this covered in a book. The closest coverage like this I've read is when a hacker starts stir frying in his backyard over a turkey fryer, an imported Asian burner, or a grill. There's some coverage in assorted blogs across the internet. Try searching wok + grill, wok + turkey burner, etc....you get the idea. Kenji over at Seriouseats has a great article on stirfying over a grill. Having watched pros at work (I worked at a chinese resto as a kid) and comparing them to home setups, I'd say the techniques are the same, they're just way faster on a pro burner. The searing times are much shorter, and then as Catdaddy said, turn the heat down to cook through. Trying to cook broccoli through at 180K BTU and then pulling it off at just the right moment makes timing too hard for most mortals.

I heard that you need quality iron or carbon steel woks and a very powerful gas burner for getting good wok hei and making the best tasting Chinese stir fry dishes like restaurants make. I have a wok and a wok burner that I think work for this purpose, but would like to know what to do now. The main problem I'm encountering is that nearly all cookbooks seem to be designed to teach people to cook on low-power standard home stoves rather than in the high heat setting with a more restaurant-like round-bottom wok on a powerful gas burner. There's one particular recipe at Chinese restaurants I really like and want to learn to cook at home. I think it's this: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7603564 Where should I go to learn to do this correctly? Is there a particular cookbook or education source that teaches you to cook restaurant-type Chinese food with these powerful gas burners in particular? I've been making similar things at home with beef & broccoli stir fray seasoning packets and with the wok, but notice if I use the suggested amount of water for the sauce it boils off in the wok very quickly, and leaves my broccoli relatively uncooked. I think I need to learn how to cook stuff on the higher heat specifically to make it work out right. My stir fries with the sauce packets taste pretty good if I add more water than the sauce packet suggests so it doesn't all boil away, but I don't think this is the right way to cook it to get wok hei, and probably aren't as good as my favored meal at the Chinese restaurant I like. What to do?

here are a few Ive found on the internet : https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/jaspers-new-england-clam-chowder-278763 there are serious details here : https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/01/how-to-make-real-new-england-clam-chowder-the-food-lab-recipe.html cheers BTW @liamsaunt Jasper's recipe seems more authentic as ' real ' NE CC does use salt pork as that;s what they had , and it was cheaper than bacon. personally , good quality smoked bacon , not too much , can elevate this dish. just because Crusty Old NewEnglanders didn't have an ingredient , doesn't mean the traditional Rx can't be sent into a different direction keeping all the real base equalities intact the SE Rx discusses all this , including several interesting notes on ' creaminess ' that's not the same a over rich-ness. NECC is creamy , but not overly rich. on one of my bazillion or trazillion videos I have on Hsrddisk , JW himself made NECC and on another NE fish chowder if you like NECC , consider looking into NE fish chowder. with the right white fish , back in the day Cod or Scrod ( small cod ) using the frames for the stock it was to die for I sued to get NEFC at No-Name restaurant a long long time ago. you should look into NE Common Crackers too. PS I don't really know why I prefer my fish and seafood w/o tomatoes whatever dish has them in it , to me might be better w/o the tomatoes seem to hide a lot of the fish/shelfish simpler tastes. I do love tomatoes a bazillion other ways though ......... had to fine , but woks w both these soups. how about some NE Indian Pudding for dessert ? PS : be careful w bottles clam juice its quite salty. one last P.S , or P.S.S.; I highly recommend Jasper Whites ; ' 50 Chowders ' you can get a good quality used copy for 5 bucks or so : https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0684850346/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr= cheers

this is really about the LunchLadies having a bit of Vacation but PBS, USA used to be a Public funded affair it might still be of sortsw but after Julia Child stopped filming in balk and White the cooking shows became ' sponsored ' a very long time ago when I have cable briefly Molto Mario , etc I was able to cap them and then archive the, FoodnetWork for MortoMario has more minutes / 30 than PBS back them lets say 2003 now the PBS cooking shows I cap have more sponsors and less time Dans Le Wok show feed the books and sometimes not such a new book either and then they travel to Events I dont mind my library system as all the bookd and buys all the DVD's

Tonight's dinner: Wings! (slow cooked in broth, onion/bacon jam, leftover burger sauce, miso, strawberry/cayenne jam, and char siu sauce, then crisped up on the wok) with rapini on the side.

I like salmon and eat it every week. Often cure a piece for weekend lunches. Have made salmon almost every which way, too. But not this... Ate it on train journeys in Japan. Couldn't stop after just 1. Saved 1 last bundle to take home and made it last and last. Hope to visit Hakodate again so I can get more, and ship it home. I also bought many bags of dried squid. It tasted better than Chinese or Taiwanese versions. My jaws hurt so nice for days. I bought the entire display! (Many stalls have free samples, you can always try a small piece before deciding to buy) Besides home-cured salmon I also like it hot smoked (I use an old wok). I cry again I swear again I drink again I smoke again

Thank you! I am very happy with it. Ton answer your questions: yes, we replaced the original window which had two smaller windows with a divider with one large window. The view is out to woods so it's a pretty view, at least when there are leaves on the trees. The other side of the island has two regular sized drawers (I use one for silverware and the other for side towels), a microwave drawer (truthfully I did not even know these existed until we redid the kitchen but our designer insisted on it and I am happy because it frees up a lot of counter space). There is also a very deep drawer under the microwave, which I use to store my Breville hot wok, a tall cabinet with dividers where I store sheet pans, racks and silpats, and finally a pull out cabinet where I store clean recycling and non-smelly trash until it goes to the larger bins in the garage. The countertops are quartzite.

I joined the Yan Fan Train during the Wok with Yan days....loved that guy. I will look further at another local Chinese supermarket next I go for rice noodles. I have a load of Ramps which I think would go really well in a Ramp Ho Fun.

Another vote for the Woks of Life chili oil. We made a jar to use in their recipe for spicy lamb noodles like the ones from Xian Famous Foods, but find ourselves using it in so many other things now that we have it on hand. That was going to be my suggestion. Don't hesitate to let them know that you're writing from far away!

I used the one in the JB Award wining Phoenix Claw and Jade Trees. It's similar to woks of life recipe only they use black cardamom, ginger, scallion, no garlic the Sichuan peppercorns give it a floral, fragrant flavor in addition to the numbing you can find both Sichuan peppercorns and black cardamom in the Chinatown in NYC (not sure about your location)

@Kerry Beal That wok looks great - have you used it for anything other than deep frying? I'd love to know how it works for a stir fry with the control freak...

The onion, soy & other ingredients probably wont combine the same as they do in a Wok or high heat. The sugars will probably not change to the caramels that happen at high heat. You could partially cook the potato, onions & flavors on the stove top, cool them and then add the result to chicken thighs in the ziplock. bags and SV as normal. Its probably not going to taste the same as you remember though. Its likely to be a trial and error thing

I have couple. The cheap high powered ones are great for boiling and high simmers (not great at low stuff) and doing things like sauté. I couldn’t go back to even a good gas cooker if I have an induction cooker for bringing things to a boil it just is better. But you’ll need a good one to really show you how good induction can be and how it can be better then gas by miles! I have a. Second hand made by cooktek that’s designed for be variable powered with hundreds of steps and is super stable in power output and cost a couple hundred dollars (AUD) and I would and will pay twice that because I want a breville control freak. You can also get ones that work with woks and I’ve heard pretty cool things about them as well. I really wish we had more options of good hardware at more consumer friendly prices but you pay through the nose for high control induction units but its worth it.

One of my weaknesses as a shopper is overenthusiasm. I buy a lot of whatever looks good -- especially seasonal produce -- and then scramble (or fail) to use it before it goes off. So it was that yesterday I had an overabundance of corn to use up, as well as tomatoes, Japanese eggplant, and lettuce. Here's what I used, and how it turned out: 4 ears of corn: kernels cut off, and "milk" scraped into a bowl with the kernels 5 small Japanese eggplants, sliced into 1/2" coins and steamed 4 sausages (2 Polish, 2 jalapeno jack cheese bratwursts) sliced into 1/2" coins 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined and chopped 1/2 poblano pepper, seeded, deveined and chopped ~1/4c chicken jello 1 c cherry tomatoes on the way out, and the surviving 3/4 of a beefsteak tomato, chopped a bit of water as a sauce booster Steamed the eggplant coins as noted above, to soften them and prevent them from requiring too much oil. Filmed a wok with oil (I used pecan, because I happen to have it, but any cooking oil would have done) and heated it, then sauteed the sausage coins until they were partially cooked. Added the eggplant, and stirred all until browning began. Added the peppers until soft. Added the tomatoes, cooked until the cherry tomatoes began to pop. Added the corn. Added the chicken jello, and stirred until it melted. By that time it appeared that the beefsteak tomato juice and corn milk needed more assistance, so added a touch of water to develop more sauce. Here is the finished melange: About half went into a bowl with about half the lettuce, with the idea of making a wilted-lettuce salad. It looks a bit like a dog's dinner, but we both liked it. As usual, he wanted it slightly sweetened and added white wine worcestershire sauce; I wanted it slightly tarter and added a touch of red wine vinegar to brighten it. It was a good way to use those ingredients, including the corn. I think sweet corn is a wonderfully versatile filler for other dishes. Today we finished the leftovers. It looks better before stirring! Now I have to go buy more corn.

Probably not much help but I have a low-end 240 V burner since I live in Australia. It works but I think they just dropped the power level to match your cheap 110v ones. I agree with you that there are two goals, absolute power and finesse of control. I use mine mainly for boiling pasta water so I would tend towards power. If it had a lot, maybe I'd use if for searing but I use the gas wok burner for that. Pro-Tip: Don't put the induction burner too close to the gas stove when using both. But the melted side doesn't seem to hurt anything 😀

The next day, we woke up early to make our flight back to Singapore - our flight landed around 1:30PM, and we didn't have to be back in the airport for our flight home until about 8, so we checked our bags in the airport and took a taxi into the city. After landing, we went straight for a light lunch (they had already fed us on the plane - check out the Airline food thread)... I had been jonesing for this place ever since our trip here a few years ago... Since we were here last, they have significantly upgraded their restaurant space and ordering system, as well as opened some satellite locations... good to know the food is just as good though! Kid goat biryani Chicken biryani Their biryani is done the traditional way, now called Dum Biryani. The aromatics are incredible... I wish I could find something even remotely as good in NYC... for more info, see my Week in Singapore thread in the SE Asia dining section from a few years ago... After lunch, we headed off to the Gardens by the Bay. With so many choices of what to do, and such little time to do it, it was a tough decision, but I had read earlier that they had a new exhibit of scented orchids in the Cloud Forest... Enroute to the gardens... Then we went on to the Flower Dome where they were having a rose exhibit... Bottle trees Baobob - makes me thing of Le Petit Prince... The super trees... functional they they not only make electricity for the gardens (there are solar cells on top), they are very useful in the dehumidification of the domes - the system uses a liquid desiccant which removes a lot of humidity which takes a huge load off of their A/C system... the liquid desiccant is then boiled to release the water which is vented out through the top of the trees. Time for an early dinner before we go back to the airport... I couldn't wait to get back to an old favorite... Sambal Pomfret - I love their sambal - it's a wonderful mixture of chili, garlic, shallots, dried shrimp and shrimp paste, and who knows what else... This is fried until it's almost dry... the fish is coated in rice flour and wok fried, then coated with the sambal... if there is a heaven, it smells like shrimp paste... Crab bee hoon - this is one of the huge mud crabs - the claw meat is the size of a small fist! Tons of sweet crabmeat and very little effort needed to extract it. It seems like there's a lot of sauce, but it was sucked up by the bee hoon (rice noodles) pretty quickly. This was a really tasty dish, but I think the crab bee hoon at Sing Huat Eating House had a bit better flavor to the bee hoon... but this crab was cooked absolutely perfectly, while Sin Huat's was slightly overcooked the last time we were there.... Kangkong, aka morning glory, aka pak boong, aka rau muong, aka ong choy Baby gailan Now that we are completely stuffed, it's time to head back to the airport to get our bags out of storage. There is a spa/lounge pre-security in Terminal 2 that has shower rooms for rent... for about US$13, we were able to spend 45 minutes taking a shower and getting changed into fresh clothes for our 18 hour plane flight home... So that's it!!! I hope you enjoyed coming along our trip and that the rambling that my half-jetlag induced head came up with made some sort of sense!

This year from my 92 year old neighbor, I received a 1# bag of shelled pecans from FL and a gallon bag of in shell pecans from LA. The Louisiana pecans were the longest I have ever seen., between 1 1/2" and 2". I also received an IMUSA 14" light cast iron wok and my first Insta Pot, a 6 qt. size. I have only ever used a standard Presto pressure cooker, so this should be fun. My stepdad said they were not given for purely unselfish reasons. 🍖 Also a handful of my favorite silicone spatulas, pastry brush, whisk, etc...in my stocking.

I've been nosing around eateries throughout Asia for 30 years now and I can second that comment 😊 Carbon steel is all you see in kitchens, with very occasionally cast iron types (expensive). The main variable is wall thickness (thin for stir frying vs thicker for deep frying). Next is handle style, 雙耳 vs 單柄. The hand-hammered woks are generally regarded higher than stamped ones. The cooking range is invariably a ridiculously high-caloric-output gas stove. From what I gathered by talking to various Chinese chefs, stainless is not a preferable wok material due to its poor heat conduction properties, and difficulty in building a lasting seasoning.

Many, many years ago I bought a very heavy rolled steel 14" wok at a Whole Earth Store (remember those?). It has a ring and a substantial cover and it has gotten a lot of use over the years. However, the ring doesn't often fit on the stoves I've owned and the round bottom makes it hard to put it on some of the burners. I also have a 12" flat bottom wok that I admit I use more than the larger, round-bottomed one. I once had a non-stick lightweight wok with a handle (that's very useful) that we used in our little RV, but the coating was scratched and I tossed it. I've never had any problems with sticking with either of the steel ones, probably because both of them are pretty well seasoned. I think the higher heat of wok cooking helps the food release without leaving behind a residue that has to be washed off. I have a side burner on the barbecue grill that I might try one of these days. Maybe it gets hot enough to properly stir fry. Certainly my feeble little non-commercial stove hasn't been up to the task. I don't think I'll do what a neighbor did, which is to design a specialized free-standing outdoor burner specifically to prepare his favorite Thai dish. That's going a little too far IMO. Nancy in Pátzcuaro

When I lived in Vancouver, years ago, stores in Chinatown sold special coils for electric ranges that were bowl-shaped to accommodate a wok. I almost bought one, but decided against it on reflection, because it wouldn't have fit every range in every rental, and I moved a lot. I'd love to have a proper (ie, round bottom rather than flattened for the stovetop) wok again, but haven't been willing to invest the time or effort in searching one out. I have a couple of portable butane single-burner stoves, and would use one of those to cook on as needed.

Yes. I have a stainless saucier and see it as more useful than a stainless wok. Never tried stir frying in it though.