Search the Community

AT 85. RIP. Long ago and living in California, I was teaching myself to cook; starting with Chinese food. This was mid-70s (yeah, I'm old). I took lessons, bought cookbooks, my first wok and Chinese cleaver, etc. Lo's books were always a great resource, and as I started to explore more regional styles, this one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) was especially useful... Published 1988. From the NY Times:

Yes. The cake is steamed in the basket shown, lined with parchment paper. It's so simple to make: Bring pot of water to boil. (use large steamer or like me, I used my big wok with a rack and domed lid. Beat 6 eggs and 1 1/2 cups sugar for 20 minutes. Shift 1 1/3 cup flour and gently fold into the batter. Pour into parchment lined basket. Steam for 20 minutes. I wipe the lid after 10 minutes. Flip onto a platter and sprinkle with sesame seeds. It's so soft, fluffy, and delicious! I think one of the dim sum steamer baskets would work well. They are deeper, so not sure about the time. I have only ever made it in the old basket. Don't think it will survive another round of "hand-me-down"!

I’ve mentioned before my enjoying watching old women fighting over bits of meat in the supermarkets in China. I’ve turned it into a spectator sport. The amusing thing is that they are usually after bits that most of us would reject out of hand. For example this would be low on their desirability scale. Instead they would do injurious battle to get their grubby little manual appendages on this. The first doesn’t have enough fat to satisfy them, the second is nearly all fat. OK. I exaggerate but only a little. They do battle for the fattier cuts in the knowledge that it comes with its own built-in cooking medium. In the case of my first picture, they will separate the fat from the flesh, chop the fat and render it down to cook the rest of dinner. Vegetables are nearly always stir-fried in pork fat rendered at home each meal. However, this is a low quality fat. To obtain the best results you need to obtain the best fat from which to make your lard and it is generally accepted that this is the ‘flare’ or ‘leaf fat’ which is mainly found surrounding the internal organs such as the kidneys. This is what, in other animals such as sheep and cattle is referred to as suet. Back fat is also a good source, followed by the ever-common pork belly fat. Fortunately, good fat is easy to source. Most supermarkets sell it as pictured above. And it’s very cheap, if not as cheap as the lower quality stuff still attached to the flesh. There are websites with information on how to render the lard, including this one, however the Chinese cook will do it in a wok on relatively low heat. I tend to add a splash of water to start the process without scorching - the water soon evaporates once the fat starts to melt. Lard was, not so long ago, a common choice fat in Europe and the Americas for all sorts of cooking from frying to baking, but became demonised recently as part of the anti-fat movement and competition / propaganda from the liquid oil industry. China has largely avoided that trap, except perhaps in the larger cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing. In fact, lard has many health advantages over the common oils used worldwide. Also, of course, it is (as those Chinese grannies recognise) an important element of nose-to-tail. Why buy expensive, highly refined air-mile heavy oils when you can use more healthy, local fat that would otherwise be wasted? The fat is rendered and any remaining solids are eaten as snacks à la "cracklings," or "pork rinds" depending on your local terminology. No waste. Of course the Chinese are much more fat tolerant than modern Europeans or Americans generally tend to be. A favourite dish (which I find inedible) is Dongpo pork from Hangzhou in eastern China which is extra fatty pork belly (with the skin) slow cooked for hours in rice wine and soy sauce until very soft. Although it isn’t greasy in the mouth, it is basically 95% fat. It’s the texture I don’t like. I like my fat crisp. Dongpo Pork Also, some, maybe most, Chinese sausages have huge amounts of fat in them; certainly more than would be acceptable in most western kitchens. PD

Had one slice of tri-tip left over and just scored some nice green beans and snap peas, so I made a stir fry with "broccoli beef sauce" from Kenji's Wok book. I addition to snap peas and green beans there were carrots and sliced/shredded Brussels sprouts.

Nearly always does. It is one good reason why the wok became so popular in China and beyond; fuel-saving. Every day, I hear my neighbours preparing meals chopping, mincing, etc. They start early in the morning. The sound of China is of cleavers hitting chopping boards. Millions of them. Cooking typically takes no time at all.

Prep takes longer than the actual one-wok cooking! Yaki Udon noodles with beef, shrimp, shitaki mushrooms, bok choy, carrots.

For first time in 26 years here in China, I found myself a lamb's liver. Lamb and mutton are not popular meats in southern China and the offal is never seen. If you are a sheep lover heading to China, go north and west. What I got was a whole liver - bigger than I imagined - and I've sectioned it and frozen three-quarters for future enjoyment. The other quarter became part of dinner. I sort of combined a Chinese way and a western way. The liver was sliced thinly and marinated in Shaoxing with garlic and chilli. I crisped up some bacon rashers and stir fried spinach with the crumbled bacon. The liver was also stir fried at the same time (two woks) and finished with a little stock and freshly chopped coriander leaf / cilantro to make a sauce. Served with rice. Spinach with Crisp Bacon (bottom), Stir-fried Lamb's Liver (top-right) and Rice. Stray TCM material far right! Not unhappy. Close-up with steam

I know you're not looking at induction stoves, but I thought I'd throw in a few thoughts just to give you more info for your decision: A lot of induction stoves provide really poor user experiences, especially around temperature/intensity control and doubly so when they have a single small coil. I understand your pain. I have two Breville Control Freaks. The temperature controls are dead on, and a low consistent simmer is stupid simple. I'm looking at a 3600W Hatco induction unit (which has 100 levels of intensity and should have fairly good temperature control). I'm also looking at a 3800W Vollrath 4-series induction unit (which has similar intensity controls plus it's designed to work with woks). Plus there are wok-shaped induction units from Mr. Induction etc. I know that all of the above are probably not what you're looking for (since you're mostly looking for a built-in range). So I'll also point you at the Thermador Freedom Induction cooktop which has dozens of small coils that combine together to offer large burners and high-powered burners. Unfortunately it only has 17 levels of power--which is honestly probably enough--but I'm not sure how accurately it would simmer. I used to be a huge fan of gas. I know that induction has its pros and cons vs. gas, but it has really won me over with the consistent quality, low energy use and lack of waste heat in my kitchen. Any time a friend is buying a new range as a long-term purchase, I at least try to make sure they know about the modern induction options. In any case, I am looking forward to hearing what you install. Please take photos for us

I've seen them advertised online, but never in a store. I don't know anyone who owns one. They would, I suppose, have some applications in Chinese cuisine, but not many. The thing to have currently is an Instant Pot clone, but then they've long been into pressure cookers. I don't have an IP or pressure cooker, either. Just a wok, a rice cooker and a slow cooker. I'm happy.

I tend to differentiate. We get pea sprouts and we get pea shoots The sprouts need wilting at most. The shoots need a minute or two in the wok. The only difference really, is age. If it's any comfort the Chinese names are equally confusable.

@TdeV id say , think os pea shoots grilling romain not as a vegetable i.e. something to cook but as a garnish, it does matter a bit on their maturity fhink lettuce : Salad, root beef sandwich like that grilling romaine lettuce is one thing but P.S, are not romaine flash Wok'd 10 seconds would be nice. as th P.S'swould ick uo the garlic , ginger etc from the Wok as you addd those ingredients fist in moderation so you cab taste the shoots, they don't really taste like peas more like mild green shoots.

Quick wok stir fry with garlic.

Trust me, @rotuts: 107F, even as a dry heat, is too hot. I get very cranky and/or tired if I have to do ANYTHING in that temperature range, even though I grew up with it in Central California. My heat tolerance is long gone. But maybe I'm kidding myself about being able any more to cope with Minnesota's winter; I've missed out on it for quite a few years. So, since this all began with a discussion about the meat-smoking experiment, I'll jump out of the blog time sequence and tell about it. I'm a regular reader of and dreamer over Hank Shaw's website, Hunter-Angler-Gardener-Cook. I get his newsletter. I read it, and bookmark recipes, and sometimes (rarely) get around to cooking them. This one caught me eye a while ago: Smoked Venison Backstrap. Look at the cover photo for that recipe! Source: Hank Shaw's recipe for Smoked Venison Backstrap, linked above and again here. The backstory: My daughter-in-law bestowed a backstrap and some other deer meat on us...well, this is embarrassing but it was fall of 2020! It sat in our deep freeze. It made the round trip with us last year. It sat in our deep freeze again this summer, then came along with us on the road. This is no way to treat good meat no matter how rare or common. Indeed it's a way to turn good meat into bad. The difficulty is that my darling looks askance at ANY deer meat, and I have to find the right treatment for it. Given his penchant for pork, sausage and burgers, and my penchant to be very busy much of the summer, I never got around to using it. Guilt, guilt, guilt trip. This fall I packed it along again in the Princessmobile's freezer, and promised myself to do something with it. I decided that the salt cure in this smoked venison recipe might be just the ticket. I thawed it at our last stop, checked for freezer burn (none), measured the salt and rubbed it in. Then I wrapped it again and let it cure in the refrigerator. "What is that meat?" he kept asking. "Backstrap," I'd say. We had that conversation many times, each time with him looking skeptical. Finally, the day of the cook, I told him the source of the meat. He's good about eating whatever I cook, but I saw him flinch. Next up was working out a smoker. I've never tried smoking over an open fire pit (more on our firepit later) and didn't particularly want to smoke inside the Princessmobile. I set up our little portable barbecue grill, got the coals going, soaked some mesquite chips and added them, then spent the next few hours trying to regulate the temperature. The best method seemed to be the old indirect method: coals and wood ships on one side, meat in a foil pie pan on the other. There wasn't much clearnace, given that the whole grill is maybe 18" across. But I persevered. It was either that or smoke up my wok on the campstove outside. While it was smoking, I worked on the necessaries for tacos. Chopping up tomatoes and lettuce is no big deal, but I also needed to deal with some roasted chiles I'd bought at our last stop. I also wanted to make the quick-pickled red onions to which @liuzhou introduced us some time ago, and that meant breaking out the mandoline. And finding the right vinegar. (The sugar was in another cabinet like this one, and the onion in a basket atop the cabinets. The mixing bowl was also high up, as was a pickling container. I did a lot of step-ladder work for this meal!) There were also the tasks of shredding cheese, and later on warming the tortillas and digging out some of our salsa. It was all worth it. I thought the salsa overkill, but he liked it. And now you know how 107F was not intolerably hot around here!

I currently have two Breville Control Freaks (1800W, 120V) and need to pick up a third induction stovetop. I'm thinking that it probably makes sense to pick up a high-wattage unit (3600W-3800W, 240V) which would be useful for boiling water, heavy searing work, wok cooking, etc. I have a collection of Falk induction-compatible copper pans. The pans with bottom diameters of 11.5cm to 26cm work pretty great. But I also have a few that I bought for the oven which are a little bit too small (10.5cm bottom diameter) or a bit too large (28-35cm bottom diameter) for the Breville cooktops. Plus it would be nice to have a cooktop that can work in either power output % mode or temperature control mode. I'm looking at the following two cooktops: Hatco IRNG-PC1-36 (3600W, 240V) (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) Vollrath HPI4-3800 (3800W, 240V) (webstaurantstore.com) @cgman117 mentioned the Hatco unit (thank you). At just over half the price of the Vollrath, it seems to do just about everything the Vollrath can do--plus it'll work with my smallest and largest induction-compatible copper pans. I know that the Vollrath unit is about 5% more powerful and that it's supposed to be able to deliver energy to the pan even when the pan is lifted above the induction plate (useful for my Falk 28cm Wok, for some sautéing, etc.). But the Hatco unit is basically the same size as my Control Freaks, whereas the Vollrath unit is bulkier. I've also heard that the Vollrath units like to run their fans all the time, even when off, which would require me to install a switch to turn on/off its power. Has anyone here had experience with one or both of these? Which one would you get for your home?

I could see shallow frying in a Wok being dangerous if its scorching hot, but i have added room temp oil to my deep fryer while hot (350F) many times and never even a bubble. Also, i think the cornstarch and oil coating on the raw meats act as a barrier and prevent moisture from expelling too quickly and causing splatter. At least thats my theory and experience.

Movement in the pan is a big factor. Sure you've seen the highy active wok action in videos. And oil temp. Its a dance

I am referring to the velveting technique where you coat the thinly sliced meat of choice in egg, constarch, cooking wine, then just before adding to the hot oil in the wok or fryer you add a tablespoon or two of oil to the meat to prevent the meat from sticking together. For me, this never works and i find myself manually trying to pull them apart after the quick fry. This got me thinking, whats the harm in adding more oil ( same oil as the cooking oil ) I figure if using a deep fryer your just topping off the oil that probably has been lost in previous frys. My only forseeable issue could be if using too much oil it might drop the hot oil temp down. I suppose i should test this in small batches so i can use more oil then meat. I guess i am posting this to see if others who sir fry often use more oil then is suggested in pretty much every online recipe because it never seems to be enough to prevent sticking together.

I understand the conundrum. I bought a 4.7 quart copper wok (28cm) to make some Korean recipes and ended up realizing it was ALMOST the perfect size for making a gallon of yogurt. The 4 quarts of milk fit fine, but the temperature probe's holder didn't fit "above" the milk line. And I wanted a bigger-diameter bottom for more induction contact and a smaller-diameter top to reduce evaporation. I ended up picking up a 6.1 quart (24cm) pot-au-fue that fits the bill. It's kind of like a saucier with taller walls (or a dutch oven with a curved saucier-style bottom). Then I realized that if I just had a smaller (20cm) pot-au-fue, I'd have the perfect-sized vessel for making half a pound of pasta for myself (and with an optimal top diameter, to reduce evaporation). Ironically I'm not planning to make any actual pot-au-fue with the pans. 🤷‍♂️ And now you've alerted me to the presence of a 4 quart rondeau... All y'all are a bunch of enablers. 😆 😊 I'm going to have to rethink the budget, post-holidays.

Some sketchy stuff going on for some Amazon Black Friday offerings. I regularly shop Amazon Warehouse for better deals on specific things I want. Usually on Black Friday extended weekend there's a discount on quite a few things in the Warehouse area, which makes them more of a deal. This year it's 20% off, not everything, and you have to put it in your cart to see if it's a 20% off item. I had put a long wok spatula in my cart for $7.99, I was going to let it sit to see what discount it may get on BF WH. Overnight, it went up to $9.49, then with a 20% off. When is a sale not a sale? Just a testimonial, I haven't checked many other items, but my skepticism is pretty high for some of A's BF discounts.

I use a regular two sided razor blade. I don't bother putting into the lame. @Kerry Beal, it isn't very heavy. Bottom and top weight just 5 lbs. Thanks @Smithy. I know. I love their cookware. Did you see the set that comes with the hanging shelf? Unfortunately I really do not need more cookware. But Moe is as much of an enabler as everyone here on eGullet. His suggestion was I would just get rid of the pots I don't need. I'm really not in the market for a full set, but I do think maybe after Christmas I will order the Prospector roasting tray and maybe one of the woks. I really wanted the Challenger, and although it was heavy, it was really the price that put me off. By the time I paid for the pan, the shipping and the duty and taxes, with the exchange I was looking at $700.00. I could have purchased the Netherton Cloche from Breadtopia in the US and a retailer in Canada, but it was less expensive to order directly from the Foundry.

It's a dish I make often at home. I follow Fuchsia Dunlop's recipe in Land of Plenty or the newer Sichuan Cookery, but that recipe is not online. Basically, from memory, chicken meat (in Sichuan that would be on the bone, but boneless breast or, better, leg meat would be OK). The meat is diced to about 1 to 2 cm cubed, marinated briefly in soy sauce and deep fried to sear. Remove chicken and clean wok. For one breast or equivalent of meat, 50 grams of halved and deserved, dried Sichuan peppers and a tablespoon of Sichuan peppercorns are stir fried with garlic until fragrant and the chicken returned to the pan, Add scallions until wilted and serve. It seems like a lot of chilli, but they aren't to be eaten. They do however, give the chicken a spectacular appearance and wonderful flavour.

When we moved into our house the previous kitchen renovation had been done in the late 60's I believe. Although the kitchen is big the space for the stove was 30 inches. The cabinetry is solid and well built and we didn't have the money to replace it nor did we have the money or vision to start hacking away at it to make room for a 36 inch stove. We needed to replace the dishwasher and the fridge, and replace the floor, which was awful. We splurged on a 30" Viking and I love it to pieces. Despite being a bit over 30 years old with a few quirks, it's still a workhorse. We were three and now we are two, and the older I get the more I like the powerful flame and the less I need another six inches. My pots and pans don't seem crowded and the stove accommodates a pretty good size wok. In your words, it's become the final range.The house was built in 1915. Most people who buy an old house fix it up one thing at a time unless money is no object. My advice is to live in the space for a while before gutting it. In a few years you will have a better idea of what you really want.

Thanks, but I'm not asking for the type of range. I want a gas range. I already have an induction hob and use it sporadically (I find the temp controls too fiddly and hate that you can't get a very low consistent simmer). And I want high powered gas for wok and indoor (long winters) grilling. And it's either 30" or 36" (as that's all I have room for). No double wall ovens (as the range oven, plus my countertop Wolf oven) are more than enough. Heck, I even have my old school MagicChef catering oven should I need more firepower around the holidays. And I'd prefer the 36" because of the 6, instead of 5, burners. And I can't go any larger than 36" because even the potentially expanded kitchen is not huge. So, the question is, how many of you have had to buy an range right before a remodel? Did you end up buying the 'final' range or the 'right now' range. I have 4 options: 1. Replace the current motherboard (and wait for it to go out again)...$600 down the drain 2. Go cheap and buy a no frills 30" range until the remodel (which may never come). Same price as the stove repair. 3. Buy a Bluestar 30", like it now, and potentially sell if/when I remodel 4. Buy a Bluestar 36", love it now, and rework the counters/cabinets, with an eye towards renovation. And GF, I'm with you. I worked around professional kitchens for more than a decade. I want old school with the only electronics being the igniters. Leaning towards #3, but I hate the fact that I'd lose several thousand if/when the reno comes (assuming I'd sell the 30" Bluestar at 1/2 the price of a new one). Thanks!

This one? Breville Hot Wok

中饭： Lunch 淮山骨头汤 (huái shān gǔ tou tāng) - Huaishan Bone Soup (pork bone soup with Chinese yam) 凉拌牛肉 (liáng bàn niú ròu) - Cold Dressed Beef ( a sort of beef and allium salad) 爆炒油豆腐 (bào chǎo yóu dòu fu) - Burst-Fried-Oil Tofu ("Burst Fried Oil" is the literal term for the cooking technique involving very high temperature wok cooking. You know the kind of thing all those jokers with their high octane burners think is daily routine. It isn't or they wouldn't need a special term for it when it is occasionally used, would they? /endrant ) 娃娃菜 (wá wa cài) - Baby Chinese Cabbage Burst-fried Tofu Cold-dressed Beef