Wok Hei, High Heat, and Oil: What's the Relationship?

[dmreed]

The tiny black specks that you find in some dishes are actually bits of carbon burned off when a well-seasoned wok is heated to some very high temps, some would even dare call it "dirt" . Of course you could even say that it is evidence of wok hei achieved.

Semantics and terminology are words that could be at play here, hmmm? My idea of wok hei does NOT taste like charring, but it does taste like hot oil in very hot steel doing their "stuff" on the food that they meet. The idea of browning meats before cooking is not a commonly accepted practice, even for Chinese stew -like braises. You see except in purpose cooked dishes like smoked duck and skewered/bbq meats, etc., the presence of smokiness and charring is not acceptable in a dish. You ever hear of the yin/yang dichotomy? Charring is too, too much yang. Some would find it offensive.

I would suggest that some of the carbon bits are indeed bits of charred food.

I thought I specified "a slight charred taste"...nothing like the taste of a charred steak!

Many of the cookbooks describe briefly cooking the meat and then removing it before cooking other ingredients...I am sure you would find tiny bits of the meat still in the wok.

Because I am not Chinese and not an expert, I was glad to find the following which I excerpted from a much larger discussion...the bolding is mine:

Wok hay from chowhound http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/344167#2035653

I agree with you up to a point. I'm a native Cantonese speaker, by the way, so I grew up using this term instinctively.

"the effect of very high heat used properly" - exactly. It's the difference between pushing pieces of chicken around a nonstick sautee pan over a crappy electric stove, vs. the same pieces of chicken being rapidly tossed in a red hot wok over a huge flame. If you've ever seen footage of a good Chinese kitchen you'll notice that practically everything is set alight at some stage - the oil almost always bursts into flame for a brief time and it's not because there is alcohol present in the dish. That intense searing means (I believe) that flavour is not given the time to seep out of the ingredients - it's flash-fried and sealed in.

I marginally, marginally agree with you re: pizza, as there are obviously very different ways of imparting heat to a pizza, but your fresh-out-of-the-oven osso buco, however delicious, cannot really be said to have wok hay... clearly long-cooking in an oven is going to give a more even heat than microwave heating, but wok hay doesn't simply refer to even heating throughout. The searing is important, that slightly charred, caramelised flavour is important, and the brevity of cooking time is paramount.

I sincerely appreciate this discussion!

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Earlier umami was compared to wok hay, the following link might shed some light:

http://www.ajiusafood.com/_docs/IIhotasianconcept.pdf

Of course, a google search on umami yields a vast amount of information.

Edited March 17, 2010 by heidih
Fix link (log)

[jsager01]

2. high temperature and the 'spatial eveness of the temperature' (i like this, perhsps the author may want to take out a patent for this?),

DMREED: EVENNESS OF TEMPERATURE? THE SIDES OF THE WOK ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LESS HOT THAN THE BOTTOM SO FOOD CAN BE PUSHED UP OUT OF THE EXTREME BOTTOM HEAT

3. In the chinese restaurants that i have been previleged to observe, whenever they cook something for which wok hei is critical, it is always customised, ie one stir fry for each customer, ie no mass cooking as you would expect for a buffet, stew, etc, ie no big wok cooking massive portions.

DMREED: USUALLY FOR A GROUP, A COMMON DISH IS PLACED ON THE TABLE FROM WHICH EVERYONE SERVES THEMSELVES...EVEN THE SOUP. RICE IS THE EXCEPTION. HOW WOULD EACH PERSON BE SERVED SEPARATELY UNLESS THEY ORDERED IT BY THEMSELVES SUCH AS A LUNCH COMBO?

perhaps i should have been more explicit about what i meant.

'spatial evenness of the temperature' for me, implies constant stirring, and/or flipping of the contents in a wok,so that they cook evenly, and the shape of a wok is ideally suited for such purpose.

yes, 'a common dish is placed on the table from which everyone serves themselves....'. What i was alluding to was that some restuarants, in particular those that offer all-you-can-eat buffets will cook massive quantities in one wok, and as such its almost impossible, i believe, to get wok hei. Have you ever 'experienced' wok hei in a chinese buffet? I guess i was just repeating that its a lot easier, and maybe a necessary condition, especially in a home environment, to cook in small quantities if you want wok hei.

[dmreed]

perhaps i should have been more explicit about what i meant.

'spatial evenness of the temperature' for me, implies constant stirring, and/or flipping of the contents in a wok,so that they cook evenly, and the shape of a wok is ideally suited for such purpose.

yes, 'a common dish is placed on the table from which everyone serves themselves....'. What i was alluding to was that some restuarants, in particular those that offer all-you-can-eat buffets will cook massive quantities in one wok, and as such its almost impossible, i believe, to get wok hei. Have you ever 'experienced' wok hei in a chinese buffet? I guess i was just repeating that its a lot easier, and maybe a necessary condition, especially in a home environment, to cook in small quantities if you want wok hei.

OK with "spatial evenness"!

agreed regarding Asian buffets...the best one can hope for at a buffet is relative freshness by catching a dish as it arrives from the kitchen!

[CFT]

My idea of wok hei does NOT taste like charring, but it does taste like hot oil in very hot steel doing their "stuff" on the food that they meet.

I think I have the same impression of wok hei as Ben. Meat/veg/etc. might not be charred in anyway, especially some dishes with lighter meats (no obvious charring). What I think wok hei is: because we can get such high temperatures with the wok, the oil can seal meat (etc) so that the oil does not seep into the food and make it oily.

High temperature is a must to carry the food from wok to table.

Dry fried beef ho fun (gon chow nagu hor) is a signature dish for wok hei (IMO).

Edited March 17, 2010 by CFT (log)

[dmreed]

My idea of wok hei does NOT taste like charring, but it does taste like hot oil in very hot steel doing their "stuff" on the food that they meet.

I think I have the same impression of wok hei as Ben. Meat/veg/etc. might not be charred in anyway, especially some dishes with lighter meats (no obvious charring). What I think wok hei is: because we can get such high temperatures with the wok, the oil can seal meat (etc) so that the oil does not seep into the food and make it oily.

High temperature is a must to carry the food from wok to table.

Dry fried beef ho fun (gon chow nagu hor) is a signature dish for wok hei (IMO).

I realize that taste is a very subject experience.

BTW have you tasted/smelled wok hay in oil heated in a wok with no other ingredients? I have not tasted plain oil heated in a wok but, when the oil smokes, I do not smell wok hay.

I think I would prefer a less divisive than "charring"/"char" might be useful...how about "DHFC" dry heat food changes (deep frying is considered dry heat cooking according to Wikipedia) which includes, at least, the Maillard reaction and caramelization both of which are complex chemical processes (Beb Hong's "hot oil doing its stuff").

I would definitely extend that definition to include high heat wok cooking and definitely grilling over direct flame/heat.

Even light colored ingredients including meats experience DHFC.

Personally, I experience DHFC taste/smell from the wok as a slightly charred smell/taste...others may have different experiences.

I am definitely interested in finding a scientific explanation for the subjective experience of wok hay. So please continue to provide explanations and experiences for this wonder experience!

[dmreed]

I am still trying out liquid smoke to see if it can approximate wok hay. tonight I added a little more and the smoky taste was just a bit too much. Somewhere between my two attempts of too little and too much (both done by eye-balling) may be the key...I will start measuring.

I am sure that liquid smoke will never replace genuine wok hay but, for those with inadequate heat to achieve wok hay, liquid smoke may be a reasonable/interesting approximation!

If you want to try this approximation, I would recommend a generic non-wood-specific (not hickory nor mesquite, etc) variety of liquid smoke if at all possible.