Cooking from Grace Young's "Breath of a Wok"

[Sally-chan]

C. sapidus,

I just wanted to thank you (and Chris Hennes) for taking the time to give us feedback on the recipes you've tried so far. I just tried Millie Chan's Chili Shrimp (I used jalapeno) based on your recommendation. The dish is definitely a keeper and something I'd make again. I plan on trying the salt and pepper shrimp next, but I'm not sure how my husband will take to eating the shrimp shells.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Sally-chan (log)

[Robert Jueneman]

Time to blow the dust off of this thread.

This past Memorial Day, we drove down to Albuquerque and had lunch at the Elephant Bar. My wife had a rather ordinary ham and turkey focaccio sandwich, but I opted for the Honey BBQ Shimp, prepared in a flaming hot wok, and absolutey delicious. Unfortunately, the Elephant Bar doesn't sell a cookbook, and they consider their recipes TOP SECRET, but from what I could glean from one of the cooks, it doesn't sound all that difficult.

The peeled shrimp are marinated in some kind of a Honey BBQ sauce (TBD), then coated in a rice bran(?) and flour mixture prior to cooking. Other ingredients included snap peas, orange slices, Thai chiles, thinly sliced red pepper, and who knows what other secret ingredients, in addition to the marinated shrimp and presumably the left-over marinade.

This was served with stir-fried rice and some veggies, also very good, but the shrimp was the real hit.

I'm planning to buy the Breath of the Wok, but it sounds as if maybe the recipies are not their strongest element. I recently bought a big 18,000 BTU propane burner for use outside with one of the two woks I own, one of which is an inexpensive carbon steel number that ought to easily withstand the intense heat. And if that doesn't work out, maybe I could launch a hot air balloon with it!

If anyone has had the Honey BBQ shrimp at the Elephant Bar and successfully duplicated (or stolen!) the recipe, please let me know.

Recommendations for other decent wok cookbooks would also be appreciated.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Robert Jueneman (log)

[Chris Hennes]

I'm planning to buy the Breath of the Wok, but it sounds as if maybe the recipies are not their strongest element.

I don't think I'd go that far: many of the recipes are quite good, and the techniques and flavor profiles have been absorbed into my wok cooking repertoire.