Most people wonder why stir a fry dish that tastes heavenly in a Chinese restaurant tastes different when cooked in the ordinary kitchen. This is such a pity because stir-frying is a healthy way of cooking that people should enjoy often. To change this state of affairs, you learn from some cooking tips for stir-frying with a wok. These will help you turn out the perfect stir-fry from your own stove.
1. Have the right cooking utensils.
Getting the right utensils would be the most basic instruction when it comes to cooking tips for stir-frying with a wok. This means that first, your wok has to be a good thick one and it has to be big enough so you can briskly stir all your vegetables without being afraid they’ll end up on the stove or on the floor. A too small wok will cause your vegetables to sweat as if they were being braised or steamed; this is not at all the crisp and well cooked stir-fry result you want.
2. You need good heat.
When you stir-fry, you need good heat. First, you heat the wok and add your oil only after the wok is hot. Then you start to cook your ingredients only when the oil is about to smoke. High temperatures are needed for the fresh, crisp, but well cooked vegetables that are the hallmark of a good stir-fry. In fact, keeping this heat up is so important, one of the unique cooking tips for stir-frying with a wok is this: when you add seasonings such as soy sauce or oyster sauce, pour gently from the side of the wok so that you do not reduce the wok’s temperature. Vegetables should be very dry before being cooked.
3. Use oil with a high smoke point.
Remember that you have to keep everything hot and your oil has to be very hot before you put the meat and vegetables in. It won’t do to use oil that will smoke even before it is hot enough for the stir-fry effect you want. Peanut, canola and grapeseed oil all have high smoke points but butter and margarine won’t do; they burn too quickly. Use only a little oil when you stir-fry and pour it gently down the sides. Once the oil is in, tilt and rotate the wok to make the oil spread evenly on the sides and base.
4. Treat your meat properly.
The meat for your stir-fry should come from tender cuts that do not need to be softened. Take the meat and slice it fine. Sometimes you may need to freeze the meat a bit to make it easier to cut it thinly. Once you have your meat in uniform slices, marinate it for a few minutes in a little soy sauce or whatever seasoning you want to use. Then spread it across the hot wok and let it sear before you stir it around. This is important in order to get the rich caramelized flavor of stir-fry done by an expert.
5. Prepare everything ahead of time.
Everything should be ready ahead of time. Stir-fry cooking is very, very quickly done so you have your ingredients to be all lined up and ready for you to drop into the wok in quick succession. A Chinese chef says her mother used to have all the vegetables cut up and sitting prettily in the morning so that they could go into the wok quickly when she stir-fried at night.
6. Perfect timing means the stir-fry waits for no one.
When you have stir fried dishes, the words “Serve immediately.” means everyone should be seated and ready to eat when you stir-fry. It won’t do for the stir-fry to be on the table while people finish a chapter or a game or a phone call. Get everyone to sit and wait for a few minutes for a dish that is every bit worth waiting for.
