Posted on: Wednesday, October 5, 2005
TASTE
Wok this way
Advertiser Staff and News Services
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Successful stir-frying involves following a few simple rules. They're about keeping a wok hot.
ALAN RICHARDSON | Washington Post
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WHERE TO BUY A WOK It's easy to find a 14-inch, carbon steel, flat-bottom wok on O'ahu, but prices and features vary widely. Bare bones: In Honolulu's Chinatown, we found an unseasoned Cantonese-style 14-inch carbon steel wok at Bo Wah Trading Co., 1037 Maunakea, for $9. The wok has metal "ear" handles (not heat-proof, awkward to carry), is made of light-gauge steel (gently press inward with both hands on the edge of the wok; if it gives, the steel is light-gauge, which is less durable and prone to hot spots). It is hand-hammered (favored over machine-made). The flat bottom isn't perfectly smooth. Not perfect but serviceable. Preferred: Executive Chef stocks the Joyce Chen brand unseasoned, flat-bottom, 14-inch wok ($41.95), fashioned from heavy-gauge carbon steel with two black phenolic plastic handles — one long one and a short helper opposite. Recommended in "The New Cook's Catalog" guide to cookware, this wok is convenient for the American home cook. A version of this wok online has maple handles and an aluminum cover to use when steaming; the set comes with a stir-fry paddle and sells for $39.95 at cooking.com; the wok alone is $29.95 at cooks.com. |
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Christopher Green tosses veggies into a wok at Sweet Basil cooking school in Scottsdale, Ariz. Cutting up ingredients in advance is key.
JACK KURTZ | Arizona Republic
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Grace Young just laughs when she sees glitzy name-brand woks selling for more than a hundred bucks. The best woks, she says, cost half to one-fourth of that.
"You don't need to spend more than $20 or $30. Some of those expensive woks, when you try to stir-fry in them, the food will stick because they're not made from carbon steel," the Chinese food expert and cookbook author explains.
Young's newest book, co-authored with Alan Richardson, "The Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore" (Simon & Schuster), won this year's award for best international cookbook from the International Association of Cooking Professionals.
Young has spent years studying wok cooking techniques from Chinese master chefs and cooks. In addition, she was the test kitchen director for 17 years for more than 40 cookbooks published by Time-Life Books. That is clearly why, when it comes to cooking advice, she keeps things direct and simple.
For successful stir-frying, she says, cooks need to know these five basic rules:
Use a 14-inch, flat-bottom, carbon steel wok. It's the best for Western stoves, whether they're gas or electric. Why carbon steel? It heats quickly and evenly. Stainless steel or anodized aluminum woks will not work as well.
Sources for carbon steel woks include department and housewares stores, such as Macy's and Kmart, and in Asian markets. The 14-inch size is ideal; 12 inches is too small and food won't fit, and 16 inches is too large and won't heat fast enough, Young said.
And, she warns, "Don't get nonstick. If you do things properly, food won't stick in a regular wok. With nonstick, it doesn't sear the food and you don't get the proper stir-frying effect."
Hot wok, cold oil. Heat the wok until a drop of water on the surface evaporates in one to two seconds. Then add the oil and tilt the wok so the oil coats evenly. If the wok is hot when the oil is added, the food won't stick.
Add the meat, spread it out, then don't touch it for 30 seconds to a minute. "This is crucial," Young says. "If you let the meat sear this way, it won't stick when you do start stir-frying it."
Don't add too much. "No more than 3/4 pound of beef or 1 pound of chicken or 4 cups of vegetables. People tend to use way too much" and then the food can't get hot enough to cook quickly, she says.
Dry your vegetables. "Vegetables have to be bone-dry when they're added to the oil. Any moisture and they'll steam instead of being stir-fried," Young says. After washing the vegetables, use paper towels or a clean kitchen towel to soak up as much moisture as possible before adding them to the wok.
Other tips: Cut food into uniform pieces. Chinese cooks tend to cut vegetables on the diagonal in order to expose more surface to the heat, allowing the food to cook through more quickly than it would in larger, thicker chunks.
Candy Sagon of the Washington Post and Wanda Adams of The Honolulu Advertiser contributed to this report.
