About Stir Frying

Stir frying is a common Chinese cooking technique used because of its fast cooking speed. Cantonese restaurant patrons judge the chefs by their "wok hei" (their ability to bring out the qi of the wok, which shows in the food as the look, smell, and taste).

A traditionally round-bottom iron pan called a wok is heated to a very high temperature. A small amount of cooking oil is then poured down the side of the wok (a traditional expression in China regarding this is "hot wok, cold oil"), followed by dry seasonings (including ginger and garlic), then at the first moment the seasonings can be smelled, meats are added and tossed, then once the meat is seared, vegetables, rice and/or noodles, along with liquid ingredients (for example often including premixed combinations of some of soy, vinegar, wine, salt, sugar, and cornstarch) are added and the wok may be covered for a moment so the water in the liquid ingredients can warm up the latest additions as it steams off. In some dishes, or if the cooking conditions are inadequate, different components may be stir fried separately before being combined in the final dish (if, for example, the chef desires the taste of the stir fried vegetables and meats to remain distinct).

Authentic Stir-Frying Dishes

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