How do you cook with a wok?

Answer 1

how it works: The shape of a wok allows you to control the speed that food cooks. The bottom of the wok gets the hottest. Food is left at the bottom to cook at a high heat. The food is pushed to the sides of the wok, when you want to cook at a lower heat. basic recipe: Basic stir-frying Typically a small amount (1-3 tablespoons) of peanut oil, soy oil, sunflower oil, or canola oil is placed in the wok and heated under full burner heat. Fresh chopped garlic and ginger are often added to the oil to flavor it, then quickly scooped out before burning or turning brown. The first item to be cooked, for example, sliced meat, is stirred in the very hot oil until hot, then pushed up the side to regulate the amount of heat on the meat or cooking items. The meat may be returned to the oil and then flipped and pushed to the sides several times until the cooking is done. The hammered ridges or dimples along the side of the wok "grab" and prevent the meat from slipping back into the oil at the bottom of the wok. There is a misconception that the cooking items are merely pushed around. The technique in stir frying with a wok is traditional to flip and push the cooking items from the centre of the wok to the edge of the wok. This technique regulates the distribution of heat. Once cooked, the meat is often scooped out with a Chinese strainer to a side plate and the next ingredient such as vegetables are then cooked in the same manner, strained out or held against the side while any leftover cooking oil is thrown out before all of the ingredients are typically thrown back together, with sauces, seasonings, liquids, corn starch mixed with a little water for thickening, stirred and covered for a final heating for a minute or two or until smoke begins to escape from the cover. This way the chef controls the length of cooking for each item and the food does not cook sitting in the oil. Skillful chefs, when stirring food in a wok, they can turn the food materials in it up-side-down as a whole by waving up the far side of the wok a little. This waving skill can make mixing and stirring very quickly done. This is important when cooking dishes that require short cooking time.