Thing Fifty-Three: Wok Hei
Jun. 30th, 2014 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badseed1980...or, "Don't Fear The Burner."
Wok Hei is not a dish. It is not an ingredient. It is an essence, a characteristic taste and smell. Literally translated, it means "Wok Breath." Wok Hei is the sort of smokiness that makes the stir fries you get at restaurants taste so good. It is achieved by stir-frying ingredients in a wok over VERY high heat, with oil that has reached the smoke point. The technique involves moving the food around the wok quickly, so that it gets tossed through the vaporizing oil. You don't even really need a whole lot of oil to do this. Today, I managed it with a good spray of canola oil from a mister. It's not easy to achieve at home because most people's ranges don't get hot enough. The best way to make it work is to cook in small batches. Today, I worked with about two cups of shredded cabbage and kale for my first batch, and about a cup or so of mixed sliced zucchini, sweet peppers, and onions for my second. The real key, though, is to put your burner up as high as it will go. I spent a long time afraid to turn my burners above medium high for anything other than boiling water. Now, though, when I take the wok out, I put it on the most powerful burner, crank it up to high, and let it blaze with abandon.
I am planning, one of these days when my husband is home to remind me how to use it properly, to put the wok on our outdoor propane burner (SRS BSNS BTUs) to REALLY get that baby going. My husband was the one who suggested this. I love having an enabler.
Wok Hei can make the difference between a decent stir fry and an excellent one. It adds a whole new dimension to the taste of the dish. All I seasoned this dish with was a little soy sauce, a splash of dry sherry, a drizzle of sesame oil, and some white pepper, but the result was complex and delicious.
So give it a try! Don't fear the burner!
Wok Hei is not a dish. It is not an ingredient. It is an essence, a characteristic taste and smell. Literally translated, it means "Wok Breath." Wok Hei is the sort of smokiness that makes the stir fries you get at restaurants taste so good. It is achieved by stir-frying ingredients in a wok over VERY high heat, with oil that has reached the smoke point. The technique involves moving the food around the wok quickly, so that it gets tossed through the vaporizing oil. You don't even really need a whole lot of oil to do this. Today, I managed it with a good spray of canola oil from a mister. It's not easy to achieve at home because most people's ranges don't get hot enough. The best way to make it work is to cook in small batches. Today, I worked with about two cups of shredded cabbage and kale for my first batch, and about a cup or so of mixed sliced zucchini, sweet peppers, and onions for my second. The real key, though, is to put your burner up as high as it will go. I spent a long time afraid to turn my burners above medium high for anything other than boiling water. Now, though, when I take the wok out, I put it on the most powerful burner, crank it up to high, and let it blaze with abandon.
I am planning, one of these days when my husband is home to remind me how to use it properly, to put the wok on our outdoor propane burner (SRS BSNS BTUs) to REALLY get that baby going. My husband was the one who suggested this. I love having an enabler.
Wok Hei can make the difference between a decent stir fry and an excellent one. It adds a whole new dimension to the taste of the dish. All I seasoned this dish with was a little soy sauce, a splash of dry sherry, a drizzle of sesame oil, and some white pepper, but the result was complex and delicious.
So give it a try! Don't fear the burner!
