/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>13426837
>>13427294
How to cook with a wok:
Get the wok very hot.
While that's happening, prep all your ingredients ALL OF THEM. Keep them separate and have them ready to drop in at a moment's notice.
Slice any meat as thin as humanly possible; getting it partially frozen first may help.
Heat some high-temp oil in the pot. Salt it lightly, and add your minced garlic and any other seasonings desired.
Immediately after the garlic add your meat. Stir continuously, just until browned. Now you can add a liquid sauce if desired, some combo of soy and oyster sauce works, but is not necessary. DO NOT add it before the meat is browned on the surface, that's not the done thing, but don't wait until it's done through, that'll happen regardless. Pour any liquid you add around the outside rim of the wok so you don't drop it's temperature anywhere. If it's chicken or other long-cook time meat leave it in, if it's thin-sliced beef (fast cook time) remove it to another warm pan to keep from overcooking it, but meat first is still traditional for the flavor.
Now add your vegetables one at a time, hardest/longest cooking first. Continue to keep everything moving at all times. Stir-frying inherently relies on a high temperature, a fast cook time and a lot of pan relative to the ingredients to get the vegetables done but still crispy. At no time should the temperature of the wok drop noticeably from adding a bunch of stuff at once, nor should anything cook by steaming from having a large mass of vegetables clumped together. Keep things moving at all times.
Serve immediately. Ideally your diners should be seated and waiting for you by the time your done, and traditionally the cook rather than the diners seasoned the stir-fry to the desired level, but both of these have gone out the window in Murrica so whatever.
Considering all the above, aside from being heavy, a well-heated cast iron wok is actually an acceptable compromise to getting wokkking to work on a non-gas stove.