How to Stir-Fry

How to Stir-Fry

 

Posters comments:

1)  Stir frying is a style of cooking.

2)  You don't need a wok to cook using the stir-fry idea. A decent skillet with high sides is just as effective.

            2a)  A "seasoned" (really oiled into the metal's pores) wok is just as "non-stick" as the more modern "Teflon" type cooking instruments.  Think making an omelet, for example.

3)  Everything I use is pretty much dual use. So, for example, I do have a cast iron wok which I can use over a fire or a stove.  I prefer a carbon steel rounded bottom wok with a ring, but that is not very dual use for me.

4)  The key is cutting up the ingredients (ahead of time) sufficiently so the pieces successfully stir-fry (cook).  Smaller pieces are best.

5)  Homemade won-tons (either fried or steamed) are so much better than the store bought versions from the freezer section of your local store. I make mine with a lot of meat and ginger, usually using ground pork from WalMart. Plan B is to pick out a pork roast (or some kind of meat) and have it ground up.

6)  The argument between electric and gas cooking I have heard a bunch. Both seem to work OK for me in stir-frying.  The key is preheating (really heating) the cooking instrument you choose to use.

7)  Presentation is important. The world is boring and hard enough. For example, if you make your own bread call it "artisan bread" vice "homemade bread". Use this idea when serving stir-fried food. You don't need Asian things to serve stir-fry, or even cook it.

8)  Cook's prerogative!  Eat (and test) your meal as you cook. What's wrong with being full when sitting down to serve and watch others eat their meal.

9)  Stockpile cooking oil and even shortening. They do have shelf lives, so keeping them in cool dark places does help in extending the shelf lives. One may be surprised how long the shelf lives are, by the way.  And some oils have higher "smoking" temperatures than others, so experiment with them (ahead of time) if you can. It is reported that peanut oil and canola oil is best, but any oil or shortening should be effective in stir-frying.

10)  If your store does not carry won-ton skins, consider buying (if they have them) egg roll skins and quartering them up to make won-ton skins.  These skins (both with egg and without egg) do freeze well, also.  Vietnamese "spring rolls" and Philippine "lumpia" provide good examples.  Both styles skip the eggs and are still tasty to most.

11)  Stir-frying does not require wrapping ingredients in a "skin", like a won-ton or a ravioli or a pierogi.  Often rice or another grain is offered as part of the meal instead of wrapping them in a skin.

12)  I  have made my own "fortune cookies" from scratch, so I know I can do it if I have to.  Coming up with the "filling" can be kind of fun and often appropriate, too.  Cooking the dough with a stir-fry technique did help me at the time, by the way.   One can par-bake the thin dough, too.