after a weekend of woking, some observations.

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boomchakabowwow

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main observation..i suck at it. i am prepped to the max, and i am still playing catchup. i vaguely remember my stepdad turning off the fire as he goes between some ingredients. i'll try that.

plus i think i have to turn my wok burner down some. i need to adjust my regulator so that my knob thrown full "jet" isnt some insane fire.

and seasoning a wok. come-on!! i am a total rookie, but i think that every time you use a wok on a proper wok burner, you damn near vaporize your seasoning. its the insane heat that skips your food across the surface without sticking..no?

i've stripped my cast iron seasoning by accidentally leaving it on lit stove top, or on purpose in a self clean oven setting..my wok gets hotter than that, i think.

i'm gonna stick with it. i've made Beef Chow fun..it sucked. beef with bitter melon - i give it a five out of 10..and deep fried oysters. 8! the grand finale was salmon head stir fry with ginger and green onions. 9! <--this was actually my first dish!!

tonight, shrimp with scrambled eggs. it's anybodies guess at this point.

i actually ran out of propane at the end of my beef chow fun, the second the wok cooled a tad, the food stuck. hench my seasoning comment above. i'm gonna ask a few chinese cooks.
 
boomchakabowwow said:
and seasoning a wok. come-on!! i am a total rookie, but i think that every time you use a wok on a proper wok burner, you damn near vaporize your seasoning. its the insane heat that skips your food across the surface without sticking..no?

i've stripped my cast iron seasoning by accidentally leaving it on lit stove top, or on purpose in a self clean oven setting..my wok gets hotter than that, i think.
Click to expand...

I'm not using a super hot outdoor burner, but the countertop wok burner in our kitchen runs around 30,000 btu. I don't think of "seasoning" on my wok the same way I do for my Lodge cast iron pans. It's not so much a "layer" as just a darker color of the smooth metal surface. Maybe there's a tiny amount of hardened oil in the pores of the steel. Something has to be causing that black color, but it sure isn't much. Nothing at all like the thick seasoning built up on my cast iron pans.
 
Boom, I'm learning too, but watching pro's wok is revealing.

I'm by far an expert, but there's infinite ways to cook in a wok.

For stir fry cooking, you do want to cook with incredibly high heat. The secret is to add small ingredients to hot oil and keep them moving, cook time should be as short as possible, but under very high power.

Process,:

Heat wok, dash oil in pan, move around, then dum it out, then add protein. No more than 8 OZ or so t a time. Then pump the pan, scraping tossing, maybe a minute or less, dump that protein into a strainer over a bowl.

CLEAN WOK. Cut the flame, splash some water, scrape the burned bits and any sugar that have burned on the bottom. Dump. rinse again, wipe out.

Back on high heat, add oil, move around, dump out, then add garlic/ginger/chili (cook 5 sec), add veg, toss toss toss (20 sec cook) add noodle, protein back, tiny bit of sauce, toss toss, Plate.

CLEAN WOK

Back on high heat....
 
boomchakabowwow said:
main observation..i suck at it. i am prepped to the max, and i am still playing catchup. i vaguely remember my stepdad turning off the fire as he goes between some ingredients. i'll try that.

plus i think i have to turn my wok burner down some. i need to adjust my regulator so that my knob thrown full "jet" isnt some insane fire.

and seasoning a wok. come-on!! i am a total rookie, but i think that every time you use a wok on a proper wok burner, you damn near vaporize your seasoning. its the insane heat that skips your food across the surface without sticking..no?

i've stripped my cast iron seasoning by accidentally leaving it on lit stove top, or on purpose in a self clean oven setting..my wok gets hotter than that, i think.

i'm gonna stick with it. i've made Beef Chow fun..it sucked. beef with bitter melon - i give it a five out of 10..and deep fried oysters. 8! the grand finale was salmon head stir fry with ginger and green onions. 9! <--this was actually my first dish!!

tonight, shrimp with scrambled eggs. it's anybodies guess at this point.

i actually ran out of propane at the end of my beef chow fun, the second the wok cooled a tad, the food stuck. hench my seasoning comment above. i'm gonna ask a few chinese cooks.
Click to expand...

Martha Sherpa in Hong Kong said pretty much the same thing about seasoning. She works on a very hot burner every time and then washes the wok out with soap and water. Soap and water is normally considered totally taboo on a seasoned wok but hers looked in better shape than mine for sure.
 
had a very good wok cook tell me that the smaller the wok, the less heat you need.

made Shrimp in Lobster sauce last night and it was about perfect..(a bit over-salted IMHO)..i'm getting better.

i did bring the jet engine down significantly.
 
Mucho has it down pat. I worked a wok station in an Asian restaurant and loved it. We precooked all proteins except tofu, and some noodle types were precooked as well. Rice noodles work best if soaked overnight in the fridge, no precooking necessary, for example.

The technique that stuck with me most was to add the sauce directly to the wok (in a circular motion, around the stirfry). For lack of better terms, this creates steam that really heats things up. If you add sauce directly to the veg, it takes much longer to come up to temperature..

It really is a quick, high heat style of cooking. Our average dish took much longer to garnish than it did in the wok. I think I miss the wok hei the most. :)

PS we only used water to clean the woks (using a bamboo whisk & steel wool ).
 
fujiyama said:
PS we only used water to clean the woks (using a bamboo whisk & steel wool ).
Click to expand...

yea. a pro wok station is "nestled" essentially in a sink. i would watch them fill with water, boil..work that steel wool around with a brush and use same brush to whisk the water up against the stainless steel backdrop that runs down to a trough sink. super fast and efficient. at home in the backyard..err..not so much :)

at deer camp..i am whisking the water into the wilderness..
 
I'm trying to get a combination of Cambros and hotel pans that I can use to hold fresh and used water/oil. A janky, ersatz wok station.
 
btbyrd said:
I'm trying to get a combination of Cambros and hotel pans that I can use to hold fresh and used water/oil. A janky, ersatz wok station.
Click to expand...

Are you (or anyone else here) saving used wok oil for re-use? Not the small amount for stir fry, I mean larger amounts for deep fry or Chinese "passing through oil" before the oil is dumped and the meal is finished with a light stir fry.

I've been saving the oil (peanut oil) cooled and filtered through cheesecloth into a plastic container when it's vegetable, meat, or poultry ingredient. Then I use 50% saved oil next time mixed with 50% fresh oil. I know there are different philosophies about this, but it helps keep the cost down if you do a lot of this. The only oil I don't save is anything used for fish or shellfish. That gets tossed, on the theory that anything left in the oil after filtering will degrade more quickly and taste yucky.
 
I treat wok oil like other frying oil, which is pretty much as you described. If it's not too damaged by heat (and if it didn't fry any fish) then it gets filtered and saved for the next use. New fry oil isn't as effective as oil that's been "broken in" a bit.
 
@Paraffin yes, when doing deep-fry projects like pakora, tempura, samosas...

The trickiness is about the filter media... kitchen paper is fast but rather unwieldy to handle... coffee filters only work with the oil still hot enough to soften a plastic funnel or, even worse, the bottle (it helps if there is still some cold oil left in it).

...

Oh, and... don't attempt fried rice in a non-nonstick wok that hasn't yet really seasoned in :)
 
LifeByA1000Cuts said:
@Paraffin yes, when doing deep-fry projects like pakora, tempura, samosas...

The trickiness is about the filter media... kitchen paper is fast but rather unwieldy to handle... coffee filters only work with the oil still hot enough to soften a plastic funnel or, even worse, the bottle (it helps if there is still some cold oil left in it).
Click to expand...

Right, it took me a while to figure out what worked best. Not sure it's the ultimate best solution, but I use a tight wire-screen metal mesh strainer with a few folded layers of cheesecloth on top. That does a good filtering job without impeding the flow of the oil too much. I don't have the patience to wait for a paper filter.

Oh, and... don't attempt fried rice in a non-nonstick wok that hasn't yet really seasoned in :)
Click to expand...

+1
Swirl the oil around the sides of the wok before even starting. It also helps if you cook the rice a little on the dry side (a little less water than you usually use) and make sure it's completely cooled before hitting the wok. I think that tightens up or at least dries the starch, which helps when it hits the hot oil.
 
boomchakabowwow said:
a pro wok station is "nestled" essentially in a sink. i would watch them fill with water, boil..work that steel wool around with a brush and use same brush to whisk the water up against the stainless steel backdrop that runs down to a trough sink. super fast and efficient.
Click to expand...

Working on wok sections looks really intimidating at first, but when you get used to the giant sink around the jet they can be really fun and easy to deal with (unless its a really busy night, then it becomes hell)!

boomchakabowwow said:
at deer camp..i am whisking the water into the wilderness..
Click to expand...

This reminds me of when I worked as a chef for a movie set, cooking out of a truck that was designed to drive out to different film locations and feed the crew.
Imagine how much water you'd use after cooking a for 300 people (including doing the dishes after), then trying to find a place to stash this water. Gotta get creative!
 
I put a chinois over a Cambro to strain the oil. If it was really gnarly and I had a bunch of batter or particles blowing off, I'll line it with cheesecloth.
 
I'm honestly surprise so many here are unfamiliar with Oil Mothers.

I have a two quart Oil Mother of pure peanut oil in a jar in the refrigerator. When I want to deep fry, I just heat it to temp, cook, then let it cool completely.

At this point all (or most) of the particulate will have precipitated to the bottom. Then carefully, pour that cooled oil into the jar. The trick it, stop pouring when you get to the crap on the bottom. Then use a spatula to scrub most burned bits off the bottom of the pan, swirl around in the grease and discard in trash. Then just top off your Oil Mother with fresh peanut oil put back in refrigerator.

Occasionally, there will be additional solute that's precipitated to the bottom of the Mother. Next use, just stop pouring it all out and just discard when you get to the bottom.

No filters required. I've had a mother in service for at least ten years and yes, I fry fish in it.
 
The term "Oil Mother" googles to all kinds of cosmetics and hipsterdom, even in verbose mode.... not a kitchen utensil in sight.
 
Mucho Bocho said:
I'm honestly surprise so many here are unfamiliar with Oil Mothers.
Click to expand...

Not sure if the same item, but I have a stainless steel "pitcher" I got from japan for oil… it has a lid and a coarse then fine screen. It takes most of the crap out, bit agree there can be some really fine stuff that'll settle to the bottom
 
LifeByA1000Cuts said:
The term "Oil Mother" googles to all kinds of cosmetics and hipsterdom, even in verbose mode.... not a kitchen utensil in sight.
Click to expand...

Probably derived from the term "sourdough mother," I would assume? I'm a little skeptical of direct comparisons involving similar active benefits vs. just saving some money, but it does save money.

I maintain a sourdough mash too, but it's not mother. His name is "Clancy."
 
Guys, its what I call it. I'm pretty sure I read about it on a Chinese cookbook. It does more than save money, it imparts flavor. Frying in fresh oil created very bland food. As long as you keep your oil within temp limits, refresh it, you can keep a live mother for years. I don't have a particular name for it other than Oil Mother.
 
Well, with a massive pitcher, I guess at least everyone assisting will quickly understand what you mean when you say "hand me that mother from the fridge" ;)
 
I’m seriously getting the hang of this. Since the rain is gone, I’ve used my stovetop three times in a month. I am damn near exclusively cooking outside on the wok.

I did cook up the ingredients on my stove last night for my Chinese radish cakes.

The wok I bought from the restaurant store; the Sichuan version - 16” with the single handle. I donated it. I hated it. The steel was so thin. I couldn’t get with how I could flex the thing with my hands. I could deform it I’d I pressed hard enough. It was so smooth, the seasoning sucked, and I hated how everything slid readily back down to the center. I’ve embraced my tiny 14” carbon one. It is now black as Satan’s heart. The size is perfect for the wife and I.

In general; I have upped my Chinese food game. I made Taiwanese street food! I made my wife’s favorite. Oyster pancake. It’s complicated (for me). I reverse engineered the sauce. My wife said I nailed it.

This is fun!
 
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