Chinese cooking

[Dallis]

My wife and I love stirfrys and also fried rice and use a cast iron wok over gas flame .the wok is 15 years old and well seasoned,yet we cannot get the taste
to match Chinese restaurant food.we get very close but there seem to be a flavor missing.We buy our ingredients from a Chinese grocer yet feel that something is missing We would appreciate any assistance and advice that any one can offer.

 

[tropical cooker]

Check this out:

Umami - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But remember that msg may cause certain bad health effects.

 

[giggler]

Sesame oil to finish the sauce?

Eric, Austin Tx.

 

[EatLoveMove]

Check this out:

Umami - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But remember that msg may cause certain bad health effects.

I agree with tropicalcooker....the only thing you're missing is MSG. In some people it causes allergic reactions, so that's why its not used do much in Western culture.

 

[justplainbill]

My wife and I love stirfrys and also fried rice and use a cast iron wok over gas flame .the wok is 15 years old and well seasoned,yet we cannot get the taste
to match Chinese restaurant food.we get very close but there seem to be a flavor missing.We buy our ingredients from a Chinese grocer yet feel that something is missing We would appreciate any assistance and advice that any one can offer.

Much Chinese - American cooking is done in carbon steel woks over high btu output gas rings which often have a foot operated flame control valve. The flame from such gas rings may achieve a maximum height of some 12".

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

MSG ?

 

[Selkie]

Cilantro?

 

[powerplantop]

My wife and I love stirfrys and also fried rice and use a cast iron wok over gas flame .the wok is 15 years old and well seasoned,yet we cannot get the taste
to match Chinese restaurant food.we get very close but there seem to be a flavor missing.We buy our ingredients from a Chinese grocer yet feel that something is missing We would appreciate any assistance and advice that any one can offer.

My wok collection includes nonstick, stainless steel, carbon steel and a cast iron wok. Now I mostly use the carbon steel and a cast iron woks. The carbon steel one I use the most is flatter is from South America and is called a disco. The cast iron woks are cantonese.

My nonstick and stainless one catch dust now.

The book that helped me the most is stir fry to the sky's edge. After reading this book my wok cooking greatly improved. I have others that I use but this is the one that got me over the hump.

I never use MSG.

I make my own Asian chicken stock and I think that this helps a lot.

Heat: Depending upon the dish high heat may be required. But not all dishes need extreme heat. I have an outdoor burner that gives a lot of heat. Your wok should be just starting to smoke before you add anything. Then you will need enough heat to bring it back to temp quickly. Then you will get a good sear and not boil your meat.

Use fresh garlic and ginger. The pre chopped or paste are not the same.

Here is an easy one you can try. ‪Kung Pao Chicken / Gong Bao Chicken‬‏ - YouTube

 

[Hyperion]

Much Chinese - American cooking is done in carbon steel woks over high btu output gas rings which often have a foot operated flame control valve. The flame from such gas rings may achieve a maximum height of some 12".

this.

I grew up in China and the only wok we use in my family is carbon steel wok. It doesn't hold heat, and gets hot/cools down fairly quickly, which is important in chinese cooking because you'll have to rapidly adjust your heat during cooking, and if it takes too long the food will be overcooked.

However, to get authentic chinese stirfry taste, you'll need a big ass gas burner. Not the one in your kitchen but the outdoor one. Alton Brown explained this in one of his episode, I think it's one of the squid episodes.

 

[Claire]

After having an experience watching Chinese chefs doing their thing up close and personal, one thing is that they use a lot more oil than you'd be led to believe. Lots more.

Horrible as it may sound to some, if you are tolerant of MSG (and you probably are if you feel fine after a restaurant meal), I agree it is one of the answers. I buy Maggi seasononing (yes, a form of MSG) when I'm going to stir fry beef or pork, and sprinkle it liberally with the seasoning after cutting, and let it sit in the fridge for an hour or so. Then I put in a little cornstarch, toss, heat the oil, and go to town. I only stir-fry for the two of us, and neither have reactions to MSG (and it isn't like we eat it every day).

The biggest trick to stir frying is, to me, mis en place. Make sure all of your ingredients are cut, soaked (dried Asian mushrooms) and ready to go before you turn on a burner.

 

[Wok Hei]

The missing ingredient is wok hei and now you can have it!

My wife and I love stirfrys and also fried rice and use a cast iron wok over gas flame .the wok is 15 years old and well seasoned,yet we cannot get the taste
to match Chinese restaurant food.we get very close but there seem to be a flavor missing.We buy our ingredients from a Chinese grocer yet feel that something is missing We would appreciate any assistance and advice that any one can offer.

As @JustPlainBill pointed out, the missing ingredient is the flavor wrought by the high heat/flames of the commercial stove used in Chinese restaurants. But now if you have a gas burner, you can produce wok hei right in your home kitchen. It's true!

Check out this short video that food scientist, Kenji Lopez-Alt posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeFgfBWUX68
If your mind is blown like mine was, you may want to read about how this was achieved in his article here.

Move over Godzilla. We will all be WokMonsters soon. And no, it won't be because of an allergic reaction to MSG.

 

[Mad Cook]

My wife and I love stirfrys and also fried rice and use a cast iron wok over gas flame .the wok is 15 years old and well seasoned,yet we cannot get the taste
to match Chinese restaurant food.we get very close but there seem to be a flavor missing.We buy our ingredients from a Chinese grocer yet feel that something is missing We would appreciate any assistance and advice that any one can offer.

Monosodium glutamate? Disgusting stuff but widely used in Chinese cooking.

 

[Wok Hei]

Monosodium glutamate? Disgusting stuff but widely used in Chinese cooking.

I was at the Restaurant Show in New York City a couple of months ago and saw that the MSG lobby had spent a lot of money to re-brand/re-market the stuff as an essential amino acid. Wikipedia says it is a non-essential one

In any case, the unique flavor of Chinese stir-fries has a lot more to do with wok hei (intense heat) than MSG and I am very excited that there is a way to achieve this at home now.

 

[Andy M.]

Monosodium glutamate? Disgusting stuff but widely used in Chinese cooking.

Disgusting?

 

[bachelorchef]

I just started woking about 3 months ago and have been studying it non stop. I also agree with the 'stirfry to the sky's edge' book. But I think your problem is probably not enough heat.

There's only so much you can do when you are cooking on a home gas range. Make sure you are using FULL heat. Cast iron is fine but let it heat up all the way before you put anything in it. Try using peanut oil if you aren't already. Also, don't overcrowd your wok. Try cooking a tiny baby size serving worth of food and see how it tastes. If it tastes different/better, that means you've been overcrowding your wok (it doesn't take much!). If you're not using a chinese jet engine for a burner, don't stir your food too much... Let your wok catch up to you so you can get a nice brown sear. Make sure you dry your meat and vegetables before you add them to the wok. Otherwise, it will steam your food instead of searing it. Also, try a flat bottom wok instead of a round bottom (even if you have a wok ring). I find the flat bottom woks sit closer to the fire and therefore get hotter.

I eat A LOT of stir fry... I make this chinese brown sauce once per week and keep it in my fridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsHAix_kBrg

You could also try blanching the vegetables in water (or oil) and add them to the wok at the very end just to get covered with sauce.

Also, check your ingredients and make sure you aren't substituting something that doesn't work. For example, light soy sauce is not the same as dark soy sauce.

What exactly are you making? Is it one particular dish that doesn't taste right? Or is it all of them?

 

[Andy M.]

I deal with the lack of a jet engine in my kitchen by cooking small batches. First the peppers (remove to a plate), then the onions, mushrooms, etc. one at a time. Last the meat. Then everybody back in the wok for sauce and final seasoning.

 

[Wok Hei]

I just started woking about 3 months ago and have been studying it non stop. I also agree with the 'stirfry to the sky's edge' book. But I think your problem is probably not enough heat.

There's only so much you can do when you are cooking on a home gas range. Make sure you are using FULL heat.

For those complaining about lack of heat, please see this SeriousEats article: The Food Lab: The Wok Mon Converts Your Home Burner Into a Wok Range. For Real. | Serious Eats

And check out this video also posted by Kenji Lopez-Alt of SeriousEats: The Wokmon in action (beef stir fry) - YouTube

And on Instagram: Instagram

Exciting times for woking enthusiasts!

 

[chiklitmanfan]

I cook my fried rice in a large well-seasoned cast iron dutch oven. I get it so hot over a gas flame that the ingredients just dance around when I drop them in. We use brown rice that I steam for about 20 mins which gives the recipe a dryer texture. I love to add grated ginger root, sesame oil, minced garlic, a few shakes of rice vinegar, and even cilantro. I also cannot match the flavor elicited by Chinese restaurants but we like ours just as well and we know what is in there.

 

[dcSaute]

that taper ring thing is at least 50 years old.

I have one that came with my mother's copper flash bottom Reverware wok from the 'aught-somethings.

was watching some "expert" on tv explaining how to wok - I think it was America's Test Kitchen - they had the ring on the cooktop UPSIDE DOWN.

oops.

 

[Mad Cook]

Disgusting?

Yes, it tastes horrid