Well thank you, sohailgagai.... and you're welcome for sure!
All I can do is pass on my opinions, observations, and what I learned chatting with a few Chinese chefs in San Francisco.
Before I "semi-retired", I used to spend a great deal of time working in San Francisco... and I lived at the Hyatt on Union Square hotel.. about a 5 block walk down to Chinatown. It's been acknowledged that San Francisco's Chinatown produces some of the best Chinese cuisine in the US.
Having to eat ALL my meals at various restaurants, I more often than not picked out some "off-the-wall" Chinese restaurants in Chinatown (ones where 99% of the patrons were Asian and ate their rice holding their bowl in one hand near their face and, using chop sticks, could run a steady stream of rice into their mouth, their chop sticks in a blur ... the Caucasian "tourists" ate at the more expensive restaurants on the main drag... which ALSO produced outstanding food but at twice the expense).
Over time I got to know a couple of the chefs in some of those restaurants.. and I got a tour of their kitchens... I encourage anyone eating at a GOOD Chinese restaurant to see if they can tour the kitchen... in those kitchens, the chefs cook with their woks positioned over HUGE holes in a stainless counter thing... and in each "hole" was some kind of "fire blaster" that belched flame and sounded like a jet engine when fired up.
The chef had a foot pedal he could step on, like a gas pedal on a car, which obviously released gas of some kind (probably propane) into the "jet engine" heating his wok.. and in one big "whoosh" (I mean you could hear it and see it.. definitely... there would be a blast of flame and his wok would turn a light redhot color with little wisps of smoke coming off it.. then he'd toss in his oil, meat, veggies, seasonings, etc. and VERY quickly toss them around.. sometimes removing some items and re-introducing more oil, seasoning, and other items, but ALWAYS in this semi-red hot wok. When he was finished, usually in about 60 seconds it seemed, he'd take his foot off the "gas pedal" and the fire would die back down to a pilot light.
And THAT, explained a couple of pretty good San Francisco Chinatown chefs, is what produces what is called the "hay" in good Chinese wok cooking.
So, next time I decided to cook stir fry at home, I fired up my outside 120,000 BTU turkey fryer propane burner, tossed on my el cheapo carbon steel wok and fired it up and cooked over VERY high heat...and THAT was the best stir fry I ever made anyway.. and came the closest I ever came to the professional kitchens where I ate in San Francisco...
So, that's the experience upon what I base my "humble opinion"
... other folk's mileage obviously varies... which makes cooking and sharing info and recipes so much fun!
,its always good but just not the same
