larry_stewart
Master Chef
When I was a lot younger, for lunch (just about every day) I would go to a local take out Chinese place that had a clear view of the kitchen area. I would order a stir fry and noodle dish alternating days fo about 1 year. This is when I was starting to get really into cooking, so I paid very close attention to what they were doing in the back. One thing I noticed with the veggies were that they were free blanching them prior to stir frying. They had a huge wok with either water or broth ( not sure), but they would put the veggies for the dish in a mesh like strainer, dip them into the liquid food a brief amount of time, then they had a way of hanging/ positioning the blanched veggies over the wok so the veggies would strain, and the liquid would drip back into the wok. As the veggies were draining, they would use a second wok to quickly stir fry the aromatic veggies ( ginger, onion, garlic). They would then toss the blanched veggies in the last second for a few flips in the wok with the other ingredients, add a few different liquid sauces ( soy sauce, oyster sauce .....), probably a few sprinkles of MSG and then a thickening agent ( starch mixed with liquid) to finish things up. If the whole thing took longer than 5 - 10 minutes, thats a lot. Being a take out place, everything was already prepared and ready to go prior to cooking. They had 2 different sized bowls ( one for a small order the other for a large , depending on what the order was. They would go down the line of pre cut veggies, and fill up the bowls. The sized bowls also corresponded to the size of the white take out boxes so they were assured too fill them up ( but not over fill). They had it down to a science.
The pre blanching gives the other veggies a head start, this way they spend less time in the wok. Pre blanching is quick, not something where you want the veggies to get mushy or soggy. As far as the onions, garlic and ginger go, they are quick too. Burnt garlic will ruin a dish, and most Chinese dishes with onions that I have, the onions have minimal to no color and still have some consistency ( a slight crunch) but missing the intense raw onion flavor. ( there are exceptions in certain dishes where the onions are cooked with a little more color).
With green onions/ scallions, many times the harder white part are cooked in he beginning, where as the green part are tossed in at the end, as they are very tender and cook extremely quick , and also give a little bit More of that raw onion flavor, in a toned down kinda way.
Also, its almost impossible to get the same heat at home than those rocket engine woks they have at the restaurant. And I think it is that which is letting me get close to, but not exactly like it is in the restaurant . Just cant generate enough heat to allow me to stir fry like he pros.
The pre blanching gives the other veggies a head start, this way they spend less time in the wok. Pre blanching is quick, not something where you want the veggies to get mushy or soggy. As far as the onions, garlic and ginger go, they are quick too. Burnt garlic will ruin a dish, and most Chinese dishes with onions that I have, the onions have minimal to no color and still have some consistency ( a slight crunch) but missing the intense raw onion flavor. ( there are exceptions in certain dishes where the onions are cooked with a little more color).
With green onions/ scallions, many times the harder white part are cooked in he beginning, where as the green part are tossed in at the end, as they are very tender and cook extremely quick , and also give a little bit More of that raw onion flavor, in a toned down kinda way.
Also, its almost impossible to get the same heat at home than those rocket engine woks they have at the restaurant. And I think it is that which is letting me get close to, but not exactly like it is in the restaurant . Just cant generate enough heat to allow me to stir fry like he pros.
