Wok this way. The Chinese food thread.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Wok this way. The Chinese food thread.

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

When I was looking for the best cookbook I found this: http://www.amazon.com/Stir-Frying-Skys-Edge-Ultimate-Authentic/dp/1416580573/ in a Saveur article. "Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories" came out last year and it's the only stir fry book you need.

I got so amped I got this massive wok and outdoor burner: http://www.amazon.com/18-Carbon-Steel-Wok-Kit/dp/B000NCVD6U/ 65,000 BTU will incinerate anything in minutes if you're not careful and I've been using the same tank once a week for the past year. You just prep everything and keep the meat, veg and sauce separate. I can't imagine ever using 185,000 BTUs posted a ways up unless you're loving Chen Kinichi. I make way better Chinese food than the lovely places around here.

I then picked up an $8 "ping ping pan" from the Korean Market which is a wok in some coating you have to burn off. I had to get a smaller wok because the one that came with the burner is large enough to bathe three small children. The handle on the ping ping pan was hollow so I stuck a spare bit of dowel in there to extend it out.

A couple things to keep in mind: Pearl River Bridge light soy sauce is king. Japanese soy sauce is poo poo as it has alcohol in it. Korean soy sauce is pretty much the lowest you can get before you hit La Choy territory. Don't season your wok with a paper towel. Just stir fry an onion until it's cinder. Would you rather have your food taste like food or burnt paper?

One thing I haven't "mastered" is keeping the wok from charring excess meat marinade prior to removing it to cook the vegetables. It turns to concrete at the bottom and takes a handful of course salt and a bit of elbow grease to scrub that poo poo out of there.

Maybe I can incinerate it off like a self-cleaning oven prior to cooking the veg?

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Apr 5, 2011

# ¿ Apr 5, 2011 06:03

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:29

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

branedotorg posted:

My local korean shop (there's three within 300m of my place) has about 30 types of soy from fresh to aged gangjang stuff.

Your experience is very rare, even in Korea when I lived there in 2006:

wikipedia posted:

Wide scale use of Joseon ganjang has been somewhat superseded by cheaper factory-made Japanese style soy sauce, called waeganjang (hangul: 왜간장/和: 간장). According to the 2001 national food consumption survey in Korea, traditional fermented ganjang comprised only 1.4% of soy sauce purchases

The majority is made crap with caramel color, hydrolyzed, guanylated this and that and comes in plastic containers.

branedotorg posted:

Most japanese soy doesn't actually have alcohol in it either btw.

You're right, it just tastes like it does which is displeasing to me. But some do add alcohol. I find Chinese soy sauces to be of the best quality and taste. Just look out for counterfeit products! Yes, there is a black market for counterfeit Chinese sauces. Some manufacturers have even gone to lengths to put holograms on their labels.

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Apr 5, 2011

# ¿ Apr 5, 2011 14:27

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

The Macaroni posted:

PorkFat, is there a particular brand of Chinese soy sauce that you like? I know I'm weird, but I've always preferred the taste of Japanese thin/light soy sauce and Thai thick/dark soy sauce. Doesn't mean I'm not open to change if I meet the right soy sauce. OP likes Pearl River brand--I've never tried their thin soy, but I definitely prefer Thai Healthy Boy thick soy.
Is it worth trying to find Shaoxing without salt added? (Drinking shaoxing as opposed to "cooking" shaoxing, in other words.) I don't live near a significant Chinese population, so I'd probably have a hell of a time finding it anyway. My bottle of cooking shaoxing is just about gone and I need to get some more.

Yeah, I think Pearl River brand is the best. As for cooking wine, I also find myself in the pit of despair with few choices in good ingredients unless I drive an hour into the city. Don't use the cooking rice wine with salt and crap in it. I mix things up by using vodka or tequila. A good tequila like 1800 gold will add a peppery note which is great in Szechuan style. Even if you have the real Shaoxing available, I recommend you try it a few times with other booze. And the OP said, sherry is a decent substitute.

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Apr 5, 2011

# ¿ Apr 5, 2011 16:05

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

GrAviTy84 posted:

I think you're using too much marinade. It should be quite dry.

use a bamboo brush

Thanks, I'll look harder for a bamboo brush the next time I go to the city. I can't find one around here and I'm not going to spend $10 on Amazon. I had one before with another wok, which is the wok I used the oil-only method of seasoning. And yeah, it did bead up and have little blobs on it like you said. I should have kept it but my drat room mate put it in the dishwasher when I was out of town. Did the same thing with my Lodge skillet because "it was greasy looking."

# ¿ Apr 5, 2011 19:33

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

gret posted:

I'd just get a flat-bottomed wok. That way you're not losing any heat by not having the wok directly contact the range surface.

If you did use a ring - regardless of gas or electric - make drat sure it's a steel wire ring and not the ones made of sheet metal with round holes punched out. The sheet metal ones will trap heat and destroy the enamel on the stove top. If you have a glass top, you're out of luck - get an outdoor burner.

Now, it's not nearly as hot as it should be to achieve the "wok hei", but a cheap Korean butane stove like this http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xpE1FpQmWuk/TBaNbGPKe5I/AAAAAAAACLk/KvkMbXs1zJ4/s1600/DSCN1644.JPG can get you by until you can get your hands on a more powerful heat source. The butane cans go for like $3 at the Asian market.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2011 00:22

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

justasmile posted:

Could you be more specific on ratios? I too would like to recreate (probably completely Americanized) sesame tofu/beef and broccoli at home.

For extra flavor, you can marinade 12 ounces of thinly sliced (par-freezing helps when slicing) beef for one hour in:
1 Tbsp minced ginger
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice wine (I use vodka or tequila to mix things up since I can never find rice wine in this podunk town)
1.5 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil
.5 tsp salt
pepper

Regardless of the marinade step, stir fry the beef until seared but not cooked through about 1 minute in 1 Tbsp peanut oil. Remove beef, then stir fry the 12 ounces broccoli and med sliced onion in another Tbsp peanut oil, then return the beef and add the sauce (which should be mixed ahead in a bowl to dump in all at once):

2 Tbsp of water or broth
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine

Stiry fry 30 seconds or so until beef is done. The book I got this from has you parboil the broccoli but I don't find it necessary. She also has you lightly stir fry some garlic and fermented black beans a little bit before pulling them to the side and adding the beef. You may need to increase the stir fry times if you don't have a high-temp heat source like my outdoor wok burner.

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Jan 4, 2012

# ¿ Apr 10, 2011 03:12

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Grey Mage posted:

Is there any good substitute for sesame oil if we're allergic? I can manage simple stir fries at home with just canola oil, but it seems like everything else requires sesame and I'd rather not eat tasty food only to end up grabbing my Epi-Pen afterwards.

There's really nothing that you can use instead. Sesame oil has such a distinctive flavor. Maybe dry roast some cashews or peanuts until they get fairly dark but not burnt (hopefully you're not allergic to nuts too). Finely crush them up and mix them in.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2011 03:57

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Does anyone have a source of Szechwan pepper online? I cannot find it locally in the asian markets and online I find it only for insane prices or for large amounts.

# ¿ May 4, 2011 14:31

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Human Tornada posted:

In my local Asian store they come in a big bag labeled "prickly ash" and it doesn't have the words "Szechwan" or "peppercorn" anywhere on it. Penzeys is good too though.

I know what they look like and I've gone up and down every spice section looking for them. Unless they're in an opaque package?

# ¿ May 5, 2011 00:56

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

Related question: I love wood-ear mushrooms, those black frilly things, but are the ones they serve in restaurants reconstituted from dried mushrooms, or is there just no way to make store-bought dry woodears have awesome taste/texture?

Maybe the stuff you're getting is old? Is the package covered dust in the store? You just soak them in boiling water for a bit and add them to whatever you're making. I use them all the time to make Korean japchae and they taste just like or better than the restaurant. If they aren't rehydrated properly or cooked well they can be very tough and almost plastic like in consistency.

# ¿ May 8, 2011 02:50

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

GrAviTy84 posted:

Tenderizes, gives the meat a sort of soft spongy texture. Good for making something like pork shoulder tender, even for only cooking for a minute or so.

Is that what they call "velveting" or am I thinking of something else? I'm guessing by over doing it, it will end up like how some cheap Chinese buffets have chicken that turns to mush in your mouth even though it was stir-fried?

# ¿ May 11, 2011 04:29

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

impossible! posted:

... soy sauce and maybe a little hoisin sauce for something like PorkFat's beef and broccoli recipe?

That idea is sound. I would use dark soy sauce and hoisin but the extra dark soy sauce will add a bitter almost molasses (without the sweetness) flavor that some might find objectionable.

I've tried vegetarian oyster sauce made with mushrooms. It was pretty good, certainly not something to scrap a recipe over. In fact, I would use it over a homemade substitute.

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Jul 14, 2011

# ¿ Jul 14, 2011 22:00

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

SubG posted:

Thread necromancy time.

Does anyone have a reliable/preferred guide to making hand-pulled noodles? I've tried a bunch of different methods from random youtube videos and that kind of thing, but all of those have turned out eh. There are two or three bread-making bibles. Is there a Chinese noodle bible?

Reliably? You're going to need years of experience under your belt. Hand-pulled noodles and a tender smoked brisket are two of my holy grails. My pulled noodles end up turned into kalguksu out of frustration.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2011 05:38

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Walk Away posted:

...4 year-old ... Broccoli is okay...doesn't handle spicy...Chinese food.

So, beef and broccoli?

# ¿ Sep 8, 2011 03:45

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

kryptonik posted:

Hopefully this wasn't covered, but I don't think it was.
I am addicted to chicken w/ broccoli.
How on earth can I make that uber bangin brown sauce on it?
Is it the same as the beef w/ broccoli recipe in the beginning? I don't ever recall any kind of "oysterness"

When you add fish sauce or oyster sauce, you really shouldn't be hit in the face with fish in the final product. It will add characteristics that meld with the rest of the dish. Oyster sauce itself doesn't have a whole lot of oyster in it; the overwhelming ingredients are sugar, salt and cornstarch and probably some glutamate containing ingredient. So yeah, the one near the beginning of the thread should serve you well for a chicken version.

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Sep 15, 2011

# ¿ Sep 15, 2011 21:02

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Mach420 posted:

Ok, he said that he prefers using country style ribs, no tenderizer. He goes for cuts that are fatty but don't have much connective tissue.

That's what I use. Cheapest, tender, fatty cut you can get. And the fat is in big enough strips that you can pull it away easily before eating if it's not your thing.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2011 16:01

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Finally broke out the wok after dying for some home-made food. I've been living on Clif bars, cereal and sandwiches since the semester started. I call it everything from the garden and pork stirfry.
The pork is sliced country ribs and the veggies are baby potatoes, kohlrabi, carrots, spinach, garlic and green onions. The meat marinade was vodka, corn starch soy sauce, garlic, ginger and black pepper. The sauce was soy sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch, sesame oil and garlic and a squirt of sriracha. It turned out lovely:

For the first time extra sauce didn't scorch on the bottom of the pan into a pile of carbon. I eased back on the sauce amount and the end result was more subtle, less American "pour on the sodium/gloop."

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Sep 22, 2011

# ¿ Sep 22, 2011 01:16

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Panax posted:

Great post, but I'm going to go on a bit of a derail and correct some things about the Korean version...

I'm not sure what you mean by traditional, but everywhere I've had this dish (and I've had it a lot) in Korea had sweet potato in it. But yeah, onion is the dominant vegetable by far. The seafood version is my favorite but it's usually 7000krw as opposed to the vegetable version at <4000krw. What better food to fill your belly than a giant bowl of noodles for less than $4 plus banchan and all the water you can drink?

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Sep 22, 2011

# ¿ Sep 22, 2011 01:32

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Cizzo posted:

In all honesty, the only thing that matters to me in terms of what goes in it is the jajang itself. If that tastes bad, it will ruin everything else.

And don't forget to fry the jajang before you thin and add it.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2011 15:54

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Bauxite posted:

HELP, I'M DUMB:
Can anyone tell me how shanghai noodles are supposed to be prepared? I just completely ruined two packages of the stuff , following this recipe. I gather that the microwaving bit is a shortcut, but since I don't know how they're originally supposed to be prepared I don't know what it's a shortcut around. I can find plenty of resources on how the noodles are pulled which, while fascinating in and of itself, doesn't help me at all.

When I use packaged parcooked noodles like that, I simply put them over whatever I'm cooking and cover for a minute to soften them. After they're softened and pliable use your spatula to separate them. I use a kind of vigorous wiggle that doesn't smash or break up the noodles. I've never microwaved them, but I don't see how doing it for the 45 seconds listed would ruin them; it's only used to soften and separate them.

What do you mean by "ruin?"

# ¿ Nov 1, 2011 02:09

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

pim01 posted:

dutch-chinese

What's included in this? I've found Korean-Chinese to be quite different from American as well. No heavy, gloopy, sweet sauces. Plus, Chinese made for Korean tastes tend to be right up my alley anyway.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2011 01:11

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Rurutia posted:

...Chinese clay air pot ...

Is that the thing that looks like a bundt pan?

# ¿ Nov 25, 2011 23:52

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

GrAviTy84 posted:

you cannot use the clay pot on an electric hotplate, in a microwave oven, or in a conventional oven.

So, what can you use to heat it? Just a gas burner?

# ¿ Nov 26, 2011 01:07

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Is the inside unglazed? Won't it absorb funk if it isn't? Is there any concern for lead contamination?

The whole thing looks interesting and I love new cookware, but cooking in unglazed Chinese pottery doesn't sit well with me.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2011 08:03

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Don't overload the pan if you have a small one, cook the meat in more, smaller batches. Cook it at the highest temperature you can stand without burning it for a very short amount of time - so it's still pink in the thinly-sliced middle and let it finish cooking in the last few minutes at the end of the vegetable cooking time.

I've never had to use the baking soda trick but I would like to see what happens if I do.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2011 17:34

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Yeah, you got Japanese soy sauce and Korean mirin. Now you just need some Chinese kochujang and you'll be all set.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2011 04:50

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

I cook on the patio with my wok burner connected to the propane tank. Instant lava heat and instantly off, no smoke or mess indoors and no damage to my glasstop stove.

do you have a flat bottom wok? It might work but I recommend outdoors.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2011 05:28

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

So these eggs taste like ammonia? Why the hell would I want to eat that? I tried Scandinavian licorice and couldn't stand those. I have a feeling if I buy or make century eggs I'll just be throwing them out. If I remove the yolk, does the white still taste of ammonia?

# ¿ Jan 20, 2012 04:09

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

smashthedean posted:

I bought this wok since it was pretty inexpensive. Figured I'd give it a try and then buy a proper carbon steel wok once I figured out what I was doing.

But, that stainless model is more expensive than many of the carbon models sold by Amazon, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Joyce-Chen-Pro-Chef-14-Inch-Handles/dp/B00004RBTH/ref=sr_1_10?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1329452303&sr=1-10

And being stainless is the antithesis of what cooking with a wok is. Building up carbon seasoning can't be done on a stainless. And cleaning it must be a bitch if you're using a good, high wok-cooking temperature, no? I'd be afraid of warping or damaging stainless steel on my wok burner. I wouldn't think it could handle it. I think you would have been better off starting with a carbon wok from the get go.

I have this setup here: http://www.amazon.com/18-Carbon-Steel-Wok-Kit/dp/B000NCVD6U/ref=sr_1_17?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1329452545&sr=1-17 But the wok is big enough to make food for a wedding banquet. Far too large and cumbersome for a quick meal for two so I bought a smaller 14" one. At least now I have something to up-armor my car in case of world war III.

ForkPat fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Feb 17, 2012

# ¿ Feb 17, 2012 05:22

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Aero737 posted:

Well those steel coils are glowing red hot. People say electric stoves don't make enough heat, but I find they make more than enough. Maybe not as much as a wok burner or turkey fryer, but they put out more heat that a standard gas range.

Yeah, I'm sure it would be good, but you don't get those flames coming up over the side.

Also, you need a flat bottom wok to work with electric for good heat transfer. Don't use closed wok rings like this http://www.amazon.com/MV-TRADING-CO-Wok-Ring/dp/B00012F3X6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329463002&sr=8-1 on stoves if you're using a round bottom - make sure it's a wire wok ring like this http://www.amazon.com/Joyce-Chen-J31-0063-Chrome-Steel/dp/B00004RBTL/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329463002&sr=8-2. If you use the closed type, you'll damage the enamel on the stove.

My rental house only has a glass top so I had to buy an outdoor burner. Thankfully stir-frying doesn't take but a few minutes at most so even in the winter it's no big deal.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2012 08:18

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

Finally purchased some szechuan peppercorns from the internet. I'm not one to shy away from anything edible and I've acquired tastes for some of the stranger foods from around the world.

But, I think it's safe to say that these little balls of tongue numbing disgustingness are probably the worst things I've ever tasted. I'm sure it's like when you are little and taste unsweetened chocolate when your mother is baking - before it's made into something amazingly awesome. At least, I hope it's like that.

So how do I prepare these things for a dish, in general? Heat them in a dry pan? Smash them up? Throw them in a pepper mill? Fine or coarse? Should they have little bit's of sticks and stems mixed in with them? Do I need to care about those?

# ¿ Feb 26, 2012 03:00

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

GrAviTy84 posted:

Remove the shiny black seeds and the twigs, you just want the outer shell. They should taste lemony and numbing. I usually either spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Using them raw will be more intense than toasted, counter intuitively. I like them as finely ground as I can get them.

Ah, interesting. I thought the black seeds were the bit that I wanted. But it crumbled into an almost hard, sandy consistency against my teeth. Good to know. I don't know about lemony; from the little bit I popped in my mouth, it was almost like menthol eucalyptus cough drops.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2012 03:22

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

When I use egg in fried rice, it's the last thing that I add. I'll simply push everything to the side, leaving a patch of bare pan, add a touch of oil till it's hot, then add the egg, quickly scrambling them. Before they get browned but after they're fully set, mix everything together.

Oops, I lied. Sometimes I'll add a handful of fresh or frozen peas as the last ingredient.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 04:36

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:29

ForkPat: Aug 5, 2003; All the food is poison

GrAviTy84 posted:

Teflon and plastic handles should be avoided at all costs though.

poo poo, yes. When I bought my first "wok" it was teflon coated. After the first use at the right temperature, the poo poo burned right off and ruined a batch of beef and broccoli.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2012 20:26

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Wok this way. The Chinese food thread.