Throw Out Your Wok!
The most important rule for stir-frying at home is this: Don’t use a wok. Woks aren’t designed for a flat stovetop and provide less heat than a large skillet.
The challenge: To stir-fry properly you need plenty of shimmering, intense heat; enough to caramelize sugars, deepen flavors, and evaporate unnecessary juices. The problem is that a wok married to a home stovetop is a lousy partnership, one that provides, at best, moderate heat. Woks are conical because in China they traditionally sat on cylindrical pits containing the fire. Food was cut into small pieces to shorten cooking time, thus conserving fuel. Unfortunately, what is practical in China makes no sense in America. Simply put, woks don’t work for American home cooks. A wok was not designed for stovetop cooking, where the heat comes only from the bottom; the bottom of the wok gets very hot, and the sides get only very warm.

The solution: A horizontal heat source requires a horizontal pan. Therefore, if you want to stir-fry at home, consigns your wok to the basement and use a large skillet or Dutch oven, 12 to 14 inches in diameter. The other dirty little secret of stir-frying at home is that, even with a skillet, you don’t have enough heat to quickly sear and cook either large amounts or large pieces of food. For that reason, simply chop the vegetables into smaller pieces so they will cook quickly. You also need to cook relatively small amounts of food at one time – too much volume will draw down the heat of the pan, and you will end up with stewed meat and vegetables. In addition, to cook each vegetable to its proper degree of doneness, we suggest that you add vegetables in batches. Onions, carrots, and cauliflower require a good deal of cooking and should be added first. Fresh herbs, scallions, tomato wedges, and tender greens should be added at the end of cooking. All other vegetables are added in between. Also, the most important rule of stir-frying is that the pan must be hot, real hot. We suggest heating the pan for about for minutes over high heat.

For good measure: To find out whether the pan is hot enough, place your outstretched hand about one inch above the pan’s surface. If you can hold it there for no more than three seconds because of the heat, the pan is ready for stir-frying.

MASTER RECIPE FOR STIR-FRY

Serves 4

The secret to good stir-frying is lots of heat, so preheating the pan is crucial. During cooking, there should be lots of smoke, lots of steam, and lots of sizzle. Otherwise, you are braising the food and it will not develop the proper texture or flavor. To give you as much surface area as possible, you should use a large (twelve- to fourteen-inch) nonstick skillet. This recipe can be halved to serve two (if you halve the recipe, the cooking times will decrease) but it cannot be increased, as a home stovetop has insufficient heat to cook greater quantities of vegetables.

Meat, Seafood, or Tofu
3/4 pound meat, seafood, or tofu cut into small, even-sized pieces and drained
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon dry sherry

Vegetables
1 1/2 pounds vegetables, cut into small pieces (none bigger than a quarter) and divided into two or three batches
2 tablespoons chopped scallions, white part only
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh gingerroot

Sauce
1 recipe flavoring sauce
2–4 tablespoons canola or peanut oil

1. Toss meat, seafood, or tofu with soy sauce and sherry in medium bowl; set aside. Prepare flavoring sauce. Divide vegetables into two or three batches, following guidelines in chart above.

2. Heat 12- or 14-inch nonstick skillet over high heat, 4 minutes (pan should be so hot, you can hold your outstretched hand 1 inch above its surface for no more than 3 seconds); add 1 tablespoon oil (add 2 tablespoons for tofu or fish) and rotate pan so that bottom is evenly coated. Let oil heat until it just starts to shimmer and smoke. Check heat with hand. Drain meat, seafood, or tofu, then add to pan and stir-fry until seared and about three-quarters cooked (about 20 seconds for fish, 60 seconds for meat, 2 minutes for tofu, 2 1/2 to 3 minutes for chicken). Spoon cooked meat or seafood into serving dish. Cover and keep warm.

3. Let pan come back up to temperature, 1 or 2 minutes. When hot, drizzle in 2 teaspoons of oil, and when oil just starts to smoke, add vegetables from first category. Stir-fry until vegetables are just tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Leaving first batch in pan, repeat with remaining vegetables, cooking each set of vegetables until tender-crisp, or for fourth category, wilted. Add about a teaspoon of oil for each new batch (amount of oil will depend on skillet you are using—nonstick pans require about a teaspoon; other pans may require 2 teaspoons). Clear center of pan and add garlic, ginger, and scallions. Drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon of oil. Mash into pan with back of a spatula. Cook for 10 seconds. Remove pan from heat and stir garlic/ginger mixture into vegetables for 20 seconds.

4. Return pan to heat and add cooked meat, seafood, or tofu. Stir in sauce and stir-fry to coat all ingredients, about 1 minute. Serve immediately with rice.

GINGER SAUCE

3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1/4 cup minced fresh gingerroot
2 scallions, minced
2 tablespoons chicken stock

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and set aside.

ORANGE SAUCE

2 teaspoons minced zest and 1/4 cup juice from 1 large orange
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons chicken stock
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and set aside.

LEMON SAUCE

2 teaspoons minced zest and
3 tablespoons juice from
1 large lemon
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons chicken stock
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and set aside.

CURRY SAUCE

3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 scallions, minced
2 tablespoons chicken stock

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and set aside.

HOT-AND-SOUR SAUCE

2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons minced hot chiles
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons chicken stock
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and set aside.

March, 1996


Click Here to View PDF file of the rating chart.

Original article and recipes by Christopher Kimball

 
SEE ALSO:

Batching Vegetables for Stir-Fry