make your stomach happy | . |
|
||||||||
copyright ©1999-2004 |
When you grow up in a Chinese-American household, you take a few things for granted: rice must be eaten with chopsticks, and no kitchen is complete without a wok. The popularity of bad Chinese take-out means that you can generally scrounge up at least a couple of pairs of leftover disposable chopsticks in your average non-Asian person's home, but woks remain less prevalent. The first time I ever tried to treat a friend to a proper home-cooked Chinese meal when I was living at a guesthouse in Florence, I nearly called the whole thing off when I realized that, duh, this being Italy, the communal kitchen lacked a wok. I settled for a skillet, but it just wasn't the same: without the high sides of a wok to offer me plenty of room in which to work stir-fry magic, I felt reined-in, unable to toss and turn and those ingredients anywhere near as vigorously as I was used to. Sure, it's possible to stir-fry without a wok. But frankly, it's just nowhere near as fun. buying a
wok Traditional woks are made of carbon steel and have a rounded bottom, a design that allowed Chinese cooks from days of yore to cook food quickly and evenly over the high heat of a fire pit. For the round bottom to work on a modern-day stove, these sorts of woks generally require an additional metal ring that allows them to balance properly on the burner (although sometimes, gas stove grates will work okay sans ring). Clever species that we humans are, we've also designed newer-style woks that have a built-in flattened bottom; these woks also frequently come with a nonstick coating. Whether you prefer the time-tested, old-fashioned woks or the higher-tech varieties is mostly a matter of personal preference; the nonstick, flat-bottomed types are probably a little easier to use and care for if you haven't had much experience with wok cooking before, but in my experience, I've found that the round bottom gives you a little extra depth and smooth curves in which to toss your stir-fries with wild abandon, and that sticking isn't a problem if you know how to properly use the wok. And hey, I figure centuries and centuries of Chinese cooks can't be wrong, yes? seasoning
the wok Seasoning a wok is a somewhat long, tedious process, but if you go through the bother, trust me: your efforts will be rewarded with many years of easy, non-stick wok cooking. If you've decided to go with one of the new-fangled, Teflon-coated woks, ignore this section. But if you've gone the traditional route with your wok, a little pre-cooking prep is in order.
---------------------------> lounge . nourish . host . laze . home. |