saw some posts about pizza, with practice and patience, anyone can bake world class pizza in most home ovens, just not Neapolitan pizza.
best,
A South China Morning Post video on Wok Hei.
Wok hei: why do stir-fry dishes taste better with the ‘breath of the wok’? - YouTube
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Thanks, Chem, this was really good.
I must’ve missed the part where they used induction and glass tops…
Seriously, that rocking/rolling/shoveling motion in contact with the burner rim is mesmerizing. And it was interesting that a ladle is used rather than the rake.
I am puzzled by the resort to the little “pow” handles. I’d think that a Peking-type stick handle would be better and more comfortable.
Now I’m hungry!
I like to use a wok ladle, but a spatula is more popular for home cook. Yeah, I tried the pow handles but never like it as much. I like the stick handle more.
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Sorry! But I would like to express my disagreement to those comments pertaining to ’ impossible to create wok-hay at home’ !!
For me, I managed to create desired smoky aroma, charred meat ( Maillard Reaction ) and flambee of the oil…etc…all essential elements of ’ wok-hay ’ by using a ’ separate propane burner ’ placed next to my outdoor BBQ, for my wok and ’ woking’! ! The single burner generates 100,000 BTU! ( exceed the recommended minimal 65,000 BTU needed for ‘wok hay’ generation ).
BTW, I noticed they are selling even 200,000 BTU burners on Amazon!!..for around US$75
I guess, if there’s a will, there’s a way!
I have a pimped 175kBtu wok burner, but I would NEVER use it in or anywhere near my home. To be “safe”, one would need a capacious, noncombustible area within the home with very high-capacity air handling equipment and a suppression hood. Even then, it probably wouldn’t meet residential fire codes, which likely means the home is uninsurable.
Outside only. Billing these burmers as suitable for “home” is dangerous.
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GOOD ADVISE!!
To play safe, I place my ‘woking arrangement’ on a stone slab patio floor back onto a stone/brick wall.
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If you haven’t stumbled across it,
Google:
“wok hei” new york times
for a four days’ old tribute to Hong Kong pai dongs
Couldn’t pass the paywall. But I did see a headline about cart-based dim sum dying off. Was this it?>
I am not very knowledgeable about Chinese regional cuisines and what distinguishes them. What I think I’ve learned about wok hei has been more associated with Szechuanese cooking. Is/was Hong Kong noted for wok hei?
We read the entire magazine piece from the Google search results. The feature was all about Hong Kong. Made sense.
This weekend, the Bon Appetit streaming channel was re-airing a few episodes of Lucas Sin’s Street Foods (name?) series, and he often explores HK foods. He stopped by a dai pai dong, and went behind the scenes to talk about the insane heat used by one particular owner. He was grandfathered in to allow the use of kerosene as his fuel, and the wok was just crazy hot. Looked like balls of fire all the time - how this little shanty restaurant has not caught fire is unbelievable! Lucas Sin mentioned the wok gets to thousand degrees, though I don’t know if they ever made a serious attempt to measure that. But they do show the cook adding ingredients in and literally in a minute or two that thing was coming out crisped and cooked.
All Chinese cooking (Hong Kong included) is associated with wok hei.
Some more than others, of course.
But the association is as intertwined as mother sauces are to classical French cuisine.
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Yup. Or cooking over live fire. Same for pizza. Anything that needs intense heat.
good to know, I’ll look for wok hei in my next bowl of Chinese noodle soup and congee,
