Using a Wok to Stir Fry

Woks, in some shape or form, have traditioinally been used as a household staple for Centuries, starting in Central and East Asia, and making their way to the south including Malaysia, and ending up as far west as India. As soon as man invented world travel, woks have made their way across the globe, appearing in households and restaurants alike as the key ingredient to fine Asian cuisine.

Woks come in various sizes and shapes and are made from materials found in the areas they were made. Woks can be made from any type of metal such as steel, cast-iron or bronze, and typically have one long handle that extends from their wide, bowl-shaped center, which is used to fry, steam, sauté or to make soups. Traditional and electric woks have many uses around the kitchen and have been around longer than most conventional cookware most of us use today.

From Thailand to Taiwan, Bangkok to Burma, the wok is as much a part of the culture and flavor of these eastern lands as the people themselves. It is the wok that has brought people together to feast, and this is probably why, today, the wok is one of the most widely adopted utensils for preparing Asian food both in its native lands and, pretty much, everywhere in the world you find Asian or Asian-inspired cuisine.

Is it necessary to wok if you’re cooking (or eating) Asian? It depends on who you ask and what you’re looking for. If you’re talking about dining out, then you’re almost guaranteed to find yourself at a traditionally inspired restaurant that has some type of wok that will fry your sweet-and-sour-somethings. This is true for basically anything on either end of any price scale. From all-you-can-eat buffets to the highest priced restaurant, when it comes to preparing traditional Asian or even Asian-inspired dishes, there was definitely a wok involved!

It’s not just an Asian tradition to use a wok to stir-fry, it’s a necessity. Using a wok to stir-fry dishes allows the chef (or whoever’s cooking) to control the temperature of the oil, when frying, or the steam, when steaming, which is unique because of the roll of the curve of the half-sphere wok. If using a good quality wok, you can guarantee that your meat will be tender and your vegetables are fully cooked, and there’s no need for more dishes—this is all done in one wok. To read more about cooking fried rice, refer to my article Making Fried Rice.

Using a wok insures not only perfectly cooked meats and vegetables, but it just makes food taste better. Less oil is needed to cook or deep fry, which makes it potentially more healthful than typical pan-frying. Woks can also be made with non-stick technology, which can virtually eliminate oil completely when cooking. Not only does food taste better when using a wok, but the cooking process is altogether easier and you only have one pot to clean!

Without further background on the history and uses of the wok, I would like to provide and easy-to-follow recipe that any chef or cook can do at home, without any formal training. With these basic tips, you will be able to incorporate using a wok in any meal, whether you’re cooking Asian or American.

The first thing you should know when using a wok is that you must maintain a medium-high temperature throughout the cooking process. This means you must be a vigilant temperature monitor and must know when to adjust the temperature to compensate for the addition of colder temperature foods or liquids. One good tip to remember is to listen to the sizzle of the foods. Too much sizzle means decrease the temperature; too little sizzle means increase the temperature.

1. After you’ve decided on a dish to stir-fry, you must first prepare each item for cooking. Once you start the stir-fry process, you must quickly combine your ingredients so you don’t lose temperature or gain too much heat, which would result in burnt food. After washing and cutting your chosen vegetables, meats and seasonings, it’s time to prepare the oil for stir frying.
2. Raise the temperature on your electric or gas burner to medium-high heat. Preheat the pan to a hot temperature before you add the oil. This will prevent the oil from becoming stale or possibly burning. You can tell when it’s hot enough to add the oil when you can press your thumb on the inside of the wok just under the rim and hold it for 3 seconds before feeling a hot sensation.
3. If the pan is hot, slowly add about 2 tablespoons of your favorite oil into the pan, pouring it down the sides of the pan in a clockwise circular motion, about 1/3 of the way down the pan. You should have about 1 inch of oil in the bottom of the pan. After adding the oil, wait a few seconds before adding your meat. You will know when the oil is hot enough when you drop a piece of garlic and it floats up instantly but doesn’t burn. If the garlic burns, you must remove the pan from the heat until it reaches the correct temperature.
4. After adding the meat, you can add in 1 tablespoon each of chopped garlic and ginger, or any other aromatic you choose. Toss together the meat and seasonings, either by using the handle to physically toss your mixture, or use a large spoon to mix the mixture, from the center outward. Remember the bottom of the wok is the hottest, so you must continually stir-fry from the bottom, center of the wok, to the outsides, allowing each piece of stir-fry to remain in the hottest part of the wok for the same amount of time. ******When stir-frying meats, make sure there is a continuous medium-high heat and a good sounding sizzle. Adjust the heat accordingly. When your meat is ¾ of the way cooked, it is time to add the vegetables. If using steak that should be cooked medium-rare, add ginger and garlic at the same time as the meat and only cook until the outside of the meat is no longer red.*******

5. When stir-frying vegetables, push the meat up the side of the wok with the spoon. The meat will naturally continue to cook while stuck to the side wall, but doing this will give you access to the hottest part of the wok to cook the vegetables, without having to remove the meat from the pan. Not only will your vegetables and meat cook at the same time, allowing the flavors to harmonize, but it will ensure that your meat and vegetables are finished cooking at the same time.

6. Stir together onion, leeks, broccoli, and whatever vegetable you are using in your stir-fry, keeping in mind the larger pieces will need to cook longer than smaller ones. Keeping the vegetables that need the longest cooking time in the bottom-center of the wok, continuously bring hot oil from the center of the wok and pour it onto the rest of the vegetables in the pan. Remember to keep the sizzle at a medium-high level, and adjust your heat if the sizzle slows down.

7. After a few minutes, not many, the vegetables will start to wilt. This is when you know they are cooked. It is time to mix the meat and vegetables together and now you can reduce the heat. It is no longer necessary for the wok to sizzle and it is okay to completely remove from heat. Dress your cooked stir-fry mixture with your favorite Asian sauce. If you’re keeping it simple, a little soy sauce will do the trick. If you’re trying gourmet, try a wasabi-sesame-ginger sauce that you find at a gourmet grocery store or make yourself by mixing sesame oil with powdered ginger and wasabi paste.

8. Toss (or stir) together then pour the stir fry onto a plate of steamed jasmine rice. Guaranteed to leave your house smelling mouth-watering for at least an hour!

If this is your first attempt at stir-frying, you won’t be disappointed with how your meal turns out. You haven’t spent all night slaving in the kitchen, and you don’t have a pile of dishes to wash, but you do have a hot, bulky wok that you probably want to throw away instead of trying to clean. I have a solution for you: pour hot water into the wok as soon as you pour out the food. The water can sit there while you eat and make the wok ten times easier to clean when you get around to it. Making stir-fry is so easy and tastes so great, I guarantee you will find 100 uses for your wok, from fried chicken to fried rice!