Chinese food wok

Chinese food wok

The Chinese food wok, the rounded bottom is a flat cooking versatile, native to China. It isused primarily in the east and south east Asia. The latter region alsofrequently used a similar dish, karahi.

The Chinese food wok is often used for cooking stir-fry (seared), but also for other forms ofcooking: steam, the stew, smoking, frying or in soups. Generally, a largespatula or ladle because of their length, which allows to handle food withoutburning is used.

REGIONALVARIATIONS

StandardMandarin uses a different character 锅 Guo (literally abaking dish), or the word Guozi 锅子, or chǎo Cai Guo 炒菜 锅. In Indonesia the wok is called penggorengan; Malaysia, Kuali (small wok) or kwa (large wok),the Philippines, kawali orwadjang; Japan: chuckanabe;and India,karahi.

FEATURES

Themain feature of the Chinese food wok is its shape. Conventional woks have a rounded bottom.The hammer wok facts, after being shaped, to receive short bursts insideoutwards, giving the flat rounded on the sides, which allows food put asidemore easily. Woks sold in the West sometimes have flat bottoms, they look morelike fryers. The flat bottom allows you to use the Chinese food wok on electric plates,which is not really the case with round bottom, because it would not be fullyin contact with the heat. But the round bottom makes it easier to mix with aladle, unlike flat bottom. And when the Chinese food wok is used on gas burners or thetraditional stove, round bottom allows hotter than the dish, and is thereforebest suited for cooking stir-fry.

Chinese food wok have a diameter between 30 cmand 2 meters or more. Woks 36cm(enough for a family of 3-4 people) is the most common. Family woks aregenerally 20 small woks are used for fast cooking at high heat, such asstir-fry (chǎo,炒 or bao, 爆). Large woks with a diameterexceeding one meter are generally used in restaurants or community kitchens toprepare rice, soup or broth.

SLEEVES

Thereare two kinds two rounds: the handles (handles) or tails. Bare metal handlesare common on all types of Chinese food wok, whatever their material. To lift the wok in preparation,a small towel is used to avoid burning with the handle. However, many of them,today, are covered with a protection of Chinese food wood or plastic. Mix lifting the wokwith a handle, requires great strength in the hand, arm and wristel. the wokare usually equipped with two handles, one on each side. They are either boltedor welded or in the continuity of the dish.

Thequeues are long and made ​​of steel, and as thehandles, they can be screwed, welded or continuation of the dish, and they canalso be covered with wood or plastic. This kind of handle makes mixing akin to“jumping” Western. Normally, the tail is not made of cast iron, asthe wok would be too heavy to handle, or the metal would be too thin towithstand high mechanical stress exerted by the handle. The large Chinese food woks with atail usually also not handle at the other end, which helps balance the weightwhen lifting the wok.

MATERIALS

Chinese food woks are usually made of cast iron or steel.

Currently,steel is the most common. Steel woks are affordable (usually) fairly light,heat quickly, and are relatively resistant. However, they are inefficientregarding the non-stick coating, food easily sticks to the wok. Price may varydepending on the style and quality (thickness and shape). The bottom woks havea range of thickness and are derived from a single piece of steel. These wokstend to deform. Because of their irregularities and imperfections, it is moredifficult to cook with. The wok is made of better quality hammer and composedof two steel sheets. The manufacturing hammer creates small ridges on the wallsof the wok, which are very useful during cooking.

Thereare two kinds of cast iron wok. The Chinese food wok cast are thin (about 3mm) and have almost the same weight thansteel. While Western iron woks are an average of 9mm, they are heavy and take time to warm up. The castiron woks are superior keep warm and evenly distribute heat. It is thenon-stick steel wok, so the food is less sticky. However, the two types of castiron woks has disadvantages. The Chinese food wok, quick to heat and light, isfragile and may break if dropped. Western wok, is slow to heat and cool, thetemperature control is not clear. Moreover, because of its weight, it is verydifficult to deal with for the stir-fry mixture.

Itis easy to find non-stick woks (teflon coating) today in the West. The coatingis quickly damaged and is not suitable for high heat too, so we can not cookstir-fry in this kind of wok. At 350 °, the burnt coating broadcast vapors thatcause fever. Xylan coatings fool stronger but not support either excessiveheat. Chinese food woks which the coating is composed of an aluminum layer trapped betweentwo stainless steel sheets, are more rare. They last a long time and remain ingood condition (inside and out), and usually they can go in the dishwasher.

Wokmay also be made ​​of aluminum. Aluminumis a good conductor of heat, but do not hold as effectively as can do steel orcast iron. Only woks anodized aluminum alloys can be used regularly as simplealuminum woks are too fragile and easily damaged. Aluminium is used instead tocovers.

COOKING

Poureda small amount (1-3 teaspoons) of peanut oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil orsunflower oil in the wok is allowed to heat up. Then we add freshly cut garlicand ginger for flavor, but they are removed quickly before they turn black. Isgenerally placed first sliced ​​meat in hot oil, then setit aside in the wok, oil can leak and continue to cook the meat. We can repeatthis step several times until the cooked meat. Small bones made ​​hammer, are then very useful to avoid the meatslides into the bottom of the wok.

Oncecooked, the meat is removed using a Chinese strainer to put it on a plate. Theprocedure is the same for vegetables. And finally, it puts all the ingredientsin the wok with sauces, seasonings, etc.. … mixed and put the lid for thelast stage of cooking, which ends when the smoke begins to escape. Using thistechnique, the cook can control the cooking time of each ingredient, notimmersed in the oil throughout the preparation.

The Chinese food wok hei flavor is extracted from the hot wok for stir-fry. For the wok heicomes out, the food must be cooked in a wok at high temperatures, and be backand be mixed quickly. Hei the wok is actually the result of chemicalcaramelization of the Maillard reaction and the partial combustion of the oil.

COOKERSFOR WOKS

Thetraditional stove

Woks,by their shape, are made to cook went on a ground, the heat from the fuel isrouted directly to the bottom of the wok and can not escape through the sides.Formerly, we used coal or wood to make it work, but now the range is more likethe gas stove with burners built from below, in order to encompass all the wok.Homes stove are curved so that the wok is well maintained. We can cook food ata very high temperature (stir-fry), so high that it can sometimes distort thewok. This type of stove is typically used by restaurants, in fact, thanks toits heat capacity, we can extract the wok hei famous.

Traditional Chinese food woks (form) can still be used on gas cooker, you just remove the top of theburner and replace it with a special wok ring, which will ensure the stabilityof the wok and facilitate the concentration of heat. This does not apply totraditional stoves, but is sufficient for personal use.

Gascookers

Theyhave become increasingly popular in homes. Several manufacturers have decidedto include in their equipment for a special fire wok.

However,these changes are costly, without any account the smoke in the kitchen, severalhave preferred to use their wok outdoors on fire heated with propane. Propanecylinders are cheap, and enable a higher heat than that obtained with a simplestove.

Thehotplates

Cookingstir-fry in a wok round bottom or flat, does not work on an electric plate.They do not produce the necessary heat quantity. However there are electriccurved plates, corresponding to the shape of the wok, which can heat the bottomand right sides. A flat bottom wok is best suited for electric hobs.

Thedishes that need to be fried tend to turn into puree and boil when there is toomuch in the wok so you can not extract the wok hei.

Bycons, electric cooking plates suitable for some who require more time as thestew, steaming or braising.

Interms of cooking stir-fry, Chinese with electric hob, use a cast iron skillet.

Thereare new woks that do not need to cook, just plug them. These non-stick woks cannot endure such high temperatures as traditional woks.

BENEFITS

Themain advantage of the wok, apart from its material is its shape. This uniqueshape allows the food to be seized high heat with little fuel. Withwide-brimmed, one can easily move from the solid and fine food withoutsplashing.

Thecurved shape gives a larger area “cuisinable” unlike Western pots andpans, which have vertical edges. The pieces already have basically can bereduced on the cooler side to continue cooking them slowly, and others may bepushed to the bottom to cook faster. The bottom warhead can collect a largeamount of oil. Large parts shall be superficially fried, while garlic, peppers,onions and finely chopped ginger can be fried in little oil.

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