Wok burners and garlic

[Martins]

I'm looking for a wokburner. I have read some threads on the board already. Still not sure about what to get but I do know I want it hot. Have tried some fryers as well but they didn't do the job.

I came across this company, does anyone know them? They look interesting to say the least.

http://www.manniu-gasburners.com/sdp/...

One thing I never understood with chinese cooking books is that they say to heat the wok till very hot and then add garlic/ginger. I find that if you do that you are in danger of burning it. How do chinese cooks do that? DO they start at a lower heat and then crank it up to high if needed or do they add the garlic later. In restaurants I hardly see any brown spots on the garlic.

Oh I'm in Europe btw Italy sadly they do not have a lot of big chinese shops here.... :-(

[Johnny L]

the concept of stir fry with Chinese woks is that you have a very thin piece of cast iron so heat transfer very fast, especially if you have a big burner.

You have to make sure you have an adequate amount of oil and as soon as the garlic hits the oil never let it stop moving, quickly add the next ingredient and let basically you keep shuffling it, the food never "rests" on the surface of the wok for too long it should always be moving.

I know its much different from European styles but watch some youtube videos to get the idea. The only difficult part to learn is getting the hand motion right so that food flips back and forth in the wok.

[goatgolfer]

Be very careful about ventilation. I have the Thermidor 50K Btu built in wok and it needed 1200 CFM (Yes it sucks the heat out of the kitchen) to pass code in Michigan, USA. The burner in the video also has the gas tank in the house, which will definitely challenge your homeowner's insurance in case of fire. Getting the pan hot enough for the garlic and ginger is fixed by adding the already prepared chopped meat thereby reducing the pan temp dramatically. Notice the mass (normally protein) goes in immediately after the garlic in a truly hot wok. On a normal burner you have a few more seconds of leeway.

In the US you can get the same machines as turkey fryers but I know from personal experience that the fittings for the gas tank in Europe are substantially different (bought a gas grill on sale, sent it to Germany and buying a new tank and fittings was 1.5X the price of the grill). So, assuming you want a 20Kg gas tank in your house (yes, it's done in France and China all the time) and no CO2 ventilation, for the purposes of authenticity, you can buy these types of burners in many industrial stores. Just add the cold protein immediately after the garlic/ginger. I suggest smaller batches so as not to challenge your stovetop burner.

[runwestierun]

I bought this and I use it out on the patio, it sits next to my BBQ. I live in a remote area with no natural gas, so this wok (with it's 65K BTU's) will get hot enough for authentic stirfrying. It's like the turkey fryer you mentioned, but it comes as a kit, and the height of the legs is adjustable. I really love it.

http://www.amazon.com/Eastman-Outdoor...

[Chemicalkinetics]

I have seen this. Look really awesome. I guess it works well except winter.

[boogiebaby]

You need to have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go. Heat the oil, throw in the garlic/ginger, then almost immediately throw in your meat or veggies or whatever is next. You want the garlic to fry quickly but not overcook, so you have to be ready to go and be fast.

[Martins]

Very hot I want it. On my stove the garlic burns in seconds. I have found that chinese cooks sometimes add the garlic and ginger after they have put in meat or vegetables. Thanks. Nice video btw, just saw this http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/682049.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Martins,

Of course, the definition of "very hot" is different from person to person. Most importantly of all, there are about 6 different techniques of stir fry. The one people associates most in home cook is "chao". The one which associates in restaurant is "Bao". "Bao" is much hotter than "Chao" and "Bao" cooks faster. I heard about that company, but not familiar with it. It looks very nice and we are talking about burner for restaurant quality which allows you to "Bao". Most home cook stovetop is too cool to allow you to "Bao" in large quantity, though you can still do so in small quantity.

Usually, "very hot" means the wok starts to or almost smoking. You will, of course, have oil in the wok and then throw in the garlic/ginger, and add foods quickly afterward (within a few seconds).

By the way, this video may help illustrate my point. See from 2:35 to 3:15.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VxkQMxbFp0

In Indian cooking, there is a very similar technique, though more on spices, and it is called Tadka:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadka

[goatgolfer]

ChemKin: Fuchsia Dunlop has a fun discussion of the stir fry, (matches your description) cutting techniques and such detail in her book: Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China. It's where I learned about Dan Dan noodles we have discussed earlier.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Goat,

Thanks. I have not read her book, but I believe you. I believe the stir fry techniques can be very flexible. Martins is correct. You can throw the garlic and ginger in early or throw them in late. It depends what one wants to achieve. Throwing the garlic and ginger in early allows the aroma/favor to transfer to the oil and then to the food, so the entire dish can acquire that aroma. Throwing them in late allows the aroma stays within garlic and ginger. Of course, fried garlic and ginger has an additional unique to them as well.

It is almost like using fine salt vs coarse salt for making cookies.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Either cook the garlic very quickly - 10-20 seconds - and add other ingredients; or process the aromatics - garlic, ginger, scallions, chiles - into a paste and cook as an initial step.

[Soop]

I think most stir frys are cooked for about 2-3 minutes in a wok. I could be wrong though.