Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Stir-Frying

TO THE SKY’S EDGE

GRACE YOUNG

Photographs by STEVEN MARK NEEDHAM

In memory of my father

Delwyn Wah Yan Young

and my friend

Sunny Dolores Taylor

With love

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: A Stir-Fry Odyssey

Notes to the Reader

The Essential Kitchen

Wok Envy

A Wok for Every Reason

Additional Equipment and Utensils for Stir-Frying

Sharp Enough to Stir-Fry

Seeking the Iron Tattoo

How to Season a Wok

Patience to Wok

Popcorn in a Wok

The Curious Blackening of the Iron Wok

Tips for Cooking in a Newly Seasoned Wok

Washing a Wok

Wok Facial Scrub

Storing a Wok

The Stir-Fry Pantry

The Best Oil for Stir-Frying

Ginger Essentials

Garlic Essentials

The Proper Preparations of Ginger, Scallions, and Garlic

Two Ways to Shred Scallions

Stir-Frying Recipes: Classics and Innovations

Stir-Fry: Missing . . . and Lost in Translation

The Language of Stir-Frying

Stir-Frying with Proper Heat and Control

Basic Steps for Stir-Frying

Stir-Fries: The Longing for the Taste of Home

The Alchemy of Stir-Frying

Meat Recipes

Essentials for Stir-Frying Meat and Poultry

Spicy Dry-Fried Beef

Stir-Fried Ginger Beef

Stir-Fried Cucumber and Pork with Golden Garlic

Stir-Fried Cumin-Scented Beef with Vegetables

Cantonese-Style Stir-Fried Pork with Chinese Broccoli

Chinese Jamaican Stir-Fried Beef and Carrots

Marinating: The Key to Flavor and Tenderness

Stir-Fried Ginger Tomato Beef

Minced Pork in Lettuce Cups

Hot Pepper Beef

Stir-Fried Curried Beef

Stir-Fried Beef and Broccoli

Stir-Fried Mongolian Lamb with Scallions

Chinese Peruvian Stir-Fried Filet Mignon Lomo Saltado

Stir-Fried Hoisin Pork with Peppers

Sichuan Pork with Peppers and Peanuts

The Chinese of the Mississippi Delta

Hong Kong–Style Silky Stir-Fried Minced Beef

Velvet Stir-Fry: Luscious and Light

The Hakka Diaspora

A Culinary Remembrance: From China to the Caribbean

Poultry and Egg Recipes

A Child of Ten Stir-Fries: A Hong Kong Story

Stir-Fried Chicken with Pineapple and Peppers

Wok Hay in the Home Kitchen

Kung Pao Chicken

Hoisin Explosion Chicken

Chinese Trinidadian Chicken with Mango Chutney

Macanese Stir-Fried Chicken

Spicy Orange Chicken

Five-Spice Chicken with Sugar Snaps

Dry Stir-Frying and Moist Stir-Frying

Cashew Chicken

Hong Kong–Style Mango Ginger Chicken

Stir-Fried Eggs with Velvet Shrimp

Velvet Chicken with Asparagus

Singapore-Style Duck with Chinese Celery

Chinese Jamaican Stir-Fried Chicken with Chayote

Stir-Fried Chicken with Carrots and Mushrooms

Two Ways to Julienne Carrots

Vinegar-Glazed Chicken

Stir-Fried Chicken with Black Bean Sauce

Stir-Fried Eggs with Tomatoes

The Yin and Yang of Stir-Frying

Chinese Burmese Chili Chicken

Chinese Indian Chicken Manchurian

Chinese Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken

Lessons from a Simple Stir-Fry: Hakka Cooking in Indonesia

Fish and Shellfish Recipes

Essentials for Stir-Frying Fish and Shellfish

Stir-Frying in a Malaysian Village

Maylasian-Style Stir-Fried Turmeric Shrimp

Stir-Fried Chili Scallops with Baby Bok Choy

Stir-Fried Garlic Snow Pea Shoots with Crabmeat

Velvet Orange Scallops

Stir-Fried Mussels with Ginger and Scallions

Stir-Fried Crystal Shrimp

Stir-Fried Salmon with Wine Sauce

Is Stir-Frying a Healthy Way to Cook?

Cooks of Two Cultures: The Sizzle of Singapore

Classic Dry-Fried Pepper and Salt Shrimp

Stir-Fried Clams with Spicy Bean Sauce

Stir-Fried Squid with Black Bean Sauce

Singapore-Style Stir-Fried Lobster

Maylasian-Style Stir-Fried Squid and Pineapple

Hakka-Style Stir-Fried Shrimp and Vegetables

Fujianese-Style Stir-Fried Fish with Peppers

Taiwanese-Style Stir-Fried Scallops and Shrimp with Yellow Chives

Chinese American Shrimp with Lobster Sauce

Chinese Trinidadian Stir-Fried Shrimp with Rum

Partners in Stir-Frying

Vegetable and Tofu Recipes

Essentials for Stir-Frying Vegetables and Tofu

Handling Asian Vegetables

The Conundrum of Chop Suey

Stir-Fried Baby Bok Choy with Sichuan Pepper and Salt

Hong Kong–Style Chinese Broccoli

Stir-Fried Lotus Root with Bacon and Vegetables

The Chinese New Year and the Stir-Fry

Stir-Fried Lettuce with Garlic Chili

Stir-Fried Yau Choi with Oyster Sauce

Stir-Fried Napa Cabbage with Prosciutto

Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts with Chili Bean Sauce

The Simple Stir-Fry

Stir-Fried Garlic Spinach

Stir-Fried Tofu with Pickled Ginger

Hakka-Style Stir-Fried Cabbage and Egg

Stir-Fried Vegetarian Five-Spice Tofu

Yin Yang Beans

Stir-Fried Sugar Snap Peas with Shiitake Mushrooms

Stir-Fried Aromatic Potatoes

Stir-Fried Water Spinach with Fermented Bean Curd

Spicy Long Beans with Sausage and Mushrooms

Stir-Fried Cauliflower with Rice Wine

Stir-Fried Shiitake Mushrooms with Dried Scallops

Stir-Fried Ginger Broccoli

Stir-Fry Purist’s Dish: Clear Stir-Fry

Summer Pepper Corn

Stir-Fried Garlic Shanghai Bok Choy

Wok-Seared Vegetables

Stir-Fried Cilantro with Bean Sprouts and Shrimp

Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Pancetta

Shanghainese-Style Stir-Fried Fava Beans

Stir-Fried Garlic Eggplant with Pork

Chinese American Stir-Fried Cabbage with Bacon

Stir-Frying Watermelon Rind

How to Prepare Watermelon Rind for Stir-Frying

Stir-Fried Fuzzy Melon and Ginger Pork

Dry-Fried Sichuan Beans

Stir-Fried Edamame with Pickled Cucumber

Stir-Frying in Old China

Chop Suey: The Stir-Fry Forgery That Opened America’s Door to Chinese Cooking

Rice and Noodle Recipes

Essentials for Stir-Frying Rice and Noodles

Egg Pancake for Rice and Noodles

Chicken Lo Mein with Ginger Mushrooms

Crabmeat Fried Rice

Sandpot Stir-Fried Chicken Rice

Stir-Frying Bagels in Beijing

Stir-Fried Bagels with Cabbage and Bacon

Peppery Vegetarian Rice

Fried Rice: The Stir-Fry for Rookies

Yangchow Fried Rice

Fried Sweet Rice with Sausages and Mushrooms

Chinese Jamaican Jerk Chicken Fried Rice

Chinese Cuban Fried Rice

Chinese Indian Vegetarian Fried Rice

Stir-Fried Cilantro Chili Noodles with Egg

Beef Chow Fun

Noodle Soup with Stir-Fried Scallops and Enoki Mushrooms

Barbecued Pork Lo Mein

Singapore Noodles

Chicken Chow Fun

Nyonya-Style Singapore Noodles

Stir-Fried Cellophane Noodles with Enoki Mushrooms

Stir-Frying in Brooklyn’s Great Outdoors

Supplemental Recipes

Classic Rice

Homemade Chicken Broth

Chinese Barbecued Pork

Sources

Bibliography

Equivalency Tables

Index

Let the meats and vegetables be combined and married, instead of meeting each other for the first time when served on the table in their respective confirmed bachelorhood and unspoiled virginity, and you will find that each has a fuller personality than you ever dreamed of.

LIN YUTANG

Acknowledgments

This book was an incredible adventure— traveling to great destinations, forging new friendships, and learning from the best. It is also a powerful reminder of how blessed I am to have extraordinary friends and family.

I have had the good fortune of Evie Righter’s wise editorial counsel for all my cookbooks. For this project her initial consultation transformed the manuscript into a coherent book. My gratitude to Evie for her devotion to editorial precision, which gave this project its heart and soul.

I am eternally grateful to Laura Cerwinske, my friend and writing guru, who edited all my first drafts and helped me craft the original book proposal, thus making everything possible. I can’t begin to thank Laura for her love and generosity. Scott Hunt gave me the idea of taking this project to the sky’s edge by suggesting that I write about the cooking of the Chinese diaspora. With his impeccable taste and good humor I relied on him for advice on the art, design, and text.

The indescribable beauty of a stir-fry glistening from the heat of an iron wok is captured in Steven Mark Needham’s stunning photography. Steve has a genius for creating gorgeous photographs effort-lessly. I am grateful too for the generosity of my friends Ulrike Carpus and Stephanie Browner: Ulrike flew from Germany to assist with the food styling for the first photo sessions and Stephanie volunteered for the second half. Everyone’s good humor and hard work made for some of the most enjoyable workdays.

At Simon & Schuster, my thanks to publisher David Rosenthal for his faith in this project. My heartfelt thanks go to Jackie Seow for the beautiful cover; Nancy Singer for overseeing the book’s interior design; Mara Lurie for orchestrating the manuscript through production; Julia Prosser and Katie Kurtzman for their support in publicity; and Michelle Rorke for her expert management of the manuscript in its final stages. I am grateful for the impeccable proofreading of Marla Jea and Suzanne Fass. Many thanks to Ruth Fecych, for adopting this project in its eleventh hour. Most of all, thanks to my exceptional editor, Sydny Miner, who allowed me the freedom to create the text and the photography I envisioned and who skillfully shepherded this book through all its stages. It has been an honor and privilege working with you and I miss you already . . .

The moment I saw Diane Hobbing’s design for the book I smiled. I never imagined the text, photographs, and artwork could be integrated so elegantly. Many thanks to my literary agent, Martha Kaplan, for her belief in this project and her enthusiasm for Chinese food, especially stir-fries.

I am grateful to Aaron Rezny for opening his prop closet to me and to Sara Abalan whose exceptional taste elevates everything. My thanks to Jennifer Baumann who gave me a mini-tutorial on how to shoot the portraits of the home cooks.

Anyone writing about Chinese cooking owes much to Florence Lin. Thank you, Florence, for sharing your culinary remembrances of China and for the wonderful stir-fry cooking session. I am indebted to all the home cooks who welcomed me into their kitchens and shared their favorite stir-fry recipes and stories. Each has taught me a different nuance of the Chinese experience through the simple act of stir-frying. Many thanks to Amy Yip, Mei Chau, Fah Liong, Peipei Chang, Lejen Chen, Maejeane Chang, Chef Danny Chan, Potsam Loo, Ken Lo, Wai Ching Wong, Justin Guo, Mei Ibach, Luis Li, Beverly Low, Kian Lam Kho, Raymond Leong, Irene Khin Wong, Jackie Yok Lin Chong, Rose Wong, and Joyce Jue. Special thanks to George Chew who gave me a tour de force cooking interview, and for the many memorable meals that followed. And thanks to Marilynn K. Yee, who shot the wonderful photo of George.

I also extend a special note of appreciation to all the individuals who shared their stir-fry and diaspora stories with me: Ernest Wing King, Frieda Quon, Sen Pu, Hsiao-Ching Chou, Ellen Chou, Terry Huey, Peter Lee, Terry Chung Schulze, Pang-Mei Natasha Chang, Yu-Li Pan, Curan Loh, Alejandro Lee, Maria Benavides, Renee Wan, Rita Szeto, Raquel Wong, Regina Lai, Norma Chin, John Chan, and John Kuok. Thanks to Mimi Chan, May and Joe Chan, Julio Li, Steven Picker, Vik Lulla, Anna and Richard Chu, Melissa Guerra, Jennifer Lew, Mario Chang, Angel Chan, and Darren Wan, who helped make many of the interviews possible.

My deepest gratitude to the IACP Culinary Trust for granting me the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters Culinary Journalist Independent Study Scholarship, which enabled me to travel to California, Trinidad, Canada, Germany, and Holland for research. In Trinidad, heartfelt thanks to Winnie Lee Lum for arranging countless cooking interviews and for her incomparable hospitality. I will always remember the grace and generosity of your family and friends, including your brother Frank Williams’s help in Miami, Florida. Thanks to Tony Lee Lum, Dean Lee Lum, Nicky and Michelle Fung, Gerald and Ann Sancho, and Cora and Desmond Lee Lum. Special thanks to Professor Walton Look Lai for sharing his vast knowledge of the history of the Chinese diaspora in the Caribbean. In Holland, my thanks to Leonore and Bart Neervoort-Briët for hosting my stay and for introducing me to Hengko and Wai Ming Dun. Thanks also to Cheung Shuk Ching, Cheung Shuk Kam, Cheung Shuk Tai, and Cheung Wing Yee at Azie restaurant in Vaals, Holland. And in Aachen, Germany, thanks to Fan-Zen Shiau-Blome at Dshingis Chan restaurant and the staff at Jasmin Garten restaurant. I am grateful to Winston Chang, who made it possible for me to attend the Hakka Conference and Festival in Toronto, Canada. Special thanks to my honorary Hakka sister Simone Tai for her kindness and hospitality, and most of all for introducing me to Chef Yong Soon, an exceptionally articulate and generous Chinese culinary expert.

Profound appreciation goes to my esteemed colleagues who shared their expertise and insights: E. N. Anderson, James Oseland, Robert L. Wolke, Marion Nestle, Sidney Mintz, Joyce Leung, Richard Kahn, Mark Swislocki, Shirley Shu-Liang Cheng, Fuchsia Dunlop, Cheuk Kwan, Rosalind Creasy, Kathleen Bertolani, Tom Dekle, John Kuo Wei Tchen, Laura Chen-Schultz, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Sue Lee, Lok Siu, Val Gleason, Chef Richard Chen, Chef Chow Chung, Jennifer 8. Lee, Linda Anusasananan, Lowell Bassett, Tom Damrauer, Gladys Tsz-ting Lui and the instructors at the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute in Hong Kong, Susan Jung of the South China Morning Post, Marge Perry, David Leite, and Jacqueline M. Newman. I am also grateful for being able to do research at the Jacqueline M. Newman Chinese Cookbook Collection at Stony Brook University with the assistance of Kristen J. Nyitray.

The piece on The Language of Stir-Frying required the help of numerous people. First and foremost my heartfelt thanks to Julie Tay, who patiently checked the Cantonese translations and made corrections numerous times in addition to sharing her Singaporean stir-fry recipes. Many thanks to Sun-Yiu Fung, Pandora Chu, Ivy Fung, Estella Tam, Szeto Keung, Katheryn Louie, Helen Fung, Walter Chu, and Herbert Fung.

A stir-fry cookbook needs a great source for woks and Tane Ong Chan, owner of The Wok Shop in San Francisco, is the ambassador for wok cooking and so much more. Tane has been an incredible friend, introducing me to many of the cooks that grace these pages. She also put me in touch with Rachel Sit Wong, who in turn demystified the world of the Chinese of the Mississippi Delta with introductions to Ellen J. Fong, Katherine Chu, Mary Ann and Ernie Wong, and Rev. Ted Shepherd.

I am indebted to Barney A. Ebsworth for graciously granting his permission to reproduce Edward Hopper’s Chop Suey. Many thanks to his assistant Kristine Dunnigan. I owe Bill Schleining for his peerless detective work in finding the name and the exact location of the restaurant in the Hopper painting and for putting me in touch with Hopper’s biographer Gail Levin. Much appreciation to my dear friend Sue Israel who coached me on how to do photo research.

Among the friends who have encouraged this book along, I thank my godmothers Anna Kwock and Ronnie Wei Gin, Andrea DiNoto, Frank Farnham, Michael Zande, David Schachter, Janice Easton-Epner, Barbara Chan, Neil Applebaum, Kim Park, Gale Steves, Alice Lowe, Pamela Thomas, Deborah Clearwaters, Eugene Moy, Aaron Paley, Judith Teitelman, Henry Talbot, Frances Largeman-Roth, Fraya Berg, Doralece Dullaghan, Terry Conlan, Andrea Nguyen, Mitchell Davis, Victoria Fahey, Kathy Gunst, Michelle Steffens, Amy Besa, Romy Dorotan, Leslie Oster, Bonnie Slotnick, Diane K. Chamberlain, Barbara Haber, Diane Harris Brown, Nancy Hebb, Carol and Mark Griffin, John Jung, Robbie Hudson, Trisha Calvo, Jane Taylor, Warren Chapman, and my godfather Robert J. Purdom, who kept me focused on making the deadline.

Sincere thanks to Roldan Lopez and Vinita Chandra who kept me healthy and fit from too many hours of sitting at the computer. And to Henley and Huggy who make me smile on good days and bad.

I am deeply indebted to my cousins Loretta and Skip Seeley who have been guardian angels to my parents and me. Their help and support, especially as my father fell ill, held me together. My heartfelt thanks to Ragnhild Sunstrom Wagenhofer, whose wise counsel and friendship steadied me, and to my Auntie Lil Jew, who came to my rescue in my moment of need. Special thanks to my brother Douglas Young, my cousins Katherine and Robert Lim, and Sylvia and Fred Chow for their support. Love and thanks to my mother, Helen Young.

Most of all, I want to thank my husband, Michael Wiertz, for never complaining even when I turned the living room into a photo studio or took over the entire apartment for my office. Without Michael’s support, encouragement, and belief in me this book would not be possible.

Stir-Frying

TO THE SKY’S EDGE

Introduction

A Stir-Fry Odyssey

Chinese cooking is a cooking of scarcity. Whatever the emperors and warlords may have had, the vast majority of Chinese spent their lives short of fuel, cooking oil, utensils, and even water.

—E. N. Anderson, The Food of China

I consider stir-frying a form of culinary magic in which ingredients are transformed. Their textures are enhanced, their flavors intensified and caramelized. The alchemy of stir-frying brings a blush of color to raw shrimp and a radiance to vegetables. Meats grow plump and fragrant from browning. The stir-fry dish brings food to life.

I grew up observing my father’s passion for stir-fries, developed from years of frequenting the best restaurants and knowing many of the great chefs in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Later, I developed my own more consuming infatuation, because it wasn’t enough for me to appreciate the pleasures of a delicious stir-fry: I needed to know how it was made.

Over time my esteem for stir-frying has only grown. I see it as a way of life, both timeless and timely. As I’ve observed rising food and fuel prices, I cannot think of another cooking technique that makes less seem like more, and by which small amounts of food feed many. And what could be healthier than cooking with a minimum of meat and fat and emphasizing vegetables of every kind?

This book is about a universal longing for home and a cooking technique that traveled the globe satisfying that desire. The story of stir-frying is one of cultural perseverance and healthy, flavorful cooking, of universality and subtle distinction, of the Chinese diaspora and local character. Each of the many cooks I interviewed lends a human face and personal technique to the vast stir-fry tradition. In the hot, tropical Malaysian village of Dungun, stir-frying enabled Mei Chau, a young girl entrusted with feeding her family, to produce flavorful dishes while being mercifully delivered quickly from the intense heat of the kitchen. In the Caribbean, Winnie Lee Lum continues the culinary traditions her parents brought with them in the 1930s when they emigrated from China to Jamaica, as well as integrating the local ingredients and techniques she has learned from living in Trinidad for over forty years. In Redwood City, California, Fah Liong stir-fries the same simple Hakka dishes her mother taught her in Indonesia, substituting American vegetables for the Asian produce she once used. The common theme of all the stories and recipes in this book is the transformation of humble ingredients into rich, delectable, healthful meals using precious little food and cooking fuel. Regardless of whether it is a ten-year-old child who learns to stir-fry when her mother falls ill, or a ninety-year-old woman who partners with her son-in-law to stir-fry, each cook demonstrates how, if you have only tasted a stir-fry in a restaurant or cooked from a recipe taken off the Internet, you have missed the humanity of stir-frying.

I grew up in a very traditional Chinese home in San Francisco where my parents cooked the same Cantonese dishes they had eaten in their youth in China. My ideas of Chinese food were based on a strict adherence to classic food combinations that left no possibility of improvisation. For example, my mother would always stir-fry ginger with Chinese broccoli (page 190), never garlic. One of my favorite dishes she stir-fried was ginger tomato beef (page 80), a recipe she never considered making with chicken or pork. In our household, Chinese recipes were carved in stone.

Imagine my revelation at Henrica’s, a Chinese Jamaican restaurant in Rosedale, Queens, which is part of New York City. When perusing the menu of unremarkable Chinese American dishes, my eyes fell upon a listing for Jamaican jerk chicken fried rice (page 262) and then one for jerk pork fried rice and for jerk chicken chow mein. Jerk chicken in a Chinese stir-fry? To my great surprise, the dish was wonderful—the spicy, robust jerk chicken was beautifully suited to the rice flavored with soy sauce and speckled with chopped onions, scallions, and finely diced carrots. I asked to meet the chef and was led into the kitchen where, side by side, a Chinese and a Jamaican chef worked at the stove. When I asked the Cantonese chef how he made the jerk chicken, he shrugged his shoulders and nodded to the Jamaican chef who, it turned out, cooked the chicken that he then turned over to the Chinese chef to stir-fry with the rice.

Not long after my visit to Henrica’s, I was introduced to a Chinese Guyanese restaurant called Happy Garden in Jamaica, New York, where jerk chicken fried rice appeared alongside Guyanese dishes and typical Chinese American ones. Then I heard about a Chinese Indian restaurant in New York City called Chinese Mirch. There I sampled wildly spicy Sichuan vegetarian fried rice (page 265), made with basmati rice, and Chicken Manchurian (page 142), a scrumptious stir-fry generously spiced with fresh chilies. The Indian American owner brought me into the kitchen to meet his Cantonese chefs. He explained to me his cooks were trained to use the Chinese stir-fry technique, but with ingredients suited to the Indian palate and without the pork, beef, rice wine, or alcohol that are prohibited, in accordance with Muslim and Hindu dietary laws.

When I came across Chinese Restaurants, a fifteen-part documentary series produced by Cheuk Kwan, a Chinese Canadian documentary filmmaker, I was fascinated to follow Kwan’s exploration of Chinese restaurants in such unlikely places as Mauritius, Turkey, Argentina, Trinidad, and Israel. In my naiveté it had never occurred to me that the Chinese had immigrated to such disparate countries. In fact, seven and a half million Chinese left southern China at the beginning of the nineteenth century because of economic poverty, with the vast majority remaining in Southeast Asia. Chinese migration continues to this day to the far corners of the globe. I began to ponder whether Chinese immigrants living abroad learned to adapt their cooking to local tastes and if they always continued the traditions of stir-frying. Were there other stir-fries like jerk chicken fried rice, invented when the tastes of two cultures merged?

My search for stir-fry recipes ultimately evolved into an almost anthropological examination of the Chinese immigrant experience worldwide as expressed through the stir-fry. I visited restaurants that served Chinese Peruvian, Chinese Mexican, Chinese Dutch, Chinese Guyanese, Chinese Indian, Chinese German, Chinese Vietnamese, Chinese Jamaican, Chinese Cuban, and, of course, Chinese American food, observing that these unique Chinese restaurants had learned to adjust their cooking to cater to the mainstream tastes of their clientele. I located Chinese whose families had immigrated to Peru, Trinidad, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, Jamaica, Libya, Holland, India, South Africa, Burma, and Germany. I conducted cooking interviews and tasted stir-fries that fused various culinary traditions. These interviews often revealed the unimaginable hardships experienced by Chinese immigrants living without Chinese communities. Many of the people I met recounted how a stir-fry’s aromas and tastes eased their sense of displacement, providing comfort as they adapted to foreign customs, language, and climate. Often cooks had to simplify classic dishes; at other times they substituted, embellished, or combined local ingredients and the popular tastes of their new culture with intriguing and mixed results. Some families even learned to grow Chinese vegetables and make their own tofu.

I even became fascinated by the language of stir-frying. The distinct tossing and turning action of stir-frying captures the notion of quick change and is used in several Cantonese terms for speculation, as in stir-frying stocks and stir-frying real estate, the buying and selling of stocks and real estate for quick financial gain. Surprisingly, stir-fry even appears in a number of colloquial expressions that have nothing to do with change or quick movement—such as to stir-fry a person, a slang term for firing an employee. The Cantonese obsession with stir-frying inevitably leads to a discourse on wok hay, the Cantonese term that refers to the distinct vitality exuded when super-fresh ingredients are stir-fried so perfectly they possess wok fragrance.

I interviewed Chinese whose families were among the first to settle in towns in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Tennessee. For many, their only means of earning a living was to open a restaurant serving Chinese American fare that included chop suey, the crude non-Chinese stir-fry improvisation that became a staple for Americans and provided for Chinese economic survival. Eventually I interviewed Chinese who had been raised in the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s and ’40s. The story of the Chinese of the Mississippi Delta is one of the most remarkable testaments to the tenacity of Chinese immigrants anywhere. Brought to the South as laborers in the 1870s, and often living in towns in which they were the only Chinese residents, these immigrants gradually began running grocery stores throughout Mississippi that serviced impoverished sharecroppers. Without a wok and with limited Chinese ingredients, these Chinese used local produce, such as rutabagas or turnip greens, plus a little salted pork and a frying pan to re-create their longed-for stir-fries.

Stir-frying has been a continuous comfort to the Chinese diaspora. Even when deprived of Chinese produce, condiments, and the wok, the Chinese have always managed to find a way to stir-fry.

I have tasted my share of mediocre stir-fries. It is easy to produce uninspired dishes when stir-frying is approached with the attitude that it is merely the quick cooking of bite-sized pieces of meat and vegetables in oil with no sense of its refined artistry. In this cookbook I share with you all the stir-fry principles and knowledge I have learned from home cooks, master chefs, and cooking teachers from around the world. I offer detailed recommendations on all aspects of stir-frying at home, focusing on the challenge facing most cooks: working with stoves that do not produce the ideal amount of heat for stir-frying.

In truth, stir-frying is a cooking method of great subtlety and sophistication. In Chinese cuisine a system of classifications exists to distinguish dry from moist stir-fries (depending on whether broths, sauces, or liquids of any kind are added). The term clear stir-fries is reserved for ingredients that have been stir-fried in a little oil and deftly seasoned, thus enhancing the pure essence and character of the main ingredient. Velvet stir-fries involve the coating of an ingredient, such as chicken breast, in an egg white and cornstarch mixture, which is then blanched in hot oil or water and stir-fried until the texture becomes silky and succulent.

Stir-frying is a technique of tradition and innovation. This cookbook mainly comprises classic stir-fry dishes from the traditions of Guangzhou (Canton), Hong Kong, Shanghai, Fujian, Sichuan, Hunan, and Beijing. These recipes are the essentials for any stir-fry repertoire. In addition, there is a small selection of recipes from the Chinese diaspora in India, Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Vietnam, Macau, Peru, France, and America, reflecting the borrowings of another cuisine. The subject of the diaspora and their experiences with stir-frying is vast and deserves its own study. These singular recipes give you a sense of how the stir-fry, the supreme culinary chameleon, can bring together the tastes of one culture through the ingredients of another. For cooks who feel they cannot stir-fry because they lack Asian ingredients, these resourceful, clever combinations are living proof that with ingenuity the improvisational possibilities are infinite.

Stir-frying can be enjoyed both for its time-honored recipes and its innovative modern ones, and for the promise it offers to create new classics. The Chinese stir-fry is all things: refined, improvisational, adaptable, and inventive. There is an old Cantonese expression, Yad wok jao tin ngaai, or one wok runs to the sky’s edge, meaning one who uses the wok becomes master of the cooking world. For centuries the Chinese have carried their woks to all corners of the earth, continuously re-creating stir-fry traditions. Today, the sky’s edge extends beyond geographic borders into cultures newly integrated with all manner of popular and ancient ways. Stir-frying’s innumerable possibilities for creating simple, nourishing, and wholly satisfying meals that feed the body and nourish the soul await.

Notes to the Reader

Heat levels are very critical for stir-frying. The recipes and information in this book are geared for the home cook using an average residential range. If you are cooking on a powerful range with more than 14,000 BTUs, such as a custom wok stove, a professional range, a powerful gas range, or a portable wok stove, you will need to lower the heat levels called for and decrease the cooking times. Many of the instructions, such as using a flat-bottomed wok, searing meats before stir-frying, or drying vegetables, will not apply to you. These instructions are to help maximize the heat of a wok or skillet when it is being used on a residential stove. Likewise, if you are cooking on a less powerful stove, be it gas or electric, you will need to increase the cooking times by a few minutes.

Stir-frying is a simple cooking technique that has been practiced for hundreds of years by millions of people. That said, it is important to realize that stir-frying requires cooking on high heat. Always exercise caution. If at any time you are uncomfortable or if the cooking is getting out of your control, immediately stop cooking, turn off the heat, and carefully transfer the hot wok or skillet to a cold burner. If you are new to stir-frying, start with an easy recipe, a simple vegetable stir-fry such as Stir-Fried Garlic Spinach (page 202) or Peppery Vegetarian Rice (page 256). With practice, stir-frying will become more natural, and you can advance to a recipe that combines meat and vegetables, and finally to the most challenging recipes of all, those that involve velveting (see Velvet Stir-Fry, page 100) or oil-blanching.

The Recipes

Please read through the entire recipe before cooking. If you are a novice at stir-frying, I encourage you to read all the sidebars, each of which is filled with information, and, in particular, The Best Oil for Stir-Frying (see page 41), Stir-Frying with Proper Heat and Control (see page 52), and Basic Steps for Stir-Frying (see page 54). It is helpful to read the sidebars that focus on specific types of dishes and techniques, such as dry stir-fries, moist stir-fries, simple stir-fries, clear stir-fries, velveting, and fried rice.

Stir-Frying Recipes: Classics and Innovations (pages 47–285) includes all the recipes, organized by food categories: meat, poultry and eggs, fish and shellfish, vegetables and tofu, and rice and noodles. Recipes range in complexity from easy to advanced stir-fries. Many have been adapted from the cooks or chefs I interviewed, and those individuals are credited in each recipe.

Chinese terms are rendered in romanized spellings of their Cantonese pronunciations, except for several words already familiar to readers in romanized Mandarin, such as Beijing, Sichuan, and Guangzhou. I have also followed the convention established in my last two books and used the spelling wok hay, for the breath of the wok, even though the standardized Cantonese spelling is wok hei. I have taken this liberty because the spelling hei can lead to an incorrect pronunciation for the non-Cantonese speaker. I have chosen the Cantonese dialect in honor of my Cantonese heritage and because of the Cantonese reputation for being masters of the stir-fry.

General Instructions

• The 14-inch flat-bottomed carbon-steel wok is the perfect pan for stir-frying, but knowing that some cooks may be more comfortable using a skillet I have indicated all the recipes in which a 12-inch stainless-steel skillet can be interchanged with a wok. When a recipe calls for a wok only, it is because when I tested the recipe in a skillet it did not work.

• Throughout the book I call for preheating the wok or skillet by heating it until a bead of water vaporizes within 1