The local greasy wok has a little tub of white stuff on the cook line. Corn starch mixed with water into a paste. The cook scoops a little off with his spat and whips it into the wok near the end.

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
When I moved to China in 2011 I was excited to eat lots of orange chicken. I quickly learned that theres nothing Chinese about orange chicken.

I didn't want to be a buzz kill or foodie snob, but I was thinking the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
The local greasy wok has a little tub of white stuff on the cook line. Corn starch mixed with water into a paste. The cook scoops a little off with his spat and whips it into the wok near the end.

Ahh, corn starch - the secret ingredient of Chinese buffets!
Well, that and MSG.

After action report.

As indicated in the first post, We had a box of orange chicken from Kirkland, and a bag of stir fry veggies, also Kirkland.

I figured the veggies would be heated in oil and be fairly blahhh, so thought I would try to concoct somethng more flavorful.

After reading the early replies, and watching a couple of stir fry videos, I made an emergency run to the supermarket for some additional stuff. Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, seme oil, the stuff mentioned by Aeteocles.

We made a pot of white rice, put the chicken in the oven per the instructions and fired up a heavy frying pan for the veggies. A small bit of olive oil, just to coat the pan really, the veggies, some hoisin, some oyster, some sesame, heat it very hot, stir, stir, stir (that’s why it’s stir fry,right?).... 6 or 7 minutes later, the chicken was ready, the veggies were removed from the heat.

We piled some chicken and veggies on the mounds of rice in each plate. It turned out to be pretty darned good!

I’m not sure any actual Chinese people would have been fooled, or impressed, but for us it was quite edible and delicious, and better than it would have been without the guidance I got to snazz things up.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
When I moved to China in 2011 I was excited to eat lots of orange chicken. I quickly learned that theres nothing Chinese about orange chicken.

Chinese fortune cookies aren’t Chinese either. They were invented in California. But I’ve read that some folks in China have taken them to heart.

www.thespruce.com/history-of-t...ortune-cookie-694583

The Wok Shop in San Francisco's is a great place to get a wok. Tane and her brother own the shop and are good people. Very reasonable and they ship.

http://wokshop.stores.yahoo.net/reworkwok.html

I'll add this for those just dipping their toes in the water with this type of cooking, preparation is key. Other than gathering up all your ingredients before hand, you'll need to cut-up all the ingredients and have the portions all set-up. Fast/flash cooking is what this is all about, if one ingredient is already in the pan you're but fumbling around to gather-up the rest, it's not gonna happen. Asian cooking is 90% prep, and 10% cooking.

Here's a solid write-up on what basics to have in the pantry
http://www.tigersandstrawberri...-the-chinese-pantry/

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
So what's a good wok?

My ancient one got so bad it was trashed.

I'm of the opinion that good woks aren't suitable for standard kitchens.

Good woks have rounded bottoms,and shallow inclines around the bowl so that you can prop food up to one side, tip the wok to the other and cook something else (for instance, scrambling an egg on one side of the wok, to then later mix into your fried rice). The problem then, is that something that is wide and rounded needs a wide burner and ring to hold it up. Not really suited for home cooking.

For a while, I had a sweet 36" range with a huge middle burner and I used a steel wok. It was heavy, it rusted from time to time, and it work.

These days, I use a cheap aluminum wok pan with a non-stick coating from the Asian market. The Korean market seems to be a little more upscale. The aluminum is light, transfers heat through the bottom really fast, and the nonstick helps with keeping the food in motion. I don't have the room for a huge wok with a big spoon that I can toss with reckless abandon. So a lightweight aluminum pan that lets me flip food with a flick of the wrist is far preferable.

I'm not endorsing this particular wok, but I have something like this at home:

https://www.amazon.com/Non-Sti...non+stick+korean+wok

The other problem is that to really do it right you need a stove burner that puts out maybe three times as much heat as a good stove burner.