Stir Fried Wikipedia

Well, well, back to the Chinese thing for HowieCOOK. Sensing a logical theme, are we? A friend of mine from high school writes in to get behind the magic that is the technique, not the dish (!) called stir fry, but more on my 'modest' opinion later. Here's what Stavra writes:

I would just like someone to tell me how to cook an EASY stir fry(chicken or shrimp. Every time I try something is just not right. The meat doesn't have enough flavor or the vegetables are too soggy..

There are a few simple rules to live by when stir frying meat and veg. Be careful, I may blow your mind. YET, since we're on the topic of stir fry, you will have to lie in mouth-watering wait until I offer you a terrific stir fry tale...

By now, we all know what Wikipedia is. We also know what stir frying is. Yet, have you heard of Stir Fried Wikipedia? It's real. Well, sort of...

Good ole' number 303 on the menu at Cha Ma Gu Dao (ancient tea and horse road), a rather modern restaurant in Beijing. They serve and are notable for a enormous array of mushroom dishes from Yunnan province in Southwestern China. In fact, they have mushrooms flown in from Yunnan by the kilo on a daily basis.

Imagine the enjoyment of browsing through an encyclopedic menu with my lovely wife, Jessica and Jian Jun, a Chinese friend. We happen upon "Stir-fried Wikipedia" next to a photo fo a beautiful mushroom dish and think, Have we found the world's first corporately sponsored fungus? We're all fairly geeky and thought that this was priceless.

Though, knowing alot about the Chinese ways of translation, my head went in another direction entirely. This had to be one of those entertaining yet innocent linguistic mistakes often though adorable by Western passers through in China. Like "keep on touching" instead of "keep in touch."

(Before you see this as dissing, do you know how many times I have asked for the "uneven room" instead of the "men's room" in China?)

I am not nearly the first writer to cover Stir Fried Wikipedia. The traveler blogosphere has been a playground for this little piece of menu brilliance for some time now. However, I believe I am the first writer to get to the bottom of it. When filming for Soy Story, I sat with the general manager of Cha Ma Gu Dao, Mr. Ceng Ping. Of course I asked about Yunnan cuisine, the way people feel about it, and the awesome flat-top grill in the kitchen. Then I dropped the bomb, "What's with this Stir Fried Wikipedia? Is this the official name of a mushroom? Do you know what that really means?"

The story goes: The guy hired to do the translation of the menu a few years back was put under alot of pressure to complete the task with a quite tight dealine. Most of the mushrooms were easy pickins on the web. So, our translator got comfortable with Google as the job aid, until he ran into the dreaded Ji Zong mushroom. Though he just went with the term "Ji Zong" most other places in the menu, he felt compelled to get the English word at least once. There must be an English word! Finally, he came across a unique word he had not seen for any other mushroom, and it was prominently placed in the first search result from Google. Wikipedia! That must be it, sounds exotic! Job done.

A thousand years from now, archaeologists will uncover a beautifully preserved laminated menu from central Beijing and find conflicting information from the otherwise known Wikipedia of commonly-edited-informational-web-pages fame. Dissertations will be written.

But, I digress...

Stir Frying is a technique, like sautéing, roasting, or baking. Stir fry is not the name of a dish, dag nabbit! "We're having stir fry tonight, honey" carries about as much meaning as, "We're having carmelize tonight, sweetiekins!" Frankly, you can stir fry any meat with relatively little connective tissue to break down and just about anything that spawns from the garden - if you do it right. It is a high-heat, fast-paced sauté. That is all.

It could be German stir fry night when you prep some thinly sliced smoked sausage, shredded potatoes and a light-textured cabbage. It could be Italian stir fry night when you put out a hell of a quick carbonara sauce. Stir fry is a process, not an end result, per se. If you think of stir fry and immediately think of Chinese, think again. In fact, stir frying plays an pivotal but a cameo role in any Chinese kitchen worth it's soy! Rant over, onto blissful education.

There are a few simple rules to play by to do it right.

1) With meats, it is best to marinate, even if for a bit of time. The Chinese tend to marinate using flavor enhancers, such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, or plain salt and/or sugar. They also use something acidic to tenderize the meat - if it is a meat with some connective tissue, e.g. flank steak. This is typically egg white (not just for woosy omelets, anymore), vinegar or booze.

A bit of oil doesn't hurt either. Oil coats the meat, and in combination with those items listed above seals in some flavor. Also typical in commercial kitchens is to pass through the oil. This means quickly taking the meat for a swim, marinated or not, through very hot oil - before stir frying. Traps in moisture. Before you think of this as no longer simple, you can get away without this last step. Remember to drain the marinade before stir frying.

2) With vegetables, it is best to blanche. Blanching is taking vegetables for a quick swim in boiling water, typically well under a minute. Boiling water will cease the enzymatic processes on the surface of the vegetable, thereby sealing it up, in a way. If vegetables are blanched, there is less likelyhood they will absorb too much oil while quick frying, which means less soggy veg.

After blanching, you shock the vegetables in an ice bath, as this will stop any further cooking before you get to the main event. Let you vegetables dry completely before then stir frying. hot+oil+cold+water=real+bad. Blaching also enhances the color of some vegetables, especially green varieties. A neat trick is to add a bit of baking soda to blanching water. This brings out the color even more.

3) For the main event, everything happens very quickly. Oil gets to (just under screamingly) hot. In alot of Chinese recipes, it's popular to see when you see a wisp of white smoke. Aromatics gets added to the pan (garlic, ginger, etc.). Before the aromatics burn, perhaps under 10 seconds, meat gets added. Stir, stir, stir. Once the outside of the meat is uniformly lighter in color than it started, add the veg. Stir, stir, stir. Add sauce components. See below

4) Finish it with a sauce. Typically, the simple sauce includes a flavorful liquid and a starch. This could be meat stock, plus corn starch slurry (mixed equal parts cold water + corn starch). Onc the sauce components are added, let the whole come just to a boil and turn off the heat. You're done.

So, Stavra, those are the rules. They may seem complex. They're not. I just write too much. I do have some ideas for what to produce. Below are my recipes for Egg and Tomato and Cilantro Chicken.

---

Egg and Tomato (Xi Hong Shi Chao Ji Dan) is one of my favorite dishes, ever. Why it has never become popularized in American Chinese joints, I will never know. It's a simple staple in my home.

2 Tb - vegetable or other light oil
3 - eggs
1 tsp - salt
1 Tb - water
1 - beefsteak tomato, cut into 1/4 inch wedges.
1 tsp - sugar
2 tsp - soy sauce
1 tsp - sesame oil

This dish will take you 10 minutes, max. Whisk eggs and salt with water. Heat 1 Tb of the oil in your (ideally nonstick) pan over medium-high until very hot but not burning. Drop in your egg mix. Stir stir stir. When the eggs just about coagulate (scramble), slide them out of the pan. This should take about 30-45 seconds. The very hot oil should prevent eggs sticking, but no worries if some does.

Heat the other Tb of the oil in the pan until very hot. Drop in the tomato wedges. Let them sit and begin to liquify for about 30 seconds. Stir stir stir. When the tomato still has some body, shut off the heat and add your scrambled eggs back in. Stir to combine. Plate and drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil. Damn, I love this dish. With a mound of steamed rice, it's a nice comfort bowl.

---

Cilantro Chicken (Xiang Cai Ji Ding)

(Even) I was surprised a few years back when I discovered the volume of cilantro that is used in Hunan province. In fact, they serve a cilantro salad that is simply a well fabricated bunch of cilantro, oil and seasoning. This easy chicken dish rocks.

marinade
1 Tb - soy sauce
1 tsp - sesame oil
1 tsp - rice wine, sherry or gin
1 tsp - corn starch
1 - egg white

1 lb - boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 Tb - vegetable or other light oil
1/2 Tb - ginger minced
1/2 bunch - cilantro stems cut into 2 inch sticks
3 Tb - chicken (or other) stock
1/2 tsp - salt
2 tsp - corn starch
1 Tb - cold water
1/2 bunch - cilantro leaves chopped

Start about an hour before meal time. Whisk the marinade together and combine with the chicken cubes. Let it sit for a half hour while you ponder the meaing of the wok over a nice cocktail. drain your chicken cubes from the marinade and set aside. Discard the marinade.

Mix the corn starch and water to make a slurry. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a skillet ( I would prefer not nonstick) over medium-high until you see the famed wisp of white smoke. Add your ginger to the pan. Before the ginger burns, perhaps under 10 seconds, add your chicken cubes. Stir stir stir until the outisde of the cubes is uniformly light. Add your cilantro stems to the pan. Stir stir stir for about 30 seconds until the stems just about start to go flexible. Pour in the stock, add the salt. Stir to combine.

Add your slurry. Stir to combine. Turn off the heat. Add your cilantro leaves to the pan. Stir to combine and plate the whole thing. I love cilantro and so the Hunanese.

---

Thanks for the question, Stavra! Get frying! Who's next?

To submit questions to HowieCOOK, send email to
HowieCOOK@gmail.com