Keith Wansbrough's Stir Fry Guide

The Chinese developed stir-fry in order to save cooking time (and therefore fuel), at the expense of preparation time. Ingredients are chopped up into small, thin chunks and cooked quickly. This process preserves the original flavours, and is the reason for the delicious fresh taste of a good stir-fry.

This page is under construction (sorry!). Ultimately, it will discuss all the various ingredients required, and then describe in detail the process of adding them and cooking the stir-fry.

Ingredients

Oil

I tend to use olive oil, but the type of oil used is not especially important. Don't use an oil that burns too easily, like extra-virgin olive oil, since a stir-fry needs to be hot. Sunflower or soya oil is ideal. Don't use too much; it's just for lubrication and heat transfer. You don't want to deep-fry the food.

Garlic

Each clove should be peeled, and then crushed in a garlic press (you may need to chop it into chunks first, depending on the size of the cloves). If you don't have a garlic press, you can slice it very thinly and chop up the slices, but your fingers will end up smelly.

Root ginger

Should be peeled and then chopped finely. Can also be grated. Powdered ginger does not have the same flavour, although it can be used in emergency.

Onion

Onion is the first vegetable in a stir fry, and the only compulsory one. It forms the basis for the rest. It should be chopped into medium-size pieces - not too fine, because the pieces should survive cooking. I chop onion very quickly in the following way. Chop off the hairy end, and peel off the orange skin (running the onion under hot water can make this easier). Place the chopped end on the board, grasp the sprouty end, and make a series of radial cuts through the onion. Place the onion on its side, still grasping the sprouty end, and slice thickly from the chopped end until you can't easily hold it any more. Then place the chopped end on the board, and hack away tangentially, angling the cuts slightly inwards towards the axis of the onion, until it's all gone. This is much quicker than other methods I know, and the fact that the pieces are not all precisely the same size doesn't matter here at all.

Meat

(see separate section below)

Vegetables

(see separate section below)

Lemon juice

Much Chinese food depends on a "sweet-and-sour" structure, and stir-fry is no exception. For a while I used various vinegars for the sour (acid) component - malt, or white wine - but I then settled on lemon juice as a better-tasting alternative. Lemon juice from a bottle is fine, and convenient. Real lemons would allow you to add grated zest (yellow outer skin) as well, but I've not tried this yet.

Ginger honey

Culpeper in the UK import a sauce made of ground ginger root blended with honey (I can't see it on their website, though). This is a delicious way of quickly adding ginger and sweetness to a dish, instead of or as well as chopped root ginger and brown sugar.

Stem ginger

Ginger balls preserved in honey. Should be sliced or chopped into smallish chunks; it's nice when eating the stirfry to discover bits of it in a mouthful, so don't chop it too small. The honey syrup can also be added as a sweetener in place of brown sugar or ginger honey.

Soy sauce

Soy sauce is fermented soy beans and salt, and should be rich and dark and have an intense but warm flavour. It is a natural flavour enhancer, being high in glutamic acid, but unlike MSG (which is a sodium salt of glutamic acid) the enhancing effect is balanced by a flavour of its own, thus preventing the dish tasting artificial. There are two grades, light and dark; I use dark soy sauce. As to brands: "Amoy" is good, reliable, and easily available. I find "Kikkoman" is excellent for use at the table, but adds the wrong flavour for my stir-fries. Recently, I have been experimenting with buying various brands from Chinese supermarkets (which have loads of different ones!). Taste several, and choose one you like - the flavours and strengths vary a lot. Then buy a big bottle - you'll use a lot, and it doesn't go off.

Stir-fry sauce

There are a wide variety of sauces that can be added to the stir-fry to give it a more complex, full-bodied flavour. All these are optional; the other ingredients listed here will give a perfectly good flavour on their own. My favourite is hoi-sin, but others include black bean, sweet chilli, plum, yellow bean, peking duck sauce, and so on. There are some traditional associations which you can discern from any Chinese takeaway menu (hoi-sin with pork, black bean with beef, plum with duck, and so on), but you should feel free to experiment with what you like. Ignore any directions on the bottle (often they suggest adding half the bottle!), and add instead between a heaped teaspoon and a heaped tablespoon of sauce per person, to taste. Decent sauces are available in supermarkets (Sharwoods, for example), but you can find much better by visiting a Chinese supermarket and playing pot-luck. I have some particularly nice Lee Kum Kee sauces at the moment.

Sherry

The books often say to use dry sherry or rice wine, but I always use rich cream sherry (it often just says "rich cream" on the bottle, or "rich cream wine"). Use a cheap one; there's no point using something fancy for cooking. The sherry helps build the flavour (adds body), and also adds liquid to make the delicious sauce that flavours the rice as well as the stir-fry.

Brown sugar

Sugar helps to balance the flavours. Much Chinese food depends on a "sweet-and-sour" structure, and stir-fry is no exception. Brown sugar (I usually use soft brown sugar) also adds a nice flavour of its own. Add more if the stir-fry tastes too sharp/acidic or unbalanced.

Salt

I don't add this routinely, but it's sometimes needed to get the flavour right, as a flavour balancer and enhancer. Soy sauce has a similar effect. I use sea salt, since it tastes better.

Tabasco sauce

To spice up a stir-fry, tabasco sauce can be added to taste. If I use it, I add one or two drops (literally - it's very hot!) to a stir-fry for two, but tastes differ. I always use the red tabasco sauce, not the green.

Spring onion

Chop off the top and throw it away, then cut repeatedly across the stem, making rings around 5mm long. You don't need to open the bunch; just cut through all the stems simultaneously. The dark green part looks nicer, but you can use right up into the white part too.

Coriander

Coriander ("cilantro" if you're in America) is a wonderfully aromatic herb that adds a very fresh flavour to a dish. There's no point using dried coriander; you must buy it fresh. Grab a handful and chop the leaves up moderately finely; don't worry if you include the stems too, since they taste just the same.

Sesame oil

Someone once said that no matter how little sesame oil you use, it's always too much. This very greasy oil adds a strong flavour which you will instantly recognise; but it's quite overpowering, and messy to use. I don't use it any more. It must be added at the very end, because it burns extremely easily (you cannot fry with it, for example).

Meat

Do not buy meat marked "stir-fry"; it will be offcuts of unknown origin that have been chopped up too small. Buy a good quality cut of meat, and chop it yourself.

Pork

Buy a "fillet" or "loin" of pork. Choose a piece that is a single continuous bit of flesh, as smooth and free from gristle and fat as possible. Remove as much fat and gristle (membranes) as you can. Then, using a sharp carving knife, slice it across the grain as thinly as you can - say 2mm slices. Avoid anything tenderised or sweetened, as these have extra water added.

Beef

Buy beef suitable for quick frying, or steak. As for pork, choose a piece that is a single continuous bit of flesh, as smooth and free from gristle and fat as possible. Be sure it's not too thin; the flavour is in the interior, and you want to be able to slice it rather than chop it. Using a sharp carving knife, chop the meat into strips 3-5cm wide. Remove as much fat and gristle (membranes) as you can. Then slice thinly across the grain.

Chicken or turkey

Buy breast meat only. Remove any skin, fat or entrails, then chop into rectangular chunks about 5cm x 2cm, with the long axis parallel to the grain of the meat.

Duck

Duck should be treated like chicken or turkey, except that the skin is particularly fatty, and so can be used for cooking instead of some of the oil. Place the skin, fat side down, into a hot dry pan, and cook until the oil is released (you may wish to rub the skin around the inside of the pan while you do this). Then throw out the skin. You may still need to add some ordinary oil, but you will still have gained the flavour of the duck.

Lamb

I've never tried lamb, but would treat it the same as beef.

Vegetables

The idea with the vegetables is to add them in the right order: from toughest to softest. This ensures that they all have the right texture at the end of cooking. Some vegetables, however, are added late to preserve their crunchiness (peppers) or distinctive flavour (spring onion / coriander are added immediately before serving).

There are various ways to chop the vegetables; you should aim for variety to keep the stir-fry interesting. The key point is that pieces should always be thin (2-3mm or so usually) and not too big (aim for bite-size or smaller). My usual methods: slices, quarter-slices, sticks ("julienne").

Carrots

Make sure the carrots you use are reasonably sweet, and not bitter. It doesn't matter if they're floppy because you've stored them too long - the sauce will fix that.

Courgette (zucchini)

For some reason I have taken to adding the lemon juice along with the courgette; this risks adding too much liquid during the frying phase, but encourages the courgette to take up a lemony flavour which I like.

Mushrooms

Although soft, these should be added early enough to ensure they fully soften. Note that mushrooms release a lot of water when cooked, so don't add them too early, or too many.

Sweet peppers (capsicum)

Add late to keep them crunchy.

Cooking

Obviously, cook it in a wok if you can, or a big saucepan or deep frying pan if not. You'll need two big paddles/spatulas to keep the food moving while cooking.

"Stir-frying" is the way you do the cooking: it's not really stirring, but more like tossing. Using the paddles, one in each hand, toss the vegetables currently in contact with the bottom of the wok up to the top, allowing more vegetables to move down. Keep turning the contents over and over, without stopping. This ensures the heat and oil are always evenly distributed, and prevents anything from burning. For this to work, the heat must be as high as possible; you want to fry, not broil or stew.

1. Heat the oil as hot as you can, probably until it just starts smoking. The secret of stir-frying is to keep the oil hot; the food doesn't burn because you keep it moving.
2. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook until soft/browned. Go to the next step if it starts burning.
3. Add the onion, and stir-fry until soft and slightly transparent (a couple of minutes).
4. Remove the onion to a separate bowl. Try to leave the oil in the pan, but you may need to add a little more to the pan for the next step.
5. Add the meat, and cook until browned on all sides, turning as necessary. This important step seals in the flavour of the meat; it's especially important because the pieces are small and could end up dry and tasteless if you're not careful.
6. Add the onion back.
7. Add the vegetables in the appropriate order, stir-frying them as you go. The trick is to wait long enough so that by the time everything has been added each vegetable is just at the right degree of softness. This takes practice; but as a rough guide, you'll probably cook each kind of vegetable for a minute, or two at most, before adding the next.
8. Once all the vegetables are sufficiently cooked, turn the heat down to a simmer, and add the sauce ingredients: sherry, soy sauce, brown sugar, and any stir-fry sauce. This is also the time to add stem ginger, ginger honey, or tabasco.
9. Stir once, then simmer for a minute or two to allow the flavours to blend. Do not leave for too long, or everything will go soggy.
10. Taste, and add salt/sugar/lemon juice/soy sauce as required, then stir and simmer briefly before tasting again.
11. Finally, add spring onion and/or coriander and serve. (Alternatively, sprinkle these on top of the stir-fry in the serving bowl, and allow the process of serving to mix them in).
12. Place in a serving bowl, next to a bowl of steamed rice.
13. To eat, put rice in a bowl, stir-fry on top, and make sure you get some of the liquid as well to flavour the rice. Eat with chopsticks for authenticity, or a fork and a spoon.
14. Enjoy!

To be continued...

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--KW 8-)