sմb | Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees: Essential Techniques of Authentic Chinese Cooking de Kian Lam Kho.
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FLASH-FRY | 油爆
What makes this method so compelling is the short cooking time, which keeps tough cuts of meat from overcooking. After flash-frying, the ingredient retains a chewy, crunchy texture that is still tender to the bite. Commonly used ingredients for this technique include beef, lamb, tripe, stomach, gizzard, and heart. Seafood ingredients such as squid, conch, and abalone are also suitable, as are certain vegetables. Eggplant, for example, is perfect since the high temperature of flash-frying cooks it slightly without soaking it with oil.
To make sure that the ingredients will be fully cooked in such a short period of time, they are either sliced very thin or scored in a crisscross pattern before being cut into bite-size pieces about 1 inch wide. Kidney and gizzard are prime candidates for the crisscross scoring. When cooked, the pieces bloom into a beautiful flower shape. Other much tougher cuts of meat, such as stomach and intestine, will need to be precooked until tender.
To ensure that the ingredients are cooked thoroughly, there are usually three steps in this Chinese flash-fry technique, requiring three cooking vessels: a pot with boiling water, a pot with hot oil, and a wok for stir-frying. For certain ingredients, such as beef, lamb, whelk, and conch, blanching is not needed, so the cooking can be accomplished in two steps. I do not recommend flash-frying and stir-frying in the same wok. A large quantity of very hot oil would have to be drained from the wok, and it can be very dangerous to do so before the oil cools.
When flash-frying, the oil temperature should be raised almost to the smoke point, which calls for caution when using this technique at home. High-smoke-point vegetable oil is ideal since the temperature can be raised to near 395°F. If the ingredient has been parboiled, make sure it has been well drained before transferring it to the extremely hot oil. Adding water to hot oil will cause bubbling. To prevent any boil-over of the hot oil, do not fill the pot more than one-third full; this will allow the oil to expand as it sizzles. When cooking on a home stovetop, you may want to work in batches to prevent a large-scale splattering and to ensure that the ingredients cook quickly and evenly.
FLASH-POACHING | 水爆
Most commonly used in northern China, flash-poaching is a version of the bao (爆) technique where water is used as the cooking medium instead of oil. It is used almost exclusively to cook beef or lamb stomach and intestines, and is popular among the Muslim community of western China in Beijing.
As is the case with flash-frying, the ingredients for flash-poaching should be sliced very thin in order to make sure they cook through. Sliced innards are dropped into boiling water to cook for a very short time, typically only 20 to 25 seconds. This short cooking time ensures that the meat does not overcook. It is common to cook these ingredients a small portion at a time so as not to reduce the temperature of the water too much. Unlike with the flash-frying technique, the cooked food is not seasoned but instead is served with a dipping sauce, making this method similar to that of hot pot cooking. But here the water is used only for cooking and not intended to be eaten as a soup.
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Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge de Grace Young
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Velvet Stir-Fry: Luscious and Light
The Chinese revere foods prepared with the silky, smooth texture known by the Cantonese as waat. No other cooking technique produces such light, delicate, tender succulence, hence the culinary term “velveting” in English. This style of stir-frying, popular with chefs, is most typically accomplished by briefly marinating bite-sized pieces of beef, pork, chicken, fish, shrimp, or scallops in a standard combination of egg white, cornstarch, and a little water or rice wine. The marinated morsels are then blanched in oil or water and thoroughly drained in a colander before being stir-fried. Ingredients that have been marinated in the egg white–cornstarch mixture can also be stir-fried without first being oil- or water-blanched. This abbreviated process will tenderize ingredients, but the finished texture will not be nearly as smooth or as silky.
Chef Yong Soon of Toronto, Canada, says the egg white–cornstarch mixture is the perfect vehicle for protecting meat, poultry (especially chicken breast), fish, or shellfish from drying out. “Once absorbed into the meat, it helps the meat retain moisture and achieve a unique state of tenderness. The egg white–cornstarch mixture also encases the ingredient, thereby sealing in the succulence and preventing toughness.” Interestingly, when eaten, velveted ingredients betray no hint of the coating that has rendered them so tender.
There are two variations on the velveting recipe that are less typical. In the first variation, a whole egg is combined with the cornstarch and water, and occasionally a little rice wine is added. This is traditionally used only for beef, pork, and dark meat chicken. According to Chef Richard Chen of Wing Lei restaurant in Las Vegas, the yolk provides another binding agent to protect the meat’s moisture.
The second variation combines the cornstarch with cold water only, no egg, and can be used with meat, poultry, or shellfish.
According to Shirley Cheng, professor in culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America, “the purpose of velveting is only to create tenderness and should not be confused with marinating to add flavor.” Accordingly, except for a little rice wine, seasonings are never added to the egg white–cornstarch mixture. Flavor is added later, either during stir-frying or with the sauce. The velveting process accentuates the natural succulence and essence of an ingredient, making freshness of ingredients a requirement. For velveting, never use meat, poultry, fish, or shellfish that has been previously frozen because the texture will be inferior. The exception is frozen shrimp that has been defrosted, but fresh is always preferable.
Velveting is a technique more commonly practiced in professional kitchens. For home cooks, it is an advanced method to master and more complicated because it requires the additional step of oil- or water-blanching. After coating the ingredients in the egg white–cornstarch mixture, many chefs are known to toss the coated pieces in a tiny amount of oil to prevent them from clumping together and sticking to the wok. The ingredients are then blanched in oil that has been heated to 280°F on a deep-frying thermometer. This technique, called jau yau, or “passing through oil,” makes foods firmer and richer. Alternatively, the ingredients can be blanched in simmering water to which a small spoonful of oil has been added, creating a finer, softer, less oily texture. I think velveting is worth the extra effort because the texture it produces is so unbelievably tender. However, I recommend water-blanching for the home cook because it is less complicated and dangerous than oil-blanching, it reduces the amount of oil necessary for stir-frying, and foods taste less fatty because velveting is, in fact, an extraordinary low-fat cooking technique.
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My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen de Eileen Yin-Fei Lo
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B L A N C H I N G A N D S T E A M I N G
Blanching is a process wherein foods are plunged into boiling water or oil, usually for mere seconds. With vegetables, blanching in boiling water, with a bit of salt added, serves to remove the water in the vegetables, heightens their color, and tenderizes them without softening their texture. The process, according to my grandmother, was called chut soi, which translates as “let the water out.” The addition of a bit of baking soda to the water will brighten the color even more.
Blanching in oil, called jau yau, is usually reserved for meats, poultry and seafood, where the process serves to seal in the food’s juices. Often vegetables that are deemed tough, such as bamboo shoots, jicama, water chestnuts and root vegetables are blanched in oil to keep their moisture in. Occasionally meats, poultry and shellfish are water-blanched as well, to remove their moisture. The methods of blanching are detailed in this book.
Steaming foods in my grandmother’s kitchen was an exercise in saving time, energy and extra effort. Often we steamed foods by setting them atop rice in woks so that they would cook along with the rice. These days steaming is a different practice, though the principle is the same. Foods are placed in steamproof dishes, set on racks
over boiling water, covered and steamed for specific times. Steaming can be done in traditional bamboo steamers set into woks over boiling water or in steel and aluminum pots with steaming inserts. The process, called jing, preserves the juices of the food in the steaming dishes, gives foods a natural, glistening appearance, and is the perfect process for reheating. When steaming, boiling water should be kept on hand to replenish any that evaporates.
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Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking de Eileen Yin-Fei Lo
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Water-blanching
Water-blanching is simply plunging foods into boiling water, an invaluable process for many cooking preparations. Why the process is used
depends on what is being water-blanched. In general, boiling water helps to remove some of the water naturally present in foods. In the case
of meats and poultry, it also removes blood residue. When water-blanching vegetables, I usually add ginger, salt, and baking soda, or sometimes
only ginger. The baking soda helps to tenderize the vegetables and set their bright color, and the salt and ginger help to flavor them. I especially appreciate how the baking soda sets the
color, and I know a number of French chefs who must appreciate it as well, as I have seen them use the same technique in their kitchens.
Bok choy, Tianjin bok choy, choi sum,Shanghai bok choy, fresh mushrooms, mung bean and soybean sprouts, and lettuce are among the vegetables that benefit from water-
blanching to remove excess water. It also helps tenderize the stems of broccoli and cauliflower.
To water-blanch vegetables, bring the water to a boil, add the ingredients baking soda, salt, and/or ginger specified in individual recipes, and then add the vegetable. Most
vegetables are immersed in the boiling water for only seconds, then removed. Others, such as choi sum and pea shoots, are blanched longer because they are tougher, so check the timing
in each recipe carefully. Often, to ensure there is no carryover cooking, I immediately plunge the vegetables into an ice-water bath to stop the cooking. Other times, I halt the cooking by
running cold water into the pan. Which method I use depends on how long the vegetable was immersed and how it will be used. If it will be going directly into a cooking process, such as
a stir-fry, I generally cool it by filling the pan with running water. I use the ice-water bath, which stops the cooking more quickly, for vegetables that will be used later or are more fully
cooked during the blanching, such as the choi sum in the stir-fry on page 65. I drain all of the blanched vegetables well before using them.
STOCK-BLANCHING
Like water-blanching(see page 63), this process is designed to augment fl avor and prepare foods for cooking. Briefly blanching foods in stock imparts taste to them
and in some cases can reduce the amount of oil needed to cook them. The stock is placed in a wok or pot, with the amount determined by the amount of food being blanched, and brought to a boil. The food is lowered into the stock and left for the time specifi ed in the recipe, generally less time for thinly sliced poultry or meat or for shrimp, and more time for
hard vegetables, such as broccoli, caulifl ower, and asparagus. The blanched food is removed, drained well, and then ready to use. The stock can be reserved for other uses, such as soups.
OIL-BLANCHING
This relatively simple technique seals in the flavor and juices of meats and retains—and enhances—the color in vegetables.
Oil is poured into a wok and heated to a specific temperature, depending on the recipe. The food is lowered into the oil and left for the time indicated,
usually no longer than 30 seconds for vegetables and 1 to 2 minutes for meats. It is then removed from the oil and drained well. The oil is usually, though not always,
strained though a fi ne-mesh strainer for later use. The presence or absence of residue determines whether you need to strain or not. If any residue is visible, you must
strain the oil. If no residue is visible, simply pour off the oil and reserve what you need for later use.
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