Peter Dy wrote:

"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
A question came up in rec.food.cooking with someone citing an 18,000
BTU gas burner used for stir-fry. I've often heard "home stoves can't
generate the heat necessary for 'proper' Chinese cooking." Yet, it
seems to me that the origin of stir-fry *must* be to quick-cook with a
minimal amount of fuel, and I'm picturing charcoal 'stoves' and very
compact arrangements aboard boats as in some TV cooking shows and
movies. Of course, one wants the pan quite hot, but not melted into
slag.

No such thing as charcoal stoves.

The dry grasses and other fuels the Chinese used produced a high heat
with a short burn time, hence "the need for speed" when cooking.

My query: Is some exraordinarily powerful heat source really a
requirement of Chinese/stir-fry cooking?

No, definitely not. That's a strange, I dunno, myth or idée fixe out there,
that you need super high heat sources to get "restaurant quality" Chinese
food.

In Cantonese cooking, its a definite YES!

Its called "Wok Hey" in Cantonese.

Then why do all the Chinese restaurants in my town make totally
crappy fried rice, for instance? Because, just like for other cuisines, it
depends more on good recipes/good cooks and quality ingredients than on heat
and on that smokey taste. [OK, there is one place in Davis now that has
great fried rice, but it is new.]

Beacuse in your part of town, its whats expected from the masses.

Even in NYC, if I go into a restaurant outside of the three Chinatowns,
and order in Cantonese, telling them what I want and how I want it
prepared,
the results are almost always dissapointing because they still see a Caucasian
face ordering.

A perfect example. Beef Chow Fun or in the Cantonese "Gon Chow Nau Haw".
Even in Chinatown this can be a disaster. The high heat is needed to slightly
char the noodles while barely cooking the scallion, with liitle or no grease
apparent and no gloppy-gooey sauce.

And you're right: One of my most memorable meals in China was in a home that
had a little portable stove that sat on the counter. The difference was
that she was just a good cook.

What did she make? Not all Chinese food requires a burner with enough BTU's
to provide proper "Wok hey".

One thing that bothers me about this belief is that it suggests that Chinese
cuisine is synonymous with stir-frying. Instead of worrying about their
stir-fries, I think people should expand their repertoire to braised,
steamed, and clay pot dishes. And lots of stir-fried dishes that use the
wok won't be helped much by high heat if a sauce is involved, like for
fish-flavored eggplants.

As kalanamak mentioned, I'd appreciate more heat for stir-fried fresh rice
noodles and for deep-frying whole poultry. Otherwise, a regular stove is
fine, IMO.

On a regular stove, I recommend the heaviest iron wok you can manage,
as the iron will hold heat better than the thin stainless ones, and keep
the portions small. Make two batches instead of one large one to keep
the initial temperature drop to a minimum.

"If Yan can, I can do better!" - Slim