On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 02:55:34 +0000 (UTC), J Krugman
wrote:

I have always been intimidated by stir frying: the high heat, the
smoke, the bazillion ingredients... Maybe I spooked myself out,
but these fears were amply confirmed when I attempted my first stir
fry last Monday. What a nightmare!

Some cooks of Chinese (stir-fried) foods claim a regular kitchen stove
can't generate the heat necessary for good stir-fry. High heat *isn't*
the problem.

I let my 12" skillet heat up slowly over a very low
flame

Maybe good for the skillet; not needed for stir-fry. I don't really
believe in "hot pan; cold oil; food won't stick", but the procedure is
usually to heat a wok (or similar) for 30 seconds or so, put in a
small amount of oil (peanut oil is recommended for its high
smoke-temperature) and start cooking.

added
3 T of peanut oil to the skillet, let it heat up for about 1
minute

3 Tablespoons oil is rather a lot, I think. This isn't really
*frying*, but a very fast saute.

then added my first batch (of 2) of marinated, bite-sized
chunks of chicken breast (about 1/2 pound's worth). My instructions
said that these should be stir-fried for 2-3 minutes, until golden
brown.

And did you? Stir, I mean? Martin Yan calls heaving ingredients into a
hot pan and watching them "stare-fry." And "stir" is more like "toss
around so that everything gets a good searing on the hot pan." I'm not
sure about "golden brown," either. What I look for in chicken is
fairly uniform opaqueness, not a crispy brown crust, which is more
like deep-fry.

At around the 2 minute mark I noticed that the oil was
burning badly (it was turning dark brown)

Small pieces of chicken are pretty much finished in a minute or 2 at
max. The general idea is to cook small, uniformly-sized pieces of
things quickly. Too much oil sitting over high heat *can* start to
smoke. Each addition of fresh ingredients cools the pan somewhat, so
when the chicken is opaque, one begins to add other stuff to be
cooked.

melted
off the edge of my nonstick-friendly spatula

This *is* a high-heat operation. Wood or metal instruments are
required.

use a nonstick skillet.

Aside from electric, non-stick wok appliances (which I don't believe
in, but many have success with), the high temperature of wok cooking
doesn't lend itself to non-stick surfaces.

You need a wok! They're pretty cheap, and ideally suited to this sort
of cooking. Just a little oil in the bottom and swirled around to
merely *coat* the lower sides of the pan. It heats (and cools)
quickly, being thin steel. Except for that one time when I started
heating oil before I'd quite finiished chopping everything, I've never
(again) had fire or smoke problems. The problem, in fact, is keeping
the heat high enough as you add ingredients to keep things searing,
not steaming. Don't get a mini-wok, either. You must have plenty of
room to keep tossing things around as they cook. A 12" skillet is
generous for regular brown/saute/braise operations, but it hasn't the
surface area and depth of a 14" wok. You *must* keep moving things
around.

Don't give up. Aside from the chopping, it *is* a 'meal in minutes'
technique.