I tried the local chinese takeaway at the weekend & I'm trying to recreate
some of the dishes.

I'm fairly close (using msg & chinese five spice) with the 'beef in black
bean sauce' & 'malaysian-style beef' but they both have a sort of 'smokey
chinese' flavour.

Any clues? I was thinking perhaps toasted Szechwan peppercorns, or even
liquid smoke?

gtoomey

It's called Wok Hei in Cantonese & it's actually a cooking technique & not
an ingredient, it's a bit like setting fire to your food in the wok. I'm
sure you've seen it on TV or pictures in Asia where the wok + food is
alight. You don't have to actually do that but a big fire/flame is vital to
getting that smokey taste in your stirfry. Just let your wok or fry pan sit
on the fire for quite awhile w/o any oil until it is smoking(best not use a
Tefal or anything with a non-stick coating, a seasoned wok or a old blacken
fry pan is best), have all your ingredients prepared & ready in bowls or
plates. Pour in your cooking oil, tilt & spread it around your very hot
wok/fry pan to coat it & let it settle before you throw in your first
ingedients followed by the next etc. As all your ingredients are cut to
size, it's just a case of adding them in one at a time & tossing your
wok/fry pan. As you tilt & toss, you'll sometimes set fire to the wok & it's
contents. Finally add in your gravy ingredients, i'm guessing it'll be
something like cornflour+water. It's a relatively quick process, in a
take-away or restaurant situation, stirfried beef in blackbean sauce takes
about a minute to cook. At home maybe 1-2 more minutes depending on your
cooker. Best with a gas fire.

DC.


"Gregory Toomey" > wrote in message
news:41751003.SmD5GseqmB@GMT-hosting-and-pickle-farming...
> I tried the local chinese takeaway at the weekend & I'm trying to recreate
> some of the dishes.
>
> I'm fairly close (using msg & chinese five spice) with the 'beef in black
> bean sauce' & 'malaysian-style beef' but they both have a sort of 'smokey
> chinese' flavour.
>
> Any clues? I was thinking perhaps toasted Szechwan peppercorns, or even
> liquid smoke?
>
> gtoomey

DC. wrote:

> It's called Wok Hei in Cantonese & it's actually a cooking technique & not
> an ingredient, it's a bit like setting fire to your food in the wok. I'm
> sure you've seen it on TV or pictures in Asia where the wok + food is
> alight. You don't have to actually do that but a big fire/flame is vital
> to getting that smokey taste in your stirfry. Just let your wok or fry pan
> sit on the fire for quite awhile w/o any oil until it is smoking(best not
> use a Tefal or anything with a non-stick coating, a seasoned wok or a old
> blacken fry pan is best), have all your ingredients prepared & ready in
> bowls or plates. Pour in your cooking oil, tilt & spread it around your
> very hot wok/fry pan to coat it & let it settle before you throw in your
> first ingedients followed by the next etc. As all your ingredients are cut
> to size, it's just a case of adding them in one at a time & tossing your
> wok/fry pan. As you tilt & toss, you'll sometimes set fire to the wok &
> it's contents. Finally add in your gravy ingredients, i'm guessing it'll
> be something like cornflour+water. It's a relatively quick process, in a
> take-away or restaurant situation, stirfried beef in blackbean sauce takes
> about a minute to cook. At home maybe 1-2 more minutes depending on your
> cooker. Best with a gas fire.
>
> DC.
>

Chinese restaurants have large gas-fired burners. There is uually a large
"plate" with a 6 inch hole into which the wok fits, with numerous gas
burners underneath. This seems far hotter than you can obtain with a
domestic gas cooktop.

gtoomey

<snip>
> Chinese restaurants have large gas-fired burners. There is uually a large
> "plate" with a 6 inch hole into which the wok fits, with numerous gas
> burners underneath. This seems far hotter than you can obtain with a
> domestic gas cooktop.
>
> gtoomey

Yes indeed, i use to work in one but i now use a 5 ring burner on a high
pressure gas cylinder/tank, what you call butane in the states i believe. I
bought my burner in SE Asia, it's cheap about £10 each, no idea what that is
in US$. But like i said, if you're dependent on home/residential gas supply,
heat up the wok/fry pan really hot & smoking before adding your oil to coat
then begin stirfry. Do it in small portions if you're cooking for lots of
people. It works, believe me, 1000's of people & families in Asia do it. Not
everyone in Asia uses charcoal or the 5 ring burners that i do, it's only
for those who want to replicate the catering standards or style.

DC.

"DC." > wrote in message
...
> <snip>
> > Chinese restaurants have large gas-fired burners. There is uually a
large
> > "plate" with a 6 inch hole into which the wok fits, with numerous gas
> > burners underneath. This seems far hotter than you can obtain with a
> > domestic gas cooktop.
> >
> > gtoomey
>
> Yes indeed, i use to work in one but i now use a 5 ring burner on a high
> pressure gas cylinder/tank, what you call butane in the states i believe.
I
> bought my burner in SE Asia, it's cheap about £10 each, no idea what that
is
> in US$.


I dont' think he's from the States; we call it "take out" not "take away".

Peter

[...]

"Peter Dy" > wrote ...
>
> I dont' think he's from the States; we call it "take out" not "take away".

and on this side of the puddle we also do something 'on' the weekend, not
'at' it.