Chinese Cooking Techniques and The Traditional Wok
If you want to learn how to cook traditional Chinese foods, you need to purchase a traditional wok. There are many woks on the market but not all of them are traditional. For example, there are woks made from non-stick materials. Though these new woks are considered fashionable in China, the traditional wok is something that you need to learn how.
If you live near a large city with a Chinatown section, you can find a place to purchase a traditional wok easily. If not, you may want to look online for traditional woks. But just buying it is not enough. The wok needs to be properly seasoned. There are instructions for how to do this online. Or, you can ask at the store where you buy the wok. It is also possible to buy it already seasoned. (Seasoned is a term that essentially means “broken in”.)
Learn How to Cook Rice Properly
You may think that the basis behind Chinese Cooking is rice. While this may be true, there are other options to build a meal around. You can substitute rice for noodles and, just because rice is served at virtually every meal does not mean that you need to ignore other foods.
However, rice is an important staple to the culture. It is important to learn how to cook it properly. The typical method for preparing rice in China is to steam it. Nowadays, there are plenty of options for appliances that will steam rice. But there is a traditional method, too.
You may want to do some research online to find the best way to steam rice. You can use an appliance, a steamer basket, or other methods depending on what you want to do and remember, each individual person at the table gets their own dish of rice.
Learn How to Steam
Next to using the wok, steaming is a very important technique for Chinese cooking. The traditional way to steam is to use a wok and a steamer basket. This is an efficient way to cook. You can stack multiple steamer baskets on the wok. This means that it is possible to create a multi-course meal, complete with dessert, using only one burner.
The proper technique is to place the items in the steamer basket and place on the wok. If you don’t need to cook anything else and just want to steam, you can fill the wok with water. If you are cooking something else you can use the method described above.
You may want to get some instruction before you try this technique. But even though it looks elaborate, it is a really simple method. You can cook a variety of foods this way.
Related posts:
