Wok Fusion Flavor

Summertime meals often mean something thrown on the grill – quick and mess-free. But there’s another easy cooking method that doesn’t require much energy, and it’s suited to all seasons: poaching.

Poaching is an often overlooked way of cooking a delicate protein – generally chicken, fish or eggs – that submerges it in a barely simmering liquid (about 160 to 180 degrees); the surface of the liquid shimmers, showing few, if any, bubbles. Up the heat a bit, to about 185 degrees, and you’ve gotten to a simmer, which is the heat level for braising. Crank the heat up even further, and you’ve reached a boil, used for cooking pasta, blanching vegetables and more.

My Great Uncle Yuen, a partner in my family’s Chinese restaurant when I was growing up, did great deal of poaching. He loved poached chicken, which he ate many times each week. He would place a whole chicken into the huge, barely simmering cauldron of chicken stock that was always on the burner, and then would go back to working. A couple of hours later, he would fish out the chicken, set it aside, and then eat it when he could.

If he didn’t have time to take a lunch break, he would wrap up the cooled poached chicken and refrigerate it. Later, he’d bring it out of hiding, chop it up and eat it cold. Uncle Yuen often used hot broth or made a quick sauce to take off the chill.

I haven’t poached a chicken in quite a while until lately, when I realized again how much sense it made. Poaching is easy and doesn’t require much attention. Chicken is relatively inexpensive, and when poached, doesn’t need its skin to remain moist so there is less fat overall. An added plus: Poached chicken can be used in many recipes.

I’ve developed a master recipe for poached chicken that uses ginger-infused water, which eventually becomes an Asian-style broth, but you can also use different flavorings to take the broth in a new direction (see accompanying suggestions).
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You’re going to soak those chips and prep that rub and monitor the smoking pouch and take an all-together chance on everything? You may think I’m being dramatic, but smoking ribs is a challenge indeed! I’ve had different friends make them on several occasions, and virtually every time they’ve been too smoky, undercooked or just generally not right. AND, they were using smokers as opposed to a homemade smoking pouch… They were however pork back ribs as opposed to beef ribs. This is a recipe by Matt Dunigan on Hunan Smoked BBQ Ribs.
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Here are some thoughts on making Chinese Barbeque Pork and Crispy Roasted Pork. Have you ever tried or dreamt up creating Cantonese-style crispy roast chicken that you have come across at many restaurants? It requires five hours of air drying out and the bathing of the chicken in hot oil while attached to a hook, and the probable danger involved. With some practice and the right ingredients, you could make homemade Chinese Barbecued Pork (char siu) and Chinese Crispy Roast Pork (or siew yuk).

You must have to begin with the right cut of meat – pork belly. In our part of the world, we refer to it as pork flap – so when you go to get your meat to try either or both of these recipes, ask for the pork flap. Both of the recipes recommend this part of the meat but pork shoulder can work also but trust me, get the pork flap. When cooked, the meat will have perfect layers of fat and meat. The meat once cooked is sliced thinly so you don’t have to worry about consuming a allot of fat. Because these dishes are so flavorful, you will not find it necessary to overeat, okay, you might overheat because it is that good! Do not get any lean pieces of pork for these dishes, the texture and taste which are important will not be the same and the result will also be affected by the temperature of the heat used.
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Saute Chinese Food
While you don’t see sauté in many Chinese dishes, it’s good to know how to do it. Remember, that the purpose of sautés are to cook food on the outside quickly, while leaving the inside warm, possibly even uncooked. Sauté is actually similar to stir fry. The only difference is that in stir frying, one cooks ingredients at the same time and in similar shapes. Sautéing you add ingredients one at a time, and they can be in different sizes. Here are some tips to make sure you’re getting the best out of sautéing.

1. Only sauté foods on Medium or High heat.
2. Always let the skillet, or pan, heat on the burner before cooking. Saute should never be started in a cold skillet.
3. Add just enough oil or cooking fat to THINLY coat the bottom of the pan. Too little or too much oil can change the taste of foods, and sautés depend on foods being cooked evenly with just a small amount of oil.
4. Do not overheat the oil. You’ll know you overheated the oil if it starts smoking.
5. After the oil gets hot, add the food carefully, as the pan might sizzle and burn you.
6. Stir foods that have been cut up so that each piece has the same amount of contact with the bottom of the pan. For larger pieces, simply cook one side, and then flip it over to cook the other side.

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These days many of us are out of our home for over ten hours in a day.  There is little time to prepare a good and rather healthy meal.  I’m going to review some tips that will save you time in preparation your Chinese meals.  Here are some great quick ways to cook your Chinese food fast:

1. Use common ingredients as substitute for hard-to-find ingredients.  Some Asian foods may not be available in your local grocery store.  You may substitute other foods when cooking your meals.  If you need Asparagus in your dish, you can substitute broccoli, string beans, and other green vegetables.  Another example would be substitution for black mushrooms.  You can use fresh American mushrooms.

2. Buy food ingredients in larger quantity.  A) Buy a whole chicken.  Remove the bones or debone the chicken and use the bones for soup stock.  Use the chicken meat for your Chinese dishes to be stir fried with vegetables for your refrigerator.  B) Another technique is to buy a fresh fish like walleye or tilapia.  Remove the bones from the fish known as filleting the fish.  Save the bones for soup stock and use the fillet part of the fish for stir frying.  As you can see there are numerous ways, use food when buying in bulk.

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With all of the many types of cookware available, All-Clad, Calphalon, nonstick, stainless steel, uncoated or coated, cast iron, celebrity cookware and more, how can you choose the correct one for your needs? By examining the positives and negatives of each type of cookware your decision will become much easier to make.

What is All-Clad stainless steel cookware and why is it the best top-of-the-line bake ware you can buy? All-Clad cookware is made with a heavy aluminum inside which extends up the sides of the pan. It is coated with a stainless steel cooking surface and has an outside layer of magnetic stainless steel.

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People often ask how they can tell exactly when pasta is cooked. Luckily, this is something that doesn’t take years of practice to do. All you have to know is what cooked pasta tastes like. Basically, mimic the taste and texture of this cooked pasta. After one or two tries, most people usually get it right. For more help, try these tips:

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Egg Roll
Egg rolls are an extremely popular appetizer for most Americans. Among the Chinese, egg rolls are a vital and tasty treat. In fact, the egg rolling process can also be applied to other things such as wonton wrapping.

As such, it’s important that one knows exactly how to roll an egg roll.

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Steaming a chicken is an ideal and healthy cooking style that preserves the tenderness and taste. It also leaves you satisfied and utilizes economical procedures. A lot of people today use electric steamers but if you don’t want to invest much, you could do with a traditional rack that fits in a saucepan.

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One of the most annoying things about cooking with seafood is the shells. Unfortunately, lobster is no different, and has to be shelled before you can get to the tasty meat in the center. Luckily, shelling a cooked lobster is actually pretty easy after a little practice. Just follow these steps and you’ll de-shell a lobster in no time:

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Serving Fish Properly

The Chinese have a very particular way to serve fish. This process has been used for centuries and is even popular today. In order to serve fish the Chinese way, you just have to follow these steps:

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During the summer, everyone likes to go out and have fun in the sun. Usually, there will be a lot of cooking and barbequing involved. However, it’s important that you follow the correct steps if you want to cook these foods safely. Luckily, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has the following steps if you carry food with you to the beach:

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Row Cut, Slice Cut, and Dice
Knowing how to cut the right way is extremely important to any cook, particularly to the Chinese cook. Considering that the Chinese consider looks extremely important when it comes to preparing meals, it’s especially important that you follow the cutting methods exactly. One mistake and you might not be making an authentic Chinese meal anymore. Use these tips to make sure you are cutting the right way:

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When using pea pods, you will want to remove the fibers from them before cooking. Removing the fiber lessons the sharp bitter taste that can ruin many meals. To remove the fiber from a peapod, just follow these steps:

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Chinese cooking is notorious in smelling up kitchens. One of the biggest reasons people don’t cook Chinese food seems to be that they are afraid of the food smelling up their kitchen. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way. Follow these steps to remove odors from the air and your hands:

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Americans today have been growing increasingly conscious of the things that we are eating. We have finally learned to be more concerned with our daily food intake and lifestyle. As such, we see more people in the gym and eating healthier, today more than ever.

One of the best ways to lose weight is actually to modify your diet. This may involve cutting calories and doing away with certain foods entirely. Another approach would be to change the fat content in the foods you eat. This procedure, however, depends on the type of foods your using. Follow these tips, though, and you’ll be on your way to a better you.

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Have you ever been told you could lose weight by eating foods with less calories, but don’t know where to find them? Have you looked at the back of a food label and wondered what everything means to you? Well, use this guide to decipher exactly what these food labels mean:

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Bacteria is, literally, everywhere. Our bodies are made of it, and the things we come in contact with all have bacteria. There are some bacteria, however, that we don’t want to come into contact with. The common cold, for example, is spreads through bacteria. As such, it is important that you prevent spreading bacteria or you may give it to other people.

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