the wok of life

alright, i have the silly pun out of my system now. moving right along, i love my wok. it's easy to use and clean and nothing works better for stir-fry night. we have stir-fry at least once a week, usually of the Chinese influence, and it's the easiest night to cook for by far. a note here on stir-fry: do it yourself. don't buy the pre-mixed frozen bags of stuff, it's not worth it. for one thing it all cooks up mushy because it's been processed and frozen, for another thing all the ingredients taste like each other from being frozen together in one big lump. try this: next time you go to your favorite Asian place, really look at what's on your plate. read the menu, if it says celery and straw mushrooms in oyster sauce, go buy some oyster flavor sauce. i like lee kum kee because it has a nicely balanced flavor and a little goes a long way. get a good, inexpensive wok. you don't need to go non-stick for them to work correctly, actually they season in like cast iron. if you do want non stick though i wont talk you out of it. make sure it has nice high sides though and bear this in mind: the high sides are NOT so you can over load the pan with out spilling. keep your batches small so the pan can really do it's thing. make several different dishes, it's really not much more work and it's fun. heat the wok with plenty of canola oil tipping it so the oil goes up the sides as it heats and make sure the oil is shimmering hot before you put anything in. two chicken breasts is about the most meat i've been able to pull off with out running into crowding issues, but if you make two different dishes that's really plenty. try it out, i bet you'll like it.