Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

A different approach to stir fry, technique, not recipe.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    A different approach to stir fry, technique, not recipe.

    This is not about recipe, it’s more about a method that is off the beaten path. Tonight I did one of our favorite meals, Cantonese style fried noodles. The dish contains more than noodles, it’s got a protein, several vegies and some sauces and marinade. Just a touch of heat, and light crunch on the noodles and oh so yummy.

    Normally I do this on my Camp Chef 4 burner stove that cranks out 30k btu on each burner. Doing the cook on the patio keeps the resulting odors out of the house, and besides, those of us here live to cook outdoors. Since I have a variety of cookers at hand, along with some interesting, to me, accessories I figured I’d take a more rustic approach to firing the wok than just turning a knob to the preferred flame/heat. This time I set up the Bronco Pro with an inverted vortex to concentrate the heat directly under the wok. I mounted a Weber GBS grate, with the hole in the middle, in the Onlyfire Santa Maria attachment that they make for the Weber Kettle. I had to put some brackets on the base rim to keep it on the Bronco since it has a similar diameter but different shape than the kettle. The exercise I set for myself was to see if there was some advantage to being able to vary the height of the wok thus changing the cooking temp, which did prove out. There are many other ways to do the same thing, as there often are, but my equipment contributed to the exercise. The wok in the picture has been my cooking companion for over 30 years. It is well seasoned and even though I had no idea how to differentiate quality of wok performance when I bought it all those years ago, it distributes heat up the sides very well in a nice gradient. I struggle with the idea of replacing an old friend like this, though knowing what I know now it would be better to have a long handle, similar to a frying pan, than the two "helper" handles this one has. That contributed to the decision to use the adjustable height grate. If I had the long handle version I’d probably set the fire up similarly, but control the active temperature by raising or lowering by hand. You can get some intense heat by nesting the pan directly on the coals, if needed.

    Varying the temp is only marginally helpful between each of the steps where food product is seared or fried or brought all together for the grand finish. I typically do it on the round stove burner at a constant temp just working quickly with the turning tools to maintain proper cooking. However, this was a fun exercise, and after all, isn’t that part of why we do the cooks we do. As a devout gizmoholic I get a big kick out of experimenting with alternate techniques……………………even if they don’t revolutionize the world.

    Click image for larger version  Name:	Bronco stir fry 01.jpg Views:	0 Size:	332.1 KB ID:	960410Click image for larger version  Name:	Bronco stir fry 02.jpg Views:	0 Size:	308.9 KB ID:	960411Click image for larger version  Name:	Bronco stir fry 03.jpg Views:	0 Size:	333.6 KB ID:	960412Click image for larger version  Name:	Bronco stir fry 04.jpg Views:	0 Size:	311.6 KB ID:	960413Click image for larger version  Name:	Bronco stir fry 05.jpg Views:	0 Size:	298.6 KB ID:	960414Click image for larger version  Name:	Bronco stir fry 06.jpg Views:	0 Size:	319.1 KB ID:	960415
    Last edited by Uncle Bob; December 21, 2020, 07:07 PM.

    #2
    That is just too cool for words. you must have had a blast with that cook.

    I seem to recall FireMan doing some interesting things with a wok, too.

    Comment


    • Uncle Bob
      Uncle Bob commented
      Editing a comment
      Yeah Jim, but are they family friendly things?

    • Jim White
      Jim White commented
      Editing a comment
      Well, Bob, they got past the moderators, so they were family friendly enough.

    #3
    That’s awesome .... and very old school

    Comment


    • Uncle Bob
      Uncle Bob commented
      Editing a comment
      Cuz I'm old too Eric..............chalked up another year last week.

    • Mr. Bones
      Mr. Bones commented
      Editing a comment
      Ain't no school like Ol School, Brothers

    #4
    It is why I love my Santa Maria. I did a sauce tonight that I needed to reduce. It was in a small iron pan. Once I got it boiling vigorously, I raised the grill and went to a rolling boil and then a simmer. Your set-up with the wok is ingenious. Thanks!

    Comment


    • Uncle Bob
      Uncle Bob commented
      Editing a comment
      And I like the way you think.........tools is a good thing.

    #5
    Great job - I am envious.

    Comment


    • Uncle Bob
      Uncle Bob commented
      Editing a comment
      We're close to even.........I envy your woodwork which is far more skillful.

    #6
    There was a little mention of cooking with a wok on the pod cast. Just thought I’d toss in my 1 & a 1/2 cents into the fray. Cast Iron was mentioned, it is not good for Chinese


    here’s my experimental set up. Usually I use the big propane burner because this thing is nearly impossible to manage.

    you should read through the entire "wok this way" thread started by fireman. Good stuff in there.

    Comment


    • Uncle Bob
      Uncle Bob commented
      Editing a comment
      Yep, there is some good commentary in there. Similar thinking to what we did here, just different fire holding hardware. Just for reference to the context of that thread, I used my IR gun on this cook as well out of curiosity. With the wok down at the lowest level almost 700 degrees at center. I seared the meat at that, did the rest between 4-500 ish. As I said, there are lots of options in the world.

    #7
    Awesome set up! But, I am most interested in the cook & the taste that was provided. Wish I was there!

    Comment


    • Uncle Bob
      Uncle Bob commented
      Editing a comment
      You could have shown up, we had plenty. My neighbor wandered over in the middle of the cook to see what was going on this time and ended up having a bowl. As you talked in that older post, there's a distinct flavor that a well seasoned wok imparts....

    #8
    This is fun! I’ve had my eye on a Wok Shop wok. I am in a gift exchange among a few close families here at home, it is what I put on my "wish list". We shall see what may come of it . I have not ran the wok on my kettle but am thinking of trying that. I did use My old non-stick wok on the gasser throughout the summer and thought it worked well, but I know I wasn’t getting these types of temps.

    but, I do know I have a list of cooks to try out from what everyone has been posting lately for wok cuisine!

    thanks for sharing your set up!

    Comment


      #9
      Great Post! The reason I like the long handled woks is because it makes tossing the ingredients much easier. I have one of those old "hand hammered woks" that were all the rage years ago and it works very well. It's got 30+ years of built up seasoning on it and I use it on my Weber with a pile of lump underneath.

      You just can't beat the taste of pork belly that's got that smokey char from a hot wok.



      Comment


        #10
        Nicely done. Looks great. How did it taste?

        Comment


        • Uncle Bob
          Uncle Bob commented
          Editing a comment
          Between the beef, and the noodles, and the veggies mixed with the sauce and the affects of the high temp cooking it's layers of flavors.

        #11
        Nice!

        Comment


          #12
          Ingenious. I'm getting that open grill grate for Christmas and I have a Vortex. I'll have to give that a try on making fried rice after I make my Thai BBQ Chicken.

          Comment


            #13
            That is pure genius right there!

            Comment

            Announcement

            Collapse
            No announcement yet.
            Working...
            X
            false
            0
            Guest
            Guest
            500
            ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
            false
            false
            {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
            Yes
            ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
            /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here