Wok – a round deep Chinese frying pan with a convex bottom of small diameter. Used in traditional southern Chinese (primarily Cantonese) cuisine. The wok has many names. In China, it is called – “pot Guo”. Literally translated from Japanese as “Chinese Bank”. In India, there are two types of woks: traditional with wide edges (Tamil) and smaller diameter (Kahari). The wok is used for the following traditional Chinese cooking methods: hong chao, dong cha, tang, wei, dun, and lu. The history of Chinese cuisine goes back thousands of years. At the same time, the dishes, the descriptions of which were found in the manuscripts of the Song Dynasty (1037-1101), almost do not differ from modern ones. Chinese culinary art is based on three pillars: each dish must have color (se), aroma (xiang) and taste (wei). To make the dish bright and expressive, the corresponding contrasting ingredients are selected from the main color range of products (light and dark green, red, yellow, white, black and brown). In this case, one product is the main one, and two or three others are related. The wok allows you to preserve the taste of each ingredient, revealing it and improving it through combinations. Of course, no one knows the exact date of the appearance of the wok, but the first images of this dish date back to the era of the Han Dynasty (200 BC – 220 AD), and since then its shape has not changed. Why wok utensils are spherical In China, there are few forests, and therefore firewood, on which food has been cooked since ancient times. It was necessary to cook very quickly, until the firewood burned out, and the wok was best suited for this purpose. With constant stirring, food could be fried in a few minutes, using almost half the surface of the dish. The high temperature of the well-heated bottom and walls “sealed” the taste of each product. Grasped on top with a crust, the vegetables remained crispy, and the pieces of meat remained juicy. And rapid mixing made it possible to combine the taste of all products and create a unique culinary composition. Wok Shape A traditional wok with a spherical shape. However, woks of this shape are not suitable for use on electric stoves. Therefore, most European woks are produced with a flat bottom. To use dishes on the stove, you need to purchase a small frame that can be placed on the stove. Wok pans are made from various types of materials: carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron, copper, non-stick, etc. However, most cooks agree that cast iron and carbon woks are the best quality today. This is due to the ability of these materials to heat up evenly. A carbon steel pan heats up and cools down very quickly, cast iron cools down much more slowly. A cast iron pan can withstand any mechanical stress and is considered the most reliable. How to use a wok A wok has many functions – it can be steamed, fried or stewed. A wok is an indispensable frying pan for all occasions, without which no kitchen can do. Natural vegetable oils and ghee are ideal for woks because they have a neutral flavor and are suitable for cooking at high temperatures. All products are first placed in hot oil. Later they are pushed to the sides of the wok, where the temperature is lower, so that they continue to cook there or remain warm until it is time to mix them with the rest of the ingredients of the dish. A typical method of cooking food in a wok is to quickly fry with constant stirring. In this cooking method, widely used in Asia, the ingredients are constantly stirred in a hot wok for 5? 10 minutes. It is very important to mix the ingredients quickly. To keep both hands free, you need to cut all the products into equal pieces in advance and keep salt, spices and sauces at hand. Oil is added to the heated wok, after which they wait until the oil smokes slightly and begin to lay food. Add them gradually, quickly mix with light movements from the middle to the walls. Thus, all the ingredients in turn find themselves on the hot bottom, then on the warm edges of the wok. Thanks to this, the products are cooked evenly and very quickly. It is very important not to add soy sauce, honey and other seasonings until all the ingredients are ready, otherwise the dish may burn. Quenching in a wok occurs with the addition of water. Usually stew such foods that are poorly fried when quickly fried with stirring, for example, hard types of vegetables (potatoes, carrots and celery). Before adding water, first all the ingredients are fried and then poured in water. Then they are left to stew over low heat. Extinguishing time depends on the type of vegetables and takes from 3 to 30 minutes. If the dish is stewed without a lid, the liquid evaporates, and the meat, fish and vegetables become more tender, and the sauce more concentrated and spicy. It is important to stir the ingredients occasionally so that they do not stick to the edges of the wok. Season stews shortly before they are served. The taste of the seasoning intensifies when the liquid evaporates. Wok-frying hot-fried vegetables, chicken, or fish, such as in batter, is just as popular as just sautéing. For deep frying, the wok is heated with oil to 170 degrees and the pieces are fried in hot oil until they turn brownish-golden. Then the fried foods are taken out and put on the wok grate over the oil so that they do not cool down. Then spread the next portion in hot oil. It is important for frying in batter to cut the products into small sizes so that they are fried inside.