Tips & Tools
Wok-it like its hot!
14 Oct 2008 10:02 AM
Recently, I received an email from a
close friend asking for a bit of advice on some kitchen tools.
Here’s the core of the email, slightly edited for relevance and for
anonymity:
[From: GS - 11 October 2008 9:09:10 AM
Hi Will,
I had a couple of foodie questions I thought you might be able to help me with.
The first is slightly embarrassing. With the weather warming my thoughts turn to my annual summer menu trauma. I’m very much a hot food winter cook.
I’m thinking this year I might try to do more stir-fries through summer, but EVERY time I cook a stir fry the place completely fills with smoke. The meal’s OK, but the smoke lingers here for hours. I figure I’m doing something wrong, but want someone to perhaps witness my mistakes (hence the discomfort) and let me know what I’m doing wrong.
Onto more fun things, I’m wondering if you’ve ever seen a home nut-roasting setup?
I roast nuts on a weekly basis (even if it’s just a packet of pine nuts) and I’ve been thinking for some time of building (if I can’t buy) a setup designed to roast nuts. I’ve taken inspiration from the chocolate-coating machines at Haighs that resemble concrete mixers! I think a metal vessel (like a small mulk-frothing jug) rotating off axis with a hair drier (or “heatshrink gun” – similar to hair drier but DANGEROUSLY hot) stuffed into the opening is probably going to do the job nicely, and on the sort of scale I require.
But the overpriced eBay jobbies are an interesting approach. Or just the drum on its own.) What do you think. Had any ideas, or seen devices that are designed to do that job?
G.]
Happy to try and help you out with your foodie questions if I can.
As far as your stir-fry problems are concerned: Yes you can have the heat too high. The temps are important for stir-fries, when you add meat or veg to a wok it lowers the temp and releases water. If the temp is too low, the vegetables, meat etc will stew in their own juices instead of searing and sealing which is the point of stir-fry. Too high a temp and your oil will start to burn causing smoke and flavour changes in the food; or you know, a fire.
Who ever it was that said to cook things like steak and stir-fry at the highest possible temp probably said it when domestic stoves couldn't get above 200ºC (can we blame Bernard King?). Your stove is a bit more than standard domestic so yes, it could be getting too hot.
Sounds like you're using a fairly neutral tasting oil because the smoke isn't affecting the taste of the food, just your ability to see it. There's a Table of Smoke Points at Cooking for Engineers that will give you an idea of what oil can do what. Stay clear of oils with a flavour to them because if they do burn, you'll taste it in the food. If you want the flavour cheat and drizzle a little bit over once it's cooked.
You can use a low temp oil for stir-frying, the catch is that your wok will be have a lower maximum temp due to the oil so you will have less of a range to cook in. Each time you add something it will lower the temp for a while and take longer for the released water to evaporate so it’s fine if you're cooking small amounts but otherwise you might need to cook each ingredient type in batches so they don't stew until everything is cooked. At that point you can add everything in together to warm through. If you use a higher temp oil your wok can be hotter so there is a bigger range to drop in temp before it's too cold so you can add more stuff at a time.
Your nuts:
The overpriced internet jobbies are just coffee roasters with the word coffee scratched out and replaced with a 20% premium which is hard to do on something that's already as marked-up as coffee.
I'm sure there are others, but a 2 minute google search came up with Sweet Marias, that have a variety to choose from and what seems to be cheap compared to the ebay one you sent me.
If you want to make your own, you might want to have a look at this design for the UglyRoast
OR; also from Make, but in the physical magazine I've got here are the instructions for a more McGyver esq coffee roaster made from a metal sieve locked into the head of a cordless screwdriver which together are mounted at 45º to a small camp stove so that the sieve is above the flame. Toss in a cup of coffee beans (or nuts), light the stove, turn on the drill and the sieve rotates al la haighs drum.
[From: GS - 11 October 2008 9:09:10 AM
Hi Will,
I had a couple of foodie questions I thought you might be able to help me with.
The first is slightly embarrassing. With the weather warming my thoughts turn to my annual summer menu trauma. I’m very much a hot food winter cook.
I’m thinking this year I might try to do more stir-fries through summer, but EVERY time I cook a stir fry the place completely fills with smoke. The meal’s OK, but the smoke lingers here for hours. I figure I’m doing something wrong, but want someone to perhaps witness my mistakes (hence the discomfort) and let me know what I’m doing wrong.
Onto more fun things, I’m wondering if you’ve ever seen a home nut-roasting setup?
I roast nuts on a weekly basis (even if it’s just a packet of pine nuts) and I’ve been thinking for some time of building (if I can’t buy) a setup designed to roast nuts. I’ve taken inspiration from the chocolate-coating machines at Haighs that resemble concrete mixers! I think a metal vessel (like a small mulk-frothing jug) rotating off axis with a hair drier (or “heatshrink gun” – similar to hair drier but DANGEROUSLY hot) stuffed into the opening is probably going to do the job nicely, and on the sort of scale I require.
But the overpriced eBay jobbies are an interesting approach. Or just the drum on its own.) What do you think. Had any ideas, or seen devices that are designed to do that job?
G.]
Happy to try and help you out with your foodie questions if I can.
As far as your stir-fry problems are concerned: Yes you can have the heat too high. The temps are important for stir-fries, when you add meat or veg to a wok it lowers the temp and releases water. If the temp is too low, the vegetables, meat etc will stew in their own juices instead of searing and sealing which is the point of stir-fry. Too high a temp and your oil will start to burn causing smoke and flavour changes in the food; or you know, a fire.
Who ever it was that said to cook things like steak and stir-fry at the highest possible temp probably said it when domestic stoves couldn't get above 200ºC (can we blame Bernard King?). Your stove is a bit more than standard domestic so yes, it could be getting too hot.
Sounds like you're using a fairly neutral tasting oil because the smoke isn't affecting the taste of the food, just your ability to see it. There's a Table of Smoke Points at Cooking for Engineers that will give you an idea of what oil can do what. Stay clear of oils with a flavour to them because if they do burn, you'll taste it in the food. If you want the flavour cheat and drizzle a little bit over once it's cooked.
You can use a low temp oil for stir-frying, the catch is that your wok will be have a lower maximum temp due to the oil so you will have less of a range to cook in. Each time you add something it will lower the temp for a while and take longer for the released water to evaporate so it’s fine if you're cooking small amounts but otherwise you might need to cook each ingredient type in batches so they don't stew until everything is cooked. At that point you can add everything in together to warm through. If you use a higher temp oil your wok can be hotter so there is a bigger range to drop in temp before it's too cold so you can add more stuff at a time.
Your nuts:
The overpriced internet jobbies are just coffee roasters with the word coffee scratched out and replaced with a 20% premium which is hard to do on something that's already as marked-up as coffee.
I'm sure there are others, but a 2 minute google search came up with Sweet Marias, that have a variety to choose from and what seems to be cheap compared to the ebay one you sent me.
If you want to make your own, you might want to have a look at this design for the UglyRoast
OR; also from Make, but in the physical magazine I've got here are the instructions for a more McGyver esq coffee roaster made from a metal sieve locked into the head of a cordless screwdriver which together are mounted at 45º to a small camp stove so that the sieve is above the flame. Toss in a cup of coffee beans (or nuts), light the stove, turn on the drill and the sieve rotates al la haighs drum.
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Packing. You're doing it wrong
03 May 2008 08:40 AM
I've just moved house which is a
traumatic and difficult experience at the best of times - this time
though I had a really bad flu while I was packing and bronchitis
while I was moving. Nasty stuff. Worst of all, my new fridge
doesn't fit in the kitchen! Although it makes a lovely talking
point in the dining room! If anyone knows someone that's looking
for a brand new Iridium
Stainless-steel Fisher and Paykle water/ice-making fridge, get
in touch, it's only two months old!
Fisher and Paykle 519L Fridge for
Sale
I' like to say it was entirely due to
the fact I was sick, but unfortunately, this is how I usually pack
to move house, turning my kitchen draws upside down over a box,
taping it up and dealing with the mess at the other end. Just watch
out for the steak-knives!
Box of cutlery and utensils from my
last house move