Cooking School

[Demonstration Kitchen] Frying

1. FRYING (ch'ao)

We need a wok, wok chaan and some cooking oil to fry foods. Plant oil is usually used, since it is more suitable for frying foods at high temperatures.

2. DEEP FRYING

Though deep-frying requires a lot of oil, it can produce crispness to the food, which makes it the most popular cooking method of all. The hot oil is at a fairly high temperature and the convection current in the hot oil passes the heat to the food.

A. Utensils needed:
Apart from the wok and oil, the draining ladle is needed to drain away excessive oil, and a pair of long bamboo chopsticks to pick the food.

B. Preparation work:


* Place the bamboo chopsticks into the heated oil, when bubbles are formed around the chopsticks, it means that the temperature of the oil is ready.

* The food must be dried before frying to avoid splashing oil, which can hurt our skin. Therefore we should lower and turn the food gently in the heated oil.

* Coat the food with flour or batter to prevent them from breaking up and absorbing too much oil.


C. Serving: Drain the food on absorbent paper before serving.

D. Food suitable for deep fry: fish; prawn; tender cut meat; starchy foods; fruits and vegetables.

3. SHALLOW FRYING

Shallow frying only needs a small amount of hot oil. First, fry one side of the food until it is cooked, then turn to the other side and do the same.

Food suitable for shallow fry: eggs, fish, tender cuts of meat such as pork chop or steak.

4. STIR FRYING

It is more conserving to do stir-frying since it needs less oil. You stir and turn the food constantly in the wok so that the food will be cooked in a short time as the oil gets hot. To enable the heat to penetrate quickly, we can shred, slice or dice the food to smaller portions. Sometimes the stir-fried food can be added to a pan with water to boil.

Food suitable for stir-fry: eggs; leaf vegetables; tender cuts of meat.

CAUTION: It is very dangerous to leave the wok of hot oil unattended!

Cooking School

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