Wok-ing on a Saturday night!

tarheelmatt

The wife wanted chinese for a while so we decided that tonight was the night.  

Menu consisted of stir fry chicken, veggie Egg rolls (made in the oven), marinated cucumbers (used the sauce from the stir fry).  Wife made a homemade sweet and sour sauce for the egg rolls. 

Some pictures were taken with my phone and some with camera.  

Chicken Marinade:

Soy Sauce
Green onion
Fresh ginger
Fresh garlic
Cornstarch (not really part of the marinade, but really for the sauce)
Oyster sauce

Sauce:

Soy sauce
Orange juice
Fresh ginger
Fresh garlic
Brown Sugar
Chile paste
Hoysin sauce
Oyster sauce
Cracked pepper
DIjon mustard



1 - The lineup 






2 - Some cucumbers to go along with the meal.  They work well with the stir fry to cut some of the richness.  




3 - Made some simple egg rolls to go along with the meal (not-Egged though). 



4 - Veggies going in first. 




5 - Chicken next






6 - The egg rolls








7 - The finished product





Shot a quick video as I was finishing up the cook too.  Shows how the Egg handles stir fry.  An oven just cannot duplicate the heat like the Egg with a wok.  

https://youtu.be/pgPkY0_TJfo

theyolksonyou

Looks great. The wok was popular tonight. Did beef and veggies myself. 

butert

Looks fantastic!

tarheelmatt

theyolksonyou said:

Looks great. The wok was popular tonight. Did beef and veggies myself. 

Thanks Jason!  I was wanting beef, but we had chicken that needed to be eaten.  

Thanks @butert!

Mattman3969

Awesome!!! Just incase you didn't know your video keeps going with what looks to be personal vids.  

theyolksonyou

Mattman3969 said:

Awesome!!! Just incase you didn't know your video keeps going with what looks to personal vids.  

Brown chicken, brown cow!

Mattman3969

Damnit yolk, I skipped the BE.   Edited my post. 

tarheelmatt

Mattman3969 said:

Awesome!!! Just incase you didn't know your video keeps going with what looks to be personal vids.  

Thanks @Mattman3969 !  I fixed the video now.  Copied the wrong link.  

DMW

Nice! As soon as it warms up again, I'm breaking out the wok.

shucker

Nothing like the sound of a scorching hot wok

tarheelmatt

DMW said:

Nice! As soon as it warms up again, I'm breaking out the wok.

It was chilly here today, but assume colder in your area.  The wok didn't disappoint!  

shucker said:

Nothing like the sound of a scorching hot wok

Love the sing!  

JohnnyTarheel

Solid cook Matt!!

TigerTony

Wow all these wok cooks that I see look awesome. Might have to spring for another accessory. 
One question though?
How long does it take to cook Chinese food in a wok on the egg?
I'm asking because it seems like all Chinese food from my local take-out Chinese restaurants only takes "ten min-it".
I call up and order, they say "ten min-it".  
No matter what or how much I order.  It's always "ten min-it"
Just wondering.

theyolksonyou

 @TigerTony the time is in the prep. The cook is 10 min-it. 

Mattman3969

My average including prep would be 30-45min depending on how intense the prep is.  Most cooks are 10 min or less on the egg. 

tarheelmatt

@TigerTony check out the video. The wok is singing and didn't take over 10 min. 

TigerTony

@tarheelmatt - Ok....I'm sold. the video did it for me. Buying a wok asap. Is my Ace  bge dealer open on Sunday?

DMW

@TigerTony Check out a local restaurant supply store if you have one nearby. You can get a hand hammered carbon steel wok for a decent price.

theyolksonyou

TigerTony said:

@tarheelmatt - Ok....I'm sold. the video did it for me. Buying a wok asap. Is my Ace  bge dealer open on Sunday?

Videoing a wok cook takes mad skillz, yo!  I've calmed down some, but damn. 

grege345

Wok And Roll!  

tarheelmatt

TigerTony said:

@tarheelmatt - Ok....I'm sold. the video did it for me. Buying a wok asap. Is my Ace  bge dealer open on Sunday?

You'll want some nice heat resistant gloves too that go up some on your arm. It gets hot when stir frying. 

tarheelmatt

theyolksonyou said:

TigerTony said:

@tarheelmatt - Ok....I'm sold. the video did it for me. Buying a wok asap. Is my Ace  bge dealer open on Sunday?

Videoing a wok cook takes mad skillz, yo!  I've calmed down some, but damn. 

The struggle is always real....

TigerTony

tarheelmatt said:

TigerTony said:

@tarheelmatt - Ok....I'm sold. the video did it for me. Buying a wok asap. Is my Ace  bge dealer open on Sunday?

You'll want some nice heat resistant gloves too that go up some on your arm. It gets hot when stir frying. 

Thanks! But I've become a pretty fast learner when dealing with fire
I would have figured that out. I think.  LOL!

tarheelmatt

TigerTony said:

tarheelmatt said:

TigerTony said:

@tarheelmatt - Ok....I'm sold. the video did it for me. Buying a wok asap. Is my Ace  bge dealer open on Sunday?

You'll want some nice heat resistant gloves too that go up some on your arm. It gets hot when stir frying. 

Thanks! But I've become a pretty fast learner when dealing with fire
I would have figured that out. I think.  LOL!

Well, I just realized today how well they come in handy. 

jfm0830

Nicely done and I love the video!! Your wok was hot and singing.  Before reading the comments below your post I had something I was going to say. I noticed you were using a regular  spatula and I thought that has got to be wicked hot doing it like that. I detected a glove on your hand at one point.   There is a tool sold for use stir frying called a Wok Chuan. For my 16" wok, I got a 19: long version for my 16" wok and it helps keep my hands away from the heat and gloveless. The shape of the head is made for use on a curved wok and the design is thousands of years old. It is a case of form following function. I got mine from the Wok Shop in San Francisco for $9.95 so it won't break the bank. 



As for the folks who were thinking of rushing out to get a wok, I would say take a little time. Your wok is a tool just like your BGE. The BGE isn't just any grill, don't settle for any wok. The flat bottomed wok BGE sells for stir frying isn't as good as a traditional curved bottom woks. Flat bottom woks are really intended for use on indoor ranges with flat tops. I will pass along the advice I was given by folks on this forum a few years ago when I was starting out:

1) Check out the WokShop in San Francisco, I believe they now have an online store within Amazon.com you can browse through. Lots of people from this board go there. If you have questions about what wok to buy for your BGE give them a call. I love the Chinese made 16" D-Handled carbon steel wok I bought there. It will last a lifetime and once it was seasoned it is the best non-stick pan I own.
2) Get a wok spider from the Ceramic Grill store to hold your wok.
3) Get a Grace Young Cookbook either Breath of a Wok or Stir Frying to the Skies Edge. You might want to get the book first and learn about woks and other gear before you buy.

I will add one more thing to here. I wrote some blog entries about how I got started working on the BGE and what I learned along the way. Here is a link to the first blog entry, you can find the others by looking for wok or stir fry in my index of blogs.

Big Green Egg-PT 17-Stir Frying on the Big Green Egg

Lastly don't wait for the warm weather to break out your Woks. I remember one of my first stir fries was done at 7:00PM on a January night where the temp was -2. When I opened the lid up I was having troubles keeping the temperature DOWN. Something surreal and wonderful about that.

Jim

johnmitchell

That looks so good love the video..I could almost smell it when you added the liquid...Awesome cook Matt.

blind99

I am speechless!  Good thing I can type.  The pictures are awesome and the wok video is cool as heck.  Looks like your chinese is as good as anything a restaurant can do if not better!

TarHeelBBQ

I love wok cooking

Tinyfish

Silly question but can the fire be to hot when woking? Do you limit the amount of charcoal you put in or the length of time the charcoal heats up.

NDG

Awesome Cook - love the way you posted all the details with pics and video too - excellent post!  One Q . . What's on the cucumbers?

tarheelmatt

jfm0830 said:

Nicely done and I love the video!! Your wok was hot and singing.  Before reading the comments below your post I had something I was going to say. I noticed you were using a regular  spatula and I thought that has got to be wicked hot doing it like that. I detected a glove on your hand at one point.   There is a tool sold for use stir frying called a Wok Chuan. For my 16" wok, I got a 19: long version for my 16" wok and it helps keep my hands away from the heat and gloveless. The shape of the head is made for use on a curved wok and the design is thousands of years old. It is a case of form following function. I got mine from the Wok Shop in San Francisco for $9.95 so it won't break the bank. 



As for the folks who were thinking of rushing out to get a wok, I would say take a little time. Your wok is a tool just like your BGE. The BGE isn't just any grill, don't settle for any wok. The flat bottomed wok BGE sells for stir frying isn't as good as a traditional curved bottom woks. Flat bottom woks are really intended for use on indoor ranges with flat tops. I will pass along the advice I was given by folks on this forum a few years ago when I was starting out:

1) Check out the WokShop in San Francisco, I believe they now have an online store within Amazon.com you can browse through. Lots of people from this board go there. If you have questions about what wok to buy for your BGE give them a call. I love the Chinese made 16" D-Handled carbon steel wok I bought there. It will last a lifetime and once it was seasoned it is the best non-stick pan I own.
2) Get a wok spider from the Ceramic Grill store to hold your wok.
3) Get a Grace Young Cookbook either Breath of a Wok or Stir Frying to the Skies Edge. You might want to get the book first and learn about woks and other gear before you buy.

I will add one more thing to here. I wrote some blog entries about how I got started working on the BGE and what I learned along the way. Here is a link to the first blog entry, you can find the others by looking for wok or stir fry in my index of blogs.

Big Green Egg-PT 17-Stir Frying on the Big Green Egg

Lastly don't wait for the warm weather to break out your Woks. I remember one of my first stir fries was done at 7:00PM on a January night where the temp was -2. When I opened the lid up I was having troubles keeping the temperature DOWN. Something surreal and wonderful about that.

Jim

Wow, thanks for the kudos and tips. 

In regards to the spatula,  I have been meaning to get one, however this El cheapo really does great. It brings out my redneck side of things too. I still belive you would need a glove of sort to handle things and the way the wok directs the heat.